Hi all, I''m about to by a server that will run Xen. DomU''s a mostly linux but possibly windows. I''d like to make sure I buy ''working'' hardware. My suplier wants to sell me an ASUS P6T mother board and an Intel Core i7 -920 proccesor. On the list I see some post about toubles with the P6T. Any hardware recommendations please? Thanks. Chris. _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Don''t use ASUS because "they don''t support linux" and you have no way of getting them to fix a problem you can''t show them in Windows. Heck, in my experience, they can''t fix a real problem like the one you refer to even if you do show it to them in Linux. Don''t use Gigabyte because "they don''t support virtualization." If you really want to be safe, you probably need to stick with Intel, because I doubt nvidia chipsets will cut it, and I doubt MSI will support things right either, though I have no definite examples to reference in that case. Surely Intel can properly implement their standards. The other option, of course, is to go with AMD, but I don''t recall any mention of ann IOMMU-"whatever letter it is" supporting AMD board yet. Unfortunately, I can''t tell you any specific hardware works, though, so good luck with that. Dustin From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Chris Fanning Sent: Friday, October 16, 2009 07:00 To: Xen users mailing list Subject: [Xen-users] hardware recommendations please Hi all, I''m about to by a server that will run Xen. DomU''s a mostly linux but possibly windows. I''d like to make sure I buy ''working'' hardware. My suplier wants to sell me an ASUS P6T mother board and an Intel Core i7 -920 proccesor. On the list I see some post about toubles with the P6T. Any hardware recommendations please? Thanks. Chris. _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 2:36 PM, Dustin Henning <Dustin.Henning@prd-inc.com>wrote:> Don''t use ASUS because "they don''t support linux" and you have no > way of getting them to fix a problem you can''t show them in Windows. Heck, > in my experience, they can''t fix a real problem like the one you refer to > even if you do show it to them in Linux. Don''t use Gigabyte because "they > don''t support virtualization." If you really want to be safe, you probably > need to stick with Intel, because I doubt nvidia chipsets will cut it, and > I > doubt MSI will support things right either, though I have no definite > examples to reference in that case. Surely Intel can properly implement > their standards. The other option, of course, is to go with AMD, but I > don''t recall any mention of ann IOMMU-"whatever letter it is" supporting > AMD > board yet. Unfortunately, I can''t tell you any specific hardware works, > though, so good luck with that. >yeah, good luck. That''s what I''m going to need. I''ve been installing the occasional xen server for 4 years now, and it''s always the same story. :( Chris. Dustin> > From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com > [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Chris Fanning > Sent: Friday, October 16, 2009 07:00 > To: Xen users mailing list > Subject: [Xen-users] hardware recommendations please > > Hi all, > > I''m about to by a server that will run Xen. DomU''s a mostly linux but > possibly windows. > I''d like to make sure I buy ''working'' hardware. > > My suplier wants to sell me an ASUS P6T mother board and an Intel Core i7 > -920 proccesor. > On the list I see some post about toubles with the P6T. > > > Any hardware recommendations please? > > Thanks. > Chris. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users >_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 8:04 PM, Chris Fanning <christopher.fanning@gmail.com> wrote:> yeah, good luck. That''s what I''m going to need. > I''ve been installing the occasional xen server for 4 years now, and it''s > always the same story. :(What are you going to use it for anyway? If it''s "normal" (e.g. web, database, etc.) server stuff, you probably won''t need IOMMU anyway. Intel VT/AMD-V (supported in CPU and BIOS) should be enough to run Windows guests, and a lot of setup supports it. It''d probably be easier to ask your supplier whether it can run Windows 7''s "XP mode" (it has the same requirement for VT). Personally I''ve only used Dell/HP/IBM/Sun boxes for Xen on servers (it''s "company policy" thing). I needed to enable VT in BIOS here-and-there, and update NIC''s firmware on some old IBM servers, but other than that they work great for Linux and Windows domUs. -- Fajar _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Dustin Henning wrote:> Don''t use Gigabyte because "they > don''t support virtualization."I used a Gigabyte GA-5EASV-RH, with an Intel 6600 Core-2 Duo for a couple of years, with no problems, running Linux, W2K, WXP, and Solaris HVMs. I eventually changed to a Dell R200, but only because it was the cheapest rack-mount system I could buy. -Evan _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
My response was specific to the vendor support side of things. While PV would work fine with any brand of motherboard, Gigabyte flat out saying they don''t support virtualization implies that they don''t support VT (admittedly Windows 7 should change that, but if they aren''t supporting VT yet, one certainly can''t count on them to support VT-d in the near future). Dustin -----Original Message----- From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Evan Lavelle Sent: Friday, October 16, 2009 09:53 To: xen-users@lists.xensource.com Subject: Re: [Xen-users] hardware recommendations please Dustin Henning wrote:> Don''t use Gigabyte because "they > don''t support virtualization."I used a Gigabyte GA-5EASV-RH, with an Intel 6600 Core-2 Duo for a couple of years, with no problems, running Linux, W2K, WXP, and Solaris HVMs. I eventually changed to a Dell R200, but only because it was the cheapest rack-mount system I could buy. -Evan _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Ditto Fajar''s experience- IBM, Dell in datacenter and using cheap Dell workstations as dev servers has worked well. On Oct 16, 2009, at 9:27 AM, Fajar A. Nugraha wrote:> On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 8:04 PM, Chris Fanning > <christopher.fanning@gmail.com> wrote: > >> yeah, good luck. That''s what I''m going to need. >> I''ve been installing the occasional xen server for 4 years now, and >> it''s >> always the same story. :( > > What are you going to use it for anyway? > If it''s "normal" (e.g. web, database, etc.) server stuff, you probably > won''t need IOMMU anyway. > Intel VT/AMD-V (supported in CPU and BIOS) should be enough to run > Windows guests, and a lot of setup supports it. It''d probably be > easier to ask your supplier whether it can run Windows 7''s "XP mode" > (it has the same requirement for VT). > > Personally I''ve only used Dell/HP/IBM/Sun boxes for Xen on servers > (it''s "company policy" thing). I needed to enable VT in BIOS > here-and-there, and update NIC''s firmware on some old IBM servers, but > other than that they work great for Linux and Windows domUs. > > -- > Fajar > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Mr. Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming)
2009-Oct-20 14:46 UTC
Re: [Xen-users] hardware recommendations please
Hi, I am quite positive MSI and Gigabyte don''t support virtualization. I''ve read some where that there may be issues with VT-d when it comes to ASUS''s X58 chipset boards. The best bet is to stick to Intel''s Q35, Q45, and X58 chipset boards. AMD''s upcoming 800 series chipset boards will support IOMMU I think. -- Mr. Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming) Dip(Mechatronics) BEng(Hons)(Mechanical Engineering) Alma Maters: (1) Singapore Polytechnic (2) National University of Singapore Blog URL: http://teo-en-ming-aka-zhang-enming.blogspot.com Email: space.time.universe@gmail.com MSN: teoenming@hotmail.com Mobile Phone: +65-9648-9798 Street: Bedok Reservoir Road Republic of Singapore On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 8:36 PM, Dustin Henning <Dustin.Henning@prd-inc.com> wrote:> Don''t use ASUS because "they don''t support linux" and you have no > way of getting them to fix a problem you can''t show them in Windows. Heck, > in my experience, they can''t fix a real problem like the one you refer to > even if you do show it to them in Linux. Don''t use Gigabyte because "they > don''t support virtualization." If you really want to be safe, you probably > need to stick with Intel, because I doubt nvidia chipsets will cut it, and I > doubt MSI will support things right either, though I have no definite > examples to reference in that case. Surely Intel can properly implement > their standards. The other option, of course, is to go with AMD, but I > don''t recall any mention of ann IOMMU-"whatever letter it is" supporting AMD > board yet. Unfortunately, I can''t tell you any specific hardware works, > though, so good luck with that. > Dustin > > From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com > [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Chris Fanning > Sent: Friday, October 16, 2009 07:00 > To: Xen users mailing list > Subject: [Xen-users] hardware recommendations please > > Hi all, > > I''m about to by a server that will run Xen. DomU''s a mostly linux but > possibly windows. > I''d like to make sure I buy ''working'' hardware. > > My suplier wants to sell me an ASUS P6T mother board and an Intel Core i7 > -920 proccesor. > On the list I see some post about toubles with the P6T. > > > Any hardware recommendations please? > > Thanks. > Chris. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users >_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Mr. Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming)
2009-Oct-20 14:51 UTC
Re: [Xen-users] hardware recommendations please
For virtualizing Windows, you need VT. To passthrough PCI devices to Windows HVM, you need VT-d additionally. -- Mr. Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming) Dip(Mechatronics) BEng(Hons)(Mechanical Engineering) Alma Maters: (1) Singapore Polytechnic (2) National University of Singapore Blog URL: http://teo-en-ming-aka-zhang-enming.blogspot.com Email: space.time.universe@gmail.com MSN: teoenming@hotmail.com Mobile Phone: +65-9648-9798 Street: Bedok Reservoir Road Republic of Singapore On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 9:27 PM, Fajar A. Nugraha <fajar@fajar.net> wrote:> On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 8:04 PM, Chris Fanning > <christopher.fanning@gmail.com> wrote: > >> yeah, good luck. That''s what I''m going to need. >> I''ve been installing the occasional xen server for 4 years now, and it''s >> always the same story. :( > > What are you going to use it for anyway? > If it''s "normal" (e.g. web, database, etc.) server stuff, you probably > won''t need IOMMU anyway. > Intel VT/AMD-V (supported in CPU and BIOS) should be enough to run > Windows guests, and a lot of setup supports it. It''d probably be > easier to ask your supplier whether it can run Windows 7''s "XP mode" > (it has the same requirement for VT). > > Personally I''ve only used Dell/HP/IBM/Sun boxes for Xen on servers > (it''s "company policy" thing). I needed to enable VT in BIOS > here-and-there, and update NIC''s firmware on some old IBM servers, but > other than that they work great for Linux and Windows domUs. > > -- > Fajar > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users >_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
I''ve generally found AMD setups Opteron or Athlon to have AMD-V enabled by default and hence pretty much all of them work. Only the very recent Opteron system with the AMD SR5690 chipset support IOMMU and probably only very recent releases of Xen Server too. Intel Xeon setups I have tried have all had the bios option to enable VT-D but single CPU systems are much more hit and miss. IOMMU is usually support on all recent Intels with VT-d and Xen Server support for Intel IOMMU has been around a while. As a general rule of thumb you want one of the following for two CPU setups: Dual Intel Xeon 55XX (Any Chipset) Dual AMD Opteron 24XX (AMD SR5690 Chipset) The other thing you will want to check for is raid card support. -----Original Message----- From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Peter Booth Sent: 20 October 2009 15:23 To: Fajar A. Nugraha Cc: Chris Fanning; xen-users@lists.xensource.com Subject: Re: [Xen-users] hardware recommendations please Ditto Fajar''s experience- IBM, Dell in datacenter and using cheap Dell workstations as dev servers has worked well. On Oct 16, 2009, at 9:27 AM, Fajar A. Nugraha wrote:> On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 8:04 PM, Chris Fanning > <christopher.fanning@gmail.com> wrote: > >> yeah, good luck. That''s what I''m going to need. >> I''ve been installing the occasional xen server for 4 years now, and >> it''s >> always the same story. :( > > What are you going to use it for anyway? > If it''s "normal" (e.g. web, database, etc.) server stuff, you probably > won''t need IOMMU anyway. > Intel VT/AMD-V (supported in CPU and BIOS) should be enough to run > Windows guests, and a lot of setup supports it. It''d probably be > easier to ask your supplier whether it can run Windows 7''s "XP mode" > (it has the same requirement for VT). > > Personally I''ve only used Dell/HP/IBM/Sun boxes for Xen on servers > (it''s "company policy" thing). I needed to enable VT in BIOS > here-and-there, and update NIC''s firmware on some old IBM servers, but > other than that they work great for Linux and Windows domUs. > > -- > Fajar > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users The SAQ Group Registered Office: 18 Chapel Street, Petersfield, Hampshire GU32 3DZ SAQ is the trading name of SEMTEC Limited. Registered in England & Wales Company Number: 06481952 http://www.saqnet.co.uk AS29219 SAQ Group Delivers high quality, honestly priced communication and I.T. services to UK Business. Broadband : Domains : Email : Hosting : CoLo : Servers : Racks : Transit : Backups : Managed Networks : Remote Support. ISPA Member _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Mr. Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming)
2009-Oct-20 14:59 UTC
Re: [Xen-users] hardware recommendations please
I am not sure about AMD server processors and chipsets because I have been out of touch with them for quite some time. For desktop platforms, AMD-V is only supported on Socket AM2-based processors (Sempron excepted) and later. -- Mr. Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming) Dip(Mechatronics) BEng(Hons)(Mechanical Engineering) Alma Maters: (1) Singapore Polytechnic (2) National University of Singapore Blog URL: http://teo-en-ming-aka-zhang-enming.blogspot.com Email: space.time.universe@gmail.com MSN: teoenming@hotmail.com Mobile Phone: +65-9648-9798 Street: Bedok Reservoir Road Republic of Singapore On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 10:51 PM, Robert Dunkley <Robert@saq.co.uk> wrote:> > > I''ve generally found AMD setups Opteron or Athlon to have AMD-V enabled > by default and hence pretty much all of them work. Only the very recent > Opteron system with the AMD SR5690 chipset support IOMMU and probably > only very recent releases of Xen Server too. > > Intel Xeon setups I have tried have all had the bios option to enable > VT-D but single CPU systems are much more hit and miss. IOMMU is usually > support on all recent Intels with VT-d and Xen Server support for Intel > IOMMU has been around a while. > > As a general rule of thumb you want one of the following for two CPU > setups: > Dual Intel Xeon 55XX (Any Chipset) > Dual AMD Opteron 24XX (AMD SR5690 Chipset) > > The other thing you will want to check for is raid card support. > > > -----Original Message----- > From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com > [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Peter Booth > Sent: 20 October 2009 15:23 > To: Fajar A. Nugraha > Cc: Chris Fanning; xen-users@lists.xensource.com > Subject: Re: [Xen-users] hardware recommendations please > > Ditto Fajar''s experience- IBM, Dell in datacenter and using cheap Dell > workstations as dev servers has worked well. > > On Oct 16, 2009, at 9:27 AM, Fajar A. Nugraha wrote: > >> On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 8:04 PM, Chris Fanning >> <christopher.fanning@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> yeah, good luck. That''s what I''m going to need. >>> I''ve been installing the occasional xen server for 4 years now, and >>> it''s >>> always the same story. :( >> >> What are you going to use it for anyway? >> If it''s "normal" (e.g. web, database, etc.) server stuff, you probably >> won''t need IOMMU anyway. >> Intel VT/AMD-V (supported in CPU and BIOS) should be enough to run >> Windows guests, and a lot of setup supports it. It''d probably be >> easier to ask your supplier whether it can run Windows 7''s "XP mode" >> (it has the same requirement for VT). >> >> Personally I''ve only used Dell/HP/IBM/Sun boxes for Xen on servers >> (it''s "company policy" thing). I needed to enable VT in BIOS >> here-and-there, and update NIC''s firmware on some old IBM servers, but >> other than that they work great for Linux and Windows domUs. >> >> -- >> Fajar >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Xen-users mailing list >> Xen-users@lists.xensource.com >> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users > > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users > > The SAQ Group > > Registered Office: 18 Chapel Street, Petersfield, Hampshire GU32 3DZ > SAQ is the trading name of SEMTEC Limited. Registered in England & Wales > Company Number: 06481952 > > http://www.saqnet.co.uk AS29219 > > SAQ Group Delivers high quality, honestly priced communication and I.T. services to UK Business. > > Broadband : Domains : Email : Hosting : CoLo : Servers : Racks : Transit : Backups : Managed Networks : Remote Support. > > ISPA Member > > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users >_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Mr. Teo En Ming (Zhang Enming) wrote:> I am quite positive MSI and Gigabyte don''t support virtualization.Gigabyte does, as I said in my other post.I ran a Gigagbyte (GA-5EASV-RH, Intel 6600 Core-2 Duo) for maybe a couple of years, with Windows, Solaris, and Linux all fully virtual. -Evan _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Chris Fanning <christopher.fanning@gmail.com> writes:> I''m about to by a server that will run Xen. DomU''s a mostly linux but > possibly windows. > I''d like to make sure I buy ''working'' hardware.First, note, while I do have a lot of servers in production and a lot of users, most of my experience is with paravirtualized guests. I have not used HVM outside of testing or compiling kernels for weird platforms. paravirtualization is *vastly* superior to HVM in terms of both speed and reliability, from what I''ve seen of HVM mode. prgmr.com is almost entirely opteron with the nvidia MCP55-V Pro You save a whole lot of money going with registered ecc ddr2 vs. registered ecc ddr3, and I really question if a <2.0Ghz nehalam can compete with a 2.2 or 2.4Ghz shanghai. (I know it can if you are running intel-designed benchmarks, but I imagine that doesn''t map much to reality.) Besides, it''s a rare day that I get a complaint about CPU speed that I can''t show to be actually caused by I/O. (I give each guest 1vcpu, and dedicate one hard to the Dom0, so there is almost always a full cpu idle on my system. I''m thinking about adding 2 vcpus to the higher-ram DomUs.) I do have a few single-socket core2quad motherboards with 8GiB unbuffered ecc. they work nicely, but 8GiB ram isn''t really enough to bother with for a virtualization server, especially as they eat about 2/3rds as much power as my low-power 8 core/32GiB ram servers. I use the SR1530AHLX barebone for that, see: http://serverconfigurator.intel.com/details.aspx?id=1334 but it doesn''t have hot-swap drives, and never again will I put something in production that doesn''t have hot-swap drives. Even without hot swap drivers, swapping a disk if it has hot-swap carriers is so much less of a pain in the ass. totally worth the cost of the backplanes. The nvidia disk drivers distributed with the 2.6.18.8-xen xen.org kernel don''t hot-swap, but I put in a sata_sil card to solve that problem, and everything else seems to work just fine. both sata_sil and the nvidia drivers benchmark about as well as the same drives on the intel/AHCI hardware. (back porting the nvidia drivers from RHEL would be nice, but I''m too dumb to do it myself, and too broke to pay someone else to do it, and the sata_sil cards work well and are pretty cheap.) I really like the supermicro kit. Has anyone tried the AMD SR5690 + SP5100 chipsets that Supermicro has just started shipping a bit ago? I''ve been thinking about buying one of these: http://supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron2000/SR56x0/H8DAi+.cfm the only socket F motherboard I''ve seen that wasn''t tainted by Nvidia shit. right now, I have many of the SuperMicro 2 in 1u kits: http://supermicro.com/Aplus/system/1U/1021/AS-1021TM-T+.cfm and they work well, though they have the limitation of 2 disks, so you definitely need to put a sata card in that supports hot-swap I also found a deal on the 3u 8 bay SuperMicro chassis, so I bought a few h8dme-2 boards: http://supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron2000/MCP55/H8DME-2.cfm and those work pretty well; again, if you are in a service provider position and can''t do scheduled reboots you either need to put in a hot spare or two when you provision the thing, or put in sata cards that support hot swap on the 2.6.18.8-xen kernel. Uh I also have some tyan thunder n3600r boards, but I can''t recommend them unless you get them for super cheap and your time is free. If you re-flash them to the latest bios from tyan, they support quad-core CPUs, but out of 10 boards, 3 of them I never got working, and tyan won''t help you as they are only specced for dual-core. (Note, I''ve not had one fail in production in a year and a half, other than the ''luke is stupid and didn''t plan on a hot spare drive or add a controller that supports hot swap'' I had on some of the early ones, which was really a hard drive problem. in fact, most of them have not been rebooted during that time, it''s just 30% of them never get out of burn-in, which is ok. You are allowed to waste my time in the lab. You are not allowed to crash my customers in production.) Speaking of which, if anyone is into the coreboot stuff, the n3600r (s2912) I have is supposed to be supported, I could probably be talked into giving away (or selling very cheaply) some of the boards that only work with dual-core, if you wanna play with coreboot. They are the exact same chipset as the supermicros and 99% of the socketF kit, so they have the same lack of hot-swap problem, but other than that work okay. Also note, I used to be pretty big on buying motherboards with 16 ram slots, as 2GiB sticks were a lot cheaper than 4GiB; but that has changed lately; with the recent ram prices I''m paying as much or more per gigabyte for 2GiB registered ecc ddr2 as 4GiB registered ecc ddr2. I''m watching the price of registered ecc ddr3 every month or so to see when (or if) I will switch to the nehalam platform. Also note, I''m on the budget side of things; if you''ve got a lot of money sloshing around, the nehalam kit is pretty nice; I haven''t run it with the xen.org kernel, but I have run it with the RHEL 5.3 xen kernel and it ran quite well. Only complaint I have with it is the expensive ram, which is a big thing for me. (really, it was a big thing for my client who was buying the nehalam, too- they''d try to get by with 16GiB ram. Hah! they would have been many times better off going with the slightly slower opterons and getting 32GiB or more at the same price. Having enough ram is enormously more important than having fast ram. Obviously, if you can afford enough fast ram, that''s best of all, but finding out you didn''t buy enough ram makes your SysAdmins very frustrated.) -- Luke S. Crawford http://prgmr.com/xen/ - Hosting for the technically adept http://nostarch.com/xen.htm - We don''t assume you are stupid. _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
"Robert Dunkley" <Robert@saq.co.uk> writes:> As a general rule of thumb you want one of the following for two CPU > setups: > Dual Intel Xeon 55XX (Any Chipset) > Dual AMD Opteron 24XX (AMD SR5690 Chipset)do all the onboard devices (SATA and ethernet) on the SR5690 board work with the xen.org stable 2.6.18.8-xen kernel? does the SATA hot-swap? _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 09:48:10PM -0400, Luke S Crawford wrote:> Speaking of which, if anyone is into the coreboot stuff, the n3600r > (s2912) I have is supposed to be supported, I could probably be talked into > giving away (or selling very cheaply) some of the boards that only > work with dual-core, if you wanna play with coreboot.Note that the supermicro h8dme and h8dmr boards are also coreboot supported... H8dmr has quad-core support in tree. For h8dme not yet - I''m working on that though. Thanks, Ward. -- Pong.be -( "Thanks, and THIS time it really is fixed. I mean, how )- Virtual hosting -( many times can we get it wrong? At some point, we just )- http://pong.be -( have to run out of really bad ideas.." -- Linus )- GnuPG public key: http://pgp.mit.edu _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Ward Vandewege <ward@pong.be> writes:> On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 09:48:10PM -0400, Luke S Crawford wrote: > > Speaking of which, if anyone is into the coreboot stuff, the n3600r > > (s2912) I have is supposed to be supported, I could probably be talked into > > giving away (or selling very cheaply) some of the boards that only > > work with dual-core, if you wanna play with coreboot. > > Note that the supermicro h8dme and h8dmr boards are also coreboot > supported... H8dmr has quad-core support in tree. For h8dme not yet - I''m > working on that though.Yes, well, I can''t get h8dme and h8dmr boards for $80 each, but the n3600r, s2912, however, I can get for about that price, so I would be happy to send one or two your way, if they would help. Is there any work on the new socket F boards with the AMD SR5690 chipsets? _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Am 16.10.2009 13:00, schrieb Chris Fanning:> Hi all, > > I''m about to by a server that will run Xen. DomU''s a mostly linux but > possibly windows. > I''d like to make sure I buy ''working'' hardware. > > My suplier wants to sell me an ASUS P6T mother board and an Intel Core > i7 -920 proccesor. > On the list I see some post about toubles with the P6T.After reading across this thread, I would to add my five cents. If you really like to have a Server, then you should take a serious look at Sun X86 hardware, for example the X4170 would be a great peace of hardware for running xen as server virtualisation. Even more for remote usage. Florian> > > Any hardware recommendations please? > > Thanks. > Chris. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>If you really like to have a Server, then you should take a serious look >at Sun X86 hardware, for example the X4170 would be a great peace of >hardware for running xen as server virtualisation. Even more for remote >usage.If customer doesn''t want to run OpenSolaris 2010-02-125 or SNV 124 for Xen Virtualization in meantime :- 1. Would it be possible to install F11 or Ubuntu 9.04 Server on this box ? 2. Would it be possible port Xen-unstable or Xen-3.4.2 via xensource.com or build Xen Dom0 via xen-3.4.1-5.fc12.src.rpm along with the most recent Libvirt 0.7.0 with xen driver ( on F11). 3. Would it be possible clone JF''s Git Repo to this box and build the most recent pvops kernel ? 4.Would it be possible to build the most recent xenified 2.6.31.4 aka Suse ? In other words, are you aware of Linux Xen performance on mentioned hardware from Sun ? Boris. --- On Sun, 10/25/09, Florian Manschwetus <florianmanschwetus@gmx.de> wrote: From: Florian Manschwetus <florianmanschwetus@gmx.de> Subject: Re: [Xen-users] hardware recommendations please To: "Chris Fanning" <christopher.fanning@gmail.com> Cc: "Xen users mailing list" <xen-users@lists.xensource.com> Date: Sunday, October 25, 2009, 4:03 AM Am 16.10.2009 13:00, schrieb Chris Fanning:> Hi all, > > I''m about to by a server that will run Xen. DomU''s a mostly linux but > possibly windows. > I''d like to make sure I buy ''working'' hardware. > > My suplier wants to sell me an ASUS P6T mother board and an Intel Core > i7 -920 proccesor. > On the list I see some post about toubles with the P6T.After reading across this thread, I would to add my five cents. If you really like to have a Server, then you should take a serious look at Sun X86 hardware, for example the X4170 would be a great peace of hardware for running xen as server virtualisation. Even more for remote usage. Florian> > > Any hardware recommendations please? > > Thanks. > Chris. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users-----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Am 25.10.2009 11:17, schrieb Boris Derzhavets:>>If you really like to have a Server, then you should take a serious look >>at Sun X86 hardware, for example the X4170 would be a great peace of >>hardware for running xen as server virtualisation. Even more for remote >>usage. >It is a Intel Nehalem Xeon Server why should it refuse Windows or Linux???> If customer doesn''t want to run OpenSolaris 2010-02-125 or SNV 124 for > Xen Virtualization in meantime :- > > 1. Would it be possible to install F11 or Ubuntu 9.04 Server on this box ?It is a normal intel xeon server, every x86 architecture os will run on it (as far as it supports 16 Threads (windows xp may fail here))> 2. Would it be possible port Xen-unstable or Xen-3.4.2 via > xensource.com orAs above is it possible with a Nehalem based Server of IBM or HP Brand?> build Xen Dom0 via xen-3.4.1-5.fc12.src.rpm along with the most recent > Libvirt 0.7.0 > with xen driver ( on F11).s.a.> 3. Would it be possible clone JF''s Git Repo to this box and build the > most recent > pvops kernel ?damn why should a x86 os behave differently just because it runs on a Box Sun labeled?> 4.Would it be possible to build the most recent xenified 2.6.31.4 aka Suse ? >s.a.> In other words, are you aware of Linux Xen performance on mentioned > hardware > from Sun ? >I have tested the x4150 boxes myself with a normal x86_64 gentoo xen, it is perfect.> Boris. >Florian _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Box is really nice. Thanks. Boris --- On Sun, 10/25/09, Florian Manschwetus <florianmanschwetus@gmx.de> wrote: From: Florian Manschwetus <florianmanschwetus@gmx.de> Subject: Re: [Xen-users] hardware recommendations please To: "Boris Derzhavets" <bderzhavets@yahoo.com> Cc: "Chris Fanning" <christopher.fanning@gmail.com>, "Xen users mailing list" <xen-users@lists.xensource.com> Date: Sunday, October 25, 2009, 9:19 AM Am 25.10.2009 11:17, schrieb Boris Derzhavets:>>If you really like to have a Server, then you should take a serious look >>at Sun X86 hardware, for example the X4170 would be a great peace of >>hardware for running xen as server virtualisation. Even more for remote >>usage. >It is a Intel Nehalem Xeon Server why should it refuse Windows or Linux???> If customer doesn''t want to run OpenSolaris 2010-02-125 or SNV 124 for > Xen Virtualization in meantime :- > > 1. Would it be possible to install F11 or Ubuntu 9.04 Server on this box ?It is a normal intel xeon server, every x86 architecture os will run on it (as far as it supports 16 Threads (windows xp may fail here))> 2. Would it be possible port Xen-unstable or Xen-3.4.2 via > xensource.com orAs above is it possible with a Nehalem based Server of IBM or HP Brand?> build Xen Dom0 via xen-3.4.1-5.fc12.src.rpm along with the most recent > Libvirt 0.7.0 > with xen driver ( on F11).s.a.> 3. Would it be possible clone JF''s Git Repo to this box and build the > most recent > pvops kernel ?damn why should a x86 os behave differently just because it runs on a Box Sun labeled?> 4.Would it be possible to build the most recent xenified 2.6.31.4 aka Suse ? >s.a.> In other words, are you aware of Linux Xen performance on mentioned > hardware > from Sun ? >I have tested the x4150 boxes myself with a normal x86_64 gentoo xen, it is perfect.> Boris. >Florian _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Am 25.10.2009 15:59, schrieb Boris Derzhavets:> Box is really nice. > > Thanks. > Boris >Take a serious look at ILOM feature it is unique in x86 world. Florian> --- On *Sun, 10/25/09, Florian Manschwetus > /<florianmanschwetus@gmx.de>/* wrote: > > > From: Florian Manschwetus <florianmanschwetus@gmx.de> > Subject: Re: [Xen-users] hardware recommendations please > To: "Boris Derzhavets" <bderzhavets@yahoo.com> > Cc: "Chris Fanning" <christopher.fanning@gmail.com>, "Xen users > mailing list" <xen-users@lists.xensource.com> > Date: Sunday, October 25, 2009, 9:19 AM > > Am 25.10.2009 11:17, schrieb Boris Derzhavets: > >>If you really like to have a Server, then you should take a > serious look > >>at Sun X86 hardware, for example the X4170 would be a great peace of > >>hardware for running xen as server virtualisation. Even more for > remote > >>usage. > > > It is a Intel Nehalem Xeon Server why should it refuse Windows or > Linux??? > > > If customer doesn''t want to run OpenSolaris 2010-02-125 or SNV 124 for > > Xen Virtualization in meantime :- > > > > 1. Would it be possible to install F11 or Ubuntu 9.04 Server on > this box ? > It is a normal intel xeon server, every x86 architecture os will run on > it (as far as it supports 16 Threads (windows xp may fail here)) > > 2. Would it be possible port Xen-unstable or Xen-3.4.2 via > > xensource.com or > As above is it possible with a Nehalem based Server of IBM or HP Brand? > > build Xen Dom0 via xen-3.4.1-5.fc12.src.rpm along with the most recent > > Libvirt 0.7.0 > > with xen driver ( on F11). > s.a. > > 3. Would it be possible clone JF''s Git Repo to this box and build the > > most recent > > pvops kernel ? > damn why should a x86 os behave differently just because it runs on a > Box Sun labeled? > > 4.Would it be possible to build the most recent xenified 2.6.31.4 > aka Suse ? > > > s.a. > > In other words, are you aware of Linux Xen performance on mentioned > > hardware > > from Sun ? > > > I have tested the x4150 boxes myself with a normal x86_64 gentoo xen, it > is perfect. > > Boris. > > > > Florian > >_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
On Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 4:41 PM, Florian Manschwetus <florianmanschwetus@gmx.de> wrote:> Am 25.10.2009 15:59, schrieb Boris Derzhavets: >> Box is really nice. >> >> Thanks. >> Boris >> > Take a serious look at ILOM feature it is unique in x86 world. > > FlorianNot really unique, dell offer a similar feature using a drac card. Andy _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Andrew Lyon <andrew.lyon@gmail.com> writes:> > Take a serious look at ILOM feature it is unique in x86 world.> Not really unique, dell offer a similar feature using a drac card.Yes, and everyone else supports IPMI cards that do serial-over-lan. My experience has been that both DRAC and IPMI are a lot less reliable than having a dedicated serial console server and remotely switchable PDUs. console servers and rebooters are cheaper, too. _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Am 28.10.2009 06:22, schrieb Luke S Crawford:> Andrew Lyon <andrew.lyon@gmail.com> writes: >>> Take a serious look at ILOM feature it is unique in x86 world. > >> Not really unique, dell offer a similar feature using a drac card. > > Yes, and everyone else supports IPMI cards that do serial-over-lan. > > My experience has been that both DRAC and IPMI are a lot less reliable > than having a dedicated serial console server and remotely switchable PDUs. > console servers and rebooters are cheaper, too. >Hm, ILOM is default gear on every sun x86 Server. Also ILOM can do a thousands more things, it sends you an email if a DIMM or whatever fails, it allows you access to RKVM and serial console (webui and ssh) and allows you to remote mount boot media. I use two x4150 here with opensolaris xvm, I really seldom need to enter the server room, without any additional requirements. florian _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
I don''t understand why thLOM thing is any different to the IPMI+KVM over IP offered by many manufacturers. Is there anything significant in ILOM that is additional to the list of out of band features built into a Tyan I''m using now?: Sensors (Voltage, Fans and Temps and PSUs) Full Colour KVM over lan System power control Mount CD, DVD and FD images for boot or use in OS SNMP and traps for log events Serial console to com1 over lan Full sys log HTTP, HTTPS and IPMI 2.0 interfaces I find IPMI perfectly reliable (Have used plenty of system with IPMI but no KVM over IP), mainly used for power cycling a hard locked system, getting console to enter bios/raid bios and occasionally checking sensor readings. It is a pain to remember that IPMI console access needs to be added to the Linux grub config or Windows boot.ini which is why KVM over IP is best. Rob -----Original Message----- From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Florian Manschwetus Sent: 28 October 2009 07:46 To: Luke S Crawford Cc: Andrew Lyon; Xen users mailing list Subject: Re: [Xen-users] hardware recommendations please Am 28.10.2009 06:22, schrieb Luke S Crawford:> Andrew Lyon <andrew.lyon@gmail.com> writes: >>> Take a serious look at ILOM feature it is unique in x86 world. > >> Not really unique, dell offer a similar feature using a drac card. > > Yes, and everyone else supports IPMI cards that do serial-over-lan. > > My experience has been that both DRAC and IPMI are a lot less reliable> than having a dedicated serial console server and remotely switchablePDUs.> console servers and rebooters are cheaper, too. >Hm, ILOM is default gear on every sun x86 Server. Also ILOM can do a thousands more things, it sends you an email if a DIMM or whatever fails, it allows you access to RKVM and serial console (webui and ssh) and allows you to remote mount boot media. I use two x4150 here with opensolaris xvm, I really seldom need to enter the server room, without any additional requirements. florian The SAQ Group Registered Office: 18 Chapel Street, Petersfield, Hampshire GU32 3DZ SAQ is the trading name of SEMTEC Limited. Registered in England & Wales Company Number: 06481952 http://www.saqnet.co.uk AS29219 SAQ Group Delivers high quality, honestly priced communication and I.T. services to UK Business. Broadband : Domains : Email : Hosting : CoLo : Servers : Racks : Transit : Backups : Managed Networks : Remote Support. ISPA Member _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 11:33:26PM -0400, Luke S Crawford wrote:> Ward Vandewege <ward@pong.be> writes: > > > On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 09:48:10PM -0400, Luke S Crawford wrote: > > > Speaking of which, if anyone is into the coreboot stuff, the n3600r > > > (s2912) I have is supposed to be supported, I could probably be talked into > > > giving away (or selling very cheaply) some of the boards that only > > > work with dual-core, if you wanna play with coreboot. > > > > Note that the supermicro h8dme and h8dmr boards are also coreboot > > supported... H8dmr has quad-core support in tree. For h8dme not yet - I''m > > working on that though. > > Yes, well, I can''t get h8dme and h8dmr boards for $80 each, but > the n3600r, s2912, however, I can get for about that price, so I would > be happy to send one or two your way, if they would help.Thanks for the offer :) Maybe someone else will take you up on it.> Is there any work on the new socket F boards with the AMD SR5690 chipsets?The docs are not out yet for those chipsets. If you know people at AMD feel free to encourage them to keep up the good work and release docs for 5690/5100... Thanks, Ward. -- Pong.be -( "Creativity can be a social contribution, but only in )- Virtual hosting -( so far as society is free to use the results." -- RMS )- http://pong.be -( )- GnuPG public key: http://pgp.mit.edu _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Actually SP5100 is SB700 basically so there shouldn''t be a (real) problem there. IOMMU support/NB is worse though. But will probably be released pretty fast. But I think it will be a while before RHEL gets it though. But RHEL 5.4 will support it eventually according to Redhat and AMD. Should be great for next year I hope. But boards are coming out now. Also VMware ESX 4.0 has been demoed with SR5690/SP5100 already. That''s with PCI-e graphics even. So it doesn''t look like it''s stuck in the stone-age anyway. AMD is probably working hard on it. Regards, Petter Ward Vandewege wrote:> > On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 11:33:26PM -0400, Luke S Crawford wrote: >> Ward Vandewege <ward@pong.be> writes: >> >> > On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 09:48:10PM -0400, Luke S Crawford wrote: >> > > Speaking of which, if anyone is into the coreboot stuff, the n3600r >> > > (s2912) I have is supposed to be supported, I could probably be >> talked into >> > > giving away (or selling very cheaply) some of the boards that only >> > > work with dual-core, if you wanna play with coreboot. >> > >> > Note that the supermicro h8dme and h8dmr boards are also coreboot >> > supported... H8dmr has quad-core support in tree. For h8dme not yet - >> I''m >> > working on that though. >> >> Yes, well, I can''t get h8dme and h8dmr boards for $80 each, but >> the n3600r, s2912, however, I can get for about that price, so I would >> be happy to send one or two your way, if they would help. > > Thanks for the offer :) Maybe someone else will take you up on it. > >> Is there any work on the new socket F boards with the AMD SR5690 >> chipsets? > > The docs are not out yet for those chipsets. If you know people at AMD > feel > free to encourage them to keep up the good work and release docs for > 5690/5100... > > Thanks, > Ward. > > -- > Pong.be -( "Creativity can be a social contribution, but only in > )- > Virtual hosting -( so far as society is free to use the results." -- RMS > )- > http://pong.be -( > )- > GnuPG public key: http://pgp.mit.edu > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users > >-- View this message in context: http://old.nabble.com/hardware-recommendations-please-tp25923553p26423095.html Sent from the Xen - User mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users