*BSD News Article 47495


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From: dyson@inuxs.inh.att.com (John S. Dyson)
Subject: Re: Internet service providing-which OS?
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References: <3ue5qa$ain@panix.com> <3ufi7b$ju6@dingo.cc.uq.oz.au> <3ukbb9$7ao@gate.sinica.edu.tw> <3uo1mt$5uv@picard.cistron.nl>
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 15:48:21 GMT
Lines: 40

In article <3uo1mt$5uv@picard.cistron.nl>,
Miquel van Smoorenburg <miquels@cistron.nl> wrote:
>In article <3ukbb9$7ao@gate.sinica.edu.tw>,
> <ywliu@beta.wsl.sinica.edu.tw> wrote:
>>
>>As for FreeBSD, we all know it works pretty amazingly on ftp.cdrom.com.
>>I have my own FTP server story about Linux 0.99plxx. See my other post.
>
>ftp.cica.indiana.edu, one of the busiest sites on the net (max 256 anon
>ftp users) runs linux 1.2.10...
>
That is all and good...  I'll have to check it on my T1 connected system.
On ftp.freebsd.org I can still get 50-150K per second with 250+ other
connected users when I am on a T1.  Also, the only limitation is memory
at this time -- the mirror scripts grow very large (80MB of RAM).  It
would be interesting to know the volume of traffic on ftp.cica.indiana.edu.
I have heard that ftp.freebsd.org seldom drops below 400K bytes/sec., and
the peak usage is at/near the theoretical maximum for their connection type
and packet sizes.

BTW, I just did an ftp at ftp.freebsd.org and got 138K/sec with 296 other
users logged in.  On ftp.cica.indiana.edu, I got between 99K/sec and
120K/sec with a current limit of 75 users.  So it looks good, but it appears
that the system login limit on cica is set very low.  (ftp.freebsd.org works
OK (but not great) on a T1 with approx 100+ users).  We have found that there
is a big difference in machine loading, etc when going from a T1 to a T3.
A machine that works well on a small pipe can fall flat on a bigger one.  So
I still think that my view of what Linux can do under a real load is
inconclusive.  The test of the mettle of an OS is what it can do under real
stress.  If it isn't paging -- it isn't being stressed much.  Many strange
race conditions can start to appear.

Disclaimer:
Most of what I am saying about ftp.freebsd.org is heresay -- I do not manage
it, but I know the people that do and it appears to be able to really take the
load...

John (FreeBSD core)
dyson@root.com