Currently I have a dedicated server that for the most part runs great. Here are the operating specs.

Intel Celeron 2.4 GHz
256 MB DDR RAM

I have 5 sites loaded on it. Only two of those sites use a database and the other three sites are simple HTML sites.

I am looking to build two more sites; a free weblog service and an affiliate site much like commission junction. Both of these will use databases.

I have a shared server which I am not using. I feel this shared server will work ok for a little while, but will quickly be too weak.

So, I must decide on these options.

1. Add the two sites that will be using databases to my dedicated server(one at first and another a few weeks later) and move the three basic HTML sites to my shared server. Since they don't use a database, they should run smoothly on a shared server. This will leave 4 sites using a database. My goal is for three to share one database.

2. Get a second dedicated server and load the two new sites on it and leave the other dedicated server with the 5 sites alone.

What I think I will do is go with option 1 and ask to upgrade the RAM to 1 Ghz. Hopefully, that will make up for the two new sites. I honestly think they will be small for the first 6 months.

Any hints and suggestions would be appreciated. My goal in 6 months is to just get a monster managed server and place all the sites on them.

Mike

Heeeyyy big spender!!!

I'd go with the first option too, but I'm sure a dedicated server can handle a few HTML sites - it's possible to have 2-300 websites on one server without significant performance issues. How big/used are the sites?

If you're experiencing speed issues, sure it's not a problem with the connection? I.e. 10 or 100meg?

That's right. A dedicated server even for a Celeron can handle up to 200 small websites especially if not much database processing is needed. For your case, I think you can try moving all your websites to the dedicated server. That server should be able to handle things well easily without any issues.

Thanks guys! You are a big help. I will only have 7-8 sites and only three will use databases. I am working on one central database that all three can work off of. Hopefully, that will make things run smooth. What I will probably do is upgrade my existing server to 1 GIG of RAM just to make sure.

Mike