Re: [Xen-users] Home Xen hypervisor for master's project

[Joseph Commisso <commissoje@xxxxxxxxx>]

I greatly appreciate your input.
I am going to use your information by seriously considering the server
grade Opteron.
I will table the question of which processor can do what for a later
date as I am not knowledgeable on the architecture of these chips, but
since I am documenting my progress, I will try and research the
benefits of the Xeon vs Opteron and I will try and get back to you in
the next few weeks or so, if that is ok with you.
As I said Intel is a great product in my mind as well. I am not sure
what I will find, but I am going to focus on the way each CPU
interfaces with the rest of the motherboard.
I am not trying to "win" or anything, but I want to know more about
this and it has my interest.

Thanks again,
Joe


On Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 9:40 PM, Ryan Holt <ryan@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> As far as I know Xen will use as many cores that you have. You can configure 
> each core to be pinned to a specific VM / dom0 if you'd like but it's not 
> required.
>
> To answer your question about XEON / i7/i5 there's generally more server 
> "grade" features baked into the chipset. Things like ECC RAM.
>
> As far as AMD vs Intel, that can be somewhat of a holy war, but Intel 
> dominates AMD in market share so you'd be hard pressed to convince me that 
> every IT operation is implementing a sub par product.
>
> http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/AMD-Market-Share-Inches-Up-But-Intel-Still-Dominates-584542/
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joseph Commisso [mailto:commissoje@xxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2011 9:25 PM
> To: xen-users
> Cc: Todd Deshane; Ryan Holt
> Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Home Xen hypervisor for master's project
>
> I am getting off on a tangent and need to get back to my original track.
> Server grade is good. It's better. But I do not have to have server grade.
>
> Back to what I was originally asking.
> I am probably going with AMD for reasons that someone I trust has told me 
> that AMD is superior.
> I am not trying to get a debate going and I am not knowledgeable enough, but 
> AMD is certainly lower cost and has some other advantages with the way it is 
> constructed, so that is where I am focused now.
> Intel is great too, but I think I will go with a late model Phenom for now.
> I guess IOMMU is kind of important and I can afford it, so I will resolve 
> that I will get a 890FX chipset.
>
> * So, can someone chime in on how many cores the Xen hypervisor and it's 
> guests will use?
>
> I read a message earlier that stated that when compiling the kernel, there is 
> an option for how many virtual cores you will use?
> Did I get that right?
>
> If Xen will use all 6 cores and will utilize them better than if I had a four 
> core CPU, then that is what I am asking.
> I will probably have anywhere from 3 to 6 virtual machines going at any time.
> Does the Dom0 use one core and is each guest optimally using one or two of 
> the other real cores?
> If that is the case, then Dom0 would take one of the six. That would leave 5 
> cores for say two VMs with two cores each and one VM using the last core. 
> Could I do something like that? Or one VM using 3 cores and one VM using 2 
> cores?
> Is that something that is trivial to set up?
>
> Hopefully these answers are easy for someone who has been there.
>
> TIA!
>
> I am
>
> On Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 8:15 PM, Ryan Holt <ryan@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> I recently built a home Xen server to both play with and run a few servers 
>> at my house. I decided I'd spend a little more money and get server grade 
>> gear and have been very happy with what I have so far:
>>
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139024
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117225
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182235
>>
>> You'll need a few disks and a case. I used software RAID and used the 6 SATA 
>> connectors on the board along with an old Coolermaster case. I purchased 3x 
>> 5.25 to 5x3.5" hdd adapter to make things easier. Next I'll buy one of these 
>> cases to replace the Coolermaster that it's currently running in:
>>
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811219038&cm_re=
>> 4224-_-11-219-038-_-Product
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> [mailto:xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Todd
>> Deshane
>> Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2011 8:11 PM
>> To: Joseph Commisso
>> Cc: Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Home Xen hypervisor for master's project
>>
>> On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 1:02 AM, Joseph Commisso <commissoje@xxxxxxxxx> 
>> wrote:
>>> On Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 7:21 PM, Todd Deshane <todd.deshane@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>> On Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 8:02 PM, Joseph Commisso <commissoje@xxxxxxxxx> 
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>
>>>>> Could somebody please help me with a few hardware questions?
>>>>>
>>>>> I am building a home Xen server to implement a Xen Cloud for my
>>>>> master's project comparing SOA.
>>>>> I will probably use Linux guest OSs, but I may want to use a
>>>>> Windows guest for home PC use.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Can you go into more detail about what features you plan to implement?
>>>
>>> Well, I really do not know too much about Cloud computing, grids
>>> (Globus), or parallel programming, all of which I would like to touch
>>> upon or possibly go into more depth.
>>
>> You might find these useful for background (you or your school will need an 
>> ACM account):
>> http://techpack.acm.org/cloud/
>> http://techpack.acm.org/parallel/
>>
>>> I was thinking of implementing a grid on the cloud, but then I saw
>>> documentation referring to a cloud on a grid, so when I get there, I
>>> will work that one out.
>>> My instructor said to compare what I do against SOA, which will give
>>> me something to work on there as well.
>>>
>>> I am fairly proficient with Linux administration with some abilities
>>> on other areas, like networking, hardware and some minor software
>>> programming.
>>> So, I do not know what I will need to implement at this point. I hope
>>> to learn as I go and see if I can come up with something useful.
>>> I want to build this virtual server at home, since the machines that
>>> I have access to at school are slow and also because school is 50
>>> miles away and I have no other classes to attend, so working at home
>>> on this seems like the way to do it.
>>>>
>>>> Also, what type of interfaces do you expect to provide to users? How
>>>> will they connect? etc.
>>>
>>> What I know how to do is use xdmcp for remote sessions.
>>> If I do set up a grid or cluster, then there may be some interface
>>> which that uses.
>>> Again, I hope to be able to find out when I get there.
>>> I plan on choosing a motherboard/CPU and then building the rest of
>>> the machine around those.
>>> I have a coworker who suggested the AMD line and said that due to the
>>> way the CPU connects to the bus and the rest of the motherboard, that
>>> three cores is optimal.
>>> I did not get a chance to talk to him about a hypervisor machine and
>>> whether that also applied to the three cores.
>>>
>>>>
>>>>> I have been trying to make a decision on the CPU and motherboard to
>>>>> purchase and really could use some help.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have read the wiki post at:
>>>>> http://wiki.xen.org/xenwiki/VTdHowTo?highlight=(vtd)
>>>>>
>>>>> 1) For my purposes, is IOMMU important?
>>>>> If so, then also, for my purposes, it looks like the ASUS Crosshair
>>>>> IV Formula may be a good choice.
>>>>>
>>>>> ** I would appreciate any input, as to the Crosshair or other, like the 
>>>>> M4A89TD.
>>>>>
>>>>> Now for the CPU and I have really not been able to determine how
>>>>> many cores is optimal for this server.
>>>>> I have a knowledgeable coworker who says that three cores is
>>>>> optimal and I have not been able to find information to support
>>>>> that or dispute it.
>>>>>
>>>>> 2) The Phenom II series seems to be attractive, so I have been
>>>>> concentrating on those, but can someone also help me with the X3,
>>>>> X4, or X6 decision?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Joe
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Xen-users mailing list
>>>>> Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
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>>
>

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