Roland Mainz wrote: > BTW: How do other version of Unix (like FreeBSD/NetBSD) handle the > problem ?
The theoretical limit for NetBSD is 32, because some bitmasks are used for IPI handling, etc. I think it can be bumped to 64 without too much problems, by changing the type of those bitmasks to uint64_t. However, NetBSD is far less sophisticated in its MP handling than Solaris, and has few per-CPU data structures that need to be allocated. Also, ACPI will always be compiled in statically, and is activated early on at boottime, so the number of CPUs is determined early on. But, touting the limit is kinda pointless if the current limit is well below it.. I've never run NetBSD/amd64 on more than 4CPU/16G, and it might blow up spectacularly when run on 32CPU hardware, should it become available. The RH 64 limit is just marketing.. - Frank ------------ Yet in research labs (a lot of clustered solutions) and automotive fields, the Linux kernel has a dominant role (not necessarily the RH distro either). I think the arguement is still *when** Sun will have support up to 128 processors for the IA64/AMD64 platforms (if not also Power/PowerPC) - even if it is in ALPHA/BETA form for OEM/IHVs. This also isn't just looking at Linux, but AIX and HP-UX. Hardware specs like: Processors: 128 Memory: 1 TB RAM Storage: 512TB storage Yet, for marketing purposes your customers may try their hands with IA64/AMD64/PowerPC-based platforms to have a bragging rights at the country club. You have to consider it being Y2006 and a lot of international buinesses (and a few US firms) have deep pockets to invest in high-end computing systems. Yet, Sun is trying and that is appreciated. We have more community involvement (always a good thing) and well as the latest products like ZFS, GNOME/KDE, OpenGL 1.5/2.0, SATA and USB support, Xorg 6.9 which are ahead of a few commercial UNIX OSes (and on the heels of Linux). So like fine wine, it takes time for some things over things. You have to consider whether you want cheap 'berry juice' or the high-quality fine wine.... Ken Mays EarthLink, Inc. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list [email protected]
