NOTICE: This version of the NSF Unidata web site (archive.unidata.ucar.edu) is no longer being updated.
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NOTICE: This version of the NSF Unidata web site (archive.unidata.ucar.edu) is no longer being updated.
Current content can be found at unidata.ucar.edu.
To learn about what's going on, see About the Archive Site.
All, FWIW, we have had Solaris x86 lab machines for two years now and have been very happy with them. They have worked very reliably in a tripple boot (win95/winnt/sol7x86) environment and other than the occasional upgrades/patches they have not been a problem (and not to misstate this, the upgrades aren't a problem just the fact that they are so maintenance free at other times make them seem cumbersome:)). Our initial reason for the choice was based on having Solaris Sparc experience, but we have not regretted it. Our recent addition of McIDAS server from a backend SPARC server and access from the x86 lab machines has been a charm to set up (if you disregard the mistakes I made being new to LDM/McIDAS). The other reason we liked Solaris is because SUN does offer a support contract option for x86, which we have purchased and which makes it nice to have that backup of a vendor support team. Their support prices for educational contracts are far from unreasonable in their pricing from what I've seen from other vendors. -Simon On Fri, 27 Apr 2001, Mark Tucker wrote: > > > > If you are a small department without a Linux guru, or without > > Unix experience, read these messages and strongly consider > > Unidata's recommendations (I've seen Anne reiterate these recently) > > and stick with Solaris Intel on Intel boxes. I know Linux is pushed > > and hyped quite a bit lately especially in academia, but if you > > aren't very Unix/Linux savvy and want something that will > > work every time, and will guarantee binary compatibility with > > upgrades, stick with Solaris. > > I would like to add to this comment. I have a fair amount of unix > experience and have been playing or working with Linux since > 1994/1995. When I assumed responsibilities here at LSC I > moved nearly everything to Linux partly because I had experience with > it. Last year, for various reasons, I migrated our LDM server over to > Solaris X86. I was impressed with how well it performed and the > installation of our Unidata related applications was surprisingly > smooth compared with Linux. The system is much more reliable than it was > running Linux (the exact same machine) and seems to perform under > load much more predictably. It has significantly reduced the > amount of maintenance I was doing to keep the LDM up and running. This > summer I plan on migrating our lab machines over to Solaris from Linux. > > >Note that I am not putting down Linux (it certainly has it's place) > >but merely pointing out that Solaris for many reasons is a > >superior choice for many people. People that many times > >get no opportunity to hear about it.. > > Solaris X86 does seem to get little mention. The media costs $75 but the > license is technically "free" so it is nearly as economical as Linux if > you were to purchase a supported version of Linux. > > I will probably continue to use Linux as my desktop and to run our Web > server but I would concur that Solaris may be a better choice for > running the Unidata supported applications. > > > > -- > Mark Tucker > Meteorology > Lyndon State College > tuckerm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > http://apollo.lsc.vsc.edu > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Simon Kissler Simon.Kissler@xxxxxxxxx UNIX Systems Administrator Phone: (219) 464 6773 Electronic Information Services Fax : (219) 464 5381 Valparaiso University Kretzmann Hall B22 Valparaiso, IN 46383 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Without trust, you don't have anything. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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