[681] in Info-AFS_Redistribution
AFS on Sun 600MP platforms
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Liz_Hines@transarc.com)
Tue Mar 24 20:14:28 1992
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1992 18:19:44 -0500 (EST)
From: Liz_Hines@transarc.com
To: AFS_Contacts@transarc.com, Info-AFS@transarc.com
Sun has released a new class of machines - SPARCserver 600MP series
(multiprocessors). Transarc has decided to support the SPARCserver
600MP series running Sun OS 4.1.2/Solaris 1.0 with AFS 3.1b (the current
version of AFS 3). Note that this is a new architecture type (sun4m),
which means that a different set of binaries are required for SPARCserver
600MP series (versus SPARCstations and Sun 4 machines). This also
implies additional licensing fees. The binaries for this platform
will be available soon - contact either your AFS Sales Representative
or your Product Support Representative for more information.
In Solaris 1.0, the kernel does not run on multiprocessors. With Solaris
2.0, the kernel code will run on multiprocessors. When we do the AFS port
to Solaris 2.0, our goal is to make sure that AFS runs correctly with
multiprocessors, although the AFS kernel code will not make use of the
multiprocessors. Fully utilizing the multiprocessors in AFS code is an
extensive effort that we are not undertaking at this point.
The reason I am pointing this out to you is to set your expectations
correctly for the performance of AFS on the SPARCserver 600MP platform.
AFS will work well on Solaris 2.0, but you may not get the absolute
jump in performance for tasks running in AFS that you would expect
to get for those same tasks running on the local disk. It may be
that the peformance difference is not significant to you and
your applications, but we felt it was important to make you aware
of this issue.
I realize that many of our AFS customers are looking at purchasing
the SPARCserver 600MP machines in order to enhance the performance
of their systems, and knowing what the performance benefit will be
with AFS would be useful information. As soon as we progress further
on the Solaris 2.0 port, we should be able to give you some idea of
AFS performance.
Please direct any questions to your Product Support Representative.
Liz Hines
Product Support Manager
Transarc Corporation
