I want to set up a steem node server, please answer questions about memory, and OS, please chime in... Thank you
I'm telling you the following so you understand were I am coming from, If I am asking a question or to it's to save time.
Before we start, I'm not a noeb, or non-technique. I have a MS in CS, own and ran a software hardware development firm, have written languages, and consulted to both fortune 500s and start ups. I have put together machines, written ring zero drivers, massive systems and taught graduate level classes. I have been a chief designer and worked in at least 20 different operating systems over my life time.
I went to the Witness forum today on Steem.Chat and no one was there so I posted this message, and hopefully someone out there can help me this is what I said:
"Hello
I am starting my journey to setting up a steem node and becoming a witness this week...
AND I NEED A LITTLE GUIDANCE.....
Been scraping together documentation, articles and tutorials.
Truth be told I been a systems designer IN HETERGENOUS SYSTEMS for 30 years and I'm stil exasperated by the catch-a-catch-can ways of open source documentation (or should I say the lack of it and the word of mouth way of getting stuff done in the Unix world), 
Unlike pay for services where everything has a unifying direction and can call a vendor.
So after all my reading, To that end I have couple very simple questions:
how much physical ram is needed now that hardfork 20 has occurred,
can I use 8 or 16gb and suppllment by a SSD say 120gb?
(for the hard disk I have a terebyte)
I can see why @ned in his last video log said the most important thing was getting off indexing off of
steemd because it was a memory hog. Had they been using a SQL-Server, Sybase, or many other professional
distributed databases earlier this problem never would have happened. Oh the hubris of youth, those who do
not know history are doomed to repeat it. Bloatware. So tell me how much do I need to feed this Pig????
Are steem nodes still able to be run on windows since the hard fork 20 release?
If Yes are the items to be setup (except for the versions) pretty much the same as they were
in all the articles & videos written 1 to 2 years ago
if items have changed but still can be run:
Is there a place with a step by step tutorial or video for setting up on windows that is up to date
for todays version of steem?
or is there a list of the new elements I will need to install.
Thanks.... @RichAtVNS"
I'm sure others would find the answers to these questions useful
The blockchain file is currently using 160+ GB of disk space and the memory state is using about 46+ GB of RAM.
You can probably run within a virtual machine inside a Windows computer but it’s no recommended for performance reasons
@quochuy thank you for your response, just a little more detail.
Which brings me to the second question
After all it's Python and javascript right? Is there something that unix flavored operating systems are doing? Or is it the fact all the programmers and developers are just open source zealots. Who would rather not pay a dime for anything and work alot harder and longer? Running in a virtual machine is not a good move I agree.
My path to becoming a witness is not meant to be immediate.
I have a system that I believe will revolutionize a very specific aspect of human communications and knowledge (Mostly between businesses) after seeing the need for many many times over 25 years. I have been in the design and planning all aspects of development, marketing, aquistion, deployment of for 3.5 years. And from what I can tell, the STEEM BLOCK CHAIN is perfect as the vehicle to run on.
The only problem is all the big players in the fortune 500, S&P, and small mom and pops are running Windows for good reason, support , interoperability between apps, migration paths, deployment ease, ease of upgrade, personel, training, and built time and money!
In business there is a saying: "If it ain't broke don't fix it!"
My system while compartmentalized and can deal with heterogeneous systems it will have large entities like the Military and Government Purchasing Departments, the SBA, Grainger, Food market chains, TJX corning, Insurance Companies, Amazon, Alibaba, GF, GE, Dow Corning, Franchise runs, suppliers, trade shows, libraries, repositories, and retailers.
So to not be a barrier to adoption, I want to first evaluate Steem from the node side.
If someone would like to talk in depth on this I am willing to do so....
But not in an open forum, I've got NDA's if we need to go in any depth.
Let me point out this is not an alt-coin situation, and as far as i'm concerned I'd rather have tethered coin to a fiat. I don't want to invent another block chain. What I have is actively changing large set of distinct distributed databases, which communicate with and interpret each other through the blockchain to provide this revolutionary service.
I'm currently running a witness node with 32 GB of RAM. You can fill the gap with some SWAP on memory (ZRAM) or on disk (regular SWAP). Using disk swap is slower and would take you several days when doing a replay.
No it's not Python and Javascript it's C++. The only time I saw steemd on Windows was when it was still possible to mine for STEEM and also in this post from @liberosist https://steemit.com/steem/@liberosist/building-and-running-steemd-v0-19-0-natively-in-windows-10
I personally find working on Windows harder and longer than on Linux when it comes to development. Running a Steem witness node is not for the small mom and pops or the fortune 500 guy anyway. Even if it was doable on Windows, the mom and pop wouldn't be able to troubleshoot issues when the next hardfork will come. They can't even install a printer driver, why should they compile and run a steem witness app?
"If it ain't broke don't fix it!", that's right, stay with Ubuntu cuz it's not broken.
I'm looking for zealots to help me out, because I know what the system I'm talking about can do.
Look at a system I was one of the original developers on Autex Traderoute to see the amount of transactions volims a day I percieve this system will do. I think you will understand why I'm so juiced. BTW my system is not a Financial Services Product.
The keypoint is immediately on use the User base gets an ROI.
Great post!
Thanks for tasting the eden!