WARNING - OLD ARCHIVES

This is an archived copy of the Xen.org mailing list, which we have preserved to ensure that existing links to archives are not broken. The live archive, which contains the latest emails, can be found at http://lists.xen.org/
   
 
 
Xen 
 
Home Products Support Community News
 
   
 

xen-users

RE: [Xen-users] hardware recommendations please

To: "Peter Booth" <peter_booth@xxxxxxx>,"Fajar A. Nugraha" <fajar@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: [Xen-users] hardware recommendations please
From: "Robert Dunkley" <Robert@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:51:11 +0100
Cc: Chris Fanning <christopher.fanning@xxxxxxxxx>, xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Delivery-date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:53:21 -0700
Envelope-to: www-data@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
List-help: <mailto:xen-users-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=help>
List-id: Xen user discussion <xen-users.lists.xensource.com>
List-post: <mailto:xen-users@lists.xensource.com>
List-subscribe: <http://lists.xensource.com/mailman/listinfo/xen-users>, <mailto:xen-users-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=subscribe>
List-unsubscribe: <http://lists.xensource.com/mailman/listinfo/xen-users>, <mailto:xen-users-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=unsubscribe>
References: <215ff4410910160400q18a96124h5730e0a40048c184@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx><-8693467969286298615@unknownmsgid><215ff4410910160604i6eecc4d9tee3e5683b68bf818@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx><7207d96f0910160627q336b1704ma0af0a70ec378c61@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> <A1BAFB2A-63D8-4EBF-AD06-188E09BD3668@xxxxxxx>
Sender: xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thread-index: AcpRkTBvsr+1d1i/T8iz3k90TRXgsgAAoBig
Thread-topic: [Xen-users] hardware recommendations please

I've generally found AMD setups Opteron or Athlon to have AMD-V enabled
by default and hence pretty much all of them work. Only the very recent
Opteron system with the AMD SR5690 chipset support IOMMU and probably
only very recent releases of Xen Server too.

Intel Xeon setups I have tried have all had the bios option to enable
VT-D but single CPU systems are much more hit and miss. IOMMU is usually
support on all recent Intels with VT-d and Xen Server support for Intel
IOMMU has been around a while.

As a general rule of thumb you want one of the following for two CPU
setups:
Dual Intel Xeon 55XX (Any Chipset)
Dual AMD Opteron 24XX (AMD SR5690 Chipset)

The other thing you will want to check for is raid card support.


-----Original Message-----
From: xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Peter Booth
Sent: 20 October 2009 15:23
To: Fajar A. Nugraha
Cc: Chris Fanning; xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Xen-users] hardware recommendations please

Ditto Fajar's experience- IBM, Dell in datacenter and using cheap Dell  
workstations as dev servers has worked well.

On Oct 16, 2009, at 9:27 AM, Fajar A. Nugraha wrote:

> On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 8:04 PM, Chris Fanning
> <christopher.fanning@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> yeah, good luck. That's what I'm going to need.
>> I've been installing the occasional xen server for 4 years now, and  
>> it's
>> always the same story. :(
>
> What are you going to use it for anyway?
> If it's "normal" (e.g. web, database, etc.) server stuff, you probably
> won't need IOMMU anyway.
> Intel VT/AMD-V (supported in CPU and BIOS) should be enough to run
> Windows guests, and a lot of setup supports it. It'd probably be
> easier to ask your supplier whether it can run Windows 7's "XP mode"
> (it has the same requirement for VT).
>
> Personally I've only used Dell/HP/IBM/Sun boxes for Xen on servers
> (it's "company policy" thing). I needed to enable VT in BIOS
> here-and-there, and update NIC's firmware on some old IBM servers, but
> other than that they work great for Linux and Windows domUs.
>
> -- 
> Fajar
>
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-users mailing list
> Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users


_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

The SAQ Group

Registered Office: 18 Chapel Street, Petersfield, Hampshire GU32 3DZ
SAQ is the trading name of SEMTEC Limited. Registered in England & Wales
Company Number: 06481952

http://www.saqnet.co.uk AS29219

SAQ Group Delivers high quality, honestly priced communication and I.T. 
services to UK Business.

Broadband : Domains : Email : Hosting : CoLo : Servers : Racks : Transit : 
Backups : Managed Networks : Remote Support.

ISPA Member


_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users