Quick SMP Question

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Ok I did a search, but couldn't find anything.

Will SMP work on a dual processor system?

Ive got a dual HT xeon server at work, and I would like to run an smp cli on the two physical cores using vmware and ubuntu, and then run two standards clis on the logical cores in windows.

Would this be possible?

Mark
 
Yes it should work fine - as I understand the SMP bit is done via an emulated network connection (if those are the right words for it) which simply loops back on itself so the cores talk to eachother that way rather than relying on any other trickery that a dual/quad core might bring to the table.

Though of course they will need to support 64-bit instructions and you have to get the 64-bit release of Ubuntu - other than that it should be fine :)
 
The SMP client uses ALL available CPUs and I don't think you can restrict it to use specific cores [unless there is something you can do in VMWare].

To be honest with the PPD that the SMP chucks out I am curious as to why you'd want to waste those extra CPU cycles on a standard client.

SiriusB
 
Yeah, they are the 64bit ones, well thats what cpu z tells me anyway.

I was just wondering how I would control what cores smp uses. From what I gather HT won't improve the smp performance at all, so I thought I would put the two logical cores to work by running the standard client on them in windows.
 
You can't control it, at least not at the moment with the current beta client - the client will launch 4 instances as standard and the rest is down to the OS

Best to just give it a whirl and see what it does - could try a 2nd SMP client under VMware or standard clients in windows or whatever you fancy :)
 
Not gonna be able to try it :(

Althought the cpus support 64 bit, the mobo chipset doesn't.

Looks like I'm just gonna have to wait till I get a C2D.
 
I've heard of a few people who's BIOS doesn't support enabling the EM64T capabilities of the chips - guessing it's something to do with that :(
edit: actually I think it's the virtualisation I'm thinking of - silly memory :p
 
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Its an MSI motherboard with the intel E7520 chipset.

I've had a look on the MSI website and I can't see anywhere that say that chipset support 64 bit.

I'm still searching my way through the mess that is Intel's website to see if I can find anything.

[EDIT] Seems your right rich. According to intel, that chipset does support EMT64, but I can't find anywhere in the bios to turn it on. I looked for a newer bios version, but i've already got the latest.

[EDIT 2] Nope. Not VT. I tried running Ubuntu directly from the cd, not through vmware, and it still wouldn't run.
 
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Iv'e just found from Intel's mess that they call a website, that the cpu's don't support VT, even though it clearly states on thier website that all xeon processors support VT.
 
Yeah.

I only tried running it nativly to see if it was windows throwing a hissy fit. But when I try and run it, I get the 'Loading Linux Kernel' box and it just sits there at 3%.

Tried to run check cd for defects, but that just freezes. I tried burning another cd but the same happens. The only thing that works is memtest.
 
Try loading/installing Ubuntu in VMware from the ISO instead of the CD. I had to do that with my E6600 as it just froze when trying to install from CD (I had tried two different CDs and two different drives).

If you go into VM/Settings in VMware, you can change the CD-ROM default by double clicking on CD-ROM in the left hand pane, this brings up options in the right hand pane, one of which is "Use ISO image".

Might not work for you but worth a try.

Stan :)
 
SiriusB said:
The SMP client uses ALL available CPUs and I don't think you can restrict it to use specific cores [unless there is something you can do in VMWare].
Click to expand...

Provided that number is 4 or lower. If you have a 8way system you'll need to run two SMP clients.

You can restrict the number of logical CPUs in VMware. It is indeed better to let VMware see all four cores.
 
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