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=============================================================================== Robb Kambic Unidata Program Center Software Engineer III Univ. Corp for Atmospheric Research address@hidden WWW: http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/ =============================================================================== ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 14:40:19 -0400 From: Dan Vietor <address@hidden> To: 'Robert Mullenax' <address@hidden>, 'Jessica Thomale' <address@hidden> Subject: RE: NOAAPort data server x86 configuration > We have a Gateway PII 400 Mhz that is running the LDM, McIDAS, and > GEMPAK decoders, and serves as a workstation and web server. I have a 350 MHz PII running RedHat 6.0 and it seems to run fine with LDM and WXP. > We are running Solaris. I would definitely recommend Solaris > over Linux for ease of administration, and compatibility. I think this is pretty much a wash. For those familiar with Solaris, stick with it. For those use to Linux, go that route. BTW, I've found Linux to be closer in compatibility to Solaris than almost any other Unix variant. > Informal observations here indicate that while Linux is > faster than Solaris at light loads, with top-end hardware > and heavy loads Solaris wins out. Solaris is more reliable under heavy loads than Linux. I've found problems with Linux and swapping. Under heavy loads Linux tends to bog down far more than I've seen with Solaris. Plus I've seen timing/buffer issues with IDE drives cause Linux to crash on occasions under heavy loads. > The only problem with Solaris is that the hardware support is poor. This is getting to be the BIGGEST issue for us moving more towards Linux. We stopped using HP systems last year due to motherboard and CDROM incompatibilities. Now we are running into the same problems with Dell. The newer systems have Intel 100baseT Ethernet cards and graphics cards that aren't supported by Solaris. Linux can install on these systems. I think the best route here is to NOT buy standard configurations but go into the online configurators with the Solaris hardware compatibility matrix and make sure you don't purchase a system that Solaris won't run on! > Dell claims their PowerEdge servers have been tested with > Solaris, with the addition of an updated Adpatec SCSI driver. What people on this list might want to do is publish Dell systems that will work. Make sure you include Ethernet and graphics adapter information. Sticking with server configurations may be the best route since these systems tend to be configured with more legacy hardware than other desktop systems. > Quite frankly, while we have been happy with the Gateway, we > find that our Sun UltraSparc 440 clone performs much better > under heavy load than the Intel machine, and our next one > will be a Sparc. This is a good recommendation. If price and CPU speed are not an issue (and its not with the LDM), then Sparc Solaris systems still offer the best disk/network performance and reliability. > I am sure you'll get a lot of opposing views on the Solaris > vs. Linux issue.. This is almost as much of a religious war as the Mac vs PC issue is. Personally, I like Linux more for development and Solaris more for runtime reliability and IO speed. ________________________________________________________ Daniel Vietor Mail: address@hidden Unisys Corp Title: Engineer/Meteorologist 221 Gale Lane Phone: 610-925-5206 Kennett Square PA 19348 Fax: 610-925-5215