[lug] Linux Cluster Hardware

[Nate Duehr]

On Wed, Jul 12, 2000 at 11:37:05AM -0600, Sean Reifschneider wrote:
> The Network Appliance boxes are quite popular.  www.netapp.com
> They provide an NFS interface to their local storage.

Be careful with the NetApp boxes.  They do require some knowledge of how
NFS works and how to tweak NFS performance in high-bandwidth
environments.  I have a friend who's happy with hers (she read the
manual and understands NFS) and a customer who's had quite a bit of
trouble with theirs running with all standard configs to Solaris
systems.

It's not 100% plug-and-go (avoided the use of the overused phrase
there...) but if you're willing to take some time to set it up right,
it'll do you nicely.

Like any of the other "network appliances" out there that are replacing
the old beloved big iron Unix machines doing the same chores, the price
tag can look mighty steep on some of these boxes also... considering
that if you set up a proper NFS server it'll do what the NetApp box does
just fine.

The only advantage to using network appliances appears to be when
the vendor has really tweaked the hardware design to match the purpose
of the system.  (I think I mentioned NetScreen firewalls once before.
Nice boxes inside and well thought-out.  Alteon load-balancing boxes
would fall into this category also, I think.)

Sheesh I sound like a commercial...

-- 
Nate Duehr <nate at natetech.com>

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