jim@b-mrda (10/23/87)
I would like to find out from owners of Kinetics Fastpaths, of all types, what kind of reliabilty that they have experienced. I'm especially interested in sites that have multipule Kinetics gateways. The type of info I'd like is listed below. If there are enough responses and/or requests I'll summerize to the net. Thank you jim sadler 206-237-0961 hpubvwa!b-mrda!jim P.O. Box 3707 ms 94-26 Seattle, Wa. USA 98124 Any opinions expressed are mine and mine only and not that of my employer. Also added in whatever else should be said at this point. ########################## cut here ################################## Fastpath model : Thick or thin LAN : What gateway code do you use name, version and date : Number of nodes per zone : Number of zones : Estimated number of hours, days, weeks, etc. between failures ( a failure is anytime the gateway needs to have power cycled or gateway code reloaded or reset) : Serial number of gateways : Other comments :
elwell@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Clayton Elwell) (10/26/87)
At the moment, news is more reliable than mail around here, so excuse
the posting.
jim@b-mrda writes:
I would like to find out from owners of Kinetics Fastpaths, of all
types, what kind of reliabilty that they have experienced. I'm
especially interested in sites that have multipule Kinetics gateways.
The type of info I'd like is listed below.
If there are enough responses and/or requests I'll summerize to the net.
[...]
########################## cut here ##################################
Fastpath model :
20 KFPS/2's (rough count) currently installed
Thick or thin LAN :
Thick, plus fiber optic (via Hirschman transceivers)
What gateway code do you use
name, version and date :
19 Combined Gateway Beta C0X9: July 9, 1987
1 KIP 9/87
Number of nodes per zone :
170+
Number of zones :
1
Estimated number of hours,
days, weeks, etc. between
failures ( a failure is
anytime the gateway needs
to have power cycled or
gateway code reloaded or
reset) :
Execept for the one on my desk (every 2-3 days), only when we have
power line problems (once every couple of months).
Serial number of gateways :
5xx-6xx (I'd rather not have to run around and look them all up).
Other comments :
We love them.
--
Clayton M. Elwell
UUCP: ...!cbosgd!cis.ohio-state.edu!elwell
ARPA: elwell@ohio-state.arpa (if you feel lucky...)jim@b-mrda (10/31/87)
Here are the results so far. If you haven't responed please do. In short the response has been that the gateways are very reliable. It looks like the average number of devices per appletalk net is about 14. The number of gateways per site varies widely. Thanks to those who responed and again if you have'nt please do. jim sadler 206-656-5422 hpubvwa!b-mrda!jim P.O. Box 3707 MS 6R-24 Seattle, Wa. USA 98124 Any opinions expressed are mine and mine only and not that of my employer. Also add in whatever else should be said at this point. PS I'm especially interested in any sites that are using a "non-standard" wire eg: fiber, twisted pair, astra-net or type 1. PPS Next time I'll try and make the questions more consise. js ================================================================================ Fastpath model : the gateway (I am aware of only one modle of gateway) Thick or thin LAN : Thin now. We had used thick previously. What gateway code do you use name, version and date : Stanford KIP 9/87 Number of nodes per zone : ~20 (some with many many more.) Number of zones : seven at last count. Estimated number of hours, days, weeks, etc. between failures ( a failure is anytime the gateway needs to have power cycled or gateway code reloaded or reset) : over a month. Serial number of gateways : Other comments : ================================================================================ > Fastpath model : KFPS-2 > > Thick or thin LAN : Thick (kbox currently on a DELNI) > > What gateway code do you use > name, version and date : Croft's KIP, 0287 (Feb, 1987) > > Number of nodes per zone : Currently about 8, plan on about twice that > > Number of zones : one > > Estimated number of hours, > days, weeks, etc. between > failures ( a failure is > anytime the gateway needs > to have power cycled or > gateway code reloaded or > reset) : After infant failures, never (we've been up a couple of months). > > Serial number of gateways : 1297 > > Other comments : Our original unit had a S/N in the 600's and was continually crashing. Kinetic's finally swapped it for the one we have now, and made some noises about power supply problems in some older units (they also couldn't figure out why we had been shipped a box with that low a S/N). Since then, it's been rock solid. -- Roy Smith, {allegra,cmcl2,philabs}!phri!roy System Administrator, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 =============================================================================== Fastpath model : 1 Thick or thin LAN : thick What gateway code do you use name, version and date : Croft, <info-mac>at-gw, (27 sept is the date on the file system; I don't know when the executable was made; it's the one with zones) Number of nodes per zone : 13 Number of zones : (We (KSL) are 1 zone of 5 at Stanford) Estimated number of hours, days, weeks, etc. between failures ( a failure is anytime the gateway needs to have power cycled or gateway code reloaded or reset) : 1-6 months; causes have been external; eg. to load new software Serial number of gateways : 118, 602, 430 Other comments : I had to replace the battery in one unit that we left unplugged for several months. Otherwise, they've run non-stop. Note: we run them without the top skin, 'cause I didn't like the looks of the cooling. ------- ================================================================================ Fastpath model : 3 KFPS-1 models with ROM upgrades Thick or thin LAN : Thick What gateway code do you use name, version and date : KIP 2/87 Number of nodes per zone : 20 Number of zones : 1 so far... Estimated number of hours, days, weeks, etc. between failures ( a failure is anytime the gateway needs to have power cycled or gateway code reloaded or reset) : i have seen 1 failure in 8 months Serial number of gateways : D....761, 750, 681 Other comments : it's fine, i like the public domain s/w that you can get. we have also evaluated all other products out there (TOPS/Unix, Alisa, Pacer, Lutzy-Baird) and found them all to suck except for tops, which is not great but at least it does not crash your mac. hope this helps tim wicinski naval research labs ================================================================================ Fastpath model : kfps-1 Thick or thin LAN : thick What gateway code do you use latest KIP from Sumex name, version and date : Number of nodes per zone : 10 Number of zones : 1 Estimated number of hours, unknown (no failures of the kfps days, weeks, etc. between other than pilot error and/or failures ( a failure is upgrading the software). anytime the gateway needs to have power cycled or gateway code reloaded or reset) : Serial number of gateways : 112 Other comments : nice box -- Jim Guyton decvax!randvax!guyton guyton@rand-unix.arpa ================================================================================ Fastpath model : 20 KFPS/2's (rough count) currently installed Thick or thin LAN : Thick, plus fiber optic (via Hirschman transceivers) What gateway code do you use name, version and date : 19 Combined Gateway Beta C0X9: July 9, 1987 1 KIP 9/87 Number of nodes per zone : 170+ Number of zones : 1 Estimated number of hours, days, weeks, etc. between failures ( a failure is anytime the gateway needs to have power cycled or gateway code reloaded or reset) : Execept for the one on my desk (every 2-3 days), only when we have power line problems (once every couple of months). Serial number of gateways : 5xx-6xx (I'd rather not have to run around and look them all up). Other comments : We love them. -- Clayton M. Elwell ================================================================================ Fastpath model : KFPS-2 Thick or thin LAN : thick What gateway code do you use name, version and date : KIP 0287 with cap patches. CAP 5 with patches 5,6,7 Number of nodes per zone : we have 6 boxes running and about a 100 macs and 7 lws Number of zones : 1 (all one zone) Estimated number of hours, days, weeks, etc. between failures ( a failure is anytime the gateway needs to have power cycled or gateway code reloaded or reset) : different. Some have gone for 4 months others crash each day. We have traced this to the power supply if yuo attach external power they stay alive. Serial number of gateways : (extract from /etc/hosts) ser # 192.16.126.71 gwklock kfps729 192.16.126.77 gwnalen kfps725 192.16.126.84 gwx84 kfps835 192.16.126.85 gwx85 kfps847 192.16.126.86 gwiplab kfps854 192.16.126.87 gwttds kfps724 192.16.126.88 gwrosa kfps810 192.16.126.89 gwceri1 kfps807 Other comments : The boxes seem to more sensitive to a "bad" appletalk than other devices (mac & lw) Some boxes consistently fail to reload from their battery backuped ram. It seems like the rom in the box sometimes drops packets from the appletalk when there is heave load from the ether side. The conesquence is that htey drop they ATP RLS packet which causes a timout of 30 secs. Of the 8 boxes we have 2 are very bad at restarting (pwr fail) every day at least. Two or three restart every 2 weeks and some with months in between. One has never crashed by itself (I think) ================================================================================