Xref: utzoo alt.sys.sun:1864 comp.unix.misc:448 misc.wanted:11842 comp.unix.admin:403 Path: utzoo!utgpu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!bu.edu!shelby!carbon!katz From: katz@elements.rpal.com (Morry Katz) Newsgroups: alt.sys.sun,comp.unix.misc,misc.wanted,comp.unix.admin Subject: Re: Sun 4/490 - Any Opinions? Message-ID: Date: 30 Oct 90 16:17:41 GMT References: <350@gallium.UUCP> Sender: usenet@elements.rpal.com (Hack for news) Reply-To: katz@rpal.com Organization: Rockwell International Palo Alto Lab Lines: 70 In-Reply-To: garyb@gallium.uucp's message of 28 Oct 90 16:31:29 GMT In article <350@gallium.UUCP> garyb@gallium.uucp (Gary Blumenstein) writes: > =============================================================== > Sun 4/490 Questionnaire > =============================================================== > General Questions: > ------------------ > o How satisfied are you with the performace of the 4/490? Very. > o How long did it take to install and get the system running? 1 day for system software. 1 month to install and compile all the 3rd party sources, get mail and news working, etc. > o Did you have any reservations about going with Sun's IPC disk > technology? If so why? No. > o What was your main bottleneck in performance prior to installing > the 4/490. (e.g. NFS traffic, CPU,...) We used Symbolicies. They were deadly slow on all accounts. > o What was your most significant reason for selecting a 4/490 instead > of let's say, an Auspex? We wanted our machines and maintenance from a single manufacturer. > > Service, Support, and Reliability: > ---------------------------------- > o How would you rate Sun Hotline Support for the 4/490? Sun support has some real problems. Personal answerline is better than basic support but response to bugs is still slow. Sun is probably no worse than the there vendors; software support is just abismal throughout the industry. > o How is the Sun Hotline turnaround time? I have used PAL so long I dont know about basic service. PAL time for a call back takes only a couple of hours. Solutions to problems take between weeks and years. (I have been less than satisfied.) > o Have you experienced any down time? If so, for what reasons? > ( How long did it take to recover?) A bad CPU board (actually a bad Cache chip) caused the machine to crash about once a day. It took 36 hours to get us a new board. We also had a problem that we needed to upgrade several of our boards when we upgraded the OS. This was not documented so we experienced 2 days of downtime waiting for all of the boards to be replaced. > o Have you had any disk crashes? Were you able to recover? No. > > Your Environment: > ----------------- > o When was your 4/490 server installed? 11-89 > o What system/server did you previously use? Symbolics > o What types of software applications are you running? Emacs, TeX, X11R4, Cnews, NNTP, kermit, Allegro and Franz Common Lisp, Fortran compiler, CAP, KIP, Scheme > o How many clients do you have on the 4/490? What kind? 7 - 4/60's > o How many terminals, PC's and Mac's do you have on the network? 20 > o How many users? 25 > o How many people are in your systems department? 1/4 - This is really insufficient so many, many things remain undone. At least a 1/2 person is needed. > o What level of unix experience do they have? Extensive > -- ------------------------------------------------------ Morry Katz Rockwell Science Center administrator@rpal.com (machine administration issues) katz@rpal.com (other) ------------------------------------------------------