[CentOS] Re: how can I stress a server?

Scott Silva ssilva at sgvwater.com
Fri Nov 21 19:34:39 UTC 2008


on 11-21-2008 8:38 AM Rudi Ahlers spake the following:
> On Thu, Nov 20, 2008 at 9:31 PM, Kai Schaetzl <maillists-2Wq4MnPE5eVl57MIdRCFDg at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>> RobertH wrote on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:15:03 -0800:
>>
>>> DL380 G3 Dual
>> And how does he squeeze that in 1U?
>>
>> AFAIR, Rudi's located in South Africa and has already stated several times
>> that prices there for servergrade stuff are not as cheap as you can get it
>> in some other areas of the world. May apply for Ebay deliveries to SA as
>> well (if they ship at all to SA). And, looking at the Ebay ads, I sure
>> wouldn't buy such a machine.
>> I can understand that Rudi builds his own servers in that situation, I do
>> this sometimes as well. One thing what I would have avoided if possible,
>> though, is buy a board with such a new chipset that you can't even get
>> lm_sensors to run. (Or you didn't research too well, Rudi. You can upgrade
>> lm_sensors from rpmforge and you can get coretemp.ko patches for some
>> chipsets. I had to do this myself for an "oldish" Intel 5000 server
>> chipset.) That's another thing where server-grade stuff comes nice into
>> play: the machines usually include BMC, so you are not dependant on
>> lm_sensors and kernel.
>>
>> Kai
>>
>> --
>> Kai Sch�tzl, Berlin, Germany
>> Get your web at Conactive Internet Services: http://www.conactive.com
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
> 
> 
> Hi Kai,
> 
> It's as you stated, server grade hardware are a) rather expensive in
> South Africa, b) very limited in terms of what we can actually get,
> and c) crappy support from vendors.
> 
> I'd LOVE to purchase some SuperMicro servers, but there's only 1
> supplier in South Africa, and they clearly state that they don't sell
> loose components which is a problem, since they RAM, HDD's & CPU's are
> approx 30 - 50% more expensive than from other suppliers, for the
> exact same components. They also won't allow you (me) to upgrade the
> server myself, I need to take it in to them and they do it. They are
> also the only people who are allowed to even work on the machines. I
> don't like this very much, and don't see the benefits in supporting a
> monopoly like this. From Dell's side the support is almost the same,
> but they didn't have a problem with the fact that I upgraded the HDD &
> RAM myself. I got the components cheaper from another supplier /
> importer / retailer than from Dell directly. And really, how can
> KingMax RAM or Seagate HDD's from one supplier be better than from
> another supplier? I only use the recommended types, i.e ECC (non
> registered), and Seagate RAID edition SATAII HDD's.
> 
> 
> The motherboard I now have, was the only one I could find at that time
> which wasn't XEON, and had 4 memory slots. Since most suppliers who
> sell these kind of motherboards don't keep the nice ones in stock, I
> need to take what I can get. I honestly didn't even think of checking
> to see if lm_sensors will work with it. All the other motherboards,
> even the Socket 775 server boards either had 2 memory modules, or had
> to be ordered & will take 2 weeks to get here.
> 
> 
> The problem is, that I already spend a lot of money on this "server",
> and it can't be taken back for a credit return even, only for
> swap-outs of the exact same components, and I need to use it. To get a
> new server will mean a whole new server from Dell or the Super Micro
> stuff, which like I said would work out between 30 - 50% more than the
> exact same components I now have. In fact, the Super Micro doesn't
> come with a Q9300, but with a Q6600 - which by chance is 15% more
> expensive than what I paid for the Q9300.
> 
> Ebay isn't an option, purely cause of the import duties in our
> country, and if I did import it, how / wherw would I find support /
> replacement components for it? The suppliers here will only support
> servers which was purchased from them. I have tried this route
> already. I told the one guy that I got server from someone else and
> need to replace the motherboard. "Sorry, we can't support you, since
> you didn't purchase it from us" - or something to that sense was the
> response.
> 
> I'm sitting with a very expensive paper weight right now, and I don't
> know what todo. The same websites are running very well on a machine
> with a Gigabyte G31MX-S motherboard + 4GB DDRII 800 RAM + C2D 6750
> CPU. This is what baffles me, how can the same load on a slower
> machine work fine, but on the faster one not?
> 
> 
I don't want to get flamed on this suggestion, but have you tried running
something with a newer kernel like Ubuntu? I think they also have a live CD
with a fairly current kernel. Sometimes if you can't get the hardware you
want, you have to also not run the software you want.
It could be that the MB just isn't properly supported with the current kernel
in 5.2. I have seen several desktop systems running the sata bus under what
ammounts to PIO mode. That would tax a system very heavily that is also trying
to do useful work. The more that the IO was in wait, the worse it would get.

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You hope everybody uses it, and
you notice quickly if they don't!!!!

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