(sighs)
"It depends"...
1) On the kind of workload (compute vs I/O)
2) Requirements for reliability (look at Appendix A? from "Linux for the
S/390")
There is no simple answer to this. I suspect there are some benchmarking
tools that will help.
The zSeries is AT LEAST 5 9's hardware.
Because Windows runs on Intels, seldom do they need to consider much better
than 9 5's reliability. (smirks)
(All right, so I got the 9 5's from a Tandem guy while he sneered at the
big Solaris boxes I dealt with. There are reasons the Intel version of
Solaris (now defunct) was jokingly referred to as "SloLaris".)
A mainframe CPU provides:
a) Maximum reliable single-thread compute performance;
b) Maximum I/O connectivity; and
c) Maximum I/O throughput.
On an I/O intensive workload I do not see an intel as being competitive.
(Back in the early 1980s I saw an attempt to use a sort of 1M records
comparing a top-end Tandem 32bit system (48 cpus) against an overloaded
Sperry 1100/82 (as a 1x1) and, even with one arm tied behind its back, the
1100 smoked the Tandems... but, then, while an 1100 is better at compute
workloads, the I/O system was designed to be more than merely "competent".)
The channel architecture, after the S/360, became surprisingly common; I
saw it in Xerox Sigma series systems as well as the Sperry UNIVAC 1100
series; This came as a shock to someone comfortable with the DECsystem-10
and related systems. And, yeah, I have hand-assembled and toggled programs
into an idle Sigma 9.
For a compute workload? The Intel, at least, can compete pretty well.
While a zSeries is no slouch at numerical processing, I'm not sure, but I'm
partial to pSeries (I supported AIX for over 10 years) so...
(chuckles)
IIRC most of the folks doing heavy computing-- like Bitcoin mining-- use
the display adapter's GPU for the heavy lifting, which leaves the zSeries
at a disadvantage.
So, like I said above, "it depends".
What's the workload?
What do you need the most "heavy lifting" for?
Mind you, if you need to run multiple instances on the same IFL, well,
you're going to have to minimize CPU overcommitment.
There is a reason why, inside IBM, if you use the WHATIS bot to ask "what
is bfi" it wiill return, with other answers:
Big "Fast" Iron
If you're an IBMer, look up A2C2E and P2C2E. I even provided a "polite"
definition for RTFM.
So a lot "depends".
-soup
On Tue, Nov 7, 2017 at 3:28 PM, Victor Echavarry Diaz <
vechava...@evertecinc.com> wrote:
> We receive a request from a new customer for a z/Linux guest on a BC12.
> The specification that the vendor supplied is for an intel platform. Does
> anyone know is there a formula to convert intel cpu cores to IFL?
>
> Regards,
>
> Victor Echavarry
>
> System Programmer
>
> Operating Systems
>
> EVERTEC, LLC
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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--
John R. Campbell Speaker to Machines souperb at gmail dot
com
MacOS X proved it was easier to make Unix user-friendly than to fix Windows
"It doesn't matter how well-crafted a system is to eliminate errors;
Regardless
of any and all checks and balances in place, all systems will fail because,
somewhere, there is meat in the loop." - me
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