Newsgroups: comp.protocols.nfs
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!torsqnt!lethe!tvcent!comspec!scocan!larryp
From: larryp@sco.COM (Larry Philps)
Subject: Re: NFS performance
Organization: SCO Canada, Inc.
Date: Thu, 30 May 1991 13:00:47 GMT
Message-ID: <1991May30.130047.23944@sco.COM>
References: <427@fjcp60.GOV> <1991May28.151439.3167@Firewall.Nielsen.Com> <7678@spdcc.SPDCC.COM> <1991May30.021412.22925@mks.com>
Keywords: Interactive comments and vs. Novell
Sender: news@sco.COM (News administration)

In <1991May30.021412.22925@mks.com> alex@mks.com (Alex White) writes:
> 
> Does anybody know if any of the fancy dandy ethernet cards with tcp/ip
> on them have any kind of driver that would work?

There are a few out there.  The entire Excelan line (now being sold
by Federal Technologies), Interlan, and probably a couple more.

> And would they end up faster?

Typically this is a slower solution than host based protocols.  Why?
Because in order to keep the price down, the on board processor, the
one that runs your TCP/IP stack, is slow.  Typically a 6-12 Mhz 80186.
This is a lot slower than a 25+ Mhz 80486/R3000/SPARC/RS6000/PA-RISC/...
when it comes to fiddling bits and computing a checksum!

In general, there is no reason why this architecture cannot give you
equal or better performance that a host-based scheme, but you have to
put a *real* cpu on the network board.  If you find one, expect to pay
big bucks.

---
Larry Philps,	 SCO Canada, Inc.
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