Buyers Guide

Call In A Pro...A Pentium Pro Server

The Pro also incorporates a four-way Level 2 (L2) cache and performs predictive and dynamic instruction execution. These features enable a Pentium Pro to perform twice as fast as a Pentium at the same MHz level when working with 32-bit applications. For these advantages, you won't have to pay much more than you did for your present Pentium system.

There has been a great deal written about the 166-MHz versus 200-MHz Pentium Pro. In general, a 200-MHz Pentium Pro with 256 KB of L2 cache will perform better than a 166-MHz Pentium Pro with 512 KB of L2 cache. Performance numbers will vary, however, depending on which services you're running.

If you plan to purchase an application server in the first quarter of next year, you may want to wait for Intel Corp.'s highly anticipated next-generation chip, code-named P55C. The P55C chip will include 16 KB of L1 cache for faster performance and multimedia extensions (MMX) that Intel claims will speed video and image editing. Intel also will increase the size of L1 cache on the chip and notebook versions of the Pentium Pro.

To Be Intel or Not to Be Intel? Many server vendors, including Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp. and Data General Corp., are using Intel motherboards in their servers. Although this usage reduces potential problems with peripherals, such as SCSI controllers, it also forces vendors to differentiate their products from the competition. This is accomplished by including value-added features such as remote diagnostics boards and system management software. Unfortunately, problems that plagued the original chipsets on the Intel motherboard delayed server shipments from every vendor that used the Intel motherboard.

Compaq Computer Corp., which decided to use its own motherboard design, got to market faster, and its product has distinct features, such as redundant voltage regulators, on the processor board. It's important to note that Compaq servers equipped wi th proprietary disk controllers and network cards outperform HP servers with Intel motherboards and network cards and Adaptec Ultra-Wide disk controllers.

How Fast, How Powerful, How Tough Is a Pro? Applications running on Pentium Pro-based servers blaze in performance. Some database recalculations are performed as much as four times faster than on a Pentium-based server. In general, you can expect a 50 percent increase in performance for database applications running on the server. Also, Pro-based servers generally are equipped with dual Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) and Ultra SCSI buses. If you're facing processing or disk I/O bottlenecks, the Pro-based server is a potent solution. If your server hosts only file/print services, a Pro-based server is overkill. In these cases, the Pro-based servers show only a 5-Mbps to 10-Mbps increase in throughput.

The Gartner Group reports that while a Pro- based server is powerful, it can scale up to 500 users (using four processors) without p osing a serious threat to midrange systems. If you're wondering about how many processors to choose, realize that adding more processors won't give you a linear increase in performance, but it will turbocharge your server. Adding a second Pro CPU to your server will increase the performance of applications by 70 percent (only 50 percent for file/print services) and adding four Pro CPUs will garner you an approximate 200 percent increase (only 100 percent for file/print services).

When considering uptime issues for your Pro-based server, make sure the server includes a SCSI controller capable of at least RAID Levels 0, 1 and 5. The ability to designate a spare drive as an online standby drive will greatly improve the server's uptime. In the case of drive failure, data is automatically replicated to the standby while the bad drive is taken offline. Once the repaired drive is reinserted, data is replicated back to the original drive and the standby returns to its online standby status. Redundant power suppli es and power regulators also are important options available from many server vendors. Some servers can designate one of the two network cards as an online standby. Accompanying operating system modules ensure that there are no interruptions for users or other devices that were communicating with the failed card.

Getting Up and Running The more established server vendors such as Compaq, IBM and HP include many tool and feature bundles that make server installation and setup a breeze. Externally accessible drive bays allow for insertion and removal of the drives without opening the server. In some cases, the drives also are hot-pluggable, requiring no downtime to physically add drives to the server. Can you swing open the cover of the server? This may not seem important, but when it's 4 a.m. and you need to replace a component, something as simple as being able to easily open the server's cover can make a differen ce. The HP Netserver LX Pro makes it easy to add or replace cards with its top-acce ssible bus slots, as opposed to the traditional sideways arrangement. For ongoing usage, you may want to check if the server has a protected power/reset switch. Too many of us are embarrassed to talk about instances of "emergency maintenance" on the server (better known as, "I bumped into the power switch and turned the server off").

Some vendors also include a CD with configuration software and even operating system disks. This lets you purchase the network operating system from the server vendor and install the software using a proprietary install program specific to each vendor. But beware--such installation aids won't let you customize the installation as much as a setup program from the NOS vendor's CD would. For example, when installing Windows NT from the Compaq CD, you cannot specify a Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) server IP address during installation. You're out of luck if your Primary Domain Controller is across a router, because you won't be able to join the domain. You can complete the installation, then reboot and configure the address in Control Panel. Even with such caveats, these programs do save you a lot of time and effort. Using features such as the Compaq Integration Server, you can install the OS from a code base being maintained on another server simply by booting up with the Compaq SmartStart CD.