Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!husc6!rice!sun-spots-request From: cdonawa@uvicctr.uvic.ca Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun Subject: Why is rcp so slow? Keywords: Networks Message-ID: <1707@brazos.Rice.edu> Date: 20 Sep 89 00:37:34 GMT Sender: root@rice.edu Organization: Sun-Spots Lines: 20 Approved: Sun-Spots@rice.edu X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 8, Issue 136, message 11 of 13 Does anyone know why rcp takes so long (in the order of seconds) to transfer a file (say 50K) when nfs takes in the order of 1/10ths of seconds? I am transfering a 50K file between workstations with their own local disks (running sunOS 4.0.1). When I rcp the file, it takes about 8 seconds with a load factor of approx. 1.0. However, if I use a diskless workstation, transfering the file from the server to my workstation takes under 0.2 seconds, for all load factors under 6.0 (it's a university environment so there are times I have unrestricted access and am allowed to manipulate the file server load factors). Why is there such a discrepancy? Rcp initiates the .login and .cshrc on the target machine when transferring the file, so I figure those are the culprits, but I do not know enough about Unix to say, and I need to know absolutely what is happening. Thanks in advance, Chris Donawa