RT wrote:

I have a low transaction volume server running on an ADSL connection. As

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processor.  Most of the time the machine is idling.  If I install the

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degradation of speed serving pages.  Is the priority set as being low and how easy is it to install on Debian?  The APT package did not work when I tried yesterday.  Also are there any security considerations I should be aware of?

I ran it at a priority of "nice -19". It uses a small memory footprint and so made no difference to performance for higher priority tasks.

Install from the tar file. Just extract into a directory and run from there. Trivial.

For security paranoia, I have a user account that has minimal privileges. s@h ran from there and wouldn't be able to get out of it's own directory even if it might want to. But then, there are no untoward issues that I know of. There is a minor exploit possible with the 3.03 cli, but that is unlikely (just not worth the attempt). In any case, use a queue proxy and you are likely immune.

(The 3.03 cli is a little faster than the later compiled versions.)

For further paranoia, configure your firewall/iptables to restrict communication to only between s@h and your queue/Berkeley.


If you do all that, just getting it going is worthwhile just for what you have learnt.


The only other consideration is that you will have the CPU running at 100%. For good hardware, this is a good thing (constant thermal loading). For flaky, dirty, or badly installed or otherwise marginal hardware, you will increase the risk of failure due to excessive temperature rise.

Then again, s@h and/or GIMPS torture test are good tests precisely for their 100% load.

Also note: CPUs are NOT like car engines. Run a car engine at 100% and it will quickly wear/burn out to be scrap. Whereas, a CPU can be run at 100%, continuously, until long after the passage of time has made it obsolete.


Good luck,
Martin