Sun vs. Intel recomendations
I'm looking for some advice/recomendations from you server gurus:
We currently have a site which is mainly a vBulletin message board site. We typically have around 250 people active on the boards at any given time. For those of you unfamiliar with vBulletin, it is a PHP/MySQL forums software. Unlike UBB, every page is generated dynamically.
We currently host on a dedicated machine with the following specs:
Dual PIII 700Mhz
2GB RAM
2 X 18 HD
Linux/Apache
Use about 150GB/month bandwidth
Load typically around 2.
We are growing quickly and are looking to move to a new host & server. One of the hosts we are talking with has been suggesting moving to Sun boxes. They suggest Netras or Ultras (440Mhz). I am not very familiar with Sun systems. I've been told that these two systems are fairly old processor wise. I'd love some knowledge comparing the processor power of Intel chips vs. Sun. Can I expect the Sun processors to be faster than Intel? Are there newer Sun systems which are much better? Am I better off moving to two Intel boxes (1 database, 1 httpd) than a single Sun? Will I need the same (or different) ram in a Sun box? Are there other questions/issues I should be thinking about?
Thanks!
