From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from mailserv2.iuinc.com (qmailr@mailserv2.iuinc.com [206.245.164.55]) by puffin.external.hp.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id RAA17458 for ; Thu, 13 May 1999 17:40:47 -0600 Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 18:40:43 -0500 From: Justin Maurer To: parisc-linux@thepuffingroup.com Message-ID: <19990513184043.A20996@master.debian.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Subject: [parisc-linux] performance computing review of a180 List-ID: by popular request, here are some key bits from the review of the a180 in this month's _unix's review's performance computing_: (the machine as test was priced at $16,568. it had one cpu (lc), 1gb ram, two 4gb drives, and hp-ux 11.0) (the article begins discussing racks and space issues, etc.) "most recent non-intel servers have 64-bit cpus, but the core of the a-class is hp's pa-7300, a 32-bit processor. this may seem a bit retro, but there is little about internet services that actually benefits from 64-bit processor" "one of the more interesting design deatures of the a-class is its integration of hp's secure web console." (a lengthy discussion of the swc/rs-232/ethernet, etc.) "the only printed documentation that ships with the a-class is a small booklet showing basic cable connections and outlining the customary safety and regulatory statements. all other documentation is either part of the installed hp-ux os (for example, online manual pages...additionally, the hp instant information cd-rom, a collection of documentation is available as a $300 option. thus, to install the a-class, it is cubersome (though necessary) to have another system on hand to various documentation web sites." the article then talks about hp-ux and the bundled software. it is more a feature list than an opinion/review bit, so i'll leave it out. finally, the last thing before the closing comments is a bit on performance: "...the 180-mhz a-class also produces spec scores lower than the 400mhz pentium ii xeon processor, which is fairly common in intel-based servers. interestingly, hp has chosen not to publish, at least at press time, benchmark results for the a-class for the specweb96 benchmark, which would be an obvious choice for a web-specific system design...." its spec scores are then compared to several other 64-bit systems.. "...for example, the system memory is comparatively expensive, evidenced by the price of the system we tested. thus, while the a-class hits the design mark for high-density rackmount servers (20 in a two-meter rack), more-robust configurations are pricey. as a result, design gets a two-flag rating on our scale--average." "...expansion is not a big issue...the version of bind should have been upgraded to bind 8, and not including sendmail 8.9 we feel is a mistake...performance is not a primary objective for hp with the a-class.." in short, they give it "poor" on installation and documentation, "average" on design, expandibility, performance, and *overall*, and "good" on operation. they basically give it a few nice compliments, then rag on the same things and more. more towards the negative side, overall. -- ------------------------------------------------------------- # Justin Maurer GNOME Hacker # # justin@debian.org Slashdot Author # # http://slashdot.org/ Debian GNU/Linux Developer # # 09 84 FC 03 13 AA 4A AF F6 A4 85 9D 8C 96 B6 A4 # -------------------------------------------------------------