[FAQ?] Setting up a friend's business on Linux...

[mailinglist at endosquid.com (Brendan)]

On Tuesday 16 November 2004 14:53, miah wrote:

What I have learned in setting up a business is to keep it small and keep it 
simple. Wait until you actually need something before getting it (a bigger 
machine when the load on the current one is only at 10%). Make sure your 
setup is reproduceable and backed-up properly. It's so easy to replace a 
failed node when it's running Debian or Mandrake and saving all its data to a 
fileserver, than a custom-hacked Gentoo with all stuff saved locally.

Write up a best practices guideline and follow it. Write up a "What I want to 
do" and then figure out how to do it, and stick to that. 

It's not easy, but by limiting the failure-points, you can rest at night. 
Forget the part-time admin, and do it yourself the first time. After that, 
sure, because now you know what needs to be done and can recognize skill when 
you see it.

At least, that's my take,
Brendan

> To get something started I think its fine to just use one machine.
> Just because you're running a DB, doesn't mean anybody can connect to
> it, and a properly configured/firewalled system should be part of the
> plan anyway.  Computers can get expensive, and hosting providers will
> charge more money for more equipment hosted. Start small and keep it
> simple.
>
> -miah
>
> On Tue, Nov 16, 2004 at 02:51:21PM -0500, Duane Morin wrote:
> > Surely this has been asked a dozen times before, so what I'm wondering
> > is if somebody has setup another mailing list or blog or something to
> > discuss the topic of getting a small business up and running on
> > linux/open source?  Got a friend who is asking me for help, and beyond
> > telling him stuff like "Let's assume you start with Linux, Apache, PHP,
> > and MySQL, you gotta get yourself a machine, a hosting provider, and
> > maybe a part time consultant to admin it..." I can't really fill in any
> > details.
> >
> > Is there a place where people are talking about just this sort of thing?
> > What he can expect to pay a hosting provider (or at least what the
> > variables are)?  How we can determine if he can get by with 1 beast of a
> > machine or if he needs a dedicated webserver / database server combo
> > right out of the gate?
> >
> > I'm a software guy.  I know what he wants to run and can help him set up
> > that aspect of it.  It's the resource allocation bit (and the economics)
> > I need to research.  Just because you CAN run your DB on the same
> > machine as your web server doesn't mean that it's the right thing to do.
> > In a bigger environment I'd say to split it up across machines for
> > security and scalability reasons, but just to get started, is it typical
> > to get up and running with one machine?
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > Duane
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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>
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