lasantha@%b56vxg (Lasantha) (09/12/90)
Hello,
We are doing some testing with Netware-for-VMS to connect a PC lan
running novell to our VAXcluster (2*6210).
What we are discovering is that the PC's take much longer to load the
executables and do general file transfers off the VAX (file server). This is
compared to a 386 based PC file server. (Its almost double the time when the
files start getting larger).
o Has anyone using netware for vms seen this behaviour?.
o Can I do any tuning of the Netware process, drivers or anything else
to improve the performance?.
o Is this delay due to file conversion netware has to do?.
o I would also like to get some details about how the netware stuff
works on the VAX. The novell people here dont want to give us any
tech details.
Please post to the net, as I cant get e-mail at present.
Thanks very much
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lasantha Jayasinghe, No E-Mail Address
System Manager, MSD, Kodak (Australasia) Pty, Ltd.
* Disclaimer: Kodak does'nt know that I work for them *
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~jel@tuura.UUCP (Jerry Lahti) (09/13/90)
lasantha@%b56vxg (Lasantha) writes: > We are doing some testing with Netware-for-VMS to connect a PC lan >running novell to our VAXcluster (2*6210). > >What we are discovering is that the PC's take much longer to load the >executables and do general file transfers off the VAX (file server). This is >compared to a 386 based PC file server. (Its almost double the time when the >files start getting larger). Unfortunately I have no real operational experience with Netware-for-VMS but I evaluated it in a previous job. However, this was more than a year ago so my info may be a bit outdated. I doubt that the basic system architecture has changed much, though. > o Has anyone using netware for vms seen this behaviour?. Yes, we saw it. > o Is this delay due to file conversion netware has to do?. Probably not if the files have been copied to the Vax from a Netware PC workstation: files created through the Netware shell are (were?) stored as RMS stream files which means that they have the same 'record' format as native PC-DOS files, i.e. no special format conversion step is necessary. The conversion is needed only when accessing e.g. text files (with variable length RMS records) created by VMS applications. The basic reason is that the PC server software runs stand-alone as a very tightly integrated part of a specialized operating system which was from the beginning designed for a high-performance LAN server and then extensively tuned. On the other hand, Netware for VMS runs as a more or less ordinary process on top of a general purpose operating system and also must compete for resources with other applications. The obvious result is that the observed performace will be be worse unless the Vax has a far more powerful CPU and much faster disks than the 386 PC server. My conclusion was that Netware for VMS might provide rather nice and transparent file access integration between DOS and VMS if that is what you really need. However, if you want a LAN file and print server then a 386 PC server provides much more bang for the buck. (Yes, we then bought a PC server although we still used a somewhat cranky 11/750: FTP transfers offered after all an adequate level of 'file sharing' and upgrading the Vax to a sufficiently powerful one would have been too expensive.) Regards, Jerry Lahti Nokia Data Systems Oy, Workgroup Systems/LAN Disclaimer: These are my personal opinions. Besides, the company sells LAN Manager.
kenh@techbook.com (Ken Haynes) (09/17/90)
In article <0093C96C.37F01BC0@b56vxg> lasantha@%b56vxg (Lasantha) writes: > >What we are discovering is that the PC's take much longer to load the >executables and do general file transfers off the VAX (file server). This is >compared to a 386 based PC file server. (Its almost double the time when the >files start getting larger). > > o Has anyone using netware for vms seen this behaviour?. Absolutely. Netware VMS will be slower than a 386 based PC, due to the performance enhacing optimization that has been written into the PC based OS. Netware VMS is a CONNECTIVITY solution, not a server performance solution. Never was intended for that purpose.ut > > o Can I do any tuning of the Netware process, drivers or anything else > to improve the performance?. You might try tuning VMS to give the Netware process more of a priority than other tasks. Not knowing VMS, I don't really know if this is viable or not. Nor do I know if it would effect other processes running on your system and degrade performance elsewhere. (I suspect this would be the case) > > o Is this delay due to file conversion netware has to do?. Partly. It's also due to the fact the VMS machines have to service other tasks, doing other stuff, other than Netware processes. The 386 server has no such overhead. > > o I would also like to get some details about how the netware stuff > works on the VAX. The novell people here dont want to give us any > tech details. There are a few technical bulletins that give overviews to the NW process on VMS. They are available to your NW VMS dealer and he should have them. The dealer himself may not know a lot of the techical details. Ask for the publications. > Ken -- ****************************************************************************** Network Support Services: UUCP: {nosun, sequent, tessi} kenh@techbook