[Bioclusters] Opterons and Linux

[Joe Landman]

On Sat, 17 Jul 2004, Jeremy Mann wrote:

> I'm curious if there are people on this list that use dual Opterons for
> their processing. We are in the process of trying to purchase several dual
> Opterons to replace our aging P3 cluster and we have a few questions
> regarding the upgrade.
> 
> First, do you know if the opteron kernel will allow larger memory for user
> space in 64bit mode that just 4 GB?  We have two dual Xeon's with 4gb of
> memory which we could never get more than 3.5 GB recognized by the 2.4
> kernel.

Yes, though I would recommend a 2.6 based kernel (SuSE 9.1 or similar)

> Second, regrading power and heat, what steps have you taken to remedy the
> heat generated by the Opterons and what kind of electrical upgrades have
> you done? We have a VA Linux rack with about 20U's left which will house
> the Opterons. It has 2 220 volt power rails (we only use one) that
> delivers power to a 4U APC (I forget the model number) unit, a 4U quad
> Xeon server, 2 switches and a 4U RAID array.

Assume about 200-250 W under full load per unit.  Quads might consume 
about 500 W.

> Thanks for any suggestions you may provide.
> 
> 
> 
> 
>