[Zope] Hardware for Zope + ZEO

[Wankyu Choi]

Dear all,

I'm planning to rebuild one of my commercial portal sites using Zope =
with
more than 300,000 users. The portal has been running on APM( apache + =
php +
mysql ) without a glitch for three years.

I've been worried about Zope's scalibility since I already have too many
users with as much data.=20

I came to a conclusion that ZEO might help with a bit more hardware =
thrown
in.

Here's my plan. (OS: Linux)

1. Get a rock-solid machine for ZEO server: Intel XEON dual cpus (SR2300 =
if
you want to know this Intel server model) with 2G mem + six 73G segate =
SCA
scsi hard disks + RAID5 for fault-tolerance (intel srcu32 dual channel =
raid
controller)

2. Throw in at least three less-powerful machines for ZEO clients: 1 P3
tualatin + 1G mem + 1 36G hard disk with NO RAID.

I plan to buy one No.1 machine plus one No.2 machine since I already =
have
two machines, candidates for the other two ZEO clients.=20

I came under the impression using Zope for the past year ( and from
python/zope docs ) that python uses only one CPU no matter how many I =
have.
One of the two machines I already have has four Xeon cpus but Zope on =
that
machine runs way slower than one on my single P3 desktop with  a bit =
more
horsepower.

Suppose you have 300,000 users with tons of data and expect they'd start
adding tons more data once you open this portal based on Zope + heavily
customized CMF/Plone.

Would this setup seem reasonable? Or better still, how would you set =
your
portal up if you got extra dough for hardware?

Specifically I want to know...

1. Would the above setup seem reasonable?

2. Some say P3 tualatin is better for Python than P4 or even Xeon
processors. Is that true?

3. I'm looking towards the Directory Storage over File Storate for tons =
of
reasons, the reasons you might easily guess. I'll have six 73G disks =
with
RAID5, which means I'd have to let go 73G for storing parity =
information.
That leaves me about 365G. At least 300G will be allocated for ZODB. =
Would
FileStorage maintain its integrity if the db grows to 300G? What I'm =
worried
about most is that I can't make it versionless. Directory Storage has =
that
option. Comments?

4. Would I really get no benefits from running Python on SMP machines? =
That
is, would I better off with two 1 cpu machines than one dual cpu =
machine? If
true, do I really have to buy Dual XEON intel server for ZEO central =
storage
server? Why don't I just settle for a single CPU machine for that with =
more
RAM?

5. Can I run a ZEO client on ZEO server? To sum up, I'd get a total of =
four
machines: one ZEO server and  three ZEO clients. I want to make it four
clients. I assume I can also run a ZEO client on the ZEO server but I =
hunch
that some would probably say no to that... . May I ask why?=20

6. You have the following machines. How would you set up your ZEO server =
and
clients? Remember, you have 300,000 users eager to add data :-)

Machine No.1 - 2 Xeon 2.0GHZ CPUs + 2G mem + six 73G disks + Intel =
high-end
RAID controller
Machine No.2 - 1 P3 tualatin CPU + 1G mem + 1 36G disk
Machine No.3 - 2 Xeon CPUs (older model) + 1G mem + 3 36G disks (disks =
old,
will be recycled for backup storage or something)
Machine No.4 - 4 Xeon CPUs (older model) + 2G mem + 4 36G disks (disks =
old,
will be recycled for backup storage or something)

I'd appreciate any comments.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Wankyu Choi

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  NeoQuest Communications, Inc.
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