bshafer@NIKE.CAIR.DU.EDU (Bob Shafer) (05/13/89)
We are looking at the possibility of using NFS for software
distribution to networked PC's in student labs in a building on
our campus and have a few questions.
The software we wish to distribute are things such as the
executables for WordPerfect, a spreadsheet and maybe Turbo Pascal
and/or C.
For the most part, students will carry around diskettes for their
data.
Each of the workstations shares a dot matrix printer with one
other workstation.
There will be ~60 IBM PS/2 Model 30286 systems distributed over
3 labs on a single logical ethernet. There will be a few more
powerful workstations on the same network (Sun's, VAXStation's,
etc.) as well as a Pyramid 90X. The ethernet will also be tied
to the campus backbone with a router or bridge of some sort.
So the network will typically get a bunch of activity at the
beginning of a lab (while students load executables) followed by
very little activity for the rest of the time.
Our concerns are:
Server hardware/software:
Options:
1) We have a spare uVAX II sitting around. We could run
Ultrix 3.0 with NFS or Mt. Xinu (BSD4.3 with NFS) on
this system and use it as a dedicated server. We need
some more memory and disk so it might run as much as
$6000 to upgrade this system.
2) We might be able to shake loose an IBM RT model 125 or
135 with plenty of memory and disk. The problem here
is the operating system software. AIX 2.2.1 is
immature and AOS (IBM's BSD 4.3) is not a complete
implementation of 4.3. Both have NFS. We have no
experience with NFS on AIX. Our experience with NFS on
AOS seems to indicate that it is based on an older
version of NFS.
With IBM's strong commitment to AIX, AIX is probably
the way to go. But only after the software matures a
bit. That may be too late for this project. We want
things in, working and stable the middle to late part
of this summer.
Another possibility is to use AIX access in place of
NFS - the problem with this is that it is not as
generic a solution as NFS.
And while there will be no additional cost I might find
it difficult to pry loose the fingers of the systems
person that works on it so we can move it to the
building.
3) Use the Pyramid. The problem here is that the system
could not be dedicated to server use only. It is used
for crunching upon occasion and both the cruncher and
the people on workstations would suffer a bit in
performance. Though it might be okay to use as a
backup server.
4) Buy two fast 80386 systems to use as servers. This is
new territory for us and I have no idea what software
to run on them. I know there is some NFS server
software from FTP and I have heard a PD or shareware
version called SOS. I do not know anything about them.
I am sure there are other commercial versions as well.
5) Buy something else (such as a Sun) as a server. The
problem here is that we have a limited budget and would
like to solve the problem (for now) in as economical a
method as possible.
So our questions are:
What server hardware/software combination is both cost effective
and capable of doing the job (i.e. does the uVAX II have enough
horses to serve this number of workstations, etc)?
What other software is out there (and how good is it), either
commercial or PD, for an 80386 server solution (if that is a
reasonable thing to do)?
Comments regarding experiences with server software would also be
appreciated. We would particularly be interested if there is an
implementation or an add-on that would allow the system to track
number of copies of executable that are checked out and prevent
a user from checking a copy out if it exceeds the number
licensed.
Client software:
Mostly: What PC client software is the best (read easiest to use,
leaves the most memory for user applications, reasonably
efficient, etc.)? Are there any PD or shareware implementations
of client software (good or bad)?
Thanks,
Bob Shafer
bshafer@du.edu
bshafer@ducair.bitnet
ncar!dunike!bshaferjbvb@VAX.FTP.COM (James Van Bokkelen) (05/15/89)
One correction: we aren't doing anything with an NFS server. Our offering is a DOS-based NFS client layered on top of our PC/TCP TSR transport module. The only NFS server software for the 386 that I know of is SCO's port of the Lachmann SysV code. My opinion: Unless 60 clients will make your server crash because it runs out of table space (don't laugh; you'd be surprised at the fragile NFS implementations that exist out there), use the hardware you have. That kind of load, read 1024 bytes at a time (because of PC Ethernet card limitations) won't create much more than a momentary slowdown on the server. The .EXE files you are loading will be less than 3Mb total, so you shouldn't need to buy a disk (I hope you have that much free). If everyone loads at once, then the files will get into cache and stay there for the duration of the startup period. You'd need to hack the server source to add check-out capability. I haven't heard of anyone doing it that way. James B. VanBokkelen 26 Princess St., Wakefield, MA 01880 FTP Software Inc. voice: (617) 246-0900 fax: (617) 246-0901
snorthc@RELAY.NSWC.NAVY.MIL (05/16/89)
> The only NFS server software for the 386 that I know of is SCO's port of > the Lachmann SysV code. I am running the Wollongong Streams TCP for 386 Sys V rel 3.2 UNIXs. I also have their NFS module. It seems to work for both client and server purposes well enough. I have serious doubts about supporting 60 users or whatever the number was. One constraint would be the throughput on the AT style bus to <-> from the disk. Cheers. Stephen Northcutt (snorthc@relay.nswc.navy.mil)
douglas@twg-ap.UUCP (Douglas P. Ambort) (05/18/89)
In article <8905151343.AA05291@vax.ftp.com>, jbvb@VAX.FTP.COM (James Van Bokkelen) writes: > ... > The only NFS server software for the 386 that I know of is SCO's port of > the Lachmann SysV code. The Wollongong Group, Inc. also offers NFS (both server and client) for UNIX System V 386 Rel 3.2. .--------------------------------------------------------------------. | Douglas Ambort The Wollongong Group, Inc. | | Product Manager 1129 San Antonio Road | | INTERNET: douglas@twg.com Palo Alto, CA 94303 | | TWX: 910-373-2085 WOLLONGONG PLA (415) 962-7213 | | FAX: (415) 969-5547 | | UUCP/USENET: !{amdahl}!douglas@twg.com | `---------------------------------------------------------------------'