manager@Earth1.GPS.Caltech.EDU (01/19/88)
I'm looking for information on the Remote System Manager (RSM) product
from DEC. We are wondering if the product is worthwhile to buy.
We have 17 MicroVaxes, 8 in one "group" (NOT a LAVC), and 9 in another.
If we bought RSM, we would like one server node for each group, and
let all the rest be clients.
I have the following questions:
1. Is there a good reason for DEC saying that one must have
"one SERVER MicroVax for every five CLIENT MicroVaxen?" Someone
has told me that this is only because of backup time. Is this
restriction actually built into the software?
2. DEC advertises that one can set up remote print queues. But they
are NOT clear on whether one can set up remote print queues on ALL
the machines, or just on the servers. We would like to have
three different machines to have print queues that anyone on any
node could get to - a laser printer, a plotter, and a line-printer.
3. There is an "unsupported" feature of RSM that somebody mentioned -
remote batch queues. Has anybody played with this feature/bug, and
again, can one do this on just the server or on clients too?
4. Can one truly do BACKUP/IMAGE to and from the server nodes to client
nodes? (This would be WONDERFUL.)
5. Are there any catches in software installation over the net with RSM?
They say in the literature that it's "exactly the same." But DEC
literature says lots of things...
In addition, I would really appreciate any reviews or comments on the
product. $19K/year is a lot of money to some of us...
Thanks!
Mark Porter MANAGER@MERCU1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU
System Manager MARK@CALTECH.BITNET
Caltech Planetary Science ...!cit-vax!porter
EARTH1::MANAGER