I am about to order the parts for the next machine, also to run xen,
an opteron x6 2.6GHZ 4180 with the supermicro motherboard.
$210 cpu, $283 mbd, and a cooler master case for $80 or $90.
The case can have up to 8 sata drives, e.g. 8 x 2TB = 16TB.
I already have a Phenom X4 2.5GHZ and an X4 3.4GHZ, but they are both
running other applications until I can move them to a system that can run
many virtual machines.
Somehow these albatrosses collect along the way, where everthing works on
a specific install of a specific OS and level, together with all of the
subsequent installs to complete the system. However, I sometimes need to
be able to use it when the customer has a problem. Some apps need to
be up 24/7 in order to check them out. As it is, I can only run as many
of these concurrently as I have physical machines, with each one running
on only one of the partitions.
With xen I'm planing to collect them all into their own partitions and
be able to run them concurrently at any time. As long as they do not need
the same non sharable resource at the same time, like if the resource
is the incoming port 80 traffic from the internet, which depends on
how I can configure the router, it all looks like it will work OK.
The difference between the Phenom X series and the Opterons is that
Opteron supports registered ecc memory, whereas the Phenom series does
not.
This may not be important, but if I am running a whole bunch of stuff,
and it actually DOES get a memory error, then I will know about it.
Otherwise, it will just go along until things crash.
And it might even correct the error via crc.
If you go with X6, then you need non ecc memory. I think I found it
for $3xx for 16GB Of ddr3 1066. You definitely want ddr3. It is
much faster and more energy efficient than ddr2.
The ecc ddr3 memory is not much different in cost. In fact, sometimes
it is actually less. So it may be cheaper to buy an opteron + memory
than an X6 + memory.
The only drawback is the motherboard. $283 is a lot for a motherboard.
The MSI motherboard for the X6 is only $85, last time I checked.
$85 (mdbd) + $200 (X6) + $80 (case) + $315 (16GB 1066ddr3) = $780.
+ $140 (one 2TB sata 2Gb/s disk) = $920.
The Opteron starts out about $200 more for the mbd, but the memory is
definitely more reliable, and sometimes actually faster.
If you only need 4 or 8GB of memory, then it will be really cheap.
64GB of 4 x 16GB ddr3 dimms for the opteron is more than $4000.
Maybe this is a little off of the SPAM 6.0 topic. Start another?
Lex
On Wed, 19 Jan 2011, Gary Mort wrote:
With time to learn some new skills I've been ramping up my Amazon EC2
skills.....but I really want to play a bit further without paying for some
things. With my laptop finally dead, I'm replacing it with a desktop.... a
refurb system with an AMD Phenom II X6 processor[and BIOS support for AMD's
virtualization technology].
I figured I'd reach out to see if anyone else in the Duchess/Ulster area is
mucking about with Xen and wants to exchange emails/get together to go
through stuff.
-Gary
_______________________________________________
Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org
http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug
Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) MHVLS Auditorium
Feb 2 - Zimbra
Mar 2 - MHVLUG 8th Anniversary - Show and Tell
Apr 6 - Introduction to IPv6
_______________________________________________
Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org
http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug
Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) MHVLS Auditorium
Feb 2 - Zimbra
Mar 2 - MHVLUG 8th Anniversary - Show and Tell
Apr 6 - Introduction to IPv6
