[geeks] Solaris X86?

[Phil Stracchino]

On Thu, Nov 27, 2003 at 12:18:23PM +0200, Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
> Hi, I'm getting a dual PII 400 Intel brand server as part of a trade.
> I'd like to use it as a file and print server. I'd like to run something
> on it that is reliable.
> 
> I've had good luck with Linux based servers in the past. I thought that
> if it ran on it, Solaris x86 might be a better choice. It requires a $20
> payment on a credit card to download it. My VISA card is only valid in
> Israel, I have to get my wife to pay for it.
[...]
> Does anyone have a strong opinion pro or con or some usage tips? 

I've never run Solaris x86 and so have no first-hand experience with it.
However, I too have heard that Solaris/x86 hardware support is poor.  On
the other hand, you're planning to use this for NFS, and IMHO one of
Linux's major limitations as a fileserver is that it has a really crappy
nfsd.  Not that it's by any means unusable, and in fact it's somewhat more
graceful about doing things like sub-exports than Solaris nfsd is; it's
just that it's very slow compared to other nfsds I've used.

I can verify that NFS, Samba and netatalk will all run quite happily
together on Solaris/Sparc, for what that's worth.  I don't know whether
that also extends to Solaris/x86.

Have you considered a BSD?  I find OpenBSD very simple to install and work
with, and it has an excellent security record.


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