bmartin@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Brian Martin) (09/12/88)
Hello,
Here are a few questions for you network gurus. I've got a DN3000
that's been running as a standalone node for ~2 years now. I know
very little about the Domain network, but am in a situation where I
need to learn real fast.
A friend of mine has a DN3000, purchased to run Intelligent Light's
rendering software, and he's now nearly out of disk space. The
rendering requires a large amount of virtual memory, and with his disk
90% full, he runs out of virtual memory real fast. We decided to hook
both of our nodes together in order to add additional disk space, which
would hopefully satisfy the virtual memory requirements of his
rendering software. But we can't seem to get it to work.
Both nodes are DN3000s, each with 4MB RAM and 72MB disks. One has a
floppy and one has a cart. tape. Both are running sr9.7.
We bought two of the DQC outlet boxes, wired them together with
regular coax, plugged the DQC cables into the DQC outlets, started
up "spm" and "mbx_helper" on both nodes, then typed "ctnode -update" to
both nodes. The nodes found each other, and we were able to cd to each
node, copy files from one node to another, and do a remote login with
the "crp -on //node_name" command. But when we started up the rendering
software, his node still ran out of virtual memory, acting as if there were
no additional disk/RAM available to it. What are we doing wrong? How do
you tell a node that there are additional disk/RAM resources available
to it on another node? Or is that even possible. I've read about NCS, so I
would think that what we want to do is fairly straightforward, since we
just want to share network resources.
Also, is it possible to remove the operating system from one of the
nodes, so that the 72MB disk could be mounted as one file system on the
other node?
Finally, does anyone know of an inexpensive way to swap the 72MB
disk for a larger capacity disk? Both of the nodes have the OMTI
controllers and 72MB micropolis disk drives. Apollo wants $4,500 to upgrade
the 72MB to a 155MB. Apollo's prices seem way out of line, especially
when I can buy a 620MB CDC WREN V for my Mac II for $2,900. Maybe I could
use the Mac as a fileserver for the Apollo :-)
Thanks in advance,
--Brian
btw--My Apollo has never crashed in the over two years that I've
had it, with it running continuously. Was I ever in for a surprise when
I got the Mac II...
====
Brian K. Martin, M.D.
University of Hawaii School of Medicine,
Martin Information Systems, Ltd.
1103 9th Ave., Suite 203
Honolulu, Hawai`i 96816-2403
Voice (808) 733-2003
Fax (808) 733-2011
ARPA: uhccux!bmartin@nosc.MIL
UUCP: {uunet,dcdwest,ucbvax}!ucsd!nosc!uhccux!bmartin
INTERNET: bmartin@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edukrowitz@RICHTER.MIT.EDU (David Krowitz) (09/14/88)
Some points ... 1) The virtual memory space for an Apollo node resides on the disk that the node is booted from. If the node is diskless, then the VM comes from the disk that its partner is booted from. Your friend's node is still being booted from the disk which is physically attached to it, so it has no more VM available than it did before. The way to solve this is to move his files onto your disk, thereby freeing up space on his disk which can be used for virtual memory. As an alternative, you can booted his machine as a diskless node off of your machine and then use the /com/mtvol command to mount his disk (the commmand is issued on his machine). This would allow you to delete the operating system from his disk, which would free up a lot of disk space. 2) The 155 and 348 MB disk drives on the DN3000/3500/4000/4500 use the EDSI controllers, which are faster than the controller used for the 72 MB drive. The upgrade price includes the price of the new controller. These drives are a lot faster than the smaller drive in addition to giving you more disk space. We you consider than the operating system takes up some 30 to 40 MB of disk space, a formatted 72 MB drive (62 MB) leaves you with only 20 to 35 MB of space for virtual memory and files. A formatted 155 MB drive (145 MB) leaves you with almost 100 MB of free space. The usuable disk space increases much faster than the raw size of the disk would indicate. -- David Krowitz krowitz@richter.mit.edu (18.83.0.109) krowitz%richter@eddie.mit.edu krowitz%richter@athena.mit.edu krowitz%richter.mit.edu@mitvma.bitnet (in order of decreasing preference)