Ask An Expert - The Server Room

[idata]

<![CDATA[<font size="3">Welcome to intel.com/ITopia. Join the discussion, debate and collaborate. This is your opportunity to *ask our experts* what you want to know about Intel's latest technologies. The floor is yours.]]><![CDATA[<hr>]]><![CDATA[<font size="2">+This discussion is not intended to answer PC support question. If you have a support question go to {document:id=1086}.+]]>

[idata]

Where could I find technical information about the Tylersburg chipset and the corresponding chip-set for the EX nehalem platform ?

thanks

Michael

[Christophe_P_Intel]

Michael,

We haven't released a lot of information publicly yet about Tylersburg and Nehalem-EX chipsets. What we have done was recently disclosed at the Intel Developer Forum in August (goto http://www.intel.com/idf/ http://www.intel.com/idf/).

If you are a developer and under NDA with Intel we can put you in touch with a local sales person for additional follow-up. Feel free to drop me an email if that is the case

Chris

[idata]

are the apps running on a 2CPU xeon 3.0 ghz able to run on a quad core xeon 2.0 ghz?. Does the quad core 2.0 ghz perform better than a 2 cpu xeon 3.0 ghz?

[Christophe_P_Intel]

Existing applications running on older Xeon based systems will be able to run fine on quad-core xeon - and a lot faster.

How much faster depends on which app and what parts you are comparing. In general, the newest 45nm quad-core 2.0 will absolutely beat a single core 3.0 and most likely will beat a dual core 3.0. If you look at integer performance (specint_rate2006) - a good proxy for general purpose server applications. The scores are pretty compelling (listed on left) . All of these scores compare a 2 processor (or 2 socket) server.

20.9 best single core Xeon 3.8 GHz (note i had to use a 3.8GHz to keep the benchmark comparision the same) - in 2006 SPEC updated their benchmark

60.8 dual- core Xeon 3.0 GHz (xeon e5160)

86.1 quad-core Xeon 2.0 GHz (xeon e5405)

111.0 quad-core Xeon 3.0 GHz (xeon e5450)

You can review more benchmarks and application performance comparisons here: http://www.intel.com/performance/server/xeon/intthru.htm

Thanks for your question. Chris P

[idata]

How can I tell how many processors and how many cores are on a server for software licensing purposes?

[Christophe_P_Intel]

I wish the answer was straight forward, but it's not. However, I can give you some rules of thumb for our current line of processors. Servers are created and delivered by Intel's OEMs do not use a consistent numbering scheme to differentiate "wayness" (the number of processors or sockets) on a server platform.

However, if you look at the Xeon processors supported by the OEM server platforms, the processor numbers and brand names will give you some valuable information to help you understand what your software licensing costs will be.

• If a server uses Xeon 7xxx, then they are typically used in 4socket (4 processor) configurations and are scalable to 32 socket

• Xeon 73xx are quad-core intel xeon processors.

• Xeon 72xx and Xeon 71xx are dual-core intel xeon processors.

• Before that these processors were commonly labeled Xeon MP and are all single-core

If a server uses Xeon 5xxx, then they are use in 2 socket (2 processor) configurations.

• Xeon 54xx and Xeon 53xx are quad-core intel xeon processors

• Xeon 52xx and Xeon 51xx and Xeon 50xx are all dual-core intel xeon processor s

• Before that these processors were labeled Xeon DP or 64-bit xeon processors

If a server uses Xeon 3xxx, then they are used only in 1 socket (1 processor) configurations and are all single-core.

• Xeon 33xx and Xeon 32xx are quad-core intel xeon processors

• Xeon 31xx and Xeon 30xx are dual-core intell xeon processors

• Before that these processor were labeled xeon or 64bit-xeon processors and are all single-core

Hope that helps. Chris

[idata]

A little confused about VT technology. I've got a customer who requires a processor that supports VT-x. Am I safe to go with any Xeon processor? Looking at an E5440 currently. Is it only when you move up to Itanium that it switches to VT-i support?

[Christophe_P_Intel]

The E5440 does support VT-x. All of the latest multi-core (dual core, quad-core) processors from intel support VT-x.

VT is hardware assist and the "x" indicates the features in the Xeon processor architecuture and the "i" indicate the features in the Itanium processor architecture.

[idata]

thx Chris. Much appreciated.

[Christophe_P_Intel]

happy to help

[idata]

1. Microsoft has virtual server software, but the generally don't talk about segregating cores in a multicore processor. From something I was doing earlier, I gather that with Intel hardware, I can divide up segment the cores in a multicore processor and run different instances of an OS on the different segments of the processor(s). Do you have a white paper that discusses this and/or a implementation process document that I can follow to segment these cores. Also what would be the "best practices? Example, in the case of a dual processor server board with two Xeon quad core processors(4 cores in each processor, a total of 8), I would think that one good design would be to assign two cores of each processor to one segment and the other two cores to a different segment; in this way, I can install Server 2008 on one setment that is supported by four cores, two of which are on one physical processor and two on the other physical processor for fault tolerance and high performance.

2. Can you comment on the conceptual differences between Intel's segmentation of cores and Microsoft's virtual server implementation? These appear a bit different in implementation and use.

3. In the case of segmenting the Intel cores on two or more processors, can each segment still run one or more virtual servers on its segment?

[William_L_Intel1]

If you are still looking for comments & suggestions on your questions, please start a new thread http://communities.intel.com/post!input.jspa?communityID=2026 HERE . Thanks for your participation in our forum.

[idata]

Hello:

I sent a message earlier about 32bit vs. 64bit. The things is that HyperV in Windows Server 2008 only uses 64bit. My problem is that I would like to know any issues developing a pure 64bit system in regards to drives. Or is this a no brainer and I'll need to get one of those.

Jim.

[William_L_Intel1]

Hi Jim,

Thanks for your question. Could you please clarify your question, "My problem is that I would like to know any issues developing a pure 64bit system in regards to drives?". What "drives" are you referring too? Or did you mean "drivers"?.

As for the other part of your post,you can install Hyper-V only on x64 systems. In other words...the root has to be x64. But Hyper-V does support 32bit and 64bit guests.

[idata]

Hi William:

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I meant drivers. Anyway, Yes my plan was to develop a system that could use Hyper-V on x64. What I've done prior is kind of a ATX desktop version with Vista Ultimate and Server 2008 on the same machine at x32. I have designed two computers with D975BX2 and 6420 and D975BX2 and 6320 and I think they're great!

The new plan is more of a server design. However I think I still need a floppy driver, CD, HDTv. I wanted to know at a basic level if someone knew if S3200SH has all the sockets for this since it would lean towards a Desktop/Server instead of just Server? Also, I was thinking that the Xeon 5400 would be a good processor but will it handle the Desktop requirement? (such as, Music and HDTv?)

My goal would be to use the Intel management software and use Western Digital 750 GB HDD drives.

I think what I need is someone that knows to tell me if this is a good idea or not because of the costs of making a mistake.

Best Regards,

Jim.

[Christophe_P_Intel]

Jim, I not able to give you a firm recommendation on one solution versus another (I'm not a system designer). However, let me leave you with some thoughts to help you make a decision.

• If you are doing basic desktop activities (HDTv, music management, etc) for personal use, then i would stay desktop based - server is overkill.

• If you are doing these same activities and either streaming applications or centrally co-locating applications for other systems to use, then you should consider a server.

• If you are using the system for multiple purposes (ie. running software typically intended for both desktop and servers), then I would lean towards a server

If considering a server .. the Xeon 3300 (1 socket) or Xeon 5400 (2 socket) servers feature the latest technology and biggest bang for your buck. The bigger the task - the larger the memory, I/O and compute power you will need - these factors will guide you toward the 2 socket servers (5400) depending on how you want to trade off capabiilty, performance and headroom for growth.

Chris

[idata]

I am emailing regarding an Intel vPro activation course which I have been invited to attend in Sacramento CA on June 12 and 13th. I have the course syllabus however I do not have an address of the location of the class?

[JoshHilliker]

Let me find out where & reply back..

You can also post your questions on the vPro Expert Center - communities.intel.com/community/vproexpert

Josh

[idata]

A month or so ago I purchased three Intel AXXUSBFLOPPY parts. Since they were the only Intel internal USB Floppy drive sold by my friendly distributor, I assumed that they would fit into SC5299E server chassis. I was wrong. 1. Since the S5000PSL boards do not have a connector for the older style FDD, does Intel have a USB drive that DOES fit this chassis or a recommendation? 2. Since two of these are still boxed and since the distributor gets annoyed by returns is there any chance of returning them to you? There are times such as Microsoft OS installs when a FDD is worth the time, particularly since you still provide the 3.5" bay.

[William_L_Intel1]

Do you have the CD/USB Floppy bracket below?

AXXCDUSBFDBRK: MM# 879232: SC5400 and SC5299 slim-line CD and USB floppy bracket

With this bracket the AXXUSBFLOPPY should fit into a SC5299E.

Let us know if this solves your issue. Thanks.

[idata]

I am looking at buying a E8500 intel processor for my computer and before i didn I was wondering what the power requirements would be for it. Right now im running a 350W power supply to my E6300 processor and mother board. Will this be enough or would I need to invest in a 500w power supply?