Why is rcp so slow?

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#1603

From: cdonawa
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 1989 00:37

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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

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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!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
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