Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!husc6!think!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!omnigate.clarkson.EDU!jch From: jch@omnigate.clarkson.EDU.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip Subject: Re: Ethernet Suffering Message-ID: <8704301200.AA05763@csv.rpi.edu> Date: Thu, 30-Apr-87 07:31:56 EDT Article-I.D.: csv.8704301200.AA05763 Posted: Thu Apr 30 07:31:56 1987 Date-Received: Fri, 1-May-87 05:29:32 EDT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Distribution: world Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 39 Tead Mean writes: > > There seemed to be a consensus that having diskless workstations and >file servers on a network would cause havoc to an Ethernet. I'd like to solicit comments on a configuration that our School of Engineering has proposed: They would like to purchase an Aliant super-mini-computer, a Sun 3/160 server and 12 diskless 3/50s, 8 Opus Clipper systems (a PC/AT with a 32032 processor board running a System V port (I belive)), and 83 IBM PC/AT clones running Sun's PC/NFS. The Opus system are supposed to be disk servers for the PC/NFS systems where most of the computing is supposed to take place. Most of the PC/ATs will not have any hard disk, they will rely fully on the Opus systems for disk storage. All this equipment, in 4 buildings, will be linked with 3 fiber repeaters, making one large ethernet. Our limited experience shows that one or two diskless 3/50s doing disk intensive work (compiling programs or coping disk files around) significantly affect the performance of both other diskless 3/50s and PCs on the same net that do not make use of the file server (i.e. DECnet-DOS to a VMS system). (The Imperial ;-)) We in the computing center would like to see some partitioning of the ethernet into departmental segments connected to a School of Engineering backbone with at least level II bridges. In our minds this would localize traffic to some degree, isolate potential physical problems (shorted or broken cable, accidental or malicious) and provide some measure of security. This would not address problems of the "Chernobyl" effect. Does anyone have experience with a similar configuration of diskless workstations and/or PCs that they can comment on? Thanks Jeff