Re: NetCache FAQ (NOTE: NetCache give away ends September 30)

At 04:45 PM 9/22/97 -0700, you wrote:
[...]
[spam deleted]
[...]
[snippet about platforms supported]
> - Almost all versions of UNIX are supported. Since Squid is available
> in source form, it can be modified and compiled for almost any platform.
> Network Appliance will only support platforms that we have the
resources to
> thoroughly test in our labs.

[from the web page:]

Supported Operating Systems

     Solaris 2.5
     Digital Unix 3.5 and 4.0 (DEC Alpha)
     Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 2

[post-type, pre-send comment. Service pack 2? 2? 3's been out for months
now? You don't support 3?]

Personally, I think Linux and FreeBSD would be THE most popular OS's for
caches, from small to allmost-huge.. Didn't I hear someone bandy about the
number of 80% of all proxy servers on the net are running unix/squid? And,
offhand, I can only think of 2 non-linux/freebsd caches, the Connect.com.au
cache farm (which I think is one of the biggest in the world, Sparc/Solaris),
and hunterlink.net.au's cluster of DEC's.. Both using squid.

I run 19gig on a Pentium II 233, with 128meg (needs more RAM, real-soon-now)
running NOVM with Linux 2.0.30. I think thats about a middle-of-the-range
cache. I'm sure NetApp could afford to buy a P166 with 64meg and a 3.4g
EIDE drive for about US$2000 and test it to their hearts content.

So, I've decided to read that comment as:
<replace>
We will only support operating systems that have a hostid function, so
we can licence it. However, we haven't realised that we're throwing away
80% of our market by doing this.
</replace> (don'tcha love pseudo-html?)

Whilst the features of the software look -really- good, I'm not going
to buy a $40,000 machine to replace my intel-powered $8,000 machine just
so I can have persistant connections and a fast rebuild. (Not that I
reboot the machine all that often. If the *curse* UPS hadn't *thump*
failed when the *belt* power went off today I wouldn't be in *smack*
such a bad mood *crash-tinkle-tinkle*. Uh. It's OK. I didn't need that
monitor.)

So. Netapp. You going to support Linux and FreeBSD or are you guys going
to sit around and waste your time?

Oh, another thing. If people emailed you, why did you have to spam the
entire list?

                                                        --Robert Thomas
                                                        Head Button-pusher
                                                        RP Internet Services
Received on Tue Sep 23 1997 - 06:44:49 MDT