SI's problems:
Liz, I wouldn't expect anybody to take my word on this, so I dug up some messages from Bob a few weeks back. The problem isn't Apache or Linux, as some of the local faithful have opined, and it isn't inadequate hardware. Here's Bob:
Message 11979525
Message 11979671
Just for entertainment, from the first message:
To say we need "servers that actually work" is a gross over-simplification and incorrect. The SQL server (aptly named "Behemoth") has 2 gig of RAM in it, but my understanding is there have been some NT issues regarding such an enormous amount of memory. They're actively working on the problem and it seems to have been getting better.
In terms of hardware, few PC's exist that're our machines' equals. "Better servers" don't exist.
In any event, it's my understanding that most of the current problems are operating system issues. And they're being addressed.
Old timers will recognize the "issues" code word is synonymous for what Intel calls "errata", things that outside the corporate PR domain are commonly known as bugs. Or maybe that's only "known issues". From the second message:
You missed the central point of my message. It's not a matter of the system running on cheap hardware. Not even remotely. It's not a hardware issue and throwing money at it won't solve it. The programmers are working on it and they just have to figure out, as Brad and Jeff always have done, how to get Windoze NT and SQL Server to perform reliably with such a huge load.
As I said previously, benchmarks aren't everything. And while my original suggestion that SI should upgrade to NT2K was a bit facetious, it wasn't entirely so. To Microsoft's credit, the two most recent big upgrades, IE5 and Office 2k, seem to have been considerably less featuritis driven than previous releases. IE5 was supposed to be smaller than IE4, even, and what I've read about Office 2K says that it was redesigned for more modularity and networkablity, not for more features. Good for Microsoft.
Win2K may follow in a similar vein, what I've read about that is the main problem is driver support, which probably isn't that big an issue with servers. Well, there's the "Active Directory" power play, but leaving that aside. . . Maybe it would work better for SI, unfortunately on a big, high demand operation, admins have to be conservative.
Cheers, Dan. |
