The Big Bounce: New Server Fund Raiser

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Phade
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The Big Bounce: New Server Fund Raiser

Post by Phade » Thu May 21, 2015 7:35 am

Hey Everyone,

The site servers have been running nicely for the last few years. In fact, the current server hardware has been running continuously 24/7 for more than 6 years, greatly outliving its original projected lifespan!

However, that extended run time is now taking a toll on our trusty rusty machines. Power supplies have failed leaving us on a redundant supply. Cooling fans have stopped working. Several disks have been replaced. Our backup server has completely died. And now we are seeing even more failures all around.

As a result, it is now high time for some fresh servers. Regular donations have kept the site going and will continue to do so, but we don't have enough loose cash sitting around for a much needed major server update. This is where you come in.

We currently have 4 on-site hosted servers and 1 off-site backup server: the web server, database search server, primary video storage, and streaming video server. The offsite backup server is a read mirror of everything in case something catastrophic happens (hacker breaks in and delete everything, fire burns the building down, meteorite destroys the datacenter, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria!!).

All of the servers must be replaced. The last time we bought new servers (2009), the entirety of the server hardware cost about $30,000. We raised that amount purely with donations with room to spare! With technology advancing, we need just half the amount we did last time: the goal is to raise $15,000 total between now and midnight on Saturday, July 4, 2015, for servers to replace all our current machines.

We will have all new servers with new disks, CPUs, RAM, motherboards, power supplies, fans, network cards, new everything! Things will be running fast and smoothly again for years to come!!

Together we can do this, easily.

To donate towards this effort, please use the regular pledge and PayPal system. Every donation made between now and July 4 will go towards this effort. If you would like to skip PayPal and physically mail a donation, please contact me directly through forum private message for the mailing address.

And just like last time, to put my money where my mouth is, I give you not one but two challenges: As soon as we reach the halfway mark of $7500, I will personally purchase the entire backup server for the Org with my own money and make that my first contribution towards this effort! This will leave more funds to go towards the main site servers!! Secondly, I will also personally match the largest single cash donation up to $1000; if you give $1000, I will give $1000.

Finally, for everyone who does donate $1000 or more, I will send you a very special gift. I will go out and buy a brand new hard drive, copy every single video from AnimeMusicVideos.org over to the drive, and mail it to you along with some very nice bonuses (pre-made playlists sets I've showed at conventions, full playlists of every video best-to-worst, a data sheet with lots of info, and more). Any donation you make between now and July 4 will be summed towards the $1000 mark, meaning if you make four donations of $250 each, you still get the drive. To put this into perspective given that we have about 5TB of hosted videos, it would take you about 90 days to download them all at a continuous 5Mbps; luckily for you, I will be making the copy directly from the offsite backup disks. :-)

You are all awesome and I know we can do it to keep the site running for years to come! The fund drive starts now!!

Thank you and have a great day! ^_^

Phade.

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Niotex
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Re: The Big Bounce: New Server Fund Raiser

Post by Niotex » Thu May 21, 2015 8:47 am

Can you give us a cost analysis and breakdown for the amount you hope to raise?
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Infinity Squared
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Re: The Big Bounce: New Server Fund Raiser

Post by Infinity Squared » Thu May 21, 2015 8:55 am

$1000 is so tempting...
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Phade
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Re: The Big Bounce: New Server Fund Raiser

Post by Phade » Thu May 21, 2015 9:00 am

Niotex wrote:Can you give us a cost analysis and breakdown for the amount you hope to raise?
We're still debating the exact configuration, but a single server with dual quad octo-core Xeon processors, 64GB ram, dual SSDs for system, and a big array of storage drives is in the $12-15k range. We could then segment the server for specific functions. That or we could go with different physical servers or something else. With prices continuously dropping like they do in the server world, we'll get the exact specs when we're done. The goal is to get a machine(s) beefy and reliable enough to last another 6 years of continuous 24/7 AMV-pumping. :-)

Phade.

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Phade
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Re: The Big Bounce: New Server Fund Raiser

Post by Phade » Thu May 21, 2015 9:01 am

Infinity Squared wrote:$1000 is so tempting...
Three months of solid downloading one video at a time or $1000 going towards a great cause... Decisions, decisions... ;-)

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Niotex
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Re: The Big Bounce: New Server Fund Raiser

Post by Niotex » Thu May 21, 2015 9:27 am

I threw everything at the wall exceeding your specs and I'm not coming above $8-9K.

CPU: 2x Intel Xeon E5-2687W Sandy Bridge-EP 3.1GHz (Octo, not Quad)
Mainboard: Intel S2600COE SSI EEB Server Motherboard
Memory: Wintec Server Series 64GB (4 x 16GB) 1600 EEC Registered.
Networking: Intel E10G42BTDA PCI Express 2.0 x8 Server Adapter X520-DA2
System SSD: 2x Intel Fultondale 3 DC P3600 AIC 400GB PCI-Express 3.0 MLC Solid State Drive
Storage: 4x Seagate ST6000NM0024 6TB 7200 RPM 128MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Enterprise
Rack: Specific one I spec'd was out of stock so grabbed a 220 one.

All in all $8,298.88 with vast room for expansion. What did I miss?
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CrackTheSky
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Re: The Big Bounce: New Server Fund Raiser

Post by CrackTheSky » Thu May 21, 2015 9:31 am

Phade wrote:Finally, for everyone who does donate $1000 or more, I will send you a very special gift. I will go out and buy a brand new hard drive, copy every single video from AnimeMusicVideos.org over to the drive, and mail it to you along with some very nice bonuses (pre-made playlists sets I've showed at conventions, full playlists of every video best-to-worst, a data sheet with lots of info, and more).
For the next month or so, there's going to be a major internal battle between desire and common sense. Holy crap.

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Re: The Big Bounce: New Server Fund Raiser

Post by Radical_Yue » Thu May 21, 2015 9:34 am

CrackTheSky wrote:
Phade wrote:Finally, for everyone who does donate $1000 or more, I will send you a very special gift. I will go out and buy a brand new hard drive, copy every single video from AnimeMusicVideos.org over to the drive, and mail it to you along with some very nice bonuses (pre-made playlists sets I've showed at conventions, full playlists of every video best-to-worst, a data sheet with lots of info, and more).
For the next month or so, there's going to be a major internal battle between desire and common sense. Holy crap.

When I read that I'm like "Ben is going to get the biggest nerd boner when he reads that."

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Phade
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Re: The Big Bounce: New Server Fund Raiser

Post by Phade » Thu May 21, 2015 9:40 am

Niotex wrote:I threw everything at the wall exceeding your specs and I'm not coming above $8-9K.
All in all $8,298.88 with vast room for expansion. What did I miss?
RAID card, dual redundant power supplies, more storage drives (greater redundancy, cold spares), chassis, rack rails, manufacturer warranty, and some other stuff. Like I said, the exact specs are still under debate and prices fluctuate. It should be July before we order (unless you guys pull something ultra-awesome and get this done early :-D ). $15k is a solid goal for solid replacement. We want this stuff to last for a very long time so we can do this kinda fund raiser as infrequently as possible. :-)

Phade.

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Niotex
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Re: The Big Bounce: New Server Fund Raiser

Post by Niotex » Thu May 21, 2015 9:53 am

Phade wrote:
Niotex wrote:I threw everything at the wall exceeding your specs and I'm not coming above $8-9K.
All in all $8,298.88 with vast room for expansion. What did I miss?
RAID card, dual redundant power supplies, more storage drives (greater redundancy, cold spares), chassis, rack rails, manufacturer warranty, and some other stuff. Like I said, the exact specs are still under debate and prices fluctuate. It should be July before we order (unless you guys pull something ultra-awesome and get this done early :-D ). $15k is a solid goal for solid replacement. We want this stuff to last for a very long time so we can do this kinda fund raiser a infrequently as possible. :-)

Phade.
So lets throw in a redundant PSU, raid card and 2 extra 6TB drives. Chassis was included and so were rack rails. From the look of the cart I get some warranty options and the total comes to about 9.5/10K if you want to be fancy. Still has a lot of cash unaccounted for.

Specs don't shift that fast so it's not unreasonable to ask a possible spec with a actual price tag attached to it. If you're wanting to do this and take the redesign on, I think it's only fair to be completely transparent. On both the hardware and the software platform side of things, as even a new low end server would be a huge leap in system resources. In short, what are you planning that would warrant a relatively speaking high end rack?
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