Re: [SILUG]: [LUNI] Bunk???

[Rich <rich@richnut.com>]

Kara Pritchard  said:

[FUD deletia]
>
>Both Linux and Windows NT Server were tuned to perform optimally under
>each of the two workloads.  "We started the tests using standard Red Hat
>Linux 5.2 but had to update it because it does not support hardware RAID
>controllers and SMP at the same time," said Mindcraft's president, Bruce
>Weiner.  "Linux definitely takes more time and resources to tune and to
>configure than Windows NT Server.  You have to search the Net to find
>the
>latest kernel and driver versions to get the highest performance and
>most
>reliable modules. Then when you're done, Linux fails to deliver the same
>level of performance as Windows NT Server on enterprise-class servers."

I almost fell out of my chair on this one..
Downloading aside it must have took a good 3 minutes to build that kernel 
from source on a quad procesor box. What a time drain.

[more FUD]

I dont deny the results of this test. The whole thing was built around
multithreading which is an open issue in the Linux kernel. Linux cant send out
to four nics at once, the kernel is NOT multithreaded. NT is.  

They also specifically chose a box with ample amounts of everything ("enterprise
class") to skirt the issues with NT on lower-end lower priced systems. they use
a big SMP box to level the playing field.

If they are truly looking for the best price performance a cluster of Linux 
machines should also have been investigated (remember you dont have to pay
per cpu licenses) I think this would be an excellent followup/rebuttle test.
The Dell they talk about starts at roughly $18000 for a config similar to what
was reported. Add the cost of NT server and you're able to buy over 10 Linux
workstations at the same cost. The goal here was to demonstrate the NT performs
better than Linux on the Dell PowerEdge, not that NT performs better than Linux.

-Rich


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