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Let's say you have some MySQL databases, 500GB of traffic and about 10GB of change in data during a day. How much would it cost to host a site like that (roughly)? How many different servers should you have?

What are the advantages of having more than one server?

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closed as too localized by Jesper Mortensen, Chopper3 Apr 18 '11 at 11:14

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The prices can vary depending on the services you are looking for and if there is a management layer on top of it.

I'd start off by shopping around not for the best price but rather the host who understands the needs of your application and can meet those with levels of guarantee behind their SLA.

Take a look at managed hosting, cloud computing and more specific 'Hybrid Cloud' which sounds like what you may be looking for. Something flexible, scalable and the ability to outsource the managed hosting portion of this.

If you need some help, drop me a message i'd be more than happy to help out.

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I would say for that kind of traffic you would want multiple dedicated servers or a solution like Amazon AWS. I don't know how much that would cost in terms of Dedicated servers, but a capable solution on AWS could cost about $5k per month.

The advantages of multiple servers are realized in terms of load balancing, redundancy, and security:

  • Load Balancing: You can have 3 medium-sized or 5 small-sized servers (for example) instead of one giant one, to distribute the load and minimize failure. In many situations several smaller servers could end up being less expensive than one large one.

  • Redundancy: Suppose you did go with one giant server. And the PSU/RAM/HD/Motherboard died. Now you're offline. With multiple servers, the failure of one could easily be absorbed by the others, limiting or eliminating downtime.

  • Security: Suppose someone gains admin access to your one big giant server: Now your DB and files are gone. With, say, separate servers for Web and DB, and provided you used different passwords, the scope of the damage could be limited.

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Ok, so if you'll have to pay 5k, how much can you expect to earn? – DarkLightA Jan 8 '11 at 23:48
Well, that's a question nobody can answer. It depends on your app! If it gets popular, and enough people fork out for it, you could make millions! On the other hand, you could make nothing, and be out a few grand in hosting bills :) – BenGC Jan 8 '11 at 23:50
Wait, but aren't you pretty much guaranteed a profit? If you have a hosting plan that's at a price accustomed to the site traffic, and you have some adsense ads nicely placed, is there a possibility that you'll still end up in the negatives? – DarkLightA Jan 9 '11 at 0:06
Wait, are you actually experiencing that kind of traffic now? If you are, yeah, you will probably at least break even, but when it comes to that stuff, there are never any guarantees! – BenGC Jan 9 '11 at 0:14
No, I'm just starting mvc as of now :D – DarkLightA Jan 9 '11 at 0:24
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