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Hello.
This is my first posting on this list so please let me know
any mistakes that I may make.
In section 23.23 of LVS-HOWTO, I found the following remark.
> In some tests I've done with FTP, I have seen *significant* improvements
> using dual and quad processors using 2.4. Under 2.2, there are improvements,
> but not astonishing ones.
> Things like 90% saturation of a Gig link using quad processors, 70% using dual
> processors and 55% using a single processor under 2.4.0test.
> Really amazing improvements.
I guess this test was done with P3-550 stuffs.
I'm planning to make un LVS-TUN system using GE.
- director uses 2 GE NICs, for VIP and DIP respectively.
- realservers use 100base-TX NIC for getting incomming packets from director
and GE NIC for transmitting outgoing packets.
- Cisco Catalyst 3500 switch (with 2 GE and 24 100base-TX ports) would be
used for connecting director and realservers.
I'm looking for the most economic director that can saturate the GE link.
I browsed the web for kinda *chip* dual-processor machines.
(quad-processor machines are too expensive.. )
I guess director is mainly bound to memory speed and PCI bus speed.
Please give me any comments on which one you would choose for
'the most economic LVS-TUN GE director' among the following machines.
(I will not mention the storage related stuff because I guess they would not
make much difference to director performance)
[1] Two P3 1GHz Processors (256KB L2 cache)
(or two 1.26GHz tualatins with 512KB L2 cache)
with Serverworks HE-SL chipset motherboard.
This chipset uses PC133 SDRAM so the throughput of the memory io
will be around 400 MB/sec thou the spec. bandwidth is 1GB/sec.
This one provides two 64 bit PCI slots each on independent PCI buses
that can be used by two GE NICs respectively.
Spec. bandwidth of the system bus(aka FSB; bus between CPU and north bridge)
is 1GB/sec. (I have no idea on real throughput)
(FYI, This machine is DELL Poweredge 1550. Under $3000 with 1GB RAM
and P3 1GHz. Tualitin adds several hundereds of $'s.)
[2] Two Xeon 1.7GHz (256KB L2 cache) with Intel I860 Chipset motherboard.
This chipset used PC800 RDRAM and the memory throughput will be
over 1 GB/sec thou the spec. bandwidth is 3.2GB/sec.
Two 64bit PCI slots are provided but they are on the same bus, and
sometimes the PCI bus itself may be saturated. This can be a significant flaw
compared to [1], huh?
Spec. bandwidth of the system bus is 3.2GB/sec. (I have no idea on real
throughput)
(FYI, this is around $6500 with 1GB RAM)
[3] Two Athlon MP 1800+ (1.533GHz, 256KB L2 cache) with AMD 760 chipset
mainboard.
This chipset uses PC2100 DDR SDRAM and the memory throughput
will be around 600 MB/sec thou the spec. bandwidth is 2.1GB/sec.
Two 64bit PCI slots are provided but they are on the same bus,
same problem as [2].
Spec. bandwidth of the system bus is 2.1GB/sec. (I have no idea on real
throughput)
(FYI, this is around $4000 with 1GB RAM)
By 'economic' I mean the minimal recommended(?) hardware that
doesn't compromise the performance needs as the GE LVS-TUN director.
I don't expect someone make a decision instead of me.
I just want experiences and opinions on which part of the system
is critical for the GE director;
amount of L2 cache of processor, clock speed of processor, number of
processors, system bus throughput, memory throughput,
PCI bus related throughput, etc.. so confusing.
Any comments would help.
Thanks.
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