XServe to replace cobalts?

[ollio]

ello,

We would like to use the xServe to host multiple small websites (50-100), total of 8.000.000 hits/month or so.
Before we used cobalts, but we are pretty tired of the interface that doesn’t interact with the changes you manually makes, or easily gets corrupted. And also the low level of RAM they can handle.

I’ve read alot about the xServe (and bought one)
but I still have a couple of questions, maybe someone with some experience with the xServe can help me out.

1.
Is it possible to have a cobalt like interface for users?
I know there is webmin? but is it sufficient?
Is it stable?
Does it work seemingly with OS X server(for example statistics software,mailing lists,sendmail, etc) , or will we need to install 3rd party open source software that replaces the soft apple includes? Ir will it corrupt apache by changing apple specific settings as I read elsewhere

2.Can we set per virtual sites rights with WebMin on OS X ?
Examples: that virtual site can have php but no frontpage extensions, can have maximum 10 users(which they can create themself).
Can use maximum 100MB HD space etc…

3. Can we put limits on data throughput on a per virtual site basis? or is it per network card?
Is there some kind of monitoring software to extensively see how much data transfer that virtual site or that user used

4. Can the Xserve hardware wise handle multiple websites with many hits… (memory , data throughput,…)

5. is there a good webmail software, neomail kinda sucks. Is Squirelmail any good?

6. About staging and then moving to datacenter :
Can I install and config all software and then move over to datacenter and change IP? I read here that this gives lots of problems. Is it better to install and config all remotely then?

7. What are good backup solutions?

[jadnhm]

Are you planning on using the Xserve you already have or buying a new one? Because there’s probably going to be some major revisions to hardware coming on Monday. You might want to wait to have your hardware questions answered then, if you’re planning on buying new hardware to do this job for you.

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