> From: sysop@akcache.com (Bob Southwick)
> Date: Thu, 24 Oct 1996 06:08:41 -0800
> Subject: Radius vs RAS
>
> I have to make a decision here. Our 30 port PM2e is full now.
>
> What would be the pros and cons of an NT RAS server as opposed
> to another PM?
>
> Of course cost is always a factor, but performance is the higher
> priority. This would be pretty much exclusively dialup PPP
> access with eventual ISDN in about a year.
Well, the correct decision is to buy another Portmaster. There are at
least two different arguments, depending on which group you and/or your
boss want to listen to.
1. You/boss, etc is a suit: You would be looking at buying a Real
Machine with NT Server, plus a real high performance multiport serial
board. Total cost would be MUCH higher than a Portmaster and the rack
space would almost certainly be equal to or greater than even a PM-3.
Since a PM shows no slowdown when running at full bore, NT can only
equal your current solution. The lack of a RADIUS client in NT means
there would be no easy way to integrate the NT box into your existing
setup. Livingston products already do ISDN, and if you have been following
this list long will realize how many interoperability glitches have been
encountered. Consider how long it would take any software vendor to catch
up. Now consider that NT is a Microsoft product and that M$ has never
shipped anything on schedule since their founding.
2. You are a ex BBS operater who can get your hands dirty: You think you
can throw an NT box together on the cheap and save some serious money over
a fully laden PM. Wrong! Don't even think about dusting off that old 386
or 486 box and stuffing your old Blackboard, etc into it. Won't work. We
tried to run Wildcat 5.0 on a P-90 with 32MB and even had all of the
actual dialup work offloaded into our PMs. Not even close. After doubling
up the RAM to 64MB I'd finally classify its performance as 'anemic'. If we
get more than three or four users hitting the BBS it starts to drag its
sorry butt around. We pull UseNet into it via UUCP over TCP, and if
anything goes wrong with the news server (even being lagged too much it
appears) the NT TCP/IP stack blows up and we have to reboot NT. (This is
with NT 3.51, have not tried 4.0 yet.) Now I know that simple PPP serving
is not as demanding as Wildcat 5.0, but I just don't see you getting
enough serial ports banging away in it to offset the much higher cost of
the box before performance goes to hell. Plus see the above notes on
RADIUS and reliability.
The only alternative to a PM which can sustain an argument of cost
effectiveness is a 486 based Linux box with smart serial cards. And I
have never argued in favor of them here because the PM boxes work first
time out of the box and keep working until the UPS batteries go down.
Plus they don't really cost THAT much more when compared to new, high
quality PC hardware.
Besides, since you are even mentioning NT, I'm assuming you don't know
enough about Linux to even consider trying anything of the sort. And if
you are, don't. If you think you can just go to Waldenbooks and grab
"Linux Unleased" and next weekend have it up and running as a full
Internet solution, you have never encountered *NIX before. It works, we
depend on Linux for all of our main servers (except the BBS on NewToy) but
I'd be the first to admit that you have invest a bit of time into it to
learn it. (However, as a rabid Linux advocate I have to mention that the
invested time would pay off bigtime when you realized the Linux has all
three important arguments in its favor vs NT in most Internet
applications. More Power on less Hardware for almost no Money is pretty
exciting!)
John M. This post is 100% M$ Free!
Geek code 3.0:GCS d- C+++ UL++++$ P+ L+++ W+ N++ w--- Y+>+ 5+++ R tv- b++ e*
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