As was said I/O performance, stability and supportability plus some ideas
for scalability.
1. I/O performance - it is not Windows vs. AIX but is PCs vs. Mid-range
servers. The border is blurred but still high-end PCs are powerful as low
to mid-class RISCs. Even with new ServerWorks chipsets Intel-based servers
(be it Dell, HP/Compaq, IBM or other) do not compare well with any RISC
servers beyond the entry models. My rule of thumb for both processor and
I/O performance is "count two Intels as one RISC". The only exception is
"count SuperDome with Intels as SD with PAs".
No matter Windows or Linux - the bottleneck is PCI buses not the kernel.

2. Stability - this was discussed recently, mainly for Open systems vs.
Mainframes but the arguments apply to PCs vs. RISCs as well.

3. Supportability - differentiate internal (staff skills and preferences)
and external (from the vendor) support. Each has to decide based on the
company resources/policy.

4. Scalability - IMnsHO PCs scale satisfactory only in processor power and
memory capacity. No big scalability (if any) on memory or I/O throughput,
some scalability of attaching DAS disks. SAN storage scales well thanks to
SAN not to servers.

What about Linux vs. Windows - TSM does support Linux in part but lacks
some features, does not support full list of hardware other platforms do,
and is too picky what Linux components you have.

The conclusion - Linux is good for small installations, Windows can handle
little bit bigger thanks to support for larger libraries.
But if you have to move more than 0.5-1 TB/day go with UNIX. If you move
now 0.3-0.5 TB/day, think again - in a year or two you will have it
doubled and will have the not-so-easy migration from Windows to UNIX.

Zlatko Krastev
IT Consultant






Richard Sims <rbs AT BU DOT EDU>
Sent by: "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" <ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU>
23.04.2003 17:05
Please respond to "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager"


        To:     ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
        cc:
        Subject:        Re: TSM on Windows or AIX


In concert with the original posting, I'm curious about current platform
choices, based upon customer experiences.  I don't recall a recent
discussion
on "how good" a given platform as a TSM server.  I'm particularly curious
as
to "how good" Linux is as a TSM server platform, given its low cost of
hardware and OS.  Does anyone have experience in Linux vs. Other for TSM
server, and could pass on wisdom?  We've seen some postings about limited
device support in Linux, so that could be a factor.

  thanks,  Richard Sims, BU     http://people.bu.edu/rbs