Xen users - Dec 2006 - AMD ATHLON 64 X2 5200+ AM2 and Supermicro H8SMA-2 A64/Opteron a good choice?

I planning to build a xen server with 8GB of memory  (say 15 virtual
machines with 512 megs of memory) and a processor that has  hardware
support for Xen.

Should these work okay, any opinions?

- Processor: AMD ATHLON 64 X2 5200+ AM2

- Motherboard: Supermicro H8SMA-2 A64/Opteron
  http://supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron1000/MCP55/H8SMA-2.cfm

Will one dual core processor handle the load (the virtual machines
will be mostly dedicated web servers with not that heavy CPU load) or
should I consider multiple Opteron processors or something else?

Regards,
Peter

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On Sat, 23 Dec 2006, Peter Peltonen wrote:
> I planning to build a xen server with 8GB of memory  (say 15 virtual
> machines with 512 megs of memory) and a processor that has  hardware
> support for Xen.
> 
> Should these work okay, any opinions?
> 
> - Processor: AMD ATHLON 64 X2 5200+ AM2
> 
> - Motherboard: Supermicro H8SMA-2 A64/Opteron
>  http://supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron1000/MCP55/H8SMA-2.cfm
I don''t think you can get an X2 in a 940 pin socket... that''s
an opteron
motherboard... not a socket am2 motherboard... actually, you''re not
going
to be able to do HVM on that motherboard. If you''re going AMD and need 
HVM, you need either a socket F (opteron) or AM2 (athlon) motherboard.
> Will one dual core processor handle the load (the virtual machines
> will be mostly dedicated web servers with not that heavy CPU load) or
> should I consider multiple Opteron processors or something else?
No one can really tell you how many CPU cycles you need. If HVM is part of 
your spec, I would be inclined to err on the safe side, but maybe you can 
start smaller and add CPU power later. Or maybe you''re going 
xen-enterprise and have the paravirt drivers....

-Tom

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I take that back... I glanced at the supermicro page and saw "Single 
940-pin ZIF Socket" and missed the multiple references to "Socket
AM2" ...

I would _assume_ you could put an X2 in there, but I''m not the expert.

-Tom

On Fri, 22 Dec 2006, Tom Brown wrote:
> On Sat, 23 Dec 2006, Peter Peltonen wrote:
> 
> > I planning to build a xen server with 8GB of memory  (say 15 virtual
> > machines with 512 megs of memory) and a processor that has  hardware
> > support for Xen.
> > 
> > Should these work okay, any opinions?
> > 
> > - Processor: AMD ATHLON 64 X2 5200+ AM2
> > 
> > - Motherboard: Supermicro H8SMA-2 A64/Opteron
> >  http://supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron1000/MCP55/H8SMA-2.cfm
> 
> I don''t think you can get an X2 in a 940 pin socket...
that''s an opteron
> motherboard... not a socket am2 motherboard... actually, you''re
not going
<snip>

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Hi,

On 12/23/06, Tom Brown <tbrown@baremetal.com>
wrote:
> I take that back... I glanced at the supermicro page and saw "Single
> 940-pin ZIF Socket" and missed the multiple references to "Socket
AM2" ...
That is what a local computer dealer recommended for me. I guess they
would know as they are putting the hardware together...

So if the processor fits into the motherboard I''ll get HVM support?

What I was looking for was comments like "this processor is okay, we
have twenty virtual web servers running on top of  it".

Regards,
Peter

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Peter Peltonen wrote:
> I planning to build a xen server with 8GB of memory  (say 15 virtual
> machines with 512 megs of memory) and a processor that has  hardware
> support for Xen.
>
> Should these work okay, any opinions?
>
> - Processor: AMD ATHLON 64 X2 5200+ AM2
>
> - Motherboard: Supermicro H8SMA-2 A64/Opteron
>  http://supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron1000/MCP55/H8SMA-2.cfm
>
> Will one dual core processor handle the load (the virtual machines
> will be mostly dedicated web servers with not that heavy CPU load) or
> should I consider multiple Opteron processors or something else?
I bet it will: are you using pre-built kernels, or building your own? 
Fedora Core 6 and the new RHEL5 beta seem quite sweet for this.

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