[Koha] Dev Server Specs?

[Gem Stone-Logan]

Hi,

My library is currently using a proprietary ILS which meets all our
needs and a good share of our wants.  However, I've been watching Koha
for a couple of years and have been impressed with its advances over
time.  I doubt that it would feasible for us to migrate to Koha (we
have lots of bells and whistles with our current system).  However,
I'm interested in loading Koha on a development server just to try it
out and see how it works with our data.  We currently have around
500,000 items (250,000 bibs), 110,000 borrowers, and 10 locations.

Does anyone have suggestions on what type of server specs would be
good for a development server?  I'm interested in "recommended" specs
(not just minimum requirements).

Most of the Koha libraries I've looked at seem to be using Debian.
Would there likely be problems using another distro such as Red Hat? I
think my manager might be more comfortable with a distro that has
mainstream support available (we have no Linux administration
experience).

Are there any MySQL size limits that I would need to worry about?

Is there anything else obvious that I need to consider?

Thanks for your help/suggestions.

Sincerely,

Gem Stone-Logan
gemstonelogan at gmail.com
Weld Library District
http://www.mylibrary.us/