Q: Informix req. dedicated Host?

We are beginning the process of adding enhancements to an existing software product which will result in a high utilization of Informix. The product itself does image processing (eg. image enhancement/OCR/ICR all of which is rather CPU intensive) One issue at hand is how we are going to organize our computing resources in terms of task distribution to get the highest performance possible out of our system (of course with the minimal amount of wasted resources). We will very likely have a primary high performance system which will serve as a 'compute server'. We also plan to have a system act as an NFS file server from which the Compute Server and about 50 other clients will mount fundemental filesystems. This will be done via 100meg FDDI where performance is required and 10meg Ethernet for less demanding systems. The question is this: how CPU intensive is Informix in a transaction rich environment (in terms of both NFS and Informix transactions). Could a single system manage both Informix *and* NFS or should Informix have a system dedicated to it? We utilize Sun hardware and have a 4 CPU Sun Sparc 20 (4x100Mhz) system and a 2 CPU Sun Ultra Enterprise 3000 which we could dedicate to the task. I'd be very interested in hearing not only recommendations but also how others are utilizing their computing resources in heavy computational plus Database applications. Thanks and I'm sorry if this sounds naive but I am rather new to databases and Sun is not helping me much. I very much appreciate any and all help I can get. Daniel Moore - Northrop Grumman Data Systems ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I never understood why God decided to endow the military man with His big brain when bone and marrow are all that he requires to execute his purpose." A. Einstein - Ideas and Opinions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~