At Mon, 5 Oct 2009 15:34:38 -0700 (PDT) CentOS mailing list <centos at centos.org> wrote: > > On Mon, 5 Oct 2009, nate wrote: > > > ML wrote: > >> HI All, > >> > >> How fast does a a small DNS Server need to be? I will have about 10 > >> servers and a few workstations. I have a few older Compaq PIII > >> boxes with 1gb RAM each or I have faster P4 boxes. > > > > Your watch is probably sufficient. > > Or your phone... > > It wasn't THAT long ago that "monster" servers ran 85MHz SPARC 4d's. > (We had a cool 12-proc unit that auto-failed one cpu so I could say > with a straight face that I administered the only 11-processor web > server I knew...) > > Seriously, you'd have to look long and hard to find a computer that > didn't have the horsepower to host DNS, DHCP, NTP and static HTTP > services. > > The bigger issue is ensuring that an older computer has enough disk > space to house a modern distro and enough RAM to run modern kernels -- > and even then you can tighten things up if you're willing to work with > a speciality distro. Right. You'll *have* to get at least a socket-7 motherboard with a K6 processor and DIMM RAM sockets and PCI bus, if only because getting old-school SIMMs is hard these days. And getting a distro with install kernels (much less stock kernels) for less than a 586 is getting hard, unless you opt for something like Slackware or Linux From Scratch. In practice any still working minimually i686 system with a reasonable amount of RAM (for just a DNS server, 256meg RAM and a 20-40 GIG IDE disk, would probably even be enough to install, say, CentOS). I recently installed CentOS 5.2 on a old Dell box (PII or PIII vintage) with an 18gig disk. No X11. Just DNS, DHCPD, PPPD, Samba, CUPS, and little else. This little box is just being used as a dialup 'router'. It is jacked into a wireless 'router', but the wireless router is just being used as an accesspoint and Ethernet switch (this is a home setup -- broadband is not presently available, only dialup internet). > -- Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933 Deepwoods Software -- Download the Model Railroad System http://www.deepsoft.com/ -- Binaries for Linux and MS-Windows heller at deepsoft.com -- http://www.deepsoft.com/ModelRailroadSystem/