Well some people do use Linux as a fileserver for Win95 computers.
Novell Netware has been arround a long time, I have been using it for over
10 years since (orginally on a Motorolla 68000 based server).
It is very fast at what it was designed for which is basically file and
print sharing but not so good for running applications on (like database
engines) but as I say thats not what it was originally written for. Its not
really fair therefor to compare it with NT or Linux as its not a general
purpose OS.
Netware is very stable IF YOU PATCH IT PROPERLY ! Novell have a patch
program much like that you see in the Linux world in that they release lotrs
and lots of little patches for their OS and supprting applications as soon
as they fix a bug, rather than the Microsoft a couple of service packs a
year model. The problem is that they never integrate these fixes into the
base OS release until it jumps a revision. This may take several years so
3.12 Netware will always have the same bugs if you buy it in a couple of
years but they would be fixed in 3.13 (if there was to be a 3.13 version).
Netware is relatively stable compared to say NT so many people just install
it from the CD and leave it at that without patching it and thus get more
crashes than they should, but probably less than with NT so they don't do
much about it.
I think Win95 and NT have kind of conditioned people to expect poor
stability in an OS as a norm and they now accept it if thats all they are
used to. Certainly five years ago when I used to support Netware for a
living customers would not have accepted the numbr of crashes on a server OS
that NT or unpatched Netware gives them they would have been screaming for
fixes.
Netware especially pre Netware 4.0 was very easy to install and administer,
much easier than Linux/Unix especially for those who are not particularly
computer orientated (all those little business without an IT dept.) There is
therefor a huge installed base of Netware and a lot of experienced people to
support it, this leads to a kind of critical mass where people aren't going
to change to something else unless you can give them a very good reason
(just because it cheaper doesn't cut it). Remember Microsoft have spent
millions on trying to get Novell's market share and it only in the last year
or two that they have succeeded.
As for NT well I have used and supported Microsofts networking products
since they were first released includeing a stint working with Microsoft UK
network support team in their own offices and nothing has ever changed my
opinion that they dont really now how to do this kind of thing. On a basic
level Netbios is a really bad idea for a protocol (broadcast based hence all
those extraneous WINS servers and the like if you have a WAN) and the
general performanc eis slow and very buggy. A lot of the design is very
piecemeal as well, consider 3 different security models on NT depending
withere you connect via the LAN, RAS etc.
Well that was a bit of a rant, must have drunk too much coffee :)
Pat
On Wed, Apr 22, 1998 at 05:13:43PM -0700, Keith von Borstel wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Has anyone compared performance of Linux, RH 5.0, with
> NT server 4.0 or Novell 4.x?
>
> Since Linux is the least expensive and most stable of the three why
> is it not used as the file server for DOS and Win 95 computers?
>
> Is there a reason besides that many people don't know Linux?
>
> thanks,
>
> Keith
> ___________________
> ~ Keith - http://foothill.net/~keithvb e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> ~ Susan - http://foothill.net/~susanvb e-mail:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
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