[SunRescue] SS5 upgrade

[David Cantrell]

Dave Reader <dave at undone.org.uk> wrote:

> On Wed, 16 May 2001, David Cantrell wrote:
> 
> > The SS1000 will, needless to say, be running Solaris, as none of the 
> > *BSD or Linux crowd have adequate SMP support.
> 
> I've installed linux on an SMP SS10, but not really given it anything to
> do yet. Even with only a single processor, it had a good go at putting the
> SS5/110 to shame.
> 
> Is it just >2 processor which sucks, or should i expect my SS10 to
> underperform too? I'm still using 2.2 kernels.

On x86, Linux is pretty good with two processors, and OK with four.  If
you're stuck with 2.2.x then four is really the limit and even then the
benefit is marginal.

On any other architecture, I think you're pretty much still limited to
two processors - it'll run with more if the hardware support is there,
but it's disgustingly inefficient (see SGI's benchmarks!).  Even with
just two processors, it isn't great.  Then, of course, you have the
issues surrounding Linux's x86-centric memory handling, which makes it
less efficient on other platforms.  This problem is compounded when you
introduce all the complexities involved in memory management with
multiple CPUs.

> I should play with Sol8 a bit more on some of that hardware I guess.

I'm undecided what version to put on the 1000.  It has 2.5.1 on right now -
that's what it came with.  I might upgrade to 2.6, but am unlikely to go
with 7 or 8.  I'll be running databasey things on it, so need to go with
the smallest, slimmest OS I can to keep as much memory free as possible.

-- 
David Cantrell | cthulhu at unixbeard.net | http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/

  Rip, Mix, Burn, unless you're using our "most advanced operating system
   in the world" which we decided to release incomplete just for a laugh