Charles Vogt
The relative performance of network products can vary substantially because of differences in how applications access files, so the NSTL file-server tests use a mix of popular applications. Programs such as Lotus 1-2-3, cc:Mail, and XCopy read and write files in relatively large chunks. On the other hand, Microsoft's FoxPro makes many small read and write requests when accessing shared database files and can generate many lock and unlock requests.
About the Results
Lacking support for a high-end token-ring adapter, NT fared poorly. Ironically, Microsoft's own LAN Manager 2.2 was the best performer. The effect of using a slower 16-bit adapter with Microsoft NT Advanced Server is particularly noticeable on the XCopy tests, which move the greatest amount of data between the servers.
In addition, NT Advanced Server is particularly slow relative to both versions of NetWare and LAN Manager 2.2 on the FoxPro transaction-processing test. Microsoft says that the small size of the requests that FoxPro generates when reading and writing data, along with the processing of lock requests, substantially lowers the performance of NT Advanced Server. This test result shows that NT Advanced Server is not a good choice for a high-volume transaction-processing application written in a file-oriented database such as FoxPro.
NSTL File-Server Performance Tests
IBM MICROSOFT MICROSOFT
BANYAN LAN LAN NT
VINES SERVER MANAGER ADVANCED
5.5 3.0 2.2 SERVER 3.1
Four workstations
cc:Mail 0.31 0.34* 0.27 0.22**
Lotus 1-2-3
0.33 0.41* 0.40 0.41*
WordPerfect 0.42 0.48 0.55* 0.31**
FoxPro 10.67 10.69 11.37 7.81
XCopy-1 (26 files, 40 KB) 0.04 0.21 0.24* 0.08**
XCopy-2 (104 files, 10 KB) 0.02** 0.12 0.13* 0.02**
Eight workstations
cc:Mail 0.51 0.62 0.70* 0.42**
Lotus 1-2-3 0.60 0.79* 0.79* 0.77
WordPerfect 0.55 0.75 0.83* 0.40**
FoxPro 15.38 18.39 19.81* 10.86**
XCopy-1 (26 files, 40 KB) 0.03** 0.19 0.24* 0.08
XCopy-2 (104 files, 10 KB) 0.02** 0.10 0.11* 0.02**
16 workstations
cc:Mail 0.66 0.94 1.11* 0.58**
Lotus 1-2-3 0.97 1.51 1.55* 1.40
WordPerfect 0.50 0.99* 0.9
9* 0.40**
FoxPro 15.58 20.50 22.05 10.74**
XCopy-1 (26 files, 40 KB) 0.03** 0.17 0.25* 0.08
XCopy-2 (104 files, 10 KB) 0.02** 0.08 0.11* 0.02**
24 workstations
cc:Mail 0.57 1.05 1.25* 0.56**
Lotus 1-2-3 0.93 2.14 2.24* 1.72
WordPerfect 0.41 1.05* 0.96 0.37**
FoxPro 12.49 19.20 21.07 11.49**
XCopy-1 (26 files, 40 KB) 0.00** 0.14 0.15* 0.08
XCopy-2 (104 files, 10 KB) 0.00** 0.11 0.08* 0.02
NOVELL NOVELL NOVELL
NETWARE NETWARE NETWARE
3.11 4.0 (VLM) 4.0 (NETX)
Four workstations
cc:Mail 0.32 0.31 0.32
Lotus 1-2-3 0.33 0.2
8** 0.30
WordPerfect 0.43 0.38 0.34
FoxPro 14.07* 7.47** 10.96XCopy-1 (26 files, 40 KB) 0.12 0.24* 0.21
XCopy-2 (104 files, 10 KB) 0.08 0.10 0.08
Eight workstations
cc:Mail 0.56 0.50 0.45
Lotus 1-2-3 0.61 0.51 0.46**
WordPerfect 0.66 0.52 0.40**
FoxPro 23.75 12.08 13.98
XCopy-1 (26 files, 40 KB) 0.08 0.24* 0.24*
XCopy-2 (104 files, 10 KB) 0.05 0.11* 0.07
16 workstations
cc:Mail 0.81 0.78 0.65
Lotus 1-2-3 1.01 0.74 0.66**
WordPerfect 0.85 0.63 0.57
FoxPro 25.93* 13.72 14.65
XCopy-1 (26 files, 40 KB) 0.06 0.25* 0
.21
XCopy-2 (104 files, 10 KB) 0.04 0.10 0.06
24 workstations
cc:Mail 0.84 0.85 0.75
Lotus 1-2-3 1.23 0.78** 0.78**
WordPerfect 0.90 0.61 0.66
FoxPro 25.88* 12.81 13.25
XCopy-1 (26 files, 40 KB) 0.05 0.15* 0.14
XCopy-2 (104 files, 10 KB) 0.04 0.07 0.05
All results are in transactions per second.
* = best.
**= worst.
LAN Operating-System Testing
