<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1"> <title></title> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff"> For what it's worth, we use the Sun V20Z Opteron systems and the NewIsys 2100 Opteron systems. Sun actually OEM's the NewIsys 2100 as the V20Z. If your on a tight budget, the NewIsys system is quite a bit cheaper than the V20Z for the same options. Both are great machines and perform very well. The only real difference I see between them is the way they utilize the service ports for remote access and management. For more info and pricing, check out <a href="http://www.newisys.com/products/2100.html">NewIsys</a> and <a href="http://colfax-intl.com/jlrid/SpotLight.asp?IT=0&RID=71">Colfax International.</a> DWoods Dominique Demore wrote: <blockquote type="cite" cite="midfc.000f7e6f00ede395000f7e6f00eda343.ede3f8@rainbow.edu.on.ca"> <pre wrap="">Red Hat Network Users List <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:rhn-users@redhat.com"><rhn-users@redhat.com></a> on Thursday, December 16, 2004 at 13:28 -0500 wrote: </pre> <blockquote type="cite"> <pre wrap=""> Single CPU? Dual CPU? Quad CPU? </pre> </blockquote> <pre wrap=""> Well I am hoping to be purchase a Dual 248 or 250 version of the Opteron. However since Oracle's licensing is pretty hefty for the second processor, I will have to wait an see. As for the applications, these servers would only be for the SIS database and Application Server (plus any custom apps which access Oracle). You mentioned the HP Server. I was looking at their prolient DL models. </pre> <blockquote type="cite"> <pre wrap="">Opteron's use a Non-Uniform Memory Architecture (NUMA). Specifically, each CPU has its own connection to its own bank of RAM. Memory is accessed via a different path than I/O. Then there's connections between the CPUs in case one CPU needs to access RAM or I/O hooked up to the other processor. Xeons and Itaniums have a Front Side Bus that all access to all I/O and memory goes through, leaving you with a single bottleneck. So, it depends on the exact Opteron motherboard design that you're talking about, but with a dual or quad CPU system, an Opteron will make a much better database server than a Xeon or an Itanium (assuming the motherboard is designed right.) I've looked at the design specs for Sun's Opteron servers and HP's Opteron servers, and both are solid designs that put RAM in the right places. In both cases, on the dual-opteron design all I/O is off of one CPU (with ram on both) and on the system that can handle more than 2 CPUs, I/O is spread between 2 of the CPUs. (and a bank of RAM on every CPU, of course) I haven't checked if they've updated, but about a year ago IBM's Opteron systems looked kind of sub-par (no on-board RAID); designed for compute clusters not database servers. I have no idea about other vendors; quality can vary widely. There are definitely some Opteron boards out there that put all the RAM and I/O on one CPU, which makes the system about as slow as if it had a front-side bus. Check for support from Oracle. An Opteron can still make a very speedy server for running 32-bit applications, but you're best off if the specific things you're running actually support the "x86_64/AMD64/ia32e" 64-bit instructions. Also, go read this article, and make sure to look at the diagrams: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.samag.com/documents/s=9408/sam0411b/0411b.htm">http://www.samag.com/documents/s=9408/sam0411b/0411b.htm</a> -- Eric Eisenhart <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:eric.eisenhart@sonoma.edu"><eric.eisenhart@sonoma.edu></a> Linux/Unix Systems Administrator Office: Schulz 1050A, (707) 664-3099 AIM: ericeisenhart, ICQ: 156218985 Sonoma State University, IT _______________________________________________ rhn-users mailing list <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:rhn-users@redhat.com">rhn-users@redhat.com</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/rhn-users">https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/rhn-users</a> </pre> </blockquote> <pre wrap=""> ----- Dominique Démoré Technical Services Coordinator Rainbow District School Board 69 Young Street Sudbury, Ontario P3E 3G5 Tel: (705) 674-3171 x. 258 Fax: (705) 671-2442 _______________________________________________ rhn-users mailing list <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:rhn-users@redhat.com">rhn-users@redhat.com</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/rhn-users">https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/rhn-users</a> </pre> </blockquote> </body> </html>