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From: kdenning@genesis.Naitc.Com (Karl Denninger)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.nfs
Subject: Re: NFS performance
Summary: ISC's NFS performance is TERRIBLE
Keywords: Interactive comments and vs. Novell
Message-ID: <1991May28.151439.3167@Firewall.Nielsen.Com>
Date: 28 May 91 15:14:39 GMT
References: <427@fjcp60.GOV>
Sender: news@Firewall.Nielsen.Com (Usenet News)
Organization: AC Nielsen Co., Bannockburn IL
Lines: 35
Nntp-Posting-Host: genesis.naitc.com

In article <427@fjcp60.GOV> golds@fjc.GOV (Rich Goldschmidt) writes:
>hardware, like a 386 or 486 running either Novell 3.11 or Interactive with
>NFS.  There must be people out there who know answers to at least some of
>these questions!

Don't even bother comparing these.  They aren't comparable.

Compare Novell on a 386 to a REAL machine, like a MIPS Magnum.  These are 
about the same price point once you buy the Novell software and the 386
machine.  With a REAL server, NFS to a PC running B&W's package is faster
than Novell, both under single-user and multiuser loads.

>And just to broaden the scope, what are peoples experiences out there with
>Interactive's NFS.  I have observed that the documentation has errors and is
>incomplete, and the authentication doesn't work the way it ought to.  What is
>of greater concern is I am seeing slower NFS file service performance than I 
>had expected, and getting what I think are a lot of NFS errors.

ISC's NFS is horrid.  The best I've seen on writes is about 30k/sec on a
fast '386 machine.  The CPU is not saturated, nor is the Ethernet card.  The
problem appears to be in either the Streams modules or the TCP and NFS code
itself.

ISC's NFS is also an older revision, and doesn't support root-remapping on a
mount-point basis.

Blech.

--
Karl Denninger - AC Nielsen, Bannockburn IL (708) 317-3285
kdenning@nis.naitc.com

"The most dangerous command on any computer is the carriage return."
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