Re: Debian GNU/Linux on SunFire 280R
On Fri, Feb 14, 2003 at 06:14:32PM +0800, GNU Linux wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> How mature is the Debian GNU/Linux for 64bit SPARC Machines? Our office
> bought SunFire 280R
> <http://www.sun.com/servers/entry/280r/sun280r_serverdatasheet.pdf> with
> 2 UltraSPARC III Cu 900Mhz SuperScalar SPARC V9 processors and 4GB RAM
> intended for my mail server project that I'll administer soon but I'm
> afraid to use Solaris 8 or probably Solaris 9 for this purpose because I
> don't have any experience with Solaris OS. I'm thinking of using
> GNU/Linux and I think Debian would be the best distribution for SPARC
> machines. But I'm actually a Mandrake Linux user. I'm just afraid I
> can't use the tools that I usually use in my Mandrake Linux machines if
> I'll use Solaris 8 or 9.
Which tools?
> I hope I can convince my boss not to use Solaris 8 or 9 on that machine
> instead, I will use and install GNU/Linux on it and Debian would be the
> distribution.
>
> Advice please? Am I doing the right thing? Practically, what would
> you recommend for production server like this one?
One thing you must consider is support. I know some Sparc-suppliers
here who are giving you a pain in the ass when the machine is running
Linux instead of Solaris. But if I'm not mistaken Sun it self is
changing about this point.
> By the way, the project is not just the usual mailing service. All the
> mails that will go out to our server will be by batch jobs because the
> nature of the project is a notification and confirmation service for the
> clients. My preferred MTA is qmail.
I have some questions about this point. How are you going to use the
disks and controllers? This because this can influence the performance
quite a bit. Also how are you going to give the messages to the
mailer? On-demand (just send it when needed) or in batch (queue
everything and then give it a to the mailer at certain moments)? This
also influences the performance if the machine already has some load.
You know that you need to compile qmail on debian? Don't worry there
is a source-package ;-)
Kind regards,
Hans
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