We are using T5120, T5440, and T2000's to host Remedy. It runs Remedy really well but we are not running the ITSM applications. We are using Solaris 9 Branded Zones with Solaris 10 on the global host. We have done some special things to the boxes. We use libumem instead of libc (slab memory allocator) and we use quiet a few GNU tools because they are more up to date.
Zones are really nice when you need to clone an environment or need snapshots of an environment. There is an issues with some patches on Solaris 9 Branded Zones where rpcbind stops working with UDP transport for all services (I can get the details if interested) which does not work with Remedy. There is also an issue with Java 1.5 in the Branded Zones (1.4 and 1.6 JRE run fine), which prevents the X based Remedy installers from running at all, but a patch or hotfix is available to address that issue. I can get more details here if needed. The only comments I can add is that the cores/threads are not that fast (1ghz, or a little faster), so the things that depend on one fast cpu do not perform as well as a say, a single cpu box with a really fast cpu. The boxes handle a large number of concurrent users really well though. We are able to support 2k to 4k (max peak) concurrent users on 2xT5120's without much of a load. Compiling software on these boxes, say compared to a SunFire or a M-Series, is slow though. The concurrency on the cool-threads is great though. That's the trade-off. The zone technology still has some maturing to do, as compared to openvz (Linux) or bsd jails. Sun is making strides in the right direction, but they still have some catching up to do. With the zones, some of my favorite tools simply don't work because the container technology is not mature. Examples include lsof, tcpdump, and some other things. This is because they have not come up with a good privilege separation model to allow the zones to access kernel memory specific to the zone. There are hacks to work around this, but in the current model they create gaping holes in the security of the virtualization because they allow the zones access to the kernel memory for every other zone and the global host. This makes troubleshooting in zones impossible or hap-hazard, at best. Axton Grams The opinions, statements, and/or suggested courses of action expressed in this E-mail do not necessarily reflect those of BMC Software, Inc. My voluntary participation in this forum is not intended to convey a role as a spokesperson, liaison or public relations representative for BMC Software, Inc. On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 4:57 PM, Eric Zhang <[email protected]> wrote: > We are looking into purchasing a Sun T5120 to host AR System 7.5 and > Remedy apps (ITSM, CMDB, SRM, and SLM) with about 400 concurrent users. > The other options is M3000, which is a lot more expensive. > > Is anyone using T5120 (or any of Sun’s “cool-threads” series of servers) > to host AR System and ITSM apps? Any feedback is appreciated. > > Eric > > > _______________________________________________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org > attend wwrug10 www.wwrug.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" > _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org attend wwrug10 www.wwrug.com ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are"
