Matt Campbell

This post by #RachelByTheBay a few years ago had a big impact on how I think about server infrastructure: "One machine can go pretty far if you build things properly" https://rachelbythebay.com/w/2022/01/27/scale/

Taking that a step further, I think one small, inexpensive, underpowered (by today's standards) machine can go pretty far with reasonably efficient software.

May 26, 2025 at 3:45pmWeb
Show threadMatt CampbellMay 26, 2025
As I told Rachel at the time, and as I've mentioned here before, there was a BBS in my city (Wichita, Kansas) in 1995 that ran 65 lines on a single machine, some kind of high-end 486. I thought that was amazing back then. Now, with the right software, one could probably serve a few hundred concurrent users with real-time chat, games, etc. on a tiny consumer router.
Show threadAndrew HodgsonMay 26, 2025
@matt I've often heard stories from older folks who I worked with when they first had jobs in the 90's. They would talk about how they ran most of the company from a single NT or Netware box, running directory services, mail, proxy server, etc. During the 2000's with security and reliability concerns this all changed of course and we've continued to find ways of efficiently packing in more services on a single box ever since.
Show threadAndrew HodgsonMay 26, 2025
@matt For my home labs I've packed as much as possible into a single box, the rationale being that its mainly just me using it so I wouldn't ever need to scale out of a single box. I've kept to this for the past 20 or so years.