From owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Mar 18 16:36:26 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2176A16A4CF for ; Thu, 18 Mar 2004 16:36:26 -0800 (PST) Received: from gaff.hhhr.ision.net (gaff.hhhr.ision.net [195.180.9.213]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0078443D1D for ; Thu, 18 Mar 2004 16:36:25 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from ohoyer@ohoyer.de) Received: from gaff.hhhr.ision.net (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by gaff.hhhr.ision.net (8.12.11/8.12.11) with ESMTP id i2J0aNmH044360; Fri, 19 Mar 2004 01:36:23 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from ohoyer@ohoyer.de) Received: from localhost (ohoyer@localhost)i2J0aNeb044357; Fri, 19 Mar 2004 01:36:23 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from ohoyer@ohoyer.de) X-Authentication-Warning: gaff.hhhr.ision.net: ohoyer owned process doing -bs Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 01:36:22 +0100 (CET) From: Olaf Hoyer Sender: ohoyer@gaff.hhhr.ision.net To: Simon In-Reply-To: <20040318232348.BE86443D2D@mx1.FreeBSD.org> Message-ID: <20040319013145.P44321@gaff.hhhr.ision.net> References: <20040318232348.BE86443D2D@mx1.FreeBSD.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII cc: Artem Koutchine cc: "freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org" cc: Lanny Baron cc: Olaf Hoyer Subject: Re: Multiprocessor system VS one processor system X-BeenThere: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: General discussion of FreeBSD hardware List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 00:36:26 -0000 On Thu, 18 Mar 2004, Simon wrote: > > What exactly is not easily achievable with a modern dual Xeon Intel server > with 20 modern SCSI harddrives and proper RAID card? that is on an old > E450 Sparc? have you personally done any testing to back this up? surely, > the chipset design of Intel boards are not up-to-par with latest Sun servers, > but Intel is catching up. There was just never enough demand until now. Yes, its an E450 with 4x400MHZ Ultrasparc 2, IIRC with 2 or 4MB 2nd level cache, acting as mail server, pumping several millions of emails around per day, with 2 million mailboxes to deliver to, being one of several mailhosts. You simply need the 5 SCSI busses and 18 spindles (2 for OS) for mailspool performance, and the stability of the hardware and the scalability of Solaris under high stress and load. Thats a region where a i386-based box won't fit easily, also the diagnostics regarding flaky RAM or CPU are way better with SUN than with most i386-based hardware. We did some test with a 480 with external storages, therefore less SCSI-busses. The 480 clearly lost. > > -Simon > Olaf -- Olaf Hoyer ohoyer@gaff.hhhr.ision.net Fuerchterliche Erlebniss geben zu raten, ob der, welcher sie erlebt, nicht etwas Fuerchterliches ist. (Nietzsche, Jenseits von Gut und Boese)