rg@gandp (Dick Gill) (03/20/91)
We have just started selling the RS/6000 products into the commercial (legal) marketplace, and are proposing a Model 320H to an existing client; he will use it for both word and data processing. Having been burned once by a prior vendor, he wants to make _SURE_ that, as his needs grow, he can add a second (and third) system and have them networked in a way that directories can be shared among users on all systems (there may also be a more minor need to log on to another system). I assume that the means to achieve this is NFS running on TCP/IP over Ethernet, although I am a novice in networking and may not have gotten this exactly right. Now the question. Is this a relatively simple and straightforward thing to do? Does it _REALLLY_ work reliably? Practiccally, how many RS/6000's can be networked in this manner? How much support complication is introduced by the network? I've read the IBM publications that make this sound simple and routine, and would like comments from those who are doing (or trying to do) this kind of RS/6000 networking. Please e-mail; I will summarize to the net if there is interest. Thanks. Dick -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dick Gill Gill & Piette, Inc. (703)761-1163 ..uunet!gandp!rg
mccalpin@perelandra.cms.udel.edu (John D. McCalpin) (03/21/91)
>>>>> On 20 Mar 91 15:10:44 GMT, rg@gandp (Dick Gill) said:
Dick> [we] are proposing a Model 320H to an existing client;[...] he
Dick> wants to make _SURE_ that, as his needs grow, he can add a
Dick> second (and third) system and have them networked in a way that
Dick> directories can be shared among users on all systems (there may
Dick> also be a more minor need to log on to another system).
Dick> I assume that the means to achieve this is NFS running on TCP/IP
Dick> over Ethernet,
Yes.
Dick> Now the question. Is this a relatively simple and
Dick> straightforward thing to do? Does it _REALLLY_ work reliably?
Yes and yes.
Dick> Practiccally, how many RS/6000's can be networked in this
Dick> manner? How much support complication is introduced by the
Dick> network?
There should not be any trouble or performance degradation with up to
a dozen or more hosts. Of course it depends on how much you data you
are actually pumping across the ethernet in the transfers between
machines....
--
John D. McCalpin mccalpin@perelandra.cms.udel.edu
Assistant Professor mccalpin@brahms.udel.edu
College of Marine Studies, U. Del. J.MCCALPIN/OMNET