Original question:
Hi all,
My company is doing an evaluation of Sun v/s other Unix
platforms(especially RS6000) on a very generic basis and any helpful
pointers to information will be appreciated.
Answers:
I manage a Sun operation that consists of 5 SPARC 1000's, 10 SPARC
20/10/5's
and about 160 Classics. I also have 3 RS/6K's that I am responsible
for.
The system I currently
manage is a database and accounting system that is operational 24 by 7.
We have had very little trouble with it especially after I managed to
get
it moved to a raised floor computer room with UPS/Generator power and
good A/C. The RS/6K's on the other hand are not as stable. We
constantly
have problems with them.
I've worked with SCO UNIX in the past and that is a good product. It
allows you to use Intel processors which could over-come some
compatibility
problems. HP makes a good platform and there are others too, but for my
money, I'll stick with Sun.
RS6000
Don't touch it !!! It is the worst unix I have ever seen.
Check http://www.sun.com/. They have an interesting link to an unbiased
comparison from Fedworld.
Avoid PC based magazines. They have little understanding of UNIX.
Other pointers are UNIX Review and SysAdmin magazine.
To a sysadmin, AIX is very strange. IBM wrote it from scratch, and
didn't base it on anybody else's Unix sources. To a programmer, AIX
looks very much like any true Unix system. To a sysadmin, AIX looks
weird. Not necessarily bad, but if you have a lot of Unix sysadmin
expertise in house, and don't want to re-train your admin people,
this might be something to think about.
In some ways, AIX is better than regular Unix systems, but it sure
is different to administer.
i don't like AIX on the rs6000's because they maintain non standard
data structures about their setup so adjusting to that and doing
things in just the unix way and not the 'everyone must use ibm's little
scripts and admin program' way can result in disaster (or so i've
been told by ibm types...so i've tried to not do direct file
manipulations
and use the scripts when i can..but often don't know what scripts
are out there and feel very constrainted). sun has scripts and
guis, but i don't feel like i'll get in trouble by ignoring them.
aix software installs are really weird. they're msgs are non intuitive.
it was a nightmare for me to install a license manager AND i had
an IBM field person with me. even she was confused by the
online directions. curious to see how other people feel about
rs6000's though :)
Thanks again.
Amar