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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.bhp.com.au!mel.dit.csiro.au!munnari.OZ.AU!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!torn!news.acs.ryerson.ca!news.acs.ryerson.ca!not-for-mail From: rwigmore@acs.ryerson.ca (Ron Wigmore) Newsgroups: alt.unix.wizards,comp.unix.admin,comp.unix.advocacy,comp.unix.aix,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.solaris,comp.unix.ultrix Subject: Re: HELP: Advice needed for sizing campus E-mail system Followup-To: alt.unix.wizards,comp.unix.admin,comp.unix.advocacy,comp.unix.aix,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.solaris,comp.unix.ultrix Date: 22 Dec 1995 10:23:52 -0500 Organization: Ryerson Polytechnic University Lines: 41 Distribution: inet Message-ID: <4beii8$26i6@hopper.acs.ryerson.ca> References: <4b4q0l$pc3@news.inc.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: 141.117.101.8 X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au alt.unix.wizards:2488 comp.unix.admin:36334 comp.unix.advocacy:12485 comp.unix.aix:67059 comp.unix.bsd.misc:396 comp.unix.solaris:55202 comp.unix.ultrix:26574 Jeff Shaub (shaub@cs.uwp.edu) wrote: : We have a DEC 5000 workstation with 128mb RAM and Ultrix 4.2 as our : current E-Mail server. With 50 shell users running PINE or TIN, this : box comes to it's knees. We are looking to upgrade. We have a J30 with 512MB RAM and 6 601 CPUs that handles up to 400 users (pine/tin(including the news feed)/lynx/gopher/etc.) so ... : Our ideal system will be able to support 150 concurrent shell sessions : (from TELNET) running PINE, TIN and SLIRP over ethernet. ... you would need a J30 with 256MB RAM and either 4 601 CPUs or 2 604 CPUs. (you can only get an even number of CPUs). But, our J30 was spec'd for only 300 users. Whatever hardware you buy, make sure it is an SMP box so that if you end up with 1/3 more users, you can just add more CPUs instead of having to buy a larger box (or an extra box - which means more license costs, maintenance time, etc.). How many PCs do you have that are potential email users? email is becoming very popular here (as elsewhere). Expect a lot of growth in the not to distant future. Our biggest bottleneck area is from people logging in at about every 3-5 seconds. The "tprof" command says the login processes are using 25-30% of the CPUs! Make sure you buy extra capacity for this net new load from people frequently "just logging in to check their email" (ie. as opposed to Computer Science students "just logging in to check up on their programs"). On all our other systems people stay logged in for more than just a few minutes. Yup, two 601 CPUs are needed not for handling the load from email users but from people just logging in! Initially we had only 4 601 CPUs. With the unexpected net new load from people logging in so frequently, we needed an extra 2 CPUs (and for the extra unexpected 100 users, too). : We would like to hear your opinions on what UNIX workstation would meet : this requirement. We have $40k to spend. Unfortunately, a J30 costs more than twice that amount. A G30 would also meet your needs (at close to half that cost) but it'll still cost more than $40K. Ron,,,