new to linux dedicated server

[mrhankey]

hi,

i am currently going to be setting up a linux dedicated box and have a few questions if somenone could give me some input into it. not too in depth so lamens terms would be best.

1. can someone recommend a good hosting company for a dedicated box?
2. i forsee having around 5000 users, would 1 linux box handle this?
3. i have read articles about how facebook works and found this one interesting: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/facebook-work-nuts-bolts-technology-explained/

some of the info on it for database caching etc, is this something that should be considered? when i have done database driven sites in past it was mainly shopping carts etc, this is a site which will be accessed 24/7 constantly having queries ran on it and connection to the database for most periods of the day(business users). i have read about sites like facebook using multiple servers, why is this needed and how would it even work having the site and database across multiple servers? is this best practice for a site?

if anyone could help that would be grea.t

many thanks

[mrhankey]

Thanks can you help with my queries though?

[smantscheff]

1) www.netuse.de. I don't know if they have an english interface, but they have a support which does it's job.
2) How much traffic will the users generate? In general, I'd say: it doesn't matter. The standard shared machine which you can rent for a few bucks will do the job with ease.
Start with a small box. If traffic grows, move database and server to two different small machines. If it still grows, add another web server and a load balancer. If it still grows, move your (mysql) database to a cluster.

[mrhankey]

thank you for your help. how do you have a site on 2 machines and syncing?

many thanks

[smantscheff]

Both sites have the same setup (LAMP), and the website scripts are controlled by SVN (or another version control tool) so that they can easily be updated. The content is in the database of which there is only one.

[mrhankey]

thanks so subversion control basically keeps the site across to server synced. including the database? is this good to have in case one server crashes or does it help with performance?

thanks again

[smantscheff]

(Sub)Version control lets you develop the website on your development system and roll it out through controlled and easyly synced channels. In a proper setup you can sync your (slave) servers to your (master) development machine with a click.
Regarding the database, its easier to have one central database to which all webservers connect than a distributed system. If you need a distributed database for performance, install a MySQL cluster.