brian@natinst.com (Brian H. Powell) (06/13/91)
My original posting mentioned that I have a FastPath 4 and a GatorBox CS.
I was wondering, if I were to upgrade the FastPath 4, to what should I upgrade
it. The two obvious choices are a FastPath 5 and a GatorBox CS.
I got only a few replies, mostly commenting that Shiva's support is
good, and that people love their FastPath's. The most helpful reply is
given below.
I talked to a Cayman salesman, who downplayed the importance of the
FastPath 5. (In fact to the extent that I wondered if he was desparate,
and I really should consider the FastPath 5 more seriously.)
I talked to a Shiva salesman, who was a typical salesman. Unfortunately,
he didn't know his product very well, so I didn't get much out of him. (He
also tried to tell me the history of the FastPath. He got it wrong.)
Yet another issue that's come up (which I'll fully report in another
posting to this group) is that NCSA Telnet (non-MacTCP version) works under
System 7 with the FastPath 4, and doesn't work with the GatorBox. The bug,
according to Cayman, is Apple's. But Cayman will come out with a workaround.
The problem: Cayman won't come out with a workaround for a few more months.
Personally, I think this is atrocious.
I'm leaning toward upgrading the FastPath 4 to a FastPath 5, if for no
other reason, to give it a try.
Thanks for all who responded.
Brian
From: woody@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (Bill Woodcock)
Howdy. I went to the FastPath 5 announcment in Redwood City last
Tuesday, and I've been working on an article about the FP5, which I
can send you a copy of, if you'd like.
My (provisional) take on the situation is as follows: The GatorBox is
still slightly second rate as far as throughput, while the FastPath
has again taken the performance lead over other routers in its class.
Shiva has done a total redesign of the FastPath. The board looks a
lot more like other Shiva products than anything like an old Kinetics
box. Unfortunately the feature set isn't as good as that of the
Gatorbox, is you intend to use th boxes to gateway Mac and PC traffic
to an Ethernet with lots of Unix-based services on it.
In terms of support, I'd agree with your evaluation. Cayman's support
has always been outstanding, while I've felt that Shiva's, while not
too bad, could use some improvement.
If you feel that the performance of the FP4 you have now is adequate,
and you just want the new management features, you can get a PROM
upgrade which includes those, and supports the new atalkatab and
K-Star for $149, or you can get an upgrade that also includes a fan,
another 256K of RAM, and a new case for $299.mandel@vax.anes.tulane.edu (Jeff E Mandel MD MS) (06/14/91)
In article <24446@natinst.natinst.com>, brian@natinst.com (Brian H. Powell) writes: > > My original posting mentioned that I have a FastPath 4 and a GatorBox CS. >I was wondering, if I were to upgrade the FastPath 4, to what should I upgrade >it. The two obvious choices are a FastPath 5 and a GatorBox CS. I have been looking into the situation as well, and my conclusion is that the performance improvement of spending $1200 on upgrading either box will be minimal; the performance boost of buying a second GatorBox or FastPath 4 ought to be something in the range of doubling performance (if your net can be easily subdivided). I personally plan to get the $300 upgrade that puts a fan in the FastPath (and coincidentally adds some RAM and the new PROMs). I've been wanting a fan in the thing for some time. I'm not that impressed that companies like Shiva and Cayman can spend so much time coming out with new products that are such small increments in performance, while in the same time frame Apple can move from the Mac II to the Mac IIfx, with a (albeit expensive) board swap upgrade path. I'm currently looking at the Webster Multiport and the TriData MaxWay 500; these seem to be platforms that have the potential for performance improvement. I'll probably miss replies to this unless their mailed; I'm taking off tommorrow to go up to MacHack. Hope to see some of you there. Jeff E Mandel MD MS Asst. Professor of Anesthesiology Tulane University School of Medicine New Orleans, LA mandel@vax.anes.tulane.edu