If I have connected to a sparc server via an xterm what determines
how fast the system runs? Is itthe configuration of the Xterm
(ie ram, CPU...) and/or the way the server is running (amount of swap space,
processors etc)? Can someone give me a brief explanation of how this works?

Additionally, if I am on my xterm running 'sar' as SU is this monitoring
the performance of the xterm or the server I am logged into?

Thanks.

Howdy,

trying to put some light in here :-)

First, some facts about xterm.  This is an X11 application. That
implies, it's a client/server app. The xterm itself ist the client, the
Screen (X Display) where you see and type to it is the server.

Of course, since xterm is a terminal emulation, you can telnet within
xterm to any other machine reachable in your network (and run sar on it
for example)

Second: sar Reports the System Activity of the machine where you issued
the sar command (in the xterm). If the xterm app itself is running at
the same machine, it's resouce usage will be integrated into sar's
output. But xterm usually doesn't need much system resources.

So sar shows you the system usage at a couple of time intervalls and the
average over all time intervalls of the values you selected with the sar
options. BTW: you don't need to run sar as root.  sar itself consumes
some 1 or 2 percent of the system resouces (cpu), so don't run it in
dozens of windows on the same machine at the same time.

--
Mit freundlichen Gruessen  / With kind regards
               Martin Zindler

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