Subject: Re: [netatalk-admins] need for speed
From: ron@Opus1.COM
Date: Fri Jul 02 1999 - 03:51:46 EDT
On Thu, 1 Jul 1999, Alex Satrapa wrote:
> At 16:40 +0200 30/6/1999, Paul Friedrich wrote:
> >I just installed a SuSE Linux on a Compaqu Proliant 800 with netatalk 1.4b2
> >in an office with 30 clients. The speed of opening files seems to be
> >decreased as compered to a AppleSahre IP6.1 Server running on a G3. Since I
> >donīt have that much experiance I was wondering if this is normal.
> I would expect the Linux machine to be slower than the Macintosh, mainly
> because there is extra processing involved for the Linux box to convert
> from Macintosh HFS semantics to Linux ext2 semantics. On top of that you
> have the mapping from ".txt" to "TEXT/R*ch" for example.
> In short, the Linux box has a lot more work to do in order to support
> AppleShare clients.
Okay. I have gathered a whole bunch of results on different boxes, with a
single, simple, test. The definitive answer to this question is: Your
milage may vary.
At:
http://bop.hollis.com/asipstats.html
There's a variety of results for different netatalk, AppleShare 6.x,
Helios, Xinet, NT servers. Just focusing on the G3 vs. X86, issue, there's
some fairly obvious differences in what's usually "stock" on Intel linux
hardware...I don't know what the proliant 600 is like, but:
1. G3 CPU's tend to be much faster, Mhz for Mhz, than X86.
2. It the Linux server running services Appleshare IP isn't? NFS? Gnome? X
windows? Most linux installs are big, messy, and filled with unused
software sucking up CPU and RAM. In contrast, ASIP runs almost no software
on the server. No NFS. No telnet. No shells. No NAT. No sendmail
filtering. No routing. No cron. Basically, if you stripped Linux down,
it'd be _very_ different.
3. Linux _can_ smoke a G3, with Gigabit ethernet. (see above chart)
4. Disk is not disk, RAM is not RAM. Intel hardware is known for cutting
corners, Compaq is no exception.
5. A tuned server is always faster than an untuned one....if the G3 has
been tweaked, it will be faster than Linux is stock. And apple pre-tunes
all server hardware and software.
6. Servers are bound to networks. A network designed for one server, at
full duplexing, can be different speed-wise for another server, with
a different NIC.
7. Again, referencing the above stats, a "G3" can be faster or slower,
depending on the LAN, the install, etc. Each site is different.
If anybody would like to add data to the pool, please do! Adrian has
requested that kernel versions of Linux be added as well, so if you send
me any data...
-Ronabop
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