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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!munnari.OZ.AU!spool.mu.edu!newspump.sol.net!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news-in2.uu.net!news.interactive.net!onyx.interactive.net!not-for-mail From: Chris Mauritz <ritz@interactive.net> Subject: Re: FBSD Future... X-Nntp-Posting-User: ritz Sender: news@interactive.net (System Administrator) Organization: IBS Interactive, Inc. Lines: 111 Message-ID: <DzCCry.Gu0@interactive.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> X-Trace: 845423277/20235 X-Nntp-Posting-Host: onyx.interactive.net Date: Tue, 15 Oct 1996 23:47:58 GMT 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. :): :): :)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. :): 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?!? :): 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 awap space on main). It means you didn't configure your disks with enough swap space given your (insufficient) amount of RAM. :): 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. :): 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. :)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. Chris -- Christopher Mauritz | For info on internet access: ritz@interactive.net | finger/mail info@interactive.net OR IBS Interactive, Inc. | http://www.interactive.net/