Was on Intel vs. AS400

Hi all,

We are currently performing benchmark tests of Red Stack (OAS) vs. Blue Stack (WAS) both running on the Intel platform but are also interested in looking at the performance of WAS on the AS400.

Has anyone out there benchmarked or have an opinion of WAS on Intel vs. WAS on the AS400 ?

Also we are getting various answers as to the load of users per instance on Websphere (anywhere from 50 - 500) and coming from a XE environment running citrix i have a hard time believing 500 per instance (this based on an Intel 3.2ghz , dual processors with 4gb of ram). We don't mind buying extra servers to handle the user load as long as performance is still there. Has anyone ever figured out an optimal load per instance.

Paul,

I seem to recall a Red Stack vs Blue Stack thread about a month ago. I know I commented on it, so you can do a search on my screen name. Not to start any religious wars on intel vs AS400, but I think the first question to ask is, do you have as AS400 already and does it have enough excess horse power to run Websphere? I wouldn't go out and buy an AS400 to host Websphere to support JDE.

As far as 500 users on a server, that's a load of crap. You'll need to spread the load out a bit (unless of course you go with the heavy iron AS400 approach). There may be a thread or two analyzing that too. Take a look in the back threads, you are not treading uncharted territory.

Gregg Larkin
Praxair CNC and Web guy.

Hey Gregg,

I beleive i took part in that Red Stack / Blue Stack discussion. I am hoping someone could provide me with a Blue Stack vs. Blue Stack or WAS Intel vs. Was 400 pros and cons.
We currently have a 520 and are now sizing for a 550 and E1 8.12 (4 companies) and still have not decided on Intel or 400 for Websphere and we get various answers on total loads per instance.

Thanks.

Paulcost,
If you already are an iSeries shop, then it is always preferable to with the AIO (All in one) approach. i.e load WAS on the iSeries.
What is the configuration of the new 550 that you are planning to get?

Thanks.

Paul...just an opinion, but like Sr. Larkin says, unless you've got a iSeries with all the horsepower it needs to run WAS, ALL instances, AND account for failover/HA, OR you have an unlimited budget and are hiring CNC folks to pay them 500K/yr, I'd go with Intel web servers. I'm a iSeries supporter through and through, but unless you've got a huge box, usually multiple LPAR's, gads of memory and processor...the users will never know the difference running the HTML application from a external Intel server and running it all in the black box.

Again, these types of questions usually spark wars, and as I've said before, if you throw enough money into it, the iSeries can do it all...but for most SMB's, the 1 Million it would take could be oh so better spent on have the security of the iSeries as your back end, and front it with Intel boxes.