Beginners Questions • How to shop for and setting up 24/7 server?

How to properly setting up a 24/7 non-stop server running CLI OS and a few self-developed applications to achieve best-practice up time?

Depends what those "self-developed applications" are.

May be one hangup reboot per 12 to 24 months, if possible.

A properly configured system on high-quality hardware shouldn't "hangup" ever, and reboots are generally only needed for kernel updates.

1. CLI version is more stable than GUI version, right?

There are no CLI or GUI "versions", whether or not you have a GUI depends on whether or not you install one. A GUI is however considerable added complexity, and generally unneeded on a server.

2. Any rule of thumb best-practice on how much RAM?

Again, totally dependent on what these mystery "self-developed applications" are (and what other services, e.g. databases, webservers etc. they need).

How to read 'top' command and calculate amount of RAM so that it has enough safty margin.

Top is quite clear, the only common confusion is free memory vs buffers/cache. The latter is "almost free" in the sense that it's used to speed up disk access, but will be made available to applications if needed.

3. Should we run the system at full load for, may be, a few days and observe the top command output.

Of course, how else are you going to work out the hardware requirements of your setup? We're not psychic, so if you're not going to say exactly what you intend to run and with how many users, the only person who can figure out your hardware requirements is you.

Presumably, many software modules (inside Ubuntu and our application) use dynamic memory allocation and release and RAM usage is variable??? Used RAM should not be growing too much over days or else may be memory leakage (not released)?

Memory-management 101. If your application is not freeing memory it no longer needs, that's a bug in said application.

4. How to interface with UPS, to signal AC power loss and perform orderly shutdown?

That depends on the UPS. Probably nut (which supports several models and communication protocols) or apcupsd (specifically for APC units).

5. What hardware is "more" suitable, being mainstream and widely used and more fully debugged due to mainstream usage?

How long is a piece of string? You haven't specified your intended workload, budget, or environment. Real servers from real server manufacturers are better tested in server environments, everything else is up to what you intend to do with it.

Is DIY build-to-order using says, ASUS mother board good? This format has been around for many decades and likely go on while brand name computer changes model soon.

Depends on the exact parts used. ASUS makes both very good and very questionable products.
"DIY" parts change just as often as "brand name"/OEM boxes. If you really want long-term support, get a real server and a support contract from a big server vendor like Dell or HP. Be prepared to pay for the privilege.

The server handles small number of bytes per seconds. Which CPU, Intel N100, Intel low-thermal power desktop (not affect by 13rd and 14th generatio issues) CPU (i3, i5, etc, may be 1xx to 2xx USD for CPU), ARM, Rockchip, etc?

Again with the piece of string. "Small number of bytes" tells us nothing useful whatsoever, so recommendations are impossible.

6. Any pointers to information on middleware, utility, etc. that you recommend for the above use case?

What use case? "self-developed applications" and "small number of bytes" are not a use-case, they're about as vague as "needs to do some computering stuff".

Statistics: Posted by steve_v — 2024-11-11 04:27 — Replies 1 — Views 63

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