sean@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Sean R Owens) (09/05/90)
Has anyone here had experience with hanging four or more terminals off a Xenix
box? (Preferably 36 20mhz or faster, also 386sx 16mhz). How was the response
time for the users? I'm interested in doing an I/O bound database system
for up to 4 or more users, but I'm worried about degradation of response time.
I'm also worried about compatibility, as I was hoping to develope on a Sun
SPARC station, and then port to Xenix.
Is anyone aware of any peculiarities with Xenix that might cause problems
in porting code?
Sean Owens
sean@unix.cis.pitt.eduitkin@mrspoc.Transact.COM (Steven M. List) (09/06/90)
sean@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Sean R Owens) writes: >Has anyone here had experience with hanging four or more terminals off a Xenix >box? (Preferably 36 20mhz or faster, also 386sx 16mhz). How was the response >time for the users? I'm interested in doing an I/O bound database system >for up to 4 or more users, but I'm worried about degradation of response time. >I'm also worried about compatibility, as I was hoping to develope on a Sun >SPARC station, and then port to Xenix. > Is anyone aware of any peculiarities with Xenix that might cause problems >in porting code? We're running an Everex Step 25 (25MHz 386) with a Specialix board and 16 ports. We also have it connected, via Ethernet, to another 386 box and to two PCs. We have five users directly connected to the system on eight ports (three users have two terminals each), as well as having three modems (one Hayes 2400 and two Telebit TB+) and one serial printer. And then each of the users on the other system also has at least ONE rlogin session running as well as reading the news that is stored on the disks on this box. So, we have a fairly heavy load. And the users are doing software development using ACCELL (designing forms and the like) as well as working with C and reading mail and reading news (some EMACS users with multiple buffers and some MultiView users with multiple windows). I'd say that you should be concerned, but not about I/O if you use any of the intelligent systems (Specialix, Stallion Tech, and such). One of our customers has had some performance problems, but mostly from swapping! That is, the disk becomes a bottleneck, but only because some processes get up to 2MB of memory on an 8MB box. With four users and the O/S and other stuff, that pretty well maxes out! -- +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ : Steven List @ Transact Software, Inc. :^>~ : : Chairman, Unify User Group of Northern California : : {apple,coherent,limbo,mips,pyramid,ubvax}!itkin@guinan.Transact.COM :
pmb@sequim.UUCP (Peter Black) (09/06/90)
In article <35049@unix.cis.pitt.edu>, sean@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Sean R Owens) writes: > > Has anyone here had experience with hanging four or more terminals off a Xenix > box? (Preferably 36 20mhz or faster, also 386sx 16mhz). How was the response > time for the users? I'm interested in doing an I/O bound database system > for up to 4 or more users, but I'm worried about degradation of response time. We have a Compaq 386/20, 130 meg ESDI hd, with 9 meg of ram and a math co-processor, running SCO Xenix 2.3.3 with VP/ix. We have 15 Wyse 60 terminals; 1 dos machine (running a terminal emulation program); 3 serial printers; 1 parallel printer; 3 modems; a 60 meg, 1/4" tape drive; 1 Anvil Stallion 16 intelligent port and 1 Arnet 8 port. The principal software we run is Unify RDB 4.0, vi, nroff and a few simple minded dos programs under VP/ix. We seldom experience system degradation. Based on my experience with my system and others in the area, I think the following things are important: * Get good quality hardware WITH good quality support * Use intelligent i/o cards * Don't create large filesystems, a /root & /u work better and it is much easier to deal with file fragmentation with a separate /u filesystem. * SCO Xenix 2.3.2 GT (SCSI support) is faster, costs more, is larger (and therefore harder to create a boot floppy, must tinker) * Get a tape backup system and use it * Make a boot floppy and TEST IT with your tape drive before you need it * Buy a separate MS-Dos machine for desk top publishing - Windows, PageMaker, etc. Peter M. Black, Peter M. Black Real Estate Co., Inc. P.O. Box 2227, 315 E. Washington Street, Sequim, WA 98382 Voice (PST): (206) 683-1171 or 800-962-7307, FAX: (206) 683-5415 E-Mail: {attmail,uunet}!sequim!pmb