Re: Wisdom of a move to Linux?

From: "SPENCE Dale" <Dale.Spence@adpcl.co.uk> > >At risk of being flamed as an RTFM or SIOYA, and confessing to SIOYA? >not knowing a great deal about Linux coming from an RS/6000 AIX >background, I got back from leave today to find an unexpected >corporate re-think. And how! >I am told that a task that was being aimed at a: >4 processor RS/6000, AIX, Informix IDS 7.31 client-server, 1 Gb >memory, 75 Gb (with probable expansion to 5 times that) >database, 30 users > >is now being aimed at a: >Dell PowerEdge pentium 3, Informix IDS, Linux Red Hat... Blimey! Friends! The revolution has started! >Immediate questions in my head (other than 'please can I go back >on leave'): > >1) Is this remotely viable on a PC under Linux? Yup. >2) How big can Linux handle? I know akin to 'how long is a piece of >string?' But is an application of 30 users into a 300 Gb database >relatively small, medium or approaching limits for a PC based Linux >system? It is a bit tricky. Informix Linux can address that much disk easily enough, it's more of an issue about whether the hardware can allow good access with hefty caching controllers, etc. I'd say medium. 30 users is small, but 300GB is medium to big. Not near limits, though. >3) Any ideas of real application sizes of Informix on Linux >successfully in the real world? Pass. >4) Any particularly nasty holes/experiences I need to watch out for? Not really. Raw disk and KAIO aren't currently supported, I don't think, but will be soon. I don't think SMP support is great, but if your Dell has a smokin' (bad choice of words, I know! :-) hot Xeon chip or chips, performance should be pretty good. Should be able to stick a bit more RAM in, too. :-) _____________________________________________________________________________________ Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com