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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!nntp.coast.net!ftl.msen.com!uunet!in1.uu.net!news2.new-york.net!main.put.com!not-for-mail From: le@put.com (Louis Epstein) Subject: Re: FBSD Future... X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] X-Nntp-Posting-User: le Lines: 122 Organization: Putnam Internet Services Message-ID: <DzEnzx.DEJ@news2.new-york.net> References: <Dz37x9.7vC@news2.new-york.net> <Dz67yE.8I7@interactive.net> <Dz72I8.8M1@news2.new-york.net> <Dz9wyo.6pA@interactive.net> <DzAH2I.J9z@news2.new-york.net> <DzCCry.Gu0@interactive.net> X-Trace: 845531131/17018 X-Nntp-Posting-Host: main.put.com Date: Thu, 17 Oct 1996 05:45:32 GMT Chris Mauritz (ritz@interactive.net) wrote: : Louis Epstein <le@put.com> wrote: : :)Chris Mauritz (ritz@interactive.net) wrote: : :): Louis Epstein <le@put.com> wrote: : :): :)Chris Mauritz (ritz@interactive.net) wrote: : :): :): Louis Epstein <le@put.com> wrote: : :): :): :)I gather that 2.1.6 will be released on the net only,not on CDROM,so : :): :): :)how would one handle an upgrade from 2.1?(No point in going to : :): :): : :): :): Do an FTP install. If you've got a reasonably fat pipe to the : :): :): net, it's rather painless. I did a full install of 2.2-current : :): :): over our T3 the other day and it only took about 15-20 mins. :-) : :): : :): :)So for a 384k...? : :): : :): Dunno. If your 384 isn't heavily loaded, it shouldn't take much : :): longer. : : :)So it might vary with time of day...or if I had the news feed shut off. : : Yup. If your link isn't that loaded, the most influential factor will : probably be how loaded the ftp site is. Hmmm...so early morning would be better? : :): :): :)2.1.5 first if 2.1.6 is coming).How long would I have to take my : :): :): :)ISP down to go to 2.1.6,and get it in shape to honor the 9-12 character : :): :): :)IDs enabled by a kernel recompile for my 2.1??And what would I actually : :): :): :)gain by so doing? : :): :): : :): :): If you take your entire site down to do that upgrade you're not : :): :): doing it right. A 486-120 is cheap. Get a spare one and install : :): :): the new OS on the spare machine. Then, a simple dump/restore : :): :): cycle with some minor fiddling should be all you need to do. : :): : :): :)I have two of them,news and main.Would do them one at a time. : :): : :): It's your neck. :-) : :): : :): :)News is a backup radius server,so PPP customers could be authenticated : :): :)while main was busy upgrading,but shell customers and mail would be : :): :)out for that time. : :): : :): You've just finished telling us that your news server can't keep : :): up. Why are you running other services on it that you could put : :): on your other box? : : :)That's about the only other thing running on news...my news box is : :)much less multi-tasked than Drew's,for example. : : It would seem that *any* other thing running is going to bite you : in the ass at this point. Well,this essentially only kicks in if the Portmaster looks for main and can't reach it. : :): Running an ISP on a pair of 486 boxes seems somewhat silly given : :): how ridiculously cheap Pentium and Pentium Pro boxes have become. : : :)I've planned all along to move to 6x86es when I got the money. : : And you're running this as a business?!? Yes.Started with more than Drew started with in virtually every measure,planned for expansion as possible. : :): When you originally cornered me at Unix Expo last year and asked : :): me what hardware to use, you told me that you already purchased : :): 486 boxes. At that time I said if you were already stuck with : :): them to get a lot of memory and the fastest disk controllers and : :): disks you could afford. Obviously, what you got isn't fast : :): enough. : : :)is 48 MB insufficient memory?What would going to 64 on either box do? : :)(just got an error message today on lack of swap space on main). : : It means you didn't configure your disks with enough swap : space given your (insufficient) amount of RAM. Again...would going to 64MB of RAM on either box cause a noticeable improvement? : :): There was a time where anyone with a 486 and a 56k could call themselves : :): an ISP. Those days are gone. : :): : :): Good luck. : : :)I started with a pair of the fastest 486es and a 384k. : :)I'd like to be breaking even before I add! : : If you're not breaking even now, you probably won't anytime soon. Margins : are going *down* in the ISP business, not up. The only folks making any : real $$$ doing this are the ones selling high-end hosting services and/or : dedicated connectivity to business clients. No offense, but you don't seem : to be equipped for that. Gotta start somewhere.In some measures I'm ahead of my projections. : :): You'd probably be better off upgrading sooner rather than later. : :): Our P166 boxes aren't having any problems keeping up. :) : : :)I was just over at the Cyrix price-your-own page,they don't have a : :)FreeBSD option under OS(nor a no-OS),but certainly 6x86-P200+ boxes : :)seem quite cheap now.I would be swapping the motherboard and CPU : :)into my big file server cases,farming the 486-120 out to some other : :)function on the LAN(pure-WWW,backup radius,backup DNS?) and relocating : :)some RAM. : : Are you really willing to bet your business on the hope that : there aren't any incompatibility issues with the Cyrix chips? : I wouldn't be. Are you aware of any? : :)Would use an multiple controllers if I added any disks to news : :)(might be an idea to dedicate a 2GB SCSI to comp,rec,sci,soc). : : I can't imagine *not* using multiple disks and controllers if : you plan to do this for a living. It's got four disks,as I've mentioned.Right now they're all off one BT445C...any additional disks would use another controller card.