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PortableApps.com Server Details

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John T. Haller
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PortableApps.com Server Details

During all the hecticness (if that's not a word, it is now) of moving servers, updating Drupal and releasing apps, I just realized I forgot to make a post about the new server that PortableApps.com is hosted on. So, without further adieu...

As most folks noticed, the Slashdotting and Digging that PortableApps.com was getting earlier in the year weren't handled very well by our old shared host. The site wound up getting suspended a few times and very slow at others. Many features -- like site-wide searching -- also had to be disabled on a regular basis. I had been looking around for a while at dedicated hosts and what would be involved in terms of cost and ongoing server maintenance. After the overloads started, I began looking much more earnestly and getting some quotes from various providers.

When all was said and done, I ended up selecting a top-tier provider, RackSpace, in March. They wound up being a bit pricier than the 2nd-tier providers I was pricing out. But, the difference also meant that we were covered in terms of support should just about anything go wrong. The 2nd tier providers required hourly consulting to fix most OS and DB issues. And, I got RackSpace to give us a deal by going with a used server with new ram and drives (and, incidentally, the used processors wound up being replaced with new ones during a power-cycling problem about 3 weeks into the 1-year contract). So, when all was said and done, here's what we ended up with:

  • Dual AMD 2800 MP 2.13 Ghz
  • 2 GB RAM
  • 3 x 36 GB SCSI
  • RAID 5 Hardware LSI-320 RAID Controller
  • 1 TB monthly bandwidth
  • managed backups
  • continuous monitoring of web, mail, db, etc
  • 100% network uptime
  • 1 hour SLA hardware replacement
  • unlimitted support 24/7

Some of this was needed right away (or very soon) when I moved the site over in April, some was more room to grow. The site is actually pushing 110k visits a day and 140GB a month (increasing at a rate of about 10 to 20 GB a month). The money from the Google ads and the donations are going towards the hosting fees, along with some of my own cash. I'm rolling out a couple things in the coming month that will allow the site to be completely self-sufficient... and be able to share some revenue with open source app developers. More on that will come soon.

Hope everybody is enjoying the now-stable site Smile

Regards,
John

Bruce Pascoe
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...

Hmm. Good deal.

In any case, I'd like to know how the Google ads generate any revenue at all, when considering their positioning, they're very easy to miss and probably next to nobody clicks on them. Not that I'm saying that's a bad thing: if PA.com ever ends up with an obnoxious ad banner displaying those annoying seizure-inducing ads (jumpy WARNING! window saying you've just won something, you know the kind), I'll lose all respect for this place. Smile

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fatcerberus@yahoo.com  [aim: fatcerberus]
I have no witty remarks or quotes to share at the moment.

John T. Haller
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Choice of revenue vs usability

In terms of placement of the Google ads, it was a choice between revenue and usability. I chose usability. I could probably place them at the top of the page and have them make enough to pay the server bills on their own, but that would get in the way of users getting apps, navigating the site and interacting with each other on the server. So, I chose to bury them a bit in the lower left. They still make some money there, but they don't hinder anyone's ability to use the site.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Lurking_Biohazard
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And for that...

You are a simply wonderful man!
No, really, thank you for everything you are doing here.

~Lurk~ Email

~Lurk~

Bruce Pascoe
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The biggest problem I see with the ads on this site is they're simply not relevant. Every time I look at them, they're always ads for web hosting or servers or somesuch, which I simply don't need. I can't imagine they'd get too many clicks, no matter where you put them, as people coming here want applications (specifically portable ones), not web hosting.

Edit: Hmm. It seems they're more relevant now than they were a few months ago. They never used to be.

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fatcerberus@yahoo.com  [aim: fatcerberus]
I have no witty remarks or quotes to share at the moment.

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