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2.5.65 On 32-way NUMA-Q with Preempt Enabled

_iris writes "I think the subject speaks for itself. Here is the link to the story on KernelTrap." In case you have a spare 32-processor machine munching grass in the back 40.

131 comments

  1. Congratulations to the Linux Developers by Talez · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Good to see the Linux kernel making such leaps and bounds.

    Keep at it guys!

    1. Re:Congratulations to the Linux Developers by Eunuchswear · · Score: 2, Funny
      Such leaps and bounds, ah yes. A quote from one of the followups to the article:
      These machines have been in production since something like 1996 and were EOL'd around 2001. i.e. this is not just 5 years old, its entire product line is 2 or 3 years dead.
      Yup, Linux, so up to date it's just beginning to suport hardware that hasn't been built for 2 years.
      --
      Watch this Heartland Institute video
    2. Re:Congratulations to the Linux Developers by Hellkitten · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yup, Linux, so up to date it's just beginning to suport hardware that hasn't been built for 2 years

      The point is that 2.5.65 booted with preemtion patches on a 32 processor machine

      That is preemtion of kernel threads. If there is a deadlock or race condition it would be more likely to show up un a beast like that than in your average dual athlon. So this is really not about supporting 32 processors (which is old news) but about the quality of the work that has gone into kernel preemtion

      I have no idea if any other OSes out there support preemtion of kernel threads running on multiple cpus. Anyone care to enlighten me?

      --
      - We are the slashdot. Resistance is futile. Prepare to be moderated -
    3. Re:Congratulations to the Linux Developers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Linux, so up to date it's just beginning to suport hardware that hasn't been built for 2 years.

      Windows will never support it. Windows won't run on machines of that size and type, regardless of age.

    4. Re:Congratulations to the Linux Developers by OSgod · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Um... see above post re: w2k grabbing TPC behnchmark on 32cpu box. It does support machines of that size.

      Does it support pre-empting? I don't know -- would have to research. Perhaps this is an area where Linux could actually surpass Windows -- as it hasn't in any other area to date.

    5. Re:Congratulations to the Linux Developers by nr · · Score: 1

      Yep, maybe Linux is ready to step out of kindergarten soon. SGI IRIX supports 1024 CPU's in NUMA if I recall correct, so Linux has alot of progress to make then it comes to single-image scalability. Well Microsoft is still stuck in kindergarten too, and have not yet managed to move beyond basic 32bit which most UNIX'es did 10 years ago.:)

    6. Re:Congratulations to the Linux Developers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does it support pre-empting?

      Yes and it has done for about a decade.

    7. Re:Congratulations to the Linux Developers by BJH · · Score: 1

      Note that he said machines of that size and type. I've yet to see aversion of Windows that could run on a NUMA machine.

    8. Re:Congratulations to the Linux Developers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    9. Re:Congratulations to the Linux Developers by julesh · · Score: 4, Informative

      I have no idea if any other OSes out there support preemtion of kernel threads running on multiple cpus. Anyone care to enlighten me?

      Solaris. I believe Mach does as well. There are probably others that aren't as well known.

    10. Re:Congratulations to the Linux Developers by nr · · Score: 1

      Yep I know 64bit enabled MS-SQL is fast, but I'm not impressed. If they pulled it of back in 1990-1992 it would be impressive.

    11. Re:Congratulations to the Linux Developers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Solaris. I believe Mach does as well. There are probably others that aren't as well known.
      Mainframes with SMP architectures. Since at least the early 1970's.
    12. Re:Congratulations to the Linux Developers by Liam · · Score: 1

      Well they've done some of the same work with Linux, so maybe it's up to first grade? second grade?

      --
      Liam Healy
    13. Re:Congratulations to the Linux Developers by fgodfrey · · Score: 1
      Irix comes to mind as an immediate example, and probably every single hard real time OS out there like VxWorks. You can't support hard real time without preemption of kernel threads as your user service may be more important than said kernel thread (think about a program that decides when to lower the flaps on an airplane vs. the kernel thread that flushes dirty buffers to disk - clearly, you'd want the "lower flaps" thing to have priority!)


      As an asside, Linux has been running on large NUMA systems before. The SGI Altix 3000 and a predicessor that was never released (that I worked on) have run Linux on at least 64 processors in a ccNUMA configuration.

      --
      Go Badgers! -- #include "std/disclaimer.h"
  2. Beowoulf by rf0 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I would like a ... oh wait it is :)

    Rus

    1. Re:Beowoulf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, no it's not. A multiple processor machine != a multiple machine cluster.

    2. Re:Beowoulf by Andy+Tanenbaum · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      Paraphrased from the FAQ on beowulf.org, a beowulf cluster is a "kind of high-performance massively parallel computer built primarily out of commodity hardware components, running a free-software operating system like Linux or FreeBSD, interconnected by a private high-speed network." These 32 processor machines are single machines, and not nodes connected by a network. Definitionally, these machines are not Beowulf clusters.

    3. Re:Beowoulf by croddy · · Score: 1
      hwaet, we gardena in geardagum . . .

      ENG 301 best class ever. a few weeks ago someone dropped an info sheet for beowulf cluster development in his mailbox. apparently he thought it would be a good idea to ask in class 'so, anyone know what this is?'

      ha

    4. Re:Beowoulf by mrjb · · Score: 0

      Definitionally, these machines are not Beowulf clusters.

      Well in that case, imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!

      --
      Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
    5. Re:Beowoulf by ePhil_One · · Score: 2, Informative
      No, no it's not. A multiple processor machine != a multiple machine cluster.

      But a NUMA is not purely a SMP machine either, its a little of both. The Sequent NUMA-Q is a series of Quad-proccessor systems (Quads) linked via a high speed bus. Each Quad has its own memory pool, but on a virtual level its also one big memory pool. Hell, I was ready to be certified on Dynix/ptx and I don't fully understand it beyond knowing its not Parrallel computing, and ints not SMP. Its NUMA (Non-uniform memory architecture!).

      And its not really dead. Sequent was bought out by IBM, who stopped producing the Intel based systems, but is continuing to produce NUMA systems based on PowerPC systems. (or at least were; there is some embarassment here in that DB2 doesn't run right on NUMAs, so they have to benchmark with Oracle :^)

      I also suspect the NUMA technology will be very important for upcoming SMP on a chip systems, if you have 4 CPU's on a chip, how do you combine them into a MP machine?

      --
      You are in a maze of twisted little posts, all alike.
  3. NUMA-Q by duplo · · Score: 1, Funny

    Nuns Under Management of Al-Qaeda

    1. Re:NUMA-Q by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or following the GNU tradition:

      NUMA-Q Under Management of Al-Qaeda

  4. 32 Proc ? by MosesJones · · Score: 3, Funny


    Sheesh, I'm sitting here with a 64 Way and two 32-way boxes just waiting for decent to run on them.

    Does this mean that FINALLY I can shift Quake Server off the clustered S80s in the basement ?

    --
    An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
  5. Munching grass? by Eric+Ass+Raymond · · Score: 4, Funny
    In case you have a spare 32-processor machine munching grass

    I'd rather have a girlfriend who is also into muching carpet.

    1. Re:Munching grass? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      Is your girlfriend a rabbit?
      http://www.sonic.net/~snevel/etherbun/msg 69311.htm l

    2. Re:Munching grass? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      munching grass in the back 40? i think the editor listens to too much rap!

  6. Cool by rf0 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Now this is cool. I know that SGI can scale the Altix to 64 CPU's running 2.4 with their own additions in an SSI. However not sure about. 2.5. Its nice to see it in the main kernel anyway and the only way is up

    Rus

    1. Re:Cool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      You can expect the 2.5 to be way way better than 2.4 + SGI addons.

    2. Re:Cool by 3rd_Floo · · Score: 1

      What I see this as is good news for SGI. If the std kernel tree can support NUMA @ there spec level, it gives them one more reason to have to dump more time and $ into development and allows them to spend more elsewhere. Esp since they would like to move away from IRIX in the long run.

    3. Re:Cool by prefect42 · · Score: 1

      In fairness that's without a metarouter. Throw in that, and it scales all the way up to 512 processors (with 1024 planned for the future). This isn't some dodgy clustering crap, it does turn it into a 512 processor shared memory box. Now if only it wasn't Itanium...

      --

      jh

  7. Man and i though i had it good by tokaok · · Score: 3, Funny

    i thought i my daily 3-ways were good but it seems ive been missing out :(

    1. Re:Man and i though i had it good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is 'Informative'????

    2. Re:Man and i though i had it good by Lxy · · Score: 1

      obviously some moderator is way too busy thinking about computers to have any clue what a 3-way is.

      What a geek.

      --

      There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
      :wq
    3. Re:Man and i though i had it good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      your and and your grandpa don't count, dude

    4. Re:Man and i though i had it good by Shishak · · Score: 3, Funny

      You and your two hands does NOT make a 3-way....

      --
      Now I hope and pray that I will But today I am still, just a bill
  8. Complete article by blackcat++ · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here is the complete article, the fscking lameness filter made it quite a struggle to get it posted here. Anyway:

    Zwane Mwaikambo announced today on the lkml that he's successfully boot the 2.5.65 development kernel on a 32-way NUMA-Q server with -preempt enabled. Speaking to Robert Love [interview], the kernel preemption maintainer, he began his announcement saying, "Robert, I suppose you can add another notch on your erm.. bedpost(?) and congratulations to all the kernel developers!" NUMA awareness in the scheduler was added into the development kernel in late January [story].

    William Lee Irwin III [interview] explained the significance of this achievement:

    "This has had a hard time historically. I'm really glad NUMA-Q's are now immune (in the sense of correctness) to this config; previously it was believed that preemption points in printk(linux_banner) would take out the machine early in boot if preemption was enabled. Congratulations rml! If you're booting without issues on these things, you are a _very_ long way toward being race-free. This is incredibly good news, both for the preemption support, and for the general stability of the i386 bootstrap."

    Read on for the full thread.

    From: Zwane Mwaikambo
    Subject: 2.5.65-preempt booting on 32way NUMAQ
    Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2003 06:48:33 -0400 (EDT)

    Robert i suppose you can add another notch on your erm.. bedpost(?) and congratulations to all the kernel developers! It survived some local networking stress tests, but there is more fun stuff like tty layer to completely obliterate ;)

    (Hardware courtesy of OSDL)
    Running configuration
    32 Processors, PIII 500
    32G RAM

    Patches required:
    2.5.65 (only because isp1020 decided to get huffy)
    Purge assign_irq_vector panic - Zwane Mwaikambo

    [boot messages]

    From: Robert Love
    Subject: Re: 2.5.65-preempt booting on 32way NUMAQ
    Date: 06 Apr 2003 14:28:42 -0400

    On Sun, 2003-04-06 at 06:48, Zwane Mwaikambo wrote:
    > Robert i suppose you can add another notch on our erm.. bedpost(?)
    > and congratulations to all the kernel developers! It survived some
    > local networking stress tests, but there is more fun stuff like tty
    > layer to completely obliterate ;)

    Excellent, Zwane.

    Congratulations! Good work.

    Robert Love

    From: William Lee Irwin III
    Subject: Re: 2.5.65-preempt booting on 32way NUMAQ
    Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2003 04:23:40 -0700

    On Sun, Apr 06, 2003 at 06:48:33AM -0400, Zwane Mwaikambo wrote:
    > Robert i suppose you can add another notch on our erm.. bedpost(?)
    > and congratulations to all the kernel developers! It survived some
    > local networking stress tests, but there is more fun stuff like tty
    > layer to completely obliterate ;)

    Wow!

    This has had a hard time historically. I'm really glad NUMA-Q's are now immune (in the sense of correctness) to this config; previously it was
    believed that preemption points in printk(linux_banner) would take out the machine early in boot if preemption was enabled.

    Congratulations rml!

    If you're booting without issues on these things, you are a _very_ long way toward being race-free. This is incredibly good news, both for the preemption support, and for the general stability of the i386 bootstrap.

    All that's really left is driver and non-i386 arch coverage if I'm right.

    -- wli

    From: Zwane Mwaikambo
    Subject: Re: 2.5.65-preempt booting on 32way NUMAQ
    Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2003 07:25:09 -0400 (EDT)

    On Sun, 6 Apr 2003, William Lee Irwin III wrote:

    > This has had a hard time historically. I'm really glad NUMA-Q's are now
    > immune (in the sense of correctness) to this config; previously it was
    > believed that preemption points in printk(linux_banner) would take out
    > the machine early in boot if preemption was enabled.

    Which kernel version was that from

    1. Re:Complete article by 42forty-two42 · · Score: 1

      You try subscribing to the lkml sometime - an email comes in several times a minute. Be glad there are people to sort out individual threads.

    2. Re:Complete article by BJH · · Score: 1

      Get a decent MUA, and it'll handle the threading for you.

      I recommend Sylpheed.

    3. Re:Complete article by BJH · · Score: 2, Funny

      Oh bugger...

      Sylpheed

    4. Re:Complete article by platypus · · Score: 2, Funny

      I really hope this was a joke. If not, try to find a meaning of the sentence "sort out individual threads" which doesn't imply a missing feature of his mail client, there really is one.

    5. Re:Complete article by BJH · · Score: 1

      I considered that meaning, and then discarded it because I thought no-one could possibly make such a stupid joke. Apparently, I was wrong.

    6. Re:Complete article by 4of12 · · Score: 1

      an email comes in several times a minute

      For that reason I wouldn't dare attempt it while there are two options that trade just a little of that sense of immediacy for a more digestable format.

      The famous Kernel Traffic by Zack Brown.

      Web Archive of kernel mailing list.

      --
      "Provided by the management for your protection."
  9. Re:Now where'd I put that 32 processer machine ?? by ergo98 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Microsoft just set the #2 TPC-C result in the non-clustered category using Windows Server 2003 and a 32-way Itanium 2 machine. They did this, of course, because Oracle publicly derides clustered results as not counting (and really setting up horizontally partitioned views across a huge federation of serves is not the easiest thing, and it's far from transparent for the database developer: You have to specifically design around it), so now there's a SQL Server 2000 result higher than any Oracle result.

    So there you have it: A 32-way machine that's actually useful (when available on 2003-06-30).

  10. That sounds really cool! by wheany · · Score: 4, Funny

    What the hell are you guys talking about?

    1. Re:That sounds really cool! by tanveer1979 · · Score: 1

      Welcome to slashdot.... News for nerds. Stuff that Hammers... and that too in 32 ways with NUMA enabled Q times

      --
      My Aurora : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o91ZsGwJYyg
      FB : https://www.facebook.com/TanveersPhotography
  11. Superb by vesamies · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yes, it is now possible to launch 32 preemptive NUMA-Q missiles strikes simultaneously using the Linux kernel. Excelent!!!

  12. Hidden Meaning by evilviper · · Score: 3, Funny
    I think the subject speaks for itself.

    Translation: I'm going to bed, and the editors are lazy.
    --
    Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  13. speaks for itself by Tharsis · · Score: 1

    I think the subject speaks for itself
    If only it spoke in a language I can understand

  14. what does that mean. by leuk_he · · Score: 4, Interesting

    NUMA, ok, that i understand.

    (Instead of one big shared memory pool it uses processors that each have their own pool, and can access other memory with a timing penalty)

    but what does "-preempt " have to do with this. what does this option do? Int unix always preemtive?

    1. Re:what does that mean. by platypus · · Score: 5, Informative

      Preemt means preemtive in kernel space, you are talking about userspace. kerneltrap has an interview IIRC with Robert Love where the ins and outs are explained, if not, try google.

    2. Re:what does that mean. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      The Linux kernel usually isn't. That leads to high latency when the kernel does something which takes a long time. With the preemptive kernel patch, the kernel can no longer make certain assumptions, which means it has to synchronize some things which were guaranteed to complete without interruption before. The usual problems arise: Deadlocks, missing synchronization, etc.

    3. Re:what does that mean. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks for nothing, don't bother explaining next time.

    4. Re:what does that mean. by cant_get_a_good_nick · · Score: 1

      but what does "-preempt " have to do with this. what does this option do? Int unix always preemtive?

      Short answer:
      Userland processes can always be preempted. This patch allows the kernel to be preempted (as a side effect the kernel also has to be reentrant). It may help some latency issues (don't get blocked in the kernel so much) though decrease overall throughput (more time spent on context switches instead of real work). Not quite usre how it helps massive parallelism, probably allows the kernel to be split more efficiently.

      Long answer:
      there are links below.

  15. SCO and stuff by Bush_man10 · · Score: 1

    Well this is great to hear in my opinon but I'm just wondering if this will add to the Law Suit that SCO has on the plate for Linux. It's pretty sad when someone put's a lot of time and work into a project and then someone, like myself, questions if it will hurt more then help Linux. I love hearing about such innovation though and I'd like to say great job by all...

    --
    "I believe in everything in moderation. Including moderation." -Dean DeLeo, Stone Temple Pilots
    1. Re:SCO and stuff by darc · · Score: 1

      The SCO lawsuit has nothing to do with this at all. If anything, SCO will get money out of IBM, they aren't threatening to illegalize the kernel source or anything. You're blowing this waaaay out of proportion. The source is in the clear.

      --
      Tired of legitimate data sources? Try UNCYCLOPEDIA
    2. Re:SCO and stuff by Bush_man10 · · Score: 1

      Blowing it out of proportion by asking if their will be any reprocussions? I understand :)

      I'm not saying the source is not "in the clear" or IP of SCO but if I remember correctly the ability to handle 32 processors was a ability that was present in UNIX not Linux, right? I was just curious if anyone thought if it would affect the lawsuit in anyway at all. With that in mind did IBM contribute in any way to this project? I'm just being curious :)

      --
      "I believe in everything in moderation. Including moderation." -Dean DeLeo, Stone Temple Pilots
    3. Re:SCO and stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > With that in mind did IBM contribute in any way
      > to this project?

      You mean apart from porting Linux to NUMA-Q? ;-)

    4. Re:SCO and stuff by GooberToo · · Score: 1

      Not really. You seem to forget that if IBM is caught "being guilty" of IP violations, they may turn around and ask for royalties from all Linux users. In other words, the IBM/SCO case would at as a legal precedent to allow them to enforce their IP and gleen royalties from it.

      Having said that, someone asking a question is hardly blowing something out of proportion!

  16. This hardware is EOLd already. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    IBM bought Sequent and are planning new revisions of this with a new name.

    Mike Bouma

    1. Re:This hardware is EOLd already. by Gleng · · Score: 1
      IBM bought Sequent and are planning new revisions of this with a new name [shitcity.com]

      I once found that site by accident during a game of "make up a url and see if it exists" with a friend.

      Needless to say, I'm glad I wasn't eating at the time.

      Ick.

      --
      "Proudly Posting Without Reading The Article"
    2. Re:This hardware is EOLd already. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey assholes, some of us are at work. damn. you're going to get me into trouble.

  17. Stop stealing ideas from SCO! by Billly+Gates · · Score: 3, Funny

    We all know that SCO invented NUMA and SMP. Jeesh.

    1. Re:Stop stealing ideas from SCO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Why was this modded up as funny? SCO did actually invent SMP on x86, which has lately been some touchy subject on Mandrake forums. The final decision was the copyrighted SCO code will be removed from both the Linux kernel and drakconf in the next release.

  18. Inevitable by Ed+Avis · · Score: 5, Funny

    Taco's Law: any story about massive scalability will be posted on a web server which craps out due to 'too many connections'.

    Anyone got a mirror?

    --
    -- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
    1. Re:Inevitable by kiwaiti · · Score: 1
      HTTP error 504

      504 No response from server

      Error connecting to 'solem.cs.man.ac.uk'.

      Kiwaiti

      --
      Member of the Legion Of Microsoft Haters
  19. Correct URL by lemmen · · Score: 5, Informative
    It seems the URL isn't working because of the session ID. Use this link instead if you get a "to many connections" error.

    http://www.kerneltrap.org/node.php?id=628

    Have fun!

  20. Re:Now where'd I put that 32 processer machine ?? by gazbo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Interesting that the 3 MS solutions (SQL server on Windows Server 2003) all also offer the best price/performance ratio too. Just something to think about.

  21. *sigh* by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Would you have all been as interested in this story if you'd known:

    • It's been on KernelTrap for a *couple days* now
    • The machine in question is about 5 years old
    • Linux already has been booting on large-number-of-CPU machines for awhile. This story is about the CONFIG_PREEMPT subsubfeature.
    • This has very little to do with Linux's scalability. If I booted Linux 2.5.x on a bazillion CPU monster tomorrow, it wouldn't be a bazillion times faster than my single-CPU desktop system.

    *sigh*

    1. Re:*sigh* by platypus · · Score: 1

      Well, while you are right that *this* has very little to do with scalability of linux, you might be delighted to see that $big_number-cpu systems are profiting quite well from newest linux scalability work (read till the end of that page).

      105.02user 14.50system 0:04.83elapsed 2474%CPU
      (0avgtext+0avgdata 0maxresident)k0inputs+0outputs
      (394245major+570713minor)pagefaults 0swaps

      isn't too shabby for compiling a whole kernel, is it?

    2. Re:*sigh* by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's been on KernelTrap for a *couple days* now

      I'm sick of people bitching about how old the news on /. is. If you saw it a *couple days* ago, how come you didn't fucking submit it to slashdot?

    3. Re:*sigh* by glwtta · · Score: 1
      It's been on KernelTrap for a *couple days* now

      Oh no!! Not a couple of days! And I almost read it, too - I feel so dirty now. To think that a number of actual days has passed since the story first appeared and I have failed to read it. Damn.

      --
      sic transit gloria mundi
  22. Subject !speaks for itself by Cyuonut · · Score: 0
    I think the subject speaks for itself

    Comments like this make ignorant twats like myself /. the sites, as I'm one of those who don't understand all the cryptic subjects. Please drop short descriptions, even if things seem obvious to you.

    Thanks. And oh yes, it's been slashdotted already.

    -a

  23. Kernel 2.6 release by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    when?

  24. Re:That sounds really mistifying! by Uninvited+Guest · · Score: 1

    I think the subject speaks for itself.

    Apparently, it doesn't.

    --
    Sometimes I worry that I'll develop Alzheimer's disease, but no one will notice.
  25. The greatest thing about Slashdot... by mofolotopo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is that occasionally there are headlines like this that I can read, re-read, and still have no clue what the article's actually about. I don't know what ANY of that stuff means.

    1. Re:The greatest thing about Slashdot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      The meaning of the article is quite simple: Not only is the 2.5 version of the Linux kernel on the way, it is so much on the way that it is on 32-way.

    2. Re:The greatest thing about Slashdot... by sohp · · Score: 1

      NUMA == Non-Uniform Memory Access. From the NUMA FAQ: Non-Uniform Memory Access means that it will take longer to access some regions of memory than others. This is due to the fact that some regions of memory are on physically different busses from other regions.

  26. Re:Now where'd I put that 32 processer machine ?? by khuber · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Interesting that the 3 MS solutions (SQL server on Windows Server 2003) all also offer the best price/performance ratio too

    McDonalds makes hamburgers with the best price/performance. Just something to think about.

  27. ./ server by mad27 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Would be nice if /. mirrored the stories it links to. This way only news >1 day old is accessible :(

    1. Re:./ server by Phantasmo · · Score: 1

      I've been discussing this with another /. user. Perhaps if wget fired up and did a recursive web-suck on all articles that are linked to in the abstract, tar'd and gzip'd each one, and then mirrored them with BitTorrent? That way the OSDN doesn't have to pay for the bandwidth.

      The other solution I've heard is posting the articles to FreeNet and linking to the key. More convenient (you don't have to de-tar the articles) but much slower.

      --

      The US Army: promoting democracy through unquestioned obedience
  28. Re:The Tao of Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The data /are/ safe, shithat!

    Graduated out the dope game -- fatass wallets... what's that nigga's name? -- RASHEED WALLACE

  29. Wait until July. 32-Way will be back again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    IBM has been making rumblings for some time about a new 32Bit 32-Way system. The Linux kernal will be ready for it.

  30. funny you should mention... by beefguts · · Score: 1

    We're just about to mothball a 32 processor SP, maybe I'll drag it home. It could do double duty as a furnace.

  31. Re:Now where'd I put that 32 processer machine ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do you know what a ratio is?

  32. Re:Now where'd I put that 32 processer machine ?? by gazbo · · Score: 1
    No, "too" meaning "at the same time as being amongst the fastest".

    Using your inexplicable analogy, that would be more like the somewhat less agreeable "McDonalds makes some of the best hamburgers money can buy, and with the best price/quality ratio". Were that true, it most certainly would be something to think about.

    Or, leaving the bizarre analogy behind, if you actually look at the tables, not only does MS dominate all positions when sorted by price/performance, but in the table linked above (i.e. the best non-clustered performance) not only does MS appear three times, including the number 2 spot, showing it is extremely capable, but it also, in all thress cases, has the best price/performance of every entry.


    Any more meat-patty based metaphors you'd like to use to explain that?

  33. This is mucho needed than you may think... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    IBM's x440 shipping 16-way NUMA/SMP system will benefit from this significantly...this machine will also soon be going to 32-way capability...so for those of you thinking there's no hardware out there today to take advantage of this...guess again.

    IBM x440

  34. What about... by OS24Ever · · Score: 1

    ..the fact that IBM's eServer xSeries 440 is a NUMA-Q box that can scale to 16 Processors now? It is a NUMA-Q box...

    --

    As a rock-in-roll Physicist once said, No matter where you go, there you are.

  35. More info by mdw162 · · Score: 2, Informative

    It refers to preemptable work on BSD, but here is a good general description of kernel preemption.

  36. Well, I do by Gothmolly · · Score: 1

    And its a beautiful thing.

    --
    I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
  37. Stability vs Features by the-dude-man · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Its good they finally got it to boot...but still...i think there are far to many bugs in printk. I've had the 2.5's barf on me quite a bit because of this, and it only seems to get worse as it spans out over more proccessors. I think we need to proritize here. The kernel devlopers should be focusing more on stablilzing the 2.5.x kernels rather than adding loads and loads of new features. The recent benchmarks show the 2.5.x kernels are lagging way behind 2.4 and even 2.3 kernels. I think we need to stop loaded all the pretty new features for a minute and focus on getting what we have right now to work. I still have problems with ntfs writing out malformed blocks :|

    There is alot of cool stuff in the new 2.5.x kernels i will admit, and i look forward to using it, but as it stands i cant put a 2.5 kernel anyweres but on my home machine because once it hits a production envoirnment it craps itself. I know its just a devlopment release, but lets get it speed up a little before we start working on features for distrubted systems :)

    1. Re:Stability vs Features by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, 2.5 is a development kernel - they are supposed to put in new features and test out new concepts. They can't do this in the stable 2.4 kernel. Progress is good. When the order comes to stabilize it and ship a 2.6 stable candidate then everything will come into order. But don't bitch and moan and stifle the development process.

    2. Re:Stability vs Features by Analog+Squirrel · · Score: 1

      Maybe things have changes since the last time I followed Linux development with any care, but I seem to recall that the odd kernel releases - that is, 2.1, 2.3, etc - are all development kernels. That is, that is the point where they add "loads and loads of new features". The even numbered kernels, 2.2, 2.4, etc, are the release kernels. That is, the ones where things have been stablized to the point of being put on "industrial grade" systems. So the fact that your 2.5 kernel starts crapping out when you put a load on it isn't surprising at all. If stability is what you want, go back to the latest 2.4 kernel and wait until 2.6 is released.

      --
      I'd rather be flying
  38. Re:Now where'd I put that 32 processer machine ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'd like to see how well a 32-way Big Mac would go down...

  39. "2.5.65" by dnoyeb · · Score: 1

    the kernel is getting kind of bougoise these days. With one name and all. They don't even bother to say what 2.5.65 refers too!

    I guess Linux is going mainstream. Maybe I'll stop calling it RedHat or Mandrake, and just call it "2.5..."

    1. Re:"2.5.65" by TeknoHog · · Score: 1
      > I guess Linux is going mainstream. Maybe I'll stop calling it RedHat or Mandrake, and just call it "2.5..."

      Bah! The Mandrake OS is already at 9.1, therefore it's 3.5 times as advanced as Linux!

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  40. Re:Now where'd I put that 32 processer machine ?? by IPFreely · · Score: 1
    He He. That's good.

    I use Oracle all the time, and would switch to PostgreSQL before I'd go to MS SQL. But every once and a while Mr. Ellison needs a real good kick in the teeth. He's just got too much mouth for his own good.

    --
    There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
  41. Please excuse my ignorance... by Repran · · Score: 1

    ...but I fail to realize the signifikance of this news item. Anyone of the in-the-know crowd: care to enlighten me? 32 bla NUMA-Q what?

    --

    -- Contradictions only exist in thought - not in reality.

    1. Re:Please excuse my ignorance... by Jugalator · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, no one can be told what a 32-way NUMA-Q with Preempt Enabled is. You have to see it for yourself.

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
  42. yeah...subject speaks for itself by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    2.5.65? what the hell is that?

    32-way NUMA-Q? who?

    Preempt Enabled? sure!

    Headlines are supposed to actually make sense, fail that, the synopsis should take its place.

  43. Re:Now where'd I put that 32 processer machine ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    Ahhh, but the M$ meat patties come with gaping security holes pre-installed, whereas the others don't (or at least, probably have an order of magnitude fewer exploits running around in the wild).

  44. Re:Now where'd I put that 32 processer machine ?? by khuber · · Score: 1
    I didn't mean quality with McDs. I meant calories, i.e. performance. TPM does not measure quality, I assure you. Sorry that was too abstract for you.

    No more hamburger metaphors, I just wanted to see some MS fan boy vitriol. Thanks!

    Hey, maybe there is more to buying a solution than initial price/performance on a specialized benchmark test. There might be storage issues, cost of ownership, or any number of things that way well be more important in an enterprise.

    Of course you can't actually buy the MS stuff until June and even then you'll be running a new hardware platform AND a new software port.

    If a position in a benchmark indicates to you anything beyond doing well in one test, like being "extremely capable" I suggest that you have much lower standards for applying that phrase than most people do.

  45. Re:Now where'd I put that 32 processer machine ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...I just wanted to see some MS fan boy vitriol....

    Being an antiboy is just as pathetic than being a fanboy, and in this case he doesn't seem to be a fanboy, but you sure are an antiboy. Down with [INSERT ARCH ENEMY HERE TO BE COMICALLY AND MYOPICALLY PORTRAYED].

    There might be storage issues, cost of ownership, or any number of things that way well be more important in an enterprise.

    And you've added absolutely nothing relating to that, but a vague supposition that SQL Server lags. Well it doesn't anti-boy.

    Of course you can't actually buy the MS stuff until June and even then you'll be running a new hardware platform AND a new software port.

    SQL Server already totally dominated the clustered results, and the excellent showing in the non-clustered result is just another notch in their belt.

    If a position in a benchmark indicates to you anything beyond doing well in one test, like being "extremely capable" I suggest that you have much lower standards for applying that phrase than most people do.

    SQL Server is an extremely capable RDBMS. Everyone agrees with that. The only criticism that has ever held against it is that it doesn't scale as well as Oracle, and this is what is trotted out by each and every Oracle salesman and fanboy (like yourself) against SQL Server, regardless of the inapplicability to the role. Well with horizontal partitioning SQL Server now scales out pretty much infinitely, and with this result shows that it scales UP as well or more than Oracle, at a greatly reduced price. It's just one more decision point to consider.

  46. Re:Now where'd I put that 32 processer machine ?? by cpeterso · · Score: 1


    where are all those Linux TPC results? oh, wait.. there don't seem to be any. So Linux is winning no TPC contests for either max performance or price/performance.

  47. So where do you buy these? by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

    I found Unisys has some 32-way IA-32 some machines but they only support Windows (and for this kind of money the vendor is going to damn well support my OS).

    Who else makes a 32-way system? Does anybody have recommendations? What do these things cost? With a good set of scripts and/or something like MPI a rack of 16 2-way servers is nearly trival to manage and utilize, so the integrated systems neeed to be around $25K to be interesting.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    1. Re:So where do you buy these? by inode_buddha · · Score: 1

      Actually, I just looked closer at the spec sheet (pdf) and it mentions both unixware and SCO OpenLinux support. Not that I'd run either one of those on it. I bet Gentoo linux could do some interesting things on that, tho.

      --
      C|N>K
  48. Re:Now where'd I put that 32 processer machine ?? by khuber · · Score: 1
    SQL server doesn't have platform flexibility. It's the only major RDBMS that doesn't. I'm always going to (personally) prefer systems that aren't tied to one platform. Again, benchmarks are only a very small part of the picture. And the kind of scaling we're talking about here with TPC seems to be CPU scaling, not storage subsystems.

    Storage capability seems to be a huge concern when you're talking terabytes. I honestly don't know what the picture looks like. Can I put 8 fibre channel cards in a Windows box? Maybe you can. I'm pretty interested in the Itanium2 architecture. I think it will open up the midrange. Are a lot of big sites running SQL Server? I'm sure they are. The ones at work seem to be smaller data stuff for web applications more than core large multi-terabyte stuff.

    I'm sure SQL Server has a lot of features. I'm not an Oracle/DB2/whatever fanboy either; that stuff is expensive to license and difficult to administer. I know that DB2 supports a few options for stored procedures and MS does not. Oracle has very broad platform support and can be tuned extensively. I bet SQL Server is a lot easier to manage though.

    I think your manner of singing MS's tune betrays your fanboy disposition. I have no loyalty to any vendor, though you're right that I don't care for Microsoft-only systems.

    -Kevin

  49. MOD PARENT DOWN - link is NSFW by roesti · · Score: 1

    Don't click on the link in the parent post if you're at work. In fact, it's best not to click on it at all, unless you have a fetish for defecation.

    There's a moderation rating for Off-Topic, but unfortunately, not for Pornography. At least the FARKers bother to label things Not Safe For Work.