Snappy Cluster

We've decided to team up with RockyNet. Their data center was secure, clean, well maintained, and provides a physically redundant, dual gig-e optical connection to the outside world for about $1400 a month. This includes a tap onto the massive UPS+generator system and an alternating hot/cold aisle climate control system. It was a balmy 60 degrees. Ahh, room to grow.

We're going with  a dinosaur theme: Tyrannosaurus, Magyarosaurus, Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus, and the coolest sounding Psittacosaurus.

Ben and Brennen are happy campers. Chris was there as well shooting photos on his Android.

What does this mean?

First, we've got a larger pipe to the outside world. This means we can handle 10 megabit standard with the ability to spike up to 100 megabit or more.

Second, this means that we have successfully taken the leap from a dual server system (one database server, one web server) to a 'cluster of nodes' system:

• webserver
  
• load balancer
  
• static content server
  
• dual load-balanced database servers

This required a near-total overhaul of the way our site operates. It was incredibly painful, but now that we're here, we can add servers to combat load within 24 hours. We are still optimizing much of the site, but you should see page load improvements.

Third, distributed computing means that load handling is not linear. We did not go from 2 servers to 5 servers - we went from "2" to "20" effectively. We're not sure we'll be able to handle the full load of Free Day, but we're arming up as best we can.

Admittedly the SparkFun site was molasses since the week of Thanksgiving. We hope that you now find the site snappy and quick. Please chime in below - we'd love to hear what you think of the new site.