How we did it

Our test bed network consisted of six Fast Ethernet subnet domains connected by Cisco routers, back-to-back Visual Networks DSU/CSUs configured for 384K bit/sec frame relay and a Covad 384K bit/sec SDSL Internet link. Our client operating systems included Windows 98/ME/NT 4.0/2000, Red Hat Linux 6.2, Macintosh System 8, Solaris 8.0 and OS/2 Warp 4.0. The relational databases on the network were Oracle 8i, Sybase Adaptive Server 11.5 and Microsoft SQL Server 2000. Windows NT/2000 and NetWare 5.1 shared files, while Internet Information Server, Netscape and Apache software served Web pages. The network's transport layer protocols were TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, AppleTalk and SNA.

We used up to 16 server computers to test each KVM via IP switch. These servers included Windows 2000 Advanced Server running on a four-way Compaq ProLiant ML570 computer with 900-MHz Pentium III CPUs, 2G bytes of RAM, eight 18G-byte SCSI RAID drives and two NC3134 10/100 network adapters. Windows NT 4.0 (SP 6) ran on three Gateway NS-8000 computers with 333-MHz Pentium II dual processors, 512M bytes of RAM and three 9G-byte SCSI RAID drives. Solaris 8.0 ran on Sun's Sun Blade 100 Workstation with a 500-MHz UltraSPARC-IIe CPU, 2G bytes of RAM and 15G-byte Integrated Drive Electronics disk drive. Red Hat Linux managed a single-CPU Gateway NS-7000 computer with 333-MHz Pentium II processor, 512M bytes of RAM and three 9G-byte SCSI RAID drives. An Agilent Advisor protocol analyzer generated packets, and decoded and displayed network traffic.

We also used an IBM ThinkPad A21m with 850-MHz Pentium III processor, 512M bytes of RAM and a 32G-byte hard disk to test KVM via IP remote access.

Back to main feature: "Advancing the art of KVM switches"

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