Motherboard/Processors/Memory For Dual Processor Xen System

[Bob Cochran]

I want to build a new computer system that features dual processors, a 
lot of memory, and is able to run Xen virtualization. Install Fedora and 
Xen as the host on such a machine, and then start running a variety of 
other operating systems as virtual machines.

What dual processor hardware configurations work well with Xen? For 
example will any Supermicro brand dual processor motherboard be hardware 
compatible with Xen? I am thinking of Supermicro boards with Xeon 
processors. Or is there a better brand of motherboard?

Thanks

Bob Cochran

[itamar]

On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 10:18 PM, Bob Cochran <bcochran13(a)verizon.net&gt; wrote:
>  I want to build a new computer system that features dual processors,
> a
>  lot of memory, and is able to run Xen virtualization. Install Fedora and
>  Xen as the host on such a machine, and then start running a variety of
>  other operating systems as virtual machines.
>
>  What dual processor hardware configurations work well with Xen? For
>  example will any Supermicro brand dual processor motherboard be hardware
>  compatible with Xen? I am thinking of Supermicro boards with Xeon
>  processors. Or is there a better brand of motherboard?
>
>  Thanks
>
>  Bob Cochran
>
>  
I am using asus rs100, its cheap and works very well.

I have some machines running since 3 years, with 100% uptime.




-- 
------------

Itamar Reis Peixoto
msn, google talk: itamar(a)ispbrasil.com.br
[phone] (FIXO SP)
[phone] (TIM)
[phone] (OI)
[phone] (FIXO MG)

[Bill Davidsen]

Bob Cochran wrote:
>  I want to build a new computer system that features dual processors,
> a
>  lot of memory, and is able to run Xen virtualization. Install Fedora and
>  Xen as the host on such a machine, and then start running a variety of
>  other operating systems as virtual machines.
>
>  What dual processor hardware configurations work well with Xen? For
>  example will any Supermicro brand dual processor motherboard be hardware
>  compatible with Xen? I am thinking of Supermicro boards with Xeon
>  processors. Or is there a better brand of motherboard?
>
>      
With 2-4-6 core CPUs out there, do you really need that level of cost 
and complexity? I run an x58 ASUS Sabertooth board with i7-950 CPU and 
24GB ram, and it seems up to most of what I even plan to do. With eight 
threads I can handle lots of VMs, although I am running most with KVM 
rather than xen. Newer boards will go to six (hyperthreaded) cores, but 
I believe only support four sticks of mempry.

-- 
Bill Davidsen<davidsen(a)tmr.com>
   We are not out of the woods yet, but we know the direction and have
taken the first step. The steps are many, but finite in number, and if
we persevere we will reach our destination.  -me, 2010

[Muhammad Panji]

On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 8:35 PM, Bill Davidsen <davidsen(a)tmr.com&gt; wrote:

>  Bob Cochran wrote:
>  > I want to build a new computer system that features dual processors, a
>  > lot of memory, and is able to run Xen virtualization. Install Fedora and
>  > Xen as the host on such a machine, and then start running a variety of
>  > other operating systems as virtual machines.
>  >
>  > What dual processor hardware configurations work well with Xen? For
>  > example will any Supermicro brand dual processor motherboard be hardware
>  > compatible with Xen? I am thinking of Supermicro boards with Xeon
>  > processors. Or is there a better brand of motherboard?
>  >
>  >
>  With 2-4-6 core CPUs out there, do you really need that level of cost
>  and complexity? I run an x58 ASUS Sabertooth board with i7-950 CPU and
>  24GB ram, and it seems up to most of what I even plan to do. With eight
>  threads I can handle lots of VMs, although I am running most with KVM
>  rather than xen. Newer boards will go to six (hyperthreaded) cores, but
>  I believe only support four sticks of mempry.
>  
Anyone have experience using Shuttle XPC or similar Mini ITX? I wanna have
powerful machine and would be nice if it's quite.
Regards,







-- 
-----
Muhammad Panji
http://www.panji.web.id                         http://www.kurungsiku.com
http://sumodirjo.wordpress.com          http://www.kurungsiku.web.id

http://www.linuxbox.web.id

[Tom Horsley]

On Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:44:49 +0700
Muhammad Panji wrote:

>  Anyone have experience using Shuttle XPC or similar Mini ITX? I wanna
> have
>  powerful machine and would be nice if it's quite. 
I just built a new system to replace my main one which died, and
the one I built runs really quiet and is pretty powerful:

http://home.comcast.net/~tomhorsley/hardware/zooty/newzooty.html

[Bob Cochran]

Ooops, I accidentally replied only to Bill. Here is what I sent to him.

I recently started working with a dual processor workstation bought from
Dell. My role is to support the hardware and get the software installed.
It is set up with two, Xeon E5645 6-core processors. Based on only about
2 hours of working with it -- they seem to make a significant speed
difference difference. This is with a mere 12 Gb of registered DDR3
memory (6 Gb per processor.) Unfortunately we can only do 12 Gb for now,
we were hitting the budget limit. I have a question out to my customer
asking about the actual experience with applications. My impression is
there is a lot more speed.

I have a second person who really maxes out cpu performance and I think
that person needs to go beyond the single processor stage. Maybe it is
time for multiple processors, each with loads of cache and cores, and
some serious memory.

Bob



On 9/21/11 9:35 AM, Bill Davidsen wrote:
>  Bob Cochran wrote:
> > I want to build a new computer system that features dual processors, a
> > lot of memory, and is able to run Xen virtualization. Install Fedora and
> > Xen as the host on such a machine, and then start running a variety of
> > other operating systems as virtual machines.
> >
> > What dual processor hardware configurations work well with Xen? For
> > example will any Supermicro brand dual processor motherboard be hardware
> > compatible with Xen? I am thinking of Supermicro boards with Xeon
> > processors. Or is there a better brand of motherboard?
> >
>  With 2-4-6 core CPUs out there, do you really need that level of cost 
>  and complexity? I run an x58 ASUS Sabertooth board with i7-950 CPU and 
>  24GB ram, and it seems up to most of what I even plan to do. With 
>  eight threads I can handle lots of VMs, although I am running most 
>  with KVM rather than xen. Newer boards will go to six (hyperthreaded) 
>  cores, but I believe only support four sticks of mempry.
>