Dave, exactly what equipment /services do you need?

Hello Dave,

I have not visited in a few weeks due to a busy schudule.
When I read your "what's new" I saw your posting regarding
the equipment needing to be expanded...or do you need a whole, new larger system?

If you could post here what you need maybe there would be some members that could help you. I do a great deal of research on-line and have seen resources for computers.

Many of us that do not post often; still check in and read the posts. I am still behind in replies to folks but, it will get done.

In the meantime... I sure would like more info. from you about your needs. Is it just hardware? or do you have other needs as well to allow you to do what you really want on this site? Do you need Satellite service... high speed transmission?

If you would share information as to those needs... we may be able help. Could you put some kind of money figure on that, too? Who knows... maybe there is a "Garden Angel" who will find the answer? *wink*

Looking forward to your posting. Thank you so much for all your hard work and time. It will all work out. Let us help.

Betty of KY

A successful website is never an inexpensive task, especially when the website is specially created to cater to the needs of a vertical market (such as gardening). Dave's Garden is more than a website - it's an application, written in a programming language called "PHP" and backed by a powerful database. The database is necessary for the extremely high volume of information that passes through Dave's Garden daily.

Chiefly speaking, there are two main areas where Dave's Garden costs money:

1. Bandwidth

2. Hardware

#2 is generally a one-time deal. #1 is a recurring expense.

#1 is currently fixed at $140 per month, which gives us up to 40 gigs of transfers per month. We are dangerously approaching that limit. :( When we cross it, they start charging more per month, increasing the cost as the bandwidth increases.

Regarding hardware, we are outgrowing our current setup. When I put it in place only 3 short months ago, it was very adequate for our 200 members, relatively few forum posts, no journal, etc. Today it is hardly keeping up.

Our current system is a single AMD K6/450Mhz box with 256 Megs of RAM.

We will need new hardware, and soon. Due to the special demands of Dave's Garden, my next hardware upgrade will be to a 2-server configuration. 1 server is the front-end webserver, the other is the database server. They will be connected through cross-over cable to pass information back and forth.

I've done some research, and all the hardware that I need can be obtained for approximately $3,800. This would last us several years.

I've never seen the "Garden Angel", but if she/he wanted to help out with hardware, I certainly wouldn't turn it down. I don't know in what form the garden angel comes, but I've already taken the step to contact Burpee seed company asking for a donation for the hardware, in exchange for a little advertising consideration (no banner - just a message on each page thanking them for the hardware). They haven't written back yet, and I think they are a long shot.

I love doing Dave's Garden, and the best case scenario is a find a way to make this site produce some kind of revenue to make it at least be self-funding. This would be the ideal situation. Until then, however, I've got the challenge of finding a way to keep this thing going strong without breaking our bank.

Dave

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