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From: im14u2c@millenium.texas.net (Joseph R.M. Zbiciak)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.ms-windows.networking.tcp-ip,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Internet service providing-which OS?
Followup-To: comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.ms-windows.networking.tcp-ip,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Date: 19 Jul 1995 03:07:43 GMT
Organization: Texas Networking, Inc.
Lines: 47
Message-ID: <3uhstv$pf@empire.texas.net>
References: <3ue5qa$ain@panix.com> <id.VAPL1.0SA@nmti.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: millenium.texas.net
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]
Peter da Silva (peter@nmti.com) wrote:
: If you want to let people have "shell" type accounts, NT won't work,
: period. You'd have to install some sort of BBS software.
: It's certainly possible to provide PPP using a PC. My ISP does it
: using BSDI.
It's certainly possible. I wouldn't recommend it, however. At least,
not yet. Too many PC boxes have suboptimal architectures. More established
workstation-class machines would probably be better choices, and nowadays,
such machines can be had for the same price as a big PC.
For instance, a Sun machines can be had for slightly more than most high
end ISP-worthy PC boxes. Why? The biggest portion of the cost on these
guys is hard drive and RAM. (Moreso RAM than anything.) When you buy
into a Sun or an HP or an SGI, etc, you know you're getting a good
motherboard, a good SCSI controller, a good ethernet interface, etc. When
you buy into a PC, there's too many variables.
If the affected machines have known good hardware that's not too exotic,
and the maintainers are willing to sacrifice some time to make sure the
kernel is tweaked to their specific setup and so on, then a PC-based
OS should be OK. However, I wouldn't recommend it for an ISP, yet.
(All of this is coming from a die-hard, dedicated Linux user, BTW. I've
been with Linux since SLS 1.03/kernel 0.99.12).
I suppose Linux would work on an ISP box. I've heard stories (but not
have verified) that Linux can get unstable with upwards of 50-60 users.
This may be related to arbitrary compiled-in constants wrt ptys and so
on, of course. (SunOS is the same way until you up the default # of
ptys.) I've heard BSDI stays stable but tends to be a bit slower and
less efficient memorywise than Linux. Again, I can't confirm this
specifically.
--Joe
--
Joseph Zbiciak Texas Networking, Inc.
Systems Programmer/Analyst 405 North St. Mary's, Suite 200
San Antonio, TX 78205
Number-6@texas.net (210) 272-8111 Fax: (210) 272-8222
... Ain't comin' out goofy like the Fruit-of-the-Loom guy ...