jjf@hjuxa.UUCP (FRANEY) (02/23/88)
Does anyone have any leads or information regarding UNIX performance measurement systems? For purposes of market leverage, many computer companies compare the performance of their processors to the performace of their competitor's processors. These comparisons have been sometime disclaimed as being misleading due to hardware archetecture differences among computer manufacturers. It seems that the industry may benefit from a common benchmark system. This system would be used as a common reference point for performance measurement of the through-put of a UNIX system. Marketing personnel would be able to say: "Our UNIX complies with System V Verification Suite, AND runs the System V Performance Benchmark in X amount of time." Another purpose of a benchmark system would be for UNIX developers to compare the UNIX throughput on newly developed machines. These comparisons will satisfy hardware and software developers that the new system is indeed X times faster than the old. Another purpose falls into the realm of UNIX Multiprocessing. It would be nice to know exactly how much faster is a machine in multiprocessing mode (multiple processors enabled) than the machine in single processing mode. If this system doesn't already exist, it ought to. If this system (or anything like it) does exist, I request information on it. If anyone knows of any systems which measure UNIX System V performance, please email any information or contacts you care to. I am also interested in hearing about any work being done in this area. (I know that there is a POSIX working group on performance testing but its status is unknown to me.) Thanks John Franey (The ideas presented within this article may or may not be shared by Digital Equipment Corporation.)