Horizontal or Vertical Server Architecture?

zetes asks: "For a while now I have been a supporter of a horizontal server architecture/environment, where one server does one and only one thing and a business/department would then have numerous servers. This way if a service needs to go down (especially in a Windows Server environment), nothing else is affected. However, due to the rising importance of security in the last couple of years, I have decided that having fewer servers is both easier to manage and update and also provides fewer points of entry for hackers or virus writers. I am not going to a purely vertical architecture, where everything is on one server, but more of a hybrid (down from 10-12 servers to around 5). So what I am asking you all today is what you prefer to support or manage? One or the other, or a hybrid? And does the operating system or particular service(s) dictate this architecture to a certain extent?"

Comments

personally

[larry bagina]

I prefer a doggy-style server architecture.