Web Server v2.0

    If you think back about a year ago, you may remember a period when there was no web server, FTP, or anything.  This was after the construction (and eventual catastrophic failure) of the first web server.  I did an article here about the case upgrade on Web Server v1.0.  The first unit had plenty of power but lacked reliability.  The main problem was that it would occasionally freeze without explanation.  That is totally unacceptable for any server.  I could never track down the cause and eventually assumed that the motherboard had a problem.

    The final blow came as a complete core dump, meltdown, whatever you want to call it.  Not only did it freeze up while I was sleeping (again), but it somehow lost the configuration information for all the hard drives on the system.  At the time I was using the software RAID built into Windows 2000.  There was 4 pairs of drives in that system that all lost their data!  I had been doing back-ups of the web sites and bulletin board, but the FTP drive was too big to back up.  I lost about 65GB of data off the FTP drive!  In one swoop all my data for the web sites, system drives, bulletin board and FTP all vanished.  The only thing left was a few .zip files of the web sites and the bulletin board on CD-R.  The server got disassembled and I started a new plan with the theme "don't put all your eggs in one basket".

    The plan takes shape

    At some point after the meltdown, I was talking with a friend about what happened.  He jokingly mentioned that his old Packard Bell computer was years old and still worked fine.  Although his comment was meant as a joke, he did have a point.  Those old Packard Bell's seemed rock-solid reliable.

    With a little bit of part scrounging, I threw together Web Server v2.0.  The concept was to use older, used, proven parts and keep the setup simple.  What I came up with surpassed my expectations.  Version 2 ended up running 8 web sites, an FTP, and two bulletin boards for over 6 months.  It did it 24/7 and never crashed once.  The thing was a rock!  Yesterday, 8/18/02, I finally took version 2 offline.  I waited until now to write an article about it because I was afraid of what people might say if they knew what version 2 was, (or you could say, what it wasn't) because it wasn't anything special at all.

Without further delay, I present Web Server V2.0

Kinda whimpy isn't it?  Let's take a look inside.

This is a picture of version 2 in service the day before it was shut down.  I took the cover off just for the picture.

Here's a better look inside after the server has been taken out of service.

Here's a system spec rundown:

    Although there was no back-up ability on the server, another machine on my LAN was responsible for nightly back-ups of the web drive.  The concept of having a separate computer do the back-ups was a result of the "don't put all your eggs in one basket" theory.  I never needed it though.  Version 2.0 never lost any data or even crashed once.  Those old Western Digital hard drives proved more reliable than Microsoft's software RAID 1!  I'm not sure what to do with this little guy now that I've retired him from his duties.  I think he'll get a vacation for a while. :)  Read the next articles to find out about the new FTP server, what Web Server v3.0 is all about, and why version 2.0 went to the retirement home despite faithful service.

Web Server v2.0 ran these sites and services:

www.captainjimkirk.com
www.perumean.com
www.jstreetbbs.com
www.divineinspireddesigns.com
www.adtech2002.net
www.hostingmojo.com
ftp.hostingmojo.com
www.luvtruck.com
forums.luvtruck.com
and, the luvtruck.com email system.