Here is the situation:

Gerry has Dual P90 CPUs - when it is doing LISTSERV the utilization is [on
both CPUs] 75% or so.  When doing a web search [both CPUs] it is pegged to
100% and it can usually never get the job done - thus times out.

There is 64MB on Gerry - there is on average 75 to 100 page faults per
second so we need more memory.

The solution is a faster box.

Another thing that bothers me is that there is no RAID array - which means
if that hard drive dies - that's it!  At volkswagen.org I am running two
mirrored drives (RAID1) and I have had the unfortunate luck of one of those
drives dieing (Western Digital) - the server kept on going even with a dead
hard drive - 10 minutes of down time to replace the drive and away it went.

I see lots of good reasons why we should upgrade Gerry - Y2K is another
issue as someone will have to set the clock on January 1 for it to function
correctly - not a big issue but an issue none the less.

When I get to work this afternoon I will put together a system spec and our
(ABC Communications) cost pricing on this box - I will also approach our
distrubutor and see if they can do anything on the price - anyone object to
an advertisement being on Gerry if we get a good deal on the box?

At 10:47 12/02/1999 -0500, Tom Carrington wrote:
>Hmmmm, before we go on the replace-it-bandwagon...
>
>Gerry  (from what I know) is a HP Vectra XU/90 running NT 4.0.
>Integrated AMD PCI Ethernet 10BaseT/2 and PCI SCSI-2 controller. Damn
>good box. Sure, it is not the fastest CPU, but what is the current CPU
>utilization? If the CPU utilization is less than 75% on a consistent
>basis, then a faster CPU is not the answer. If it is over-utilized, add
>another CPU. That's right, the XU has a dual-processor system board. And
>if that does not help, put in a pair of 133 MHZ Pentiums..nojumpers or
>switches to config, the BIOS will see them and use them immediately.
>
>What about RAM? How much does it have, how much does the operating
>system want? I think Gerry on has 32 or so Megs. There are 8 SIMM slots
>(72-pin) on the board, let's fill them up!
>
>The case is HP proprietary, so motherboard transplants are not feasible.
>
>Why prop up the old box, you may ask. Well, these improvements do not
>require re-installing the operating system or the Listserv software. I'm
>willing to bank on the idea that David does not want to do that.
>
>David, I'm willing to assist (remotely). I sent you my resume when you
>posted looking for NT and admin help, never heard back. Give me system
>account, I'll run diagnostics from here if that would help. At least
>then we can see what the actual problem is.
>
>We would scream at a mechanic that simply told us we needed an new
>engine every time it stalled or backfired, wouldn't we? We would post to
>the list what an idiot he was, and warn others to stay away. You want
>the mechanic to diagnose the problem before simply declaring the engine
>dead and handing us an estimate for replacement.
>
>Shouldn't we at least do the same for Gerry?
>
>TomC
>tcarrington@relitech.com
>
>
>EMZ wrote:
>>
>>     I build computers... amung Vanagons. We could easily
>> put a DFI mother board with 64meg of Ram and an AMD 300 Mhz
>> proccessor running a 100 mhz Bus for under $300. Assumuning
>> the Case is a stamdard AT style. This  means keeping all of
>> its other components. What is the real root of the problem? I
>> would think that the only other component that would slow
>> it down would be it's network connection.
>>
>>             Eric                   86-VW4x4
>>             vw4x4@fyi.net          72-240z
>>             Pittsburgh, PA USA     1936-Chrysler
>>
>> On Thu, 11 Feb 1999, David Marshall wrote:
>>
>> > From: David Marshall <vanagon@volkswagen.org>
>> >
>> > At 21:20 11/02/1999 -0600, Ken Korn wrote:
>> > >From: Ken Korn <kkorn@jump.net>
>> > >
>> > >Is Gerry really dead? I haven't gotten a digest since the 10th.
>> >
>> > Gerry is currently in a comma at the moment - the poor thing is very
under
>> > powered to do it's job.  I didn't realize that it went down [at least the
>> > list part - web is still going] until about 1 hour ago.  I won't be
able to
>> > reset it until tomorrow.
>> >
>> > So, the question is - shall we throw it in the dumpster or shall we spend
>> > some bucks on a new one?
>> >
>> >
>> > --   David Marshall - Vanagon List Admin - Quesnel, BC, Canada   --
>> > --    78 VW Rabbit, 80 VW Caddy, 87 Audi 5KSQ, 85 VW Cabriolet   --
>> > --  88 2.0L VW Syncro Double Cab, WANTED: VW / Bombardier Iltis  --
>> > -- David's Volkswagen Home Page        http://www.volkswagen.org --
>> > -- Fast Forward Autobahn Sport Tuning  http://www.fastforward.ca --
>> > -- david@volkswagen.org (pmail) or vanagon@volkswagen.org (list) --
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, or to change your subscription
>> > to digest, go to the ONElist web site, at http://www.onelist.com and
>> > select the User Center link from the menu bar on the left.
>> >
>
>

--   David Marshall - Vanagon List Admin - Quesnel, BC, Canada   --
--    78 VW Rabbit, 80 VW Caddy, 87 Audi 5KSQ, 85 VW Cabriolet   --
--  88 2.0L VW Syncro Double Cab, WANTED: VW / Bombardier Iltis  --
-- David's Volkswagen Home Page        http://www.volkswagen.org --
-- Fast Forward Autobahn Sport Tuning  http://www.fastforward.ca --
-- david@volkswagen.org (pmail) or vanagon@volkswagen.org (list) --