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From: rwood@ic.berkeley.edu.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.unix.ultrix
Subject: Re: integration of VAX and SUN under NFS
Message-ID: <43545@felix.UUCP>
Date: 20 Jun 88 21:32:03 GMT
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Reply-To: rwood@ic.berkeley.edu.UUCP
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
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In article <38552@felix.UUCP> you write:

> Is it possible to run diskless SUN workstations together with a 
> VAX server or do we need at least one SUN server?

[I'm assuming the VAX is running Ultrix.  If you're using someone 
elses Unix with someone else's NFS, my comments are not applicable]

Theoretically, yes.  The only two caveats: you'll have to be running
Sun's newer diskless software, that uses (I think it's:) NETdisk
instead of ND.  DEC already supports it.  OTHER CAVEAT: Unless your or
someone on your staff is a *REAL* guru, I wouldn't recommend it.  There
are too many problems you could get mired in, it might tax the patience
of the best engineers from DEC or Sun to work it through.  I'd seriously
recommend using a Sun Server (assuming you insist on buying Suns :-( )
for boot purposes, and use the VAX for non-root NFS mounts.  Also: most
experience would recommend you run "dataless" instead of diskless.
Paging/Swapping over the net would eat your ethernet bandwidth much
quicker than anything else.  A local disk for paging/swapping will help,
without increasing network-wide management headaches.

> Can we store SUN binaries on a VAX server?

Of course.  Setting up a VAX to serve NFS to Sun (or vice versa) is about
as easy as Sun to Sun or VAX to VAX.  The TCP/IP portion of the
transaction takes care of hardware differences (bit order, etc), and all
that's left is normal NFS.

> Did anybody try a similar configuration and what were his (her)
> experiences (performance etc.)?

Many, many sites use VAXes to serve Suns without going diskless.  DEC
does in a few competitive labs, I'm know Berkeley does it in a few
places also.  I'm not aware of anyone trying to run Suns diskless off
VAXes, although the question has been asked before.

Good luck...
-- 

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Unix is a registered trademark of AT&T.
AIX is a trademark of IBM.
Ultrix is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation.
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				   It should go without saying that I'm not
			      speaking as an official representative of DEC  
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Richard Wood|Software Services, San Francisco|Digital Equipment Corporation
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