Applefritter's new server

Submitted by Tom Owad on November 20, 2010 - 3:34pm

After three weeks of hard work, the new Applefritter server is now live. This is our first major upgrade in several years, and we used the opportunity to both replace the hardware and upgrade the software. When we first moved to the Drupal content management system in 2004, we used a lot of third party modules and our own customizations to provide the features we needed. A lot of the modules we used have since been discontinued and our own customizations have become redundant either with core features or mainstream modules. This made upgrading an arduous process, but we are happily now running a very typical Drupal installation, which will make it much easier for us to stay current.

Now, onto the hardware. digital.forest, which donates our hosting, very kindly took a few photos of the new install for us. First, here's the old 3U server, which Eudimorphodon sent in, probably back around the same time we made the conversion to Drupal:

Our new server is a Mac mini. In fact, it's the very same Mac mini described in this take-apart guide, albeit with upgraded RAM and hard drive. It's now living at digital.forest, in one of MK 1's Mac mini rackmount brackets.

Finally, we have a few photos of the cabinet and row that our new Mac mini is, so you can get a feel for the data center:

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Comments

tmtomh's picture

Submitted by tmtomh on November 20, 2010 - 5:27pm.

Very cool! Thanks for the pics and the hard work!

Eudimorphodon's picture

Submitted by Eudimorphodon on November 20, 2010 - 11:31pm.

... 2004 ...

Now, onto the hardware. digital.forest, which donates our hosting, very kindly took a few photos of the new install for us. First, here's the old 3U server, which Eudimorphodon sent in, probably back around the same time we made the conversion to Drupal...

Wow, has it really been that long? I guess I must be getting old, as I can't remember if Drupal was ever on the K6 system you had prior to the black box. I *do* still remember the fun I had shopping for the guts of that thing, such as discovering first-hand that almost no one made i865 motherboards which could actually reliably use all four RAM slots...

Anyway, congratulations on the new server and software upgrade. Hopefully you'll get many good miles out of the Mini!

Dr. Webster's picture

Submitted by Dr. Webster on November 20, 2010 - 11:41pm.

I can't remember if Drupal was ever on the K6 system you had prior to the black box.

I don't think so. As I recall, the K6 box was an emergency replacement after Deep Dish bit it, and the just-retired hardware happened just before we went to Drupal. I'd go digging through the old AF YaBB forums to find out for sure, but we still haven't quite gotten those up and running yet :mac:

Either way, I'm happy that, as an Apple-centric site, we're back on Apple hardware.

Tom Owad's picture

Submitted by Tom Owad on November 21, 2010 - 1:28am.

I'm impressed with you two - I don't even remember the K6.

Eudimorphodon's picture

Submitted by Eudimorphodon on November 21, 2010 - 7:39pm.

I'm impressed with you two - I don't even remember the K6.

There wasn't much memorable about the K6. ;^)

My *vague* recollection of the order of events was that the site was going to Drupal before the black box and the K6 just folded under the load but I may well be wrong. ;^)

I suppose there's irony to be found that *technically* the new Apple server has more in common with "The Enemy" than what qualified as an "Apple Computer" ten years ago... but life is funny that way.

TheUltimateMacUser's picture

Submitted by TheUltimateMacUser on November 30, 2010 - 4:19pm.

I think we have those same cabinets at work. ::shudders::

Sweet Mini server!

alk's picture

Submitted by alk on December 7, 2010 - 10:16pm.

Very cool, Tom! And props for getting back on Apple hardware.

Peace,
Drew

misterk85's picture

Submitted by misterk85 on December 15, 2010 - 9:14am.

Congrats on the upgrade. I've noticed the site loads -alot- faster than before. :coolmac:

ex-parrot's picture

Submitted by ex-parrot on January 10, 2011 - 8:49pm.

It's hard to believe it's been 7 years since we hacked together the original Drupal site.

I can only hope all of the code I wrote back then is well and truly purged from the codebase 8^)

Thanks for everything guys!

ex-parrot's picture

Submitted by ex-parrot on January 10, 2011 - 8:56pm.

Also: mad props to whoever made the Mac OS styled buttons for the forums. Slick.

Tom Owad's picture

Submitted by Tom Owad on January 10, 2011 - 9:13pm.

That'd be Colin (Dr. Webster).

Submitted by Firestorm on February 15, 2011 - 11:31pm.

What happened to the ANS 300?

BlackScorpion's picture

Submitted by BlackScorpion on February 26, 2011 - 5:49pm.

Congratulations Tom, You've come a long way from the home computers we used to run our servers on? Man was that a long time ago!! Best of luck with the new server.