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From: dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.novell
Subject: Re: NFS Support in NetWare
Message-ID: <6841@spdcc.SPDCC.COM>
Date: 12 Mar 91 04:03:36 GMT
References: <1991Mar10.041835.6883@novell.com>
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA
Lines: 27

In article <1991Mar10.041835.6883@novell.com> keith@ca.excelan.com (Keith Brown) writes:
>1) At what point does SunOS say to itself "Hmm.. Nobody appears to be
>   interested in using me as a proper UNIX system. Seems all they want me
>   for is NFS serving. I guess I'll grab all this memory I've been sitting
>   on and stuff it in the disk cache." And

No, it doesn't work that way.  Files are paged in from disk.  The paging
subsystem's lists of pages (which ultimately describe all of non-kernel
memory) replace the traditional UNIX disk buffer cache for file data.
The only objects which use the buffer cache are file system "meta" operations
like reads of on-disk inodes and indirect blocks.  Now, this is (I believe)
Sun OS 4.1 and (fer sure) Sys Vr4.  Earlier versions of Sun OS and other
vendor's UNIX systems may use a traditional disk buffer cache.

The rest of this discussion is really rather moronic.  I can't believe
I'm reading someone describe a Netware server as "better" because it
doesn't have a compiler and thus can't have its cycles and disk arms used
for some other purpose.

I suggest that the merits of the Novell NFS server be based on its
empirically observed performance, and not on marketspeak and dubious
distinctions which are irrelevant.

-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
dyer@arktouros.mit.edu, dyer@hstbme.mit.edu