[Hcoop-discuss] Help plan our next server set-up!

[Adam Chlipala]

Justin S. Leitgeb wrote:

> With that, Shaun, Karl, Nathan, Adam, and others who may not have 
> spoken up yet -- how do you see us building out our infrastructure to 
> best leverage existing resources while leaving us space for 
> anticipated growth?  Specifically, what resources do we have access 
> to, now and in the near future, in terms of hardware and capital that 
> we can put to use?  How do you see these resources being allocated?

We don't have terribly much that I see being an important part of the 
next stage.

We own one several-years-old server, Abulafia, which is colocated at 
Xiolink now as backup DNS and similar.  I think the cost of buying a new 
server exceeding its specifications is so low that owning it doesn't 
make much of a difference.

Our main server fyodor is rented as part of a "dedicated server" plan 
from InterServer, so that doesn't count as an asset in the usual sense.

As far as capital, we have $1,448.68 in our bank account now, with 
$105.11 <https://history.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_history> more 
on its way from PayPal.  We haven't been trying to accumulate anything; 
this basically just accounts for each member paying enough at once to 
make payments infrequent enough for his tastes.

I anticipate obtaining the money to fund our next stages by setting 
member dues appropriately.  I know that we have a disparity among 
members in terms of what they're willing to pay, so I think it probably 
makes sense to let members pledge to pay multiple shares.  I would 
definitely do this.  To what extent this is necessary will become 
clearer when we determine how much money we will need.

<https://history.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_history>

> Ideas about an ideal setup that would help us to adapt to future growth? 

The main things of this sort that I think we need are:
- The ability to add new servers easily
- A shared file system, to let us share member home directories and 
similar across these servers
- A solid system for organizing human administrators