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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I was reading some threads that suggested
that a Linux box might be used as the server. I have no idea how to configure
this. Boxes a-f hit a server which hitherto has been a winX box. If have read
the thread correctly, I can subst a Linux box for any given server in the farm.
Small company, say 4 servers. Can I build server Documents as a Linux box and
hit it from the numerous WinX boxes like they didn’t even know it was a
Linux server? I tend to stay at one level, so forgive me if my questions reveal
much ignorance. Could I put a huge number of documents mostly media and DWMX
&c. files on a Linux box and transparently hit them from a local inst of DWMX,
say, running on winXP and having no idea that the server in question is running
Mandrake 9.x? Is this true? If so, way cool! And how do I build it?</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>If so, how far can one push this scenario?
Could an Access MDB live on a Linux server and be accessible from x, y and z
users on win98, 2K and XP? I’m not an OS-level guy, hence these questions
</span></font><font size=2 color=navy face=Wingdings><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Wingdings;color:navy'>J</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Arthur</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>-----Original Message-----<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>From:</span></b>
accessd-admin@databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-admin@databaseadvisors.com] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Drew Wutka<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> March 3, 2003 10:20 AM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> 'accessd@databaseadvisors.com'<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> RE: [AccessD] OT: Server
Needed</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 color=blue
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Rocky,
it is a common misconception that you need a rocking CPU for a server.
That is absolutely not true. There are a few 'purposes' of a server, and
not all of them require massive processor speeds, or tons of memory.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 color=blue
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>1
- File Sharing</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 color=blue
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>2 -
Domain Control</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 color=blue
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>3 -
Network 'Service' Server (Proxy, Email Server, Web Server, etc).</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 color=blue
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>4 -
Server Computing (Hard data crunching)</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 color=blue
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>5 -
Server Side databases.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 color=blue
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>You need
to realize the real limiting factors on a server. First is network
bandwidth. a 100 megabit line is roughly 12 megabytes per second.
That is not a lot. It is a fraction of the speed of a typical IDE
drive. If you go to a gigabit line, then you have a much larger data
transfer rate (10x, so you are talking roughly 120 megabytes per second...which
is faster then your typical IDE drive, but it is still less then a SCSI Raid
configuration). So, if you are just setting up file transfers, then you
don't need much of a machine to do it. It can have minimal CPU Speed
(even Pentium or Pentium II....though I personally wouldn't go lower then a
Pentium III to be on the safe side), and memory doesn't have to be whopping
(256 megs would do). This is because the file sharing is going to be
slower then actual file usage used locally (do to the pipe the data is going
through). A faster CPU or more memory isn't going to push the data
through faster.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 color=blue
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Domain
Controllers don't need to be whoppers either. I think we are running a
Pentium II (desktop) for a Primary Domain Controller here. No
problems. It doesn't have to do all that much as far as processing goes.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 color=blue
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Network
services. Well, it depends. We run everything but our mail server
on Pentium III desktops. (Proxy, web, intranet, etc.). It all runs
fine. Again, it is going to boil down to the network tunnel involved.
With a webserver, a common misconception is that you need to have a huge
machine to handle massive transactions. Absolutely not true. In a
web server, you have an even smaller pipe (we have a T1 here), so the data is
being sent through an even slower connection. Now, if you have a lot of
Server Side scripting, where the server is creating pages on the fly, then you
do need a decent CPU, and the more ram you have, the more pages that are
'cached'. But again, you don't need a Cray. Email servers can
require a bit more power though. We use an Exchange Server. It's
got a dual processor, with 2 gigs of RAM. The real catch is how heavy it
is used internally. (for in house comms).</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 color=blue
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Server
Computing. This is where the most power is needed. There are
software packages out there that use server CPU time pretty heavily. For
example, we have a package called FlowTherm, and FlowStress. These
packages perform massive heat calculations, over and over and over. If
you run this software on a server, obviously the more CPU and memory you have
the better.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 color=blue
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Server
Side Databases. You do need power on these. But again, you are
limitted by your network speed. However, your processor is going to do a
lot of work independant of the network traffic, so it probably should be pretty
fast, with lots of memory to boot.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 color=blue
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Just my
two cents.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 color=blue
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Drew</span></font></p>
</div>
<blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:5.0pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:
36.0pt'><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Tahoma'>-----Original Message-----<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>From:</span></b> Rocky Smolin - Beach Access
Software [mailto:bchacc@san.rr.com]<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Sunday, March 02, 2003 12:06
AM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> AccessD@databaseadvisors.com<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [AccessD] OT: Server
Needed</span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Dear List:</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Excuse the OT please but I know
someone will know the answer:</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>I have a client who wants to upgrade
the server on his network. There's about 10 seats on his network, of
which maybe 6 are being used. Seems to me that he could use any good,
fast P4 box with 1/2 gig of RAM , etc. Which is well under $1000 these
days from dell, or gateway, with three years on-site.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>A local, old, fairly reputable
company in San Diego - Datel - is quoting him $1457 for and Intel entry level
server with a P4 (speed unknown), 512MB RAM, 80GB HD, with DUAL LAN RAID -
whatever that is. Plus another $775 for "WIN 2000 SVR W/5 CLIENT SP3
OEM-CD". Plus something between 5 and 10 hours of installation
charged at a price unspecified in the quote.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Right now his "server" is
an old Win98 box, slow, but effective.</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>My question is, what is the
difference between a box that someone like Dell calls a server and an ordinary
computer? Does he need a server?</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>MTIA,</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
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face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Rocky</span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
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