Theoretical Samba File Server

[Jim Herrmann]

If the Intel hardware isn't enough, there's always Linux on the mainframe.  
I/O throughput is what the mainframe is all about.  Of course, that's 
assuming your company already has a mainframe.  You probably wouldn't want to 
go out and buy a mainframe just for this one project, but it may also 
something to consider long term.   Mainframe sales are up 30% over last year. 
 Compare that to PC sales.  ;-)  

Just my $.02.
Jim
On Sunday 28 October 2001 12:12 pm, you wrote:
> On Sun, 28 Oct 2001, Gerald Combs wrote:
> > If you're concerned about the network being a bottleneck, why not use
> > Fast EtherChannel or gigabit ethernet?  Fast EtherChannel lets you bond
> > up to four 100 Mbps ethernet connections.  Its configuration is described
> > in Documentation/networking/bonding.txt in your kernel source tree.  GigE
> > cards can be had for less than $200 these days (copper and fiber).
>
> I was having a discussion about adding multiple network cards to mitigate
> network bandwidths the other day with an associate of mine.  The final
> conclusion with cheap intel hardware that the overall bus might be a
> limiting factor then the amount of data you can pump out over a network
> connection.  Think about it ... processing time - drive seek - drive -
> read - send across bus to network devices...  * the number of network
> cards you have ... even taking in account of DMA we questioned the
> benefits of adding more network devices.
>
> Our conclusion could be wrong.  Feedback is appreciated.