Path: utzoo!attcan!lsuc!maccs!cs4g6ag From: cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Stephen M. Dunn) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: NOVELL(Netware 386 vs Adv 2.15) Keywords: Novell networks Message-ID: <26201B8A.860@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca> Date: 9 Apr 90 05:20:10 GMT References: <21096@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> <13623@samsung.samsung.com> Distribution: na Organization: McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario Lines: 60 In article <13623@samsung.samsung.com> mguyott@imposter.UUCP (Marc Guyott) writes: $In article <21096@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> cook@sybil.cs.Buffalo.EDU $> We currently use our ELS II server as a workstation (Non-Dec), $>will Netware 386 allow us use the server as a workstation? $I believe you can intially set up your server to permit this but it really $limits the performance of the server and I believe that most people you talk $to will recommend against doing this. Another thing to consider is that networks with nondedicated servers on average crash more often than those with dedicated servers. On a NW 386 system, presumably the virtual 386 mode would make nondedicated use more robust, but I'd be surprised if a nondedicated server was as reliable as a dedicated one. (I can just sense the influx of mail telling me of nondedicated networks that run perfectly and dedicated ones that die ... so before you write me, note that I said "on average") $My guess is Netware/286 on a 20MHz machine will be faster then Netware/386 $on a 16MHz machine. But that's just a guess. Keep in mind, though, that the performance of NW 386 degrades more gracefully as load increases than does the performance of NW 286 systems. But a 286-20 running NW 286 should outperform a 386SX-16 running NW 386 under all but the heaviest loads. $But remember you may have up to a dozen 12MHz machines being serviced by $this one file server. I would recommend the 20MHz machine. Another thought, $you might want to talk to Novell and see if you can trade in your Netware/286 $in a year to get a discounted version of Netware/386. I believe they do things $like this and in that way you are not throwing away all of your investment $in the 286 setup. But how painful is the conversion from NW 286 to NW 386? If it turns out that it'll take a week of someone's constant attention, with lots of crashes until everything gets up and running properly again, in order to upgrade, it would make sense to go with NW 386 now if possible. I don't know how painful such an upgrade would be ... it may be easy, it may be even worse than the example I gave (if anyone has done it, please let us know your experiences ... I'm sure others would be interested) $>Since the load isn't that great but file activity $>will be quite often, should a larger machine be purchased? $I think you are contradicting yourself here. You say the load will not be $that great but there will be a lot of file activity. A lot of file activity $means that the load on the server will be significant. It depends on what the use of the files will be. If it's just 12 people accessing a 1M database, mostly reading from it, and doing a read every couple of seconds, that's pretty low load. Of course, if it's 12 people doing a search of the database and updating it every second, then that's quite a high load. $The above are opinions based on my limited networking experience. Use this $information at your own risk. Marc Ditto. -- More half-baked ideas from the oven of: **************************************************************************** Stephen M. Dunn cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca = "\nI'm only an undergraduate ... for now!\n";