lynch@theory.tn.cornell.edu (Tim Lynch) (10/11/90)
Hello, My section is in the process of choosing a workstation that will manage a very large database. Over ten gigabytes. We expect an average user load of maybe 8 users. Due to budget constraints, we must consider a low-end workstation and will probably try to save additional monies by purchasing third party SCSI disks to obtain the ten-plus gigabytes needed. My questions have to do with disk I/O; I hope someone can provide me with some comparative data on DEC, Sun, and IBM workstations. Sorry, I don't have particular model numbers in mind, but we hope to keep expenditures on the main box, without disks, under $25,000. 1. Does anyone have any experience on performance of vendor-supplied vs. third-party SCSI disks on any of these machines? Benchmarks? 2. The October issue of "Unix Review" compared the IBM, Sun, and DEC machines among others. The article included some charts on disk I/O with the IBM looking significantly better than the others. Does any know to what extent that performance was the result of driver/controller vs. the hard drive? If we should buy an IBM workstation and plug in third-party SCSI, do we loose this performance edge? Thanks. I'll summarize or respond via email to anyone asking for copies of what I learn. Tim Lynch