Help Dual CPU's in file server

[miller92]

I am currently running NT 4.0 on file server.
I am thinking of upgrading to dual processors. Is that a cheap and easy way to upgrade processing power? what other impacts will dual cpu's have? And if so do you think i should upgrade or change my network OS?
Would it be better to stay with microsoft (microsoft 2000) or Change to Novell or Unix? And if so what versions?

 

[ErikZ]

Well, if you already have a dual processor board, it certainly IS cheap and easy. But if you're trying to improve performance in your file-server, I'd try changing to Linux first. And if that isn't enough, changing the drives to SCSI.

File serving requires very little input from the CPU.

 

[Out0fOrder]

Hello,
A note on SMP: SMP stands for Symetric Multi Proccessing. It is what you do when you have two or more CPUs in a computer. Programs need to be specifically coded to take advantage of two CPUs, they must be Multithreaded. Windows 95/98 are not. NT is, however remember that every program must be multithreaded. If your file serving software is not designed to utilize SMP, adding a CPU will not improve performance at all.

If you are running a file Server, check to see where your bottleneck lies. Open the task manager and check your performance. What's higher, your CPU usage or your RAM usage?

I would recommend upgrading your RAM first. That should help a bit. Next step, assuming you don't want to deal with a new operating system, would be to upgrade your hard drives to SCSI or perhaps even SCSI or IDE RAID. That will improve your HDD access times.

A Note on linux: Linux is a wonderful operating system. Although it can be a pain to learn at first, Most people who learn it will never go back. Most Linux software is designed to utilize multithreading.

Hope this NFO helps,
-Out0fOrder