Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!CS.CMU.EDU!Ravinder.Chandhok
From: Ravinder.Chandhok@CS.CMU.EDU (Rob Chandhok)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.appletalk
Subject: Re: Increasing RAM on AppleShare Server
Message-ID: <16056.624196956@GNOME.CS.CMU.EDU>
Date: 12 Oct 89 12:02:36 GMT
References: <33912@beta.lanl.gov>
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 36



What was the network configuration ?  Was it always between 2 Mac Pluses on
the same cable, one localtalk and one Ethernet ?  What Ether hardware did
you use for the Mac Plus's ?

I have two servers, one is a Mac Plus on localtalk, and one is a Mac II on
Ethernet.  They are bridged by a KFPS-4 running KIP.  Here are my
experiences with them:

* For Mac II clients on the ethernet, the ethertalk server is fast enough to
compile off of.  Almost as fast as a local disk, I don't have my timings,
but when I did them they were an order of magnitude faster than a localtalk
connection.  (I use MPW and MacApp, and keep a shared copy of MacApp on the
server)

* A localtalk client will communicate better to a localtalk server (no
bridge or gateway involved).

* Don't even try and use anything less than a KFPS-4 to bridge between
ethertalk clients and localtalk servers, or vice versa.  If the bridge drops
packets, the retry timer in the AppleShare server is set so long that
transfer speeds slow to a crawl.  There is a patch to AppleShare to help
with this problem, but the real soultion is to get something that can deal
with lots of ethernet packets without dropping them.  I know, there are
other things than fastpaths, I don't have experience with them.

* I agree, don't just buy ethertalk for the server, unless you buy it for
the clients, you will still be limited by localtalk speeds, which, IMHO, is
the real bottleneck.  AppleShare over ethertalk is just fine.  AppleShare
over loaltalk is fine too, but don't get too hyped up about the speed.
start with localtalk speed, and add in all the protocol overhead.  Maybe
Appleshare would be a bit better if it used a stream instead of ATP, but
I'll bet localtalk is still the bounding factor.

Rob