Here's my take on some of the points.. 1 - A mainframe CPU is about as fast as a PIII
Ok, so what? Even if they are comparable, who is saying that they are not? I've never heard IBM claim otherwise nor market the mainframe for CPU intensive operations. 3 - Linux is Linux, running on PC Linux is just as "good" as mainframe Linux. At it's core, Linux is Linux. But there are mainframe specific features that can be exploited only on the mainframe. For virtualized environments, things like NSS and DCSS come to mind. And the mainframe is particularly suited for exploiting Linux CMM features. 4 - Mainframes are awfully expensive for what you get, given #1-3 above. Clearly, extreme reliability in a single footprint is worth it to many companies. Also, it is unfair to compare the mainframe to a PC directly with regards to cost. Why would you buy a mainframe to configure all of it's hardware resources into a single LPAR running Linux? You can have multiple LPAR's running z/VM with dozens, hundreds or even thousands of Linux guests all on a single footprint. 5 - The mainframe is very good at running it's legacy apps, but not the new ones. The mainframe certainly shines with batch workloads. Some workloads are suitable to the mainframe and some are not. Nobody is claiming that the mainframe is the end all be all of computing needs. Linux was not written with the mainframe in mind like traditional mainframe OS's were and therefore there are some challenges there, however many of them are aptly handled by z/VM. -Sam -----Original Message----- From: Linux on 390 Port [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Thomas David Rivers Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 8:17 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Who's been reading our list... OK - I'm going to play serious devil's advocate here, at the risk of the ire of several people, I'm sure. But, I think we need to do something more 'direct' in terms of refuting the arguments. I've seen a couple of posts that have a sentiment of "well - this guy doesn't know what he's talking about." But - I'd like to see some data and arguments to back up that sentiment. If I break down his argument, these are the points I get from it: 1 - A mainframe CPU is about as fast as a PIII 2 - SCSI is SCSI - mainframe SCSI isn't going to be any better/faster than any other SCSI. 3 - Linux is Linux, running on PC Linux is just as "good" as mainframe Linux. 4 - Mainframes are awfully expensive for what you get, given #1-3 above. 5 - The mainframe is very good at running it's legacy apps, but not the new ones. Now - how do we break-down the arguments and address them? Simply jumping up-and-down and saying "nyaa-nyaa - this guy is wrong" plays directly into his "these guys are a bunch of clueless zealots who need to be consigned to the back corner for there mutual back-patting session" idea. I suggest we don't fall into that trap. If you have some real data/experience to offer, please make it known. If not, then we have a problem. I think we could come up with an argument that says "well, yes - we did have a PC farm of Linux machines; we consolidated all of that quite successfully on a mainframe (because of #2 and #3 above) and had a tremendous cost savings." Or - something like "yes - the mainframe I/O did, in fact, run faster than the PC for my DB2 database." Or - something like "using the advanced backup facilities on my SHARK, I was able to completely eliminate scheduled downtime for backups." Or - something like "using hipersockets allowed me to get to the z/OS database (where all of the PCs are trying to get to anyway) and change my average web response time from M to N, an X% improvement." Please understand, I'm not necessarily in agreement with this fellow, but I'd sure like to have a reasoned response. If he doesn't have a clue, then demonstrate it. Let's beat this sentiment back with rationality. - Thanks - - Dave Rivers - -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Work: (919) 676-0847 Get your mainframe programming tools at http://www.dignus.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390
