Please see System Specs inside and comment. Thank You! :)

BASIC SPECS: A65-EGB2-2H-8G-CB7

Sun Fire X4200 x64 Server: 2x AMD Opteron Model 285 SE (2.6Ghz/1MB) dual
core processor, 4x 2GB PC3200 DDR-400 memory, 2x 73GB 10K RPM SAS drive,
DVD-ROM, 2x PSU, Service Processor, 4x10/100/1000 Ethernet ports, 4x USB
1.1 ports, 1x 64-bit/133Mhz PCI-X slot, 1x 64-bit/100Mhz PCI-X slot, 3x
64-bit/66Mhz PCI-X slots, no power cord, order Geo-specific x-option.
Standard Configuration
-----------------------
DETAILS: See http://www.sun.com/servers/entry/x4200/specifications.jsp
==============

Although it says 2x73GB drives, I was told that a single (approx.) 250GB
drive was discussed with the Sun rep. The purchaser of the system asked
about purchasing an external HDD for backups--he does not want to rely
on the network's nightly backups alone. I suggested a 2nd 250GB drive
with both drives deployed using RAID 1 mirroring to address the
purchaser's backup concerns.

This server is being considered for purchase in an environment with 33
Cadence products installed and a max of 20 remote Xwindow clients at any
time (and each client could be running more than 1 tool at a time).

My main concern is 8GB RAM, since reading in the IC5141 documentation
the strong recommendation of a 2GB swap space, just for that 1 product.
Do you think a strong recommendation for 16GB RAM is justified with
these requirements?

I would appreciate any comments, thanks!

 

Even with the maximum RAM of 16GB, it is going to perform poorly with 20
users. Advise them they need to watch the swap rate and may need to buy
another system, or three. I'd not want more than four to six users per
system with this hardware.

A better configuration might be twenty single processor workstations and
a file server. Connect them together on a fast subnet to minimize
traffic.

 

Thanks for the quick response!

Let me see if I understand you correctly. Are you saying they need to
purchase 20 licenses and run a licensed copy on each workstation and
just use the server to store the data files (drawings and such) from
Cadence?

The environment is the Electrical Engineering Lab on a small university
campus. The professor purchased Cadence to install on a Sun server and
have from 1 to 20 students access it at a time from Windows workstations
in the lab. Are you saying that's an unrealistic expectation or goal?!
If it is, it's critical I tell him now BEFORE he purchases that Sun
Server 4200.

Thanks, Edward!

Regards,

John Ellard

----------------------

 

Thanks, Ed! This is exactly the kind of feedback the Dept. needs to know.

You said, "...four to six users per system with this hardware." Don't
forget, "this hardware," has 2 x dual-core 64-bit processors, so
effectively it's like having 4 single processors. You still think this
is under-powered for a university lab where the work shouldn't get near
as detailed as in a manufacturing environment? I'm just asking you to
rethink the scenario, since I realize you're probably used to a real
world scenario.

Is there any Sun server you would recommend for the job? I hear what you
are suggesting--multiple servers with a few users each, or everyone
running on a dedicated workstation. Those are great suggestions, if it
weren't for the budget constraints that a small school has to survive
and compete within.

We do want to hear what you have to say--we just have to find a workable
medium, and we value your experience in helping guide us in the best
possible solution within our limitations.

Thank you!

Best regards,

John Ellard

===================

 

2x dual core isn't quite the same as 4x single - there are issues with
memory and IO bandwidth, etc. Anyway, if you plan on using a single
machine you will likely need to control the usage of each user. I know how
students in a university environment can accidentally start large jobs and
have their processes running for days. It would be a good idea to set
quotas, memory/CPU ulimits, and possibly have someone or a daemon running
to kill processes that are too large / run for too long. If the server
usage is controlled this machine should be OK provided the circuit designs
aren't too large. As usual with many users, the more memory the better,
and make sure the disk swap partition size is at least as large as the
main memory.

Frank

 

You need a license for each user running the software concurrently. All
on one machine, each on separate machines, it makes no difference. The
licenses are not per machine, they are per user on the machine. One
student on each of twenty machines or twenty students on one machine,
you still need twenty licenses if they are going to run at the same
time. I hope he went through the University Program when he bought the
software. I heard it has very good terms for situations like you
describe.

For your environment, I'd go with the single machine. Cost is more
important than performance in this case. With twenty users it'll get
slow at times, but you may find they are not all actually using the CPUs
at the same time and it will be acceptable. Of course, I can bring our
28 processor box to it's knees easily enough. Best to work from home
when I do that. Harder for the others to find me that way.

 

John,

It's *really* hard to give that kind of advice without knowing more
about
the load...

If your 20 students end up running a load average of no more than
2-3, you'll be pretty happy. If you run a load average of 4-5, you'll
be rather unhappy. Linux does not do well (compared to Solaris)
at multiuser timesharing with overcommitted CPUs.

It will help to run RHEL4 with a 2.6 kernel. I've yet to find a
Cadence
application that is unhappy with RHEL4/U1 (though it is not officially
supported with most applications yet).

The remote usage model also matters; if you run X on the windows
boxes (Hummingbird, or whatever) and then *only* run the Cadence
apps with remote X on the 4200, that is easy on RAM but hard on
the network.

If you've got 20 Xvnc/Gnome sessions on the 4200, and display to
VNC clients on the windows boxes, that is much easier on the
network but hard on RAM.

-Jay-

 

Thanks, Frank. Those are excellent recommendations! I really appreciate your
feedback.

Best regards,

John

================

 

Thanks again, Ed! Jay was exactly right in his reply--I should have been
more specific about the load. Twenty users is the max, and that will be
rare--probably only when a class of that size is actually held in the lab.
From what I've seen of the students use of Matlab in there, I would have to
guess that that 2 to 5 users will be the most common average, and not often
will more than 8 users be on Cadence at a time.

Yes, they did purchase Cadence thru the university program.

LOL @ your "home antics."

Thanks again for the follow-up reply, Ed!!

Best regards,

John

===================

 

Jay, thanks for chiming in with your feedback! Like the others, I really
appreciate your input.

The load will vary from 2 to 8 users, but most of the time I expect there to
be 5 or less students on at the same time. The 20 users was a maximum that
will only occur when a class is held in the lab.

Linux isn't even a consideration, so that's a non-issue.

Thanks again for your input, Jay!

Best regards,

John

================