Subject: Re: netatalk performance

From: [email-masked] (William P. McGonigle)
Date: 01 Feb 96 08:29:10 EST

Is anyone using netatalk for a busy server, on the order of 75-100 or more
concurrent users?

I'd like to see some numbers so I  can compare the cost effectiveness of it vs.
AppleShare 4.x. It's free, but the RAM requirements are greater.

Thanks,
-Bill

---

From: Rich Sudlow <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 1996 07:47:33 -0500

>
>On Wed, 31 Jan 1996 16:31:44 -0600 (CST), Bradley Carlson
><[email-masked]> wrote:
>
>
>>Tests today done on almost-idle network, PM6100/60 as client.
>>
>>Copying a large Netscape Cache folder (average file size 7.1 Kbytes):
>>  to Netatalk server:   4.6 Kbytes/second
>>  to Mac            :   5.8 Kbytes/second
>>
>>Copying a single large tar file (18,680 Kbytes):
>>  to Netatalk server: 242.6 Kbytes/second
>>  to Mac            : 233.5 Kbytes/second

We've recently done some extensive testing (> 200 hrs) using the netatalk
xlator and AFS and have found that you can get very reproducable data 
with large file's (5 MB) showing speeds > 500 KB/sec for write and 600 KB/sec 
reads.  We also found that that speed of netatalk is GREATLY dependent on 
the speed of the client. ( A PM 6100 is a poor client..Try using a 68k
based machine e.g. PB 520  or Quadra 800 if you want to see some better
numbers..approximately 40 percent...Isn't native code great ;-) )

Also we found that you really want to shove as much RAM into the 
xlator as possible for the best performance (this greatly speeds up
reads from the xlator..we're currently using 512 MB in a SS20). 
(We didn't use the memory for an AFS memcache however)
We found that in general the network connection (and yes appletalk)
is the limiting factor of performance. Fast ethernet helps some to 
for supporting a larger number of clients. 

>>
>
>It appears that netatalk's weakness (or is it AppleTalk's weakness) is
>in opening and closing files then.
>
>It would be interesting to see some figues comparing copying
>Mac->Netatalk and Mac->Mac...

If you really want to compare numbers make sure that you do this on an 
isolated subnet. You'd be surprised what a little network traffic will
do to consistency of your testing.

Rich

Rich Sudlow
Office of Information Technology
University of Notre Dame