"This section compares the performance of network operating systems; including NetWare 4.1, Windows NT 3.5 and IBM LAN Server 4.0. Once again, it is shown that NetWare 4.1 is at the head of the class. Novell conducted performance tests in its Provo, Utah SuperLab to compare these network operating systems in one of the largest, best-equipped network testing facilities in the world. Its findings aren't surprising: These tests show that NetWare 4.1 remains king of the performance hill. To be as objective as possible, the SuperLab used the NetBench 3.0 benchmark test suite developed by the Ziff-Davis Benchmark Operation. This suite includes several tools: Read/Write mixes, a network interface card (NIC) test, and a new Disk Mix test.
Test Configurations
To eliminate hardware differences, all the NOSs used the same server, with the following configurations:
Compaq Proliant 4000
128 MB RAM
1 Pentium 66 MHZ CPU
4 2GB disks (in a Compaq disk array)
4 Netflex II Ethernet controllers (for one set of tests)
4 NE 3200 Ethernet controllers (for another set of tests)
The clients consisted of various 486 and Pentium-based workstations, running DOS and MS Windows 3.11, with multiple applications. Novell tested with strict care to optimize client and server configurations for all three NOSs and all clients. The idea was to measure real system throughput fairly and accurately for all systems.
CPU Utilization
CPU utilization on each system during the test is a more relevant statistic, because it indicated how much computing power is consumed in the process. Measuring CPU utilization is important for several reasons: First, it defines a system's hardware requirements (how much CPU power it needs). Second, it documents system efficiency. And finally, it predicts how a system will scale. For instance, if the medium were replaced by a faster technology like FDDI, or 100-Megabit Ethernet, NT Server might need additional CPUs to use it fully. Not so for NetWare: During this first test, its CPU capabilities were not stressed. To be more specific, Novell's test observations showed that NetWare 4.1 saturated the Ethernet while using only half the CPU consumed by Windows NT Server 3.5. Averages measured: 45 percent for NetWare 4.1 vs. 91 percent for NT Server 3.5.
More important, this test impacts real-world situations. Sites using NetWare typically report server utilizations ranging from 25 to 45 percent, even when Ethernet is fully saturated. As newer, faster technologies arrive, NetWare can exploit their increased bandwidth without further server augmentation. NetWare's lean, yet feature-rich architecture explains why NetWare remains the performance leader.
Measuring Throughput with Disk Mix
According to the NetBench 3.0 Manual, the Disk Mix test seeks to enable realistic measurements of server speeds when handling file operations. It does this by profiling file access behavior for eight leading PC applications, to model how applications distribute operations, not just the operations themselves. Each client randomly orders its operations to insure that different ones run at different times to mimic actual server loads. During the Disk Mix test Novell evenly distributed the clients across four Ethernet segments. Starting with one client per segment, the number per segment increased equally until the total reached 64. Here again, NetWare 4.1's performance outstripped that of Windows NT server or LAN Server.
Understanding Benchmark Results
Novell's benchmarking confirms what customers have long claimed. Because NetWare saturates the network medium at lower levels of CPU utilization, it demonstrates more efficient use of hardware and system resources. This also points to NetWare's superior scalability: NetWare 4.1's efficiency supplies more power to exploit faster networking media, enabling organizations to use existing configurations without expensive hardware upgrades. NetWare 4.1's scalability makes it ideal for tomorrow's higher-bandwidth networks.
Overall, NetWare 4.1 demonstrates superior throughput and performance. Novell believes this results from ten generations of tuning and performance enhancements, and a system designed for maximum accessibility and response time. These results show that this combination makes NetWare 4.1 a 'speed demon' at delivering network services."
