So I decided a little over two weeks ago that I was going to build a new server. Although my desktop isn't exactly decrepit, I finally decided that it was time to take the web site, along with the various other server tasks it was handling, and put them onto a dedicated machine. Of course, like any good CS major, I had to build my own machine. I started with a barebones Shuttle PC, which was on clearance because it is an AMD Socket A architecture. My original intent was to build a new desktop and server, and use some of the parts from my old desktop in the server. However, it turns out that all of the stuff I was going to use either a) won't work, or b) since the desktop is a dual CPU machine, its parts are worth more on Ebay than their single CPU counterparts cost to buy new.
So, not only did I decide to just buy new components, but since I already had the case sitting around, I just went ahead and bought the rest of the parts. So much for waiting until after the school year like I planned! So for anyone salivating to know the details, the (very tiny) box has an Athlon 2400+ and a gig of PC2700 RAM. Boring, I know. However, it also has dual Seagate Barracuda 250GB SATA hard drives running on RAID 1 - that's 250 gigs of mirrored, fault-tolerant storage. The box has no optical disk or floppy drive, though. This made for an interesting Windows installation yesterday, which required both Windows Server 2003 on a CD, and the RAID drivers on a floppy. I raided (pun not intended) my desktop for the optical drive, and Matthew Brand was kind enough to lend me his floppy drive. I am very happy that Windows Vista/Longhorn Server promises to make this less painful by dropping the floppy drive. In the mean time, I hope I don't have to reinstall Windows on it again.
So, this site is now running entirely off of the new server. This should mean absolutely nothing to anyone reading this, but it at least makes me happy.