*BSD News Article 81137


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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]
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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.