Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!munnari.oz.au!csc!srb813 From: srb813@csc.anu.oz Newsgroups: comp.protocols.appletalk Subject: Re: Gatorbox vs Fastpath Message-ID: <2233.26776420@csc.anu.oz> Date: 14 Jun 90 10:17:03 GMT References: <1543@swbatl.sbc.com> <1544@swbatl.sbc.com> <1990Jun6.011927.26372@verity.com> Distribution: usa Organization: Computer Services, Australian National University Lines: 67 In article <1990Jun6.011927.26372@verity.com>, anders@penguin (Anders Wallgren) writes: > In article <1544@swbatl.sbc.com>, adams@swbatl (745) writes: >>Due to some internal discussion and the preponderance of Gatorboxs around >>here I'm wondering if anyone has interesting comparisons of Gatorboxes and >>the Fastpath? The consensus here seems to be that the Gatorbox is horrendously >>slow compared to similar boxes, but offers the only Appleshare to NFS >>gateway. True?; False?; Totlally confused? War stories? Pointers? We use Webster Multigates at the ANU, these are similar to Fastpaths except that they have _4_ localtalk ports instead of a pathetic 1 (ooh! that's a bit strong! :-) ). The 4 localtalks are bridged together as well as being gated onto the ethernet. We don't have any Gatorboxes at the ANU, but I know roughly what they do. The Multigate (and Fastpath) is a much more general-purpose gateway than the Gatorbox. For example, DECnet traffic, all IP traffic (telnet/ftp, etc), TOPS, etc, etc, can all be routed by the Multigate. I'm don't know whether the GB can do this (please enlighten me if it can!). I imagine that since the GB is performing higher-level protocol translations it may not be as fast as the other boxes. We use CAP (running on a UNIX host) to then provide AppleShare access to Macs/PCs. The UNIX host's disks may be NFS mounted...hence the host is doing the NFS <-> AppleShare translation for us. > > > I would add a couple of comments to this: > > - The GatorBox is configured with software downloaded from a Mac or a > Unix TFTP host - I've never had to replace ROM's to upgrade it, > which we've had to do with our FastPath's. In general, configuring > and upgrading the GB's is a joy compared to the FP's. Multigates also boot from a UNIX bootserver via FTP (or a Mac). They also have their configuration in eeprom. Upgrading the software is a breeze... but determining the configuration proved to a real pain to set up. Now that it's going everything seems fine. > > - I've never run NFS across a FastPath (has anyone?), so I can't > really tell you whether it's faster or slower than the GatorBox- it > seems to me that comparing a FastPath w/Tops to a GatorBox w/out > NFS but with Tops is the only way to measure relative performance, > and I haven't seen anyone do that yet. My GatorBox running NFS is > fast enough for me, but I don't have any quantitative answers. I > wouldn't call it horrendously slow, thought. I don't have any answers here either... --- remaining stuff deleted --- > > anders One question that hasn't been answered is what about Macs directly connected to the ethernet? Who does the AppleShare <-> NFS translation for them? With CAP v5.0 the Multigate actually does the EtherTalk <-> KIP translation, but I've heard that a later release of CAP will/does talk EtherTalk directly. Does the Gatorbox do EtherTalk AppleShare <-> NFS translation? Steven Ball, Department of Computer Science, ANU E-mail: steve@anucsd.anu.oz.au Ph. (06) 2495147 Snail-mail: GPO Box 4, CANBERRA CITY ACT 2600, AUSTRALIA He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!