Do I need two dedicated servers to split my mysql and website? My site getting slow. :(

Hi vbseo,

My site has grown quite a bit thanks to the power of the vbseo software. We officially reached 500,000 post in less than 2 years and becoming one of the most active psychology forums around. We are now averaging over 60,000 post a month with 6.5million pageviews a month. Over 220,000 unique visitors a month as well

Anyways I am now having problems with my sites growth and cpu usage.

I'm currently on a dedicated server.

Here are the specs...

Intel Core i7 920 (2.66GHZ 8MB - HT - Triple Channel)
12GB DDR3 Ram
Primary Disk 80GB Intel X25-M SSD
LiteSpeed Web Server [2 CPU License]
Network Speed 100Mbs Public + Private
10TB Premium Transfer Bandwidth

Now this is good server but now it's starting to slow down. At certain hours, the server lags and server load increases to 10seconds+

We currently get 900+ users a day logging in and maybe around 500+ users online at anyone time.

Do you think I should upgrade my server or split my server into two? Do I need two dedicated servers or can I get 1 dedicated mysql server and 1 vps servers for the website?


Or If I was to upgrade to one server, will this setting be better than splitting and will it increase performance?

Intel Dual Xeon E5405 (2.00GHZ 12MB Cache)
12GB DDR3 ECC Registered Ram
Primary 250GB 7.2k RPM SATAII 16MB Cache
Secondary Disk for Mysql 80GB Intel X25-M SSD
Network Speed 100Mbs Public + Private
10TB Premium Transfer Bandwidth
LiteSpeed Web Server [4 CPU License]


My host has done everything it can to increase performance and these guys are server experts but I think I've stayed on this server for too long. :P

Please any advice you give will totally help.

2 servers isn't always faster. You effectively add a translation layer into the mix and it makes maintaining everything twice as hard.

I would go with the one bigger/better server. If you can afford it, go for the E5600 series. or at least the 5500. the 5400's, while good, are already obsolete more or less.

I would also look into putting your non-essential stuff like attachments, avatars, etc onto a cloud service of some sort. very cheap to do so and will keep all that file serving load off the box.

The current server you are using is not a GOOD server. In fact it is a very bad server for Servers. I7 is not a server CPU. You should use a designated CPU like Xeon or Opteron series for your server.

Originally Posted by Brian Cummiskey

2 servers isn't always faster. You effectively add a translation layer into the mix and it makes maintaining everything twice as hard.

I would go with the one bigger/better server. If you can afford it, go for the E5600 series. or at least the 5500. the 5400's, while good, are already obsolete more or less.

I would also look into putting your non-essential stuff like attachments, avatars, etc onto a cloud service of some sort. very cheap to do so and will keep all that file serving load off the box.

Thank you for your input Brian. I'm going to research the cdn feature. Sounds interesting.

Originally Posted by Mert Gökçeimam

The current server you are using is not a GOOD server. In fact it is a very bad server for Servers. I7 is not a server CPU. You should use a designated CPU like Xeon or Opteron series for your server.

Ah thanks. Ya I think I'll move into a xeon server.