Xeon Servers: They're a Gas, Gas, Gas

Have you spent too much on your low-performance, high-maintenance server? Maybe it's time to upgrade to a Xeon- or Pentium III-based powerhouse. With faster cache and more of it, plus built-in redundancy and reliability features, the seven workgroup servers we tested are no flash in the pan.

Operating Options: Linux

Last September, Chad Dickerson, vice president of technology for Salon.com, and his staff were rebooting Salon's Web servers constantly. The upstart Internet magazine had broken a story exposing an extramarital affair of House Judiciary Committee chairman Henry Hyde. "The Associated Press picked up the story, it moved to all the majors, and we were getting thousands of hits per minute," says Dickerson. "We were rebooting servers like musical chairs because our Windows NT servers couldn't handle the load."

Because of the fiasco, Dickerson switched his server farm to Linux. He says the move saved him money--partly because Linux runs well on his existing low-end servers. But also, he says, "Many of the apps and tools we needed were free. We didn't have to buy any software for remote administration, for sendmail, or for the OS itself." Dickerson has no regrets about the switch. "Since installing Linux, we haven't had to reboot any of the servers [45 days after the initial installation]."