Rich Payne wrote:
> Up front I'd say that Linux's NFS server can be a little shaky at best. As
> an SMB server it's fine, but NFS isn't quite there yet (neither x86 nor
> Alpha).
Yeah, I know that first hand -- especially since I have Solaris
clients! But SPARC hardware is expensive and I heard that
Solaris/x86 isn't as feature filled as it's 64-bit native port. I'm
kinda looking at using ReiserFS, but no one knows what kinda of
locking issues (if any) to expect running NFS on it.
Otherwise, I'm looking at NetApp's F700-series since they current
use Alpha, are far easier to manage and have some nice techniques to
getting good NFS performance, filesystem efficiency and drastically
reduced boot time.
Unfortunately I can old afford the low-end F720 model, which has
only 1/4th the NVRAM of the more powerful F740/760 models (which
makes a big impact on NFS performance). In addition, the hardware
used in the F700-series is now 18 months old and probably dated.
Transmeta said even the Alpha chip on-board can get taxied with XORs
on heavy use. And the F720 only has 256MB of RAM whereas I could
afford 2-4GB of memory, with 2X the disk (newer disks at that) for
an x86 or Alpha solution for about the same cost.
Also, to give everyone an idea of my needs: 0.25-0.5TB of storage,
~10 NFS clients (mostly Solaris) that are 90% of my traffic, ~30 NT
clients that are the other 10% of the traffic. Looking to buy next
month.
> Yes, AlphaLinux support >2Gig files.
If it supports >2GB files on Ext2, it probably does as well for
ReiserFS I assume?
Any other 64-bit benefits you guys can think of that Linux/Alpha has
over Linux/x86?
> No idea. [RE: Mylex DAC960 support]
I just read some archives where people are using the DAC960 driver
on Alpha. Unfortunately I'm having trouble finding any info on
patching MILO to support booting from DAC960 drives like you do for
LILO on x86. Although that may be an x86-only thing since, from
what I've read, MILO just boots the OS on Alpha, whereas LILO is
both the boot sector (option, you can use another boot manager) and
the OS loader.
The only other concern is the size of the RAID and FDISK. I was
reading that FDISK only supports 65,536 cylinders??? If you use the
8GB translation (63sec, 255hds), that would be a maximum of ~512GB
and I might get close to that.
> I've used the Acenic cards (Alteon) w/o any trouble. Can't speak for the
> NetGear.
Yeah, I'm finding that. Solaris/x86 supports the Acenic cards, but
I couldn't find any info on support for the lower-costing NetGear
GA620 card. It uses the same chip, and has 512KB of SRAM like the
one Acenic card.
> UP2000 has a single 256 bit memory bus, and just FYI SLOT-Bs don't come in
> 500. Slowest would be 667. It also has dual PCI buses (64-bit).
Gotta love that trunk! It's why I used to use Alpha 164A solutions
when Pentium Pros where the fastest Intel could offer and the 4-way
boards were 3x the cost.
The RCC/ServerWorks ServerSet IIIHE x86 chipset also supports
4x64-bit memory channels w/PC133 support, but the Tyan S1867DLUAN
board only uses the 2-channel configuration. I guess that's still
better than most x86 mainboards, especially at a cost of only $599
(quantity/wholesale) with on-board 2xU2SCSI/Net/Audio (only about
$200 more than their own, reduced throughput i440GX server
mainboard).
Intel is so behind since they put their eggs in the RDRAM basket
(which has size limitations, even on the i840, 1GB currently) that
they are adopting the IIIHE chipset in a forthcoming 4-way SDRAM
server mainboard.
Thanx again ...
-- TheBS
-- Bryan "TheBS" Smith, Engineer CONTACT INFO *********************************************************** Chat: thebs413 @ AOL/MSN/Yahoo (see http://Everybuddy.com) Email: mailto:thebs@theseus.com,b.j.smith@ieee.org Home: http://www.SmithConcepts.com-- To unsubscribe: send e-mail to axp-list-request@redhat.com with 'unsubscribe' as the subject. Do not send it to axp-list@redhat.com
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