Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!crdgw1!uunet!mcsun!ariadne!theseas!ntua.gr!zvr
From: zvr@ntua.gr (Alexios Zavras)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: Upgrade or Snakes ?
Message-ID: <1295@theseas.ntua.gr>
Date: 3 May 91 07:04:45 GMT
Sender: news@theseas.ntua.gr
Reply-To: zvr@ntua.gr
Organization: National Technical University of Athens, Greece
Lines: 36

Hi everyone!
    I would like to get some opinions on the decision we are facing:

    We have a HP9000 850S, which has a number of terminals (say,
around 20), and is also on a net with a variety of otehr machines
(mostly suns).  The idea is to upgrade the whole system, i.e. to
give better performance to a number of users.
    One way to go is to upgrade the 850S to 865S (I think I have
the right numbers), which involves adding a processor, 16MB RAM
and two 26/64MB controllers.  The problems is that the price HP
quotes for this is, to say the least, *very* high (prices in
Greece are a lot different than the States, but we're talking
$136,000 here: I suppose the equivalent in US should be about
the half (?)).
    As you can probably guess, we thought of better ways to invest
that kind of money: get some snakes (the 9000/700 machines).
Possibilities include a 750 and a few 720, or just a bunch of 720s.
    Now, keep in mind that the 850 already has 2GB disk, so it
would be a sort of file server to the new machines.  Would it
be able to handle the load, or would it crash from network requests ?
    So, another possibility is getting an I/O card for the 850S and
some 700s, to help it cope with the traffic from the faster snakes.

    What do you all think ?
Any opinion would be much appreciated,
-- zvr --
    +---------------------------+	Alexios Zavras (-zvr-)
    | H eytyxia den exei enoxes |	zvr@ntua.gr
    +-----------------------zvr-+	zvr@theseas.ntua.gr
Somebody said it couldn't be done  /  But he with a chuckle replied,
Maybe it couldn't, but he would be one  /  Who never said no till he tried.
So he buckled right in  /  With a brace and a grin
                                       And if he was worried, he hid it,
He started to sing  /  As he tackled the thing
                                       That couldn't be done
                                       And he did it.