Site Updates: New Server, New Hosting Model

I’m moving from my current host soon and going to a new setup. Rather than hosting with one of the standard companies and leasing one of their dedicated systems, I’m getting my own server and colo’ing it at a company administered by a friend of mine.

This is the final stage in my website’s evolution, and while it’s going to be somewhat expensive I’m going to try and offset some of the cost by putting ads back on the site. I’m hoping I can, without any effort, reach the $100 cuttoff for Google Ads and get that money to put toward the cost of the solution.

Plus, having ads on the site actually lends to credibility I’ve found. People subconsciously associate a strip of ads with the site being “professional”. Strange but true.

The Server

• CPU(s): Two Dual-Core Zeons at 1.6Ghz, 4MB Cache
• Memory: 4GB
• Drives: Two 36GB, 15,000rpm SAS Drives in RAID1 (PERC Controller)

That’s four (4) processor cores — each with a gig of RAM. I’m giddy about it, and I can’t wait to get it online with all my content swapped over. It was cheap as hell, too. I priced the same thing through IBM and it was out of control. Plus, the monthly payment model is good considering that’s how you take in ad revenue.

The main goal of the move is to be able to survive the Digg Effect so that every month or so I can get slammed with traffic and avoid seeing comments like, “The site’s already down.” That’s just embarrassing.

I am also going to step up my efforts at content creation and organization. I have dozens of ideas for good study articles just waiting to be written and published. My Unix/Linux commands section is especially bare and I have a few commands that I can’t wait to write about.

New Approach

Overall I just want to refocus my efforts on my /study page. I’m not so much interested in the /writing area right now. I want to stay centered around creating high quality content that summarizes complex material. It’s the approach that benefits me the most because I end up farily versed in the stuff that interests me.

It’s also the most rewarding because people seem to enjoy that content the most, and they voice this approval either through private emails or through the social bookmarking sites.

Anyway, change is on the way. I’m hoping to see all aspects of the site’s quality head skyward.