Wednesday and Thursday I spent approximately 26 hours installing and tuning Archlinux x64 on a system. I published the resulting benchmarks this morning. A typical Fedora 11 x64 install requires about 2 hours. Archlinux is an entirely different matter. The tale of the benchmarks shows that the performance for compiling Apache Web Server is dramatically increased. My core 2 Duo E8400 outperformed a Dual Xeon X3380 on a benchmark that is heavily MP dependent.
This creates an interesting question. If you have to spend several thousand dollars to have a professional install and tune an operating system, when does that become financially viable? It is a question I have to answer frequently in our times of economic uncertainty.
The answer is complex. Installing Archlinux outperforms any other Linux OS by a margin of 12% or more. TODAY.
Does your organization have 3 or more servers that are no longer able to meet the taxing demands placed upon them? How many new servers will you need this month? At 12% only 8 total servers are required to reach a balance of efficiencies. This presumes your organization uses Linux already. For that balance you would hire professional for approximately 72 hours of work at $350 per hour. If you were flexible and treated me kindly, I might only charge $300 per hour. The invoice is still approximately $21,000.
My $21,000 fee becomes a very lucrative offer for your organization. If you have 4 or more existing Linux servers that are at or near capacity. New servers cost $9,000 – $24,000 or more per unit. $36,000 for hardware versus $21,000 for software. The call is yours to make.
Windows Servers increase the performance differential DRAMATICALLY. A Fedora 11 x64 system will outperform the exact same hardware running Windows 2008 advanced server by 60-85%. The total cost of ownership for Linux is significantly lower. Archlinux does not require continual license renewal fees. Updates do not impact server availability. No need a cal or license for every client or seat connected to the server. One Linux server can perform all of the functions of 3 separate types of Windows servers. You are permitted unlimited connections from a licensing standpoint, with Linux.
If you have a home office with one Desktop system, Fedora is definitively an easier solution. You may lose 12% of your potential performance over Archlinux. Fedora can run circles around XP, Vista, Win7 and yes even MAC OS 10.5.x. That 12% difference is not worth the man hours requisite for a desktop or laptop. It is quite the bargain for a server.
