need help identifying SMP limits...

[ccb at valinux.com (Charles C. Bennett, Jr.)]

Hi Christoph -

    The 2.2 and 2.3 kernels are capable of recognizing 32 CPUs.
VA Linux Systems sells a fair number of 4-way Xeon systems
(VARServer 3500) and we feel that this is the practical high-end
for SMP on the IA-32 architecture with 2.2.X kernels.

   There is an Intel IA-32 chassis and motherboard (ProFusion)
which supports as many as 8 Xeon processors.  We demoed this
platform at the Linux Expo last spring.  The performance scaling
from four to eight CPUs does not justify the substantial added
cost of 8-way processing using the 2.2 kernels.

   Substantial work is being done with 2.3/2.4 kernels to give
smoother scaling to 8 Intel CPUs.  I can't speak for other
architectures - perhaps one of the Sun or API guys can give us
an update on SMP capabilities of those architectures.

ccb

--
Charles C. Bennett, Jr.                         VA Linux Systems
Systems Engineer,                               1382 Bordeaux Dr.
US Northeast Region                             Sunnyvale, CA 94089
+1 617 543-6513                                 +1 888-LINUX-4U
ccb at valinux.com                                 www.valinux.com



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