Re: Linux betas NT in TPC testing, running Oracle8

"nik" <ndsimpso_at_ingr.com> writes:
>r.e.ballard_at_usa.net wrote in message <7guvu2$bi9$1_at_nnrp1.deja.com>...

>>NT is down 5 minutes per week. In response to Linux stability,
>>Commercial UNIX systems are targeting 5 minutes/year.

>Hmm, seems COMPAQ, HP and UNISYS would all disagree with you about the
>uptime of NT, they all have packages which guarantee (and will pay you money
>if they fail to meet the guarantee) uptime on NT configurations well in
>excess of what you are quoting. There is not a single vendor who would make
>the same claim (and the same money back guarantee) for LINUX.

Actually, last time I looked those guarantees didn't put actual money on the table. What they offered was a _discount_ on the cost of your next _service check_.

In other words, if your system didn't live up to their promises, they were charging you slightly less money for the warm and fuzzy feeling of having a guaranteed uptime for the next few months.

There's an ad on the telly here at the moment, in which Australia Post tries to position its "Guaranteed Next Day" delivery service as a cost-effective alternative to courier services. And there is some fine print at the bottom of the screen, for a few seconds, which mentions that should they fail to deliver on that guarantee, you get the postage for the next envelope free. Gee Whiz! That will be a great relieve when the immigration department kicks me out of the country because the application for extension of my visa was late....

And the moral of the story --- a guarantee is only as good as the pain it will cause the one giving it in case of failure.

>> Linux also supports SMP systems of up to 16 processors and can run
>> number

>If you are going to say that LINUX scales to 16 processors, you are going to
>have tpo point us at some benchmarks that demonstrate this, I think you'll
>find that hard to do. By the same metric (i.e what the kernel can
>theoretcially support) NT can handle 32 processors.

Not again. We had this "discussion" just a few weeks ago.

A bog standard NT kernel can support 4 (or is it 8?) processors. A bog standard Linux kernel can support 16 processors.

An NT kernel with a vendor-specific HAL could theoretically support 32

   processors, although no such beast has yet been sighted in the wild Linux? Well, who knows. It runs on the AP1000, but I suspect that isn't a true SMP machine ;-)

Bernie

-- 
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"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...
    	                                   ...let's go exploring"
Calvin's final words, on December 31st, 1995