Networking :: Diskless Web Server: How Much RAM?



Okay, I'm looking at the possibility of putting together a server, and I'd like to do this without a hard drive. My question, then, is how much RAM people would recommend. Here is how it would be used:

It will be a server for a home network or direct ppp dial-in (so I'm not violating the terms of service of my ISP), which will not be accessible from the outside. The system would be loaded into RAM. It would only be accessed by two or three users, per day. It would serve only static pages. I would probably use the built-in Monkey server.

The ppp software that was mentioned, earlier, would be running on a separate computer, so that won't add to the load.

I'm going to err on the high side and say that there will be 10 Mb of files being served.

So, how much would we probably be talking, as a general idea?  Would 256 Mb be enough, or would 1 Gb be more accurate?

(The reason I ask is that this will be running from my apartment, and I want something with the smallest possible number of noise-producing, moving parts. I think the fan situation has been pretty much figured out, leaving me with the issue of a hard drive.)

Thanks in advance!

This distro of Linux has very low requirements on hardware.
The machine I am working from has a webserver on it and it handles email for about 50 people. It has 160mb of ram & a 4 gig hd.. it runs at about 50% of the ram in use at any given time.

Postfix, procmail, spamassassin & Razor running.
Smooth flights...

Sorry, I guess I missed that you want it to run from ram. If you run it from ram you need enough room to hold all of the programs and DSL that you are running. Then see how big they are compressed add there size to the size of DSL, then I would multiply by 2 to give you enough room.

The current.iso file on my laptop says it is using 25megs of ram once it is loaded.

256MB should be plenty.
Okay, thanks.  I figured it would require at least a Gb!

I've been putting some thought into the $250 computer advertised on this site.  It sounds like that would fit my needs, nicely.

Again, thanks for the advice!

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