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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mel.connect.com.au!munnari.OZ.AU!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in2.uu.net!world!coopnews.coop.net!hops.entertain.com!usenet From: dwatson@abwam.com (Darryl Watson) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.solaris,comp.unix.aix Subject: Re: ISP hardware/software choices (performance comparison) Date: 8 Jan 1996 14:16:27 GMT Organization: ABWAM, Inc. Lines: 33 Distribution: inet Message-ID: <4cr8vr$154@hops.entertain.com> References: <4cmopu$d35@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: ppp010.entertain.com X-Newsreader: WinVN 0.92.5 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:1821 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:1952 comp.unix.solaris:56511 comp.unix.aix:68104 In article <4cmopu$d35@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu>, mstary@prairienet.org (stary) says: > >Hi, >I have a dilemma about the hardware that I should use for my ISP/WWW >site (www, ftp, ppp/slip, news, pop....). After some research and >after reading the Inet-access FAQ a couple of times, I get very >contradicting evidence on what h/w I should use. I have considered and >analyzed three different platforms (from a raw CPU performance point of >view): > >(1) Sun-SunOS, Solaris, >(2) IBM PPCs - AIX, Solaris ppc >(3) Pentium P5/P6 - BSD (I, net), x86 Solaris > The question you should try to answer is: what am I doing with the hardware/software platform I select? Although Sun's hardware has the ability to multitask MUCH better than any Intel processor, their OS sucks rocks for performance. Intel is definately the cheapest way to go, and if you (as an ISP) aren't going to do much processing, but lots of PPP sessions and routing, email, etc., Intel is a great platform, especially with FreeBSD or BSDi. If you want a web server which runs LOTS of PERL scripts, does database searches, etc., then maybe you need to check out Silicon Graphics. These platforms CRANK. Advise: get a reseller's license so you can get a price break on SGI equipment, or buy an Indy used. Good luck!