Eeepc Web Server Benchmark

I bought a Eeepc for about US$280. It has 512M RAM, and a 4G solid state drive.  I was impressed by the 40 seconds boot time for Win XP.  So I thought Eeepc can be a fast web server.  In addition, Eeepc offers an advantage of  low power consumption, has 4 hours battery in case of power failure, takes less space, and generates much less heat than the traditional desktop server.  Here is the benchmark result:

1. Apache Web Server Throughput over LAN

Mode Eeepc+XP Server+Linux
Static Html File 266 req/s 821 req/s
Dynamic PHP 30 req/s 71 req/s

2. Apache Throughput over 1 Mb/s Bandwidth

Mode Eeepc+XP Server+Linux
Static Html File 6.40 req/s 6.43 req/s
Dynamic PHP 22.88 req/s 29.98 req/s
* Static html file is 11K in size. Dynamic PHP output averages 3K in size.

3. Mysql Time Using Phpmyadmin over a 450MB Database

Operation Eeepc+XP DualCore+XP Server+Linux
go to last page 22.71 s 16.83 s 7.32 s
query on indexed field 0.028 s 0.361 s 0.127 s
query on indexed field with sort 0.431 s 4.483 s 1.523 s
query on non-indexed field with sort 15.40 s 17.36 s 7.52 s

Analysis

We see from the first test that when bandwidth is unlimited, traditional server is at least twice as fast as eeepc. But in a more realistic scenario with broadband upload bandwidth of 1Mbit/s, traditional server is only 31% faster than eeepc. Most websites have light traffic anyway and won't tell the difference between the performance of eeepc and a traditional server.

With Mysql, eeepc was 4 times faster in simple query because of the fast SSD. Eeepc did lose its advantage with complex query, requiring large CPU work. This suggest eeepc may be faster than traditional server in light traffic database driven websites, like a blog or small forum.

A server is estimated to use 100 watts, to power for one year cost about US$90. However, eeepc only use about 15 watts, takes only US$15 to power for one year. You can save $75 per year in electricity cost. The eeepc will pay for itself in 4 years with the electricity it saves.

Okay. Eeepc cost less to buy, less to run, and offers acceptable performance to typical light traffic web server, proxy server, file server, and printer server. But what's the drawback. For one thing, eeepc is designed to be an ultra mobile laptop. Whether eeepc can stand being running 24 hours a day, 365 days per year, for four years is questionable. I did turned it on for straight five days without problem. But can it last four years straight? It maybe possible because eeepc generates less heat and doesn't rely on a mechanical hard drive. But who knows. That's one risk that has to be considered.