RE: Why is the iSeries so slow

> From: Scott Klement
> 
> When the iSeries gets low on main storage, the system becomes horribly
> unstable.   It just randomly crashes.

I have never had this happen.  Please give us details.  Since the
iSeries is a virtual storage machine, I assume you mean you actually
filled your disk drive.  If you did, OS/400 warned you repeatedly about
its imminent failure.


> Another example is hardware problems.  Over the past 10 years I've had
7
> disk failures, 2 tape drive failures, 1 power supply failure, 1
> shorted-out card cage on my iSeries.

I've thrown a disk drive twice.  And the machine chugged merrily along
(one time for over a month because I overlooked the messages).  When I
reported the problem, a service rep came out and installed a new drive
within 2 hours.  I had 20 minutes of total downtime.


> Sure, the PC hardware has problems
> too... but I've got a PC running FreeBSD that's had no hardware
problems
> over 8 years, which is a much better record.   If I do have a problem,
I
> can replace the whole system with a high-quality $400 dell server.

Your FreeBSD box is an isolated circumstance.  I can tell you from
experience that I have had FAR more hardware problems on my PCs than I
have ever had on my iSeries.  Primarily blown disks but the occasional
video card, memory stick and motherboard, not to mention fried diskette
drives and CD readers.  PC hardware is not particularly reliable, and
when it goes, IBM doesn't come out and replace it.


> And, even a 486 running FreeBSD outperforms the iSeries for networking
> tasks.  I have a 486SX-25 (really slow!) which blows away my iSeries
270
> for DNS, Windows file serving, for FTP, and for HTTP.   That's a 1991
> PC outperforming a 2001 iSeries.

Uh huh.  And exactly how many users could run interactive database
applications on that 486SX-25?  Comparisons like this are really pretty
useless.


> But, I'm going to regret posting this, because I just know people on
this
> list are going to boo at me, and hiss at me, and tell me I'm wrong
> (despite that these are my personal experiences).   This really is a
bad
> place to post things like this, since the bias on this list is very
> strongly towards OS/400.

I'm not even going to comment on this.


> IBM really
> needs to think about how to leverage the strengths and minimize the
> weaknesses, and we won't do that if people continue to overlook it's
> deficiencies.

We DON'T overlook its deficiencies.  We just don't use it for jobs it
wasn't intended to do, and then complain about it.  Gz.  You're using a
nitro-fueled dragster to go to the corner grocery store, and then
complaining about the mileage.

You want a cheap network server, BUY ONE.  Leave the iSeries as the
business logic server that it truly is, and quit complaining that it
doesn't run Asteroids as well as your Atari.


> Sigh...

My sentiments exactly.

Joe