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Title Date Added Company

Extreme High Performance Computing or Why Microkernels Suck 2007-06-30 SGI

One often wonders how well Linux scales. The suggestions frequently received say that Linux cannot scale because it is a monolithic operating system kernel. However, microkernels have never scaled well and Linux has been scaled up to support thousands of processors, terabytes of memory and hundreds of petabytes of disk storage which is the hardware limit these days. Some of the techniques used to make Linux scale were per cpu areas, per node structures, lock splitting, cache line optimizations, memory allocation control, scheduler optimizations and various other approaches. These required significant detail work on the code but no change in the general architecture of Linux. This paper gives an overview of why Linux scales and shows the hurdles microkernels would have to overcome in order to do the same.

Tags: Linux - Open Source, High Performance Computing

Breaking the Chains - Using LinuxBIOS to Liberate Embedded x86 Processors 2007-06-30 Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

While x86 processors are an attractive option for embedded designs, many embedded developers avoid them because x86-based systems remain dependent on a legacy BIOS ROM to set up the system. LinuxBIOS is an open source solution that replaces the proprietary BIOS ROMs with a light-weight loader. LinuxBIOS frees the developer from complex CPU and chipset initialization and allows a variety of payloads to be loaded, including the Linux kernel itself. This paper reviews the journey of the AMD Geode processors and chipset as they were integrated into LinuxBIOS to become the centerpoint of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. The paper also discusses how embedded developers can take advantage of the LinuxBIOS environment for their own x86-based projects.

Tags: Linux - Open Source, x86-standard Servers

Advanced Virtualization and Workload Management on Itanium 2-Based Servers 2007-06-19 Itanium Solutions Alliance

Virtualization and workload management are essential technologies for maximizing scalability, availability and value on high-end computing systems, and Itanium 2-based servers offer many options. One is SWsoft Virtuozzo, a proven, software-based virtualization solution for consolidating Linux and Windows applications. It provides granular control of workloads, along with exceptional performance and scalability - factors that make it ideal for many mission-critical environments.

Tags: Server Consolidation, Virtualization

JouleSort: A Balanced Energy-Efficiency Benchmark 2007-06-14 Association for Computing Machinery

The energy efficiency of computer systems is an important concern in a variety of contexts. In data centers, reducing energy use improves operating cost, scalability, reliability, and other factors. For mobile devices, energy consumption directly affects functionality and usability. The paper proposes and motivates JouleSort, an external sort benchmark, for evaluating the energy efficiency of a wide range of computer systems from clusters to handhelds. The paper lists the criteria, challenges, and pitfalls from the experience in creating a fair energy-efficiency benchmark. Using a commercial sort, the paper demonstrates a JouleSort system that is over 3.5x as energy-efficient as last year's estimated winner. This system is quite different from those currently used in data centers.

Virtual Hierarchies to Support Server Consolidation 2007-06-13 Association for Computing Machinery

Server consolidation is becoming an increasingly popular technique to manage and utilize systems. This paper develops CMP memory systems for server consolidation where most sharing occurs within Virtual Machines (VMs). The memory systems maximize shared memory accesses serviced within a VM, minimize interference among separate VMs, facilitate dynamic reassignment of VMs to processors and memory, and support content-based page sharing among VMs. The paper begins with a tiled architecture where each of 64 tiles contains a processor, private L1 caches, and an L2 bank. It reveals why single-level directory designs fail to meet workload consolidation goals. It develops the paper's central idea of imposing a two-level virtual (or logical) coherence hierarchy on a physically flat CMP that harmonizes with VM assignment.

Tags: Server Consolidation

Wasabi Certified BSD Board Support Package: Freescale MPC8548E CDS - Quick Reference 2007-06-07 Wasabi Systems

Wasabi Certified BSD (WCB) is a full-featured, modern operating system that extends open-source NetBSD with improved compiler technology, more capable device drivers, and thorough platform testing. The Freescale MPC8548E PowerQUICC III communications processor is designed to deliver gigahertz-plus communications processing performance and advanced features with exceptional integration and high-speed connectivity.

Tags: Desktop Systems - PCs, Linux - Open Source

Wasabi Certified BSD Board Support Package: Freescale MPC8349EMDS - Quick Reference 2007-06-07 Wasabi Systems

Wasabi Certified BSD (WCB) is a full-featured, modern operating system that extends open-source NetBSD with improved compiler technology, more capable device drivers, and thorough platform testing. The Freescale MPC8349E processors are designed to provide a cost-effective, highly integrated control processing solution that addresses the needs of networking, communications, and pervasive computing applications.

Tags: Desktop Systems - PCs, Linux - Open Source

The Sun Blade 6000 Modular System: Open Modular Architecture With a Choice of Sun SPARC , Intel Xeon , and AMD Opteron Platforms 2007-06-01 Sun Microsystems

The Participation Age is driving new demands that are focused squarely on capabilities of the datacenter. Web services and rapidly escalating Internet use are driving competitive organizations to lead with innovative new services and scalable, dynamic infrastructure. High Performance Computing (HPC) is constantly finding new application in both science and industry, fostering new demands for performance and density. Agility is paramount, and organizations must be able to respond quickly to unpredictable needs for capacity - adding compute power or growing services on demand. At the same time, most datacenters are rapidly running out of space, power, and cooling even as energy costs continue to rise.

Tags: Processors, Blades

The University of Utah Supports Cutting-Edge Research by Delivering 50 Percent More Work With Half the Power Consumption 2007-06-01 Dell

University of Utah's Center for High Performance Computing (CHPC) supports the high-performance computing needs of research projects university-wide. The CHPC's aging high-performance computing cluster needed an upgrade; increasing demand for scientific research required a powerful cluster within the university's budget. The CHPC deployed a new high-performance computing cluster based on Dell Power-Edge servers with two dual-core AMD processors running Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system and multiple scientific computing applications.

Tags: Application Servers, Linux Server OS

Dell Latitude Notebooks With Embedded Broadband Wireless Networking Provide Sales Force With Mobile Access 2007-06-01 Dell

Edward Don & Company is a world-class distributor of food service equipment. Edward Don realized that it needed a mobile sales force that could access e-mail, inventory tracking, and order processing systems in the field. They wanted their sales reps to be able to show customer's products on their notebook computer screens, check inventory, create a quote, e-mail it to the customer on the spot, and walk out of there with a signed purchase order. Edward Don chose to equip its salespeople and staff with nearly 400 Dell Latitude D620 notebook computers with Intel Core Duo processors running the Microsoft Windows XP operating system, as well as the full Microsoft Office suite.

Tags: Windows XP, Laptops

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Title	Date Added	Company
Extreme High Performance Computing or Why Microkernels Suck	2007-06-30	SGI
One often wonders how well Linux scales. The suggestions frequently received say that Linux cannot scale because it is a monolithic operating system kernel. However, microkernels have never scaled well and Linux has been scaled up to support thousands of processors, terabytes of memory and hundreds of petabytes of disk storage which is the hardware limit these days. Some of the techniques used to make Linux scale were per cpu areas, per node structures, lock splitting, cache line optimizations, memory allocation control, scheduler optimizations and various other approaches. These required significant detail work on the code but no change in the general architecture of Linux. This paper gives an overview of why Linux scales and shows the hurdles microkernels would have to overcome in order to do the same. Tags: Linux - Open Source, High Performance Computing
Breaking the Chains - Using LinuxBIOS to Liberate Embedded x86 Processors	2007-06-30	Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
While x86 processors are an attractive option for embedded designs, many embedded developers avoid them because x86-based systems remain dependent on a legacy BIOS ROM to set up the system. LinuxBIOS is an open source solution that replaces the proprietary BIOS ROMs with a light-weight loader. LinuxBIOS frees the developer from complex CPU and chipset initialization and allows a variety of payloads to be loaded, including the Linux kernel itself. This paper reviews the journey of the AMD Geode processors and chipset as they were integrated into LinuxBIOS to become the centerpoint of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. The paper also discusses how embedded developers can take advantage of the LinuxBIOS environment for their own x86-based projects. Tags: Linux - Open Source, x86-standard Servers
Advanced Virtualization and Workload Management on Itanium 2-Based Servers	2007-06-19	Itanium Solutions Alliance
Virtualization and workload management are essential technologies for maximizing scalability, availability and value on high-end computing systems, and Itanium 2-based servers offer many options. One is SWsoft Virtuozzo, a proven, software-based virtualization solution for consolidating Linux and Windows applications. It provides granular control of workloads, along with exceptional performance and scalability - factors that make it ideal for many mission-critical environments. Tags: Server Consolidation, Virtualization
JouleSort: A Balanced Energy-Efficiency Benchmark	2007-06-14	Association for Computing Machinery
The energy efficiency of computer systems is an important concern in a variety of contexts. In data centers, reducing energy use improves operating cost, scalability, reliability, and other factors. For mobile devices, energy consumption directly affects functionality and usability. The paper proposes and motivates JouleSort, an external sort benchmark, for evaluating the energy efficiency of a wide range of computer systems from clusters to handhelds. The paper lists the criteria, challenges, and pitfalls from the experience in creating a fair energy-efficiency benchmark. Using a commercial sort, the paper demonstrates a JouleSort system that is over 3.5x as energy-efficient as last year's estimated winner. This system is quite different from those currently used in data centers.
Virtual Hierarchies to Support Server Consolidation	2007-06-13	Association for Computing Machinery
Server consolidation is becoming an increasingly popular technique to manage and utilize systems. This paper develops CMP memory systems for server consolidation where most sharing occurs within Virtual Machines (VMs). The memory systems maximize shared memory accesses serviced within a VM, minimize interference among separate VMs, facilitate dynamic reassignment of VMs to processors and memory, and support content-based page sharing among VMs. The paper begins with a tiled architecture where each of 64 tiles contains a processor, private L1 caches, and an L2 bank. It reveals why single-level directory designs fail to meet workload consolidation goals. It develops the paper's central idea of imposing a two-level virtual (or logical) coherence hierarchy on a physically flat CMP that harmonizes with VM assignment. Tags: Server Consolidation
Wasabi Certified BSD Board Support Package: Freescale MPC8548E CDS - Quick Reference	2007-06-07	Wasabi Systems
Wasabi Certified BSD (WCB) is a full-featured, modern operating system that extends open-source NetBSD with improved compiler technology, more capable device drivers, and thorough platform testing. The Freescale MPC8548E PowerQUICC III communications processor is designed to deliver gigahertz-plus communications processing performance and advanced features with exceptional integration and high-speed connectivity. Tags: Desktop Systems - PCs, Linux - Open Source
Wasabi Certified BSD Board Support Package: Freescale MPC8349EMDS - Quick Reference	2007-06-07	Wasabi Systems
Wasabi Certified BSD (WCB) is a full-featured, modern operating system that extends open-source NetBSD with improved compiler technology, more capable device drivers, and thorough platform testing. The Freescale MPC8349E processors are designed to provide a cost-effective, highly integrated control processing solution that addresses the needs of networking, communications, and pervasive computing applications. Tags: Desktop Systems - PCs, Linux - Open Source
The Sun Blade 6000 Modular System: Open Modular Architecture With a Choice of Sun SPARC , Intel Xeon , and AMD Opteron Platforms	2007-06-01	Sun Microsystems
The Participation Age is driving new demands that are focused squarely on capabilities of the datacenter. Web services and rapidly escalating Internet use are driving competitive organizations to lead with innovative new services and scalable, dynamic infrastructure. High Performance Computing (HPC) is constantly finding new application in both science and industry, fostering new demands for performance and density. Agility is paramount, and organizations must be able to respond quickly to unpredictable needs for capacity - adding compute power or growing services on demand. At the same time, most datacenters are rapidly running out of space, power, and cooling even as energy costs continue to rise. Tags: Processors, Blades
The University of Utah Supports Cutting-Edge Research by Delivering 50 Percent More Work With Half the Power Consumption	2007-06-01	Dell
University of Utah's Center for High Performance Computing (CHPC) supports the high-performance computing needs of research projects university-wide. The CHPC's aging high-performance computing cluster needed an upgrade; increasing demand for scientific research required a powerful cluster within the university's budget. The CHPC deployed a new high-performance computing cluster based on Dell Power-Edge servers with two dual-core AMD processors running Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system and multiple scientific computing applications. Tags: Application Servers, Linux Server OS
Dell Latitude Notebooks With Embedded Broadband Wireless Networking Provide Sales Force With Mobile Access	2007-06-01	Dell
Edward Don & Company is a world-class distributor of food service equipment. Edward Don realized that it needed a mobile sales force that could access e-mail, inventory tracking, and order processing systems in the field. They wanted their sales reps to be able to show customer's products on their notebook computer screens, check inventory, create a quote, e-mail it to the customer on the spot, and walk out of there with a signed purchase order. Edward Don chose to equip its salespeople and staff with nearly 400 Dell Latitude D620 notebook computers with Intel Core Duo processors running the Microsoft Windows XP operating system, as well as the full Microsoft Office suite. Tags: Windows XP, Laptops