[geeks] SGI-HOWTO

[geeks at sunhelp.org]

I could of sworn that IP27 node boards only took 2procs each.  The new
ones (o3k) can support 4procs per brick I think, but that's not o2k which
is all I know.  Anyone have a source for o200 ram cheap? <Grin>
	Nick

On Fri, 19 Oct 2001, Big Endian wrote:

> >That's a 256node cluster (256 dual proc system boards with up to 8 (iirc
> >might be 4) gig of ram each) totaling several terabytes of ram.  The only
> >limitation on storage is the ammount you care to attach, at several XIO
> >slots per system chassis (4 systemboards/chassis) and 4uw scsi or 2 FC-AL
> >ports per XIO slot I'm sure you can imagine the ammount of storage you
> >could attach.  You end up with 64 ethernets alone.  The only limits on
> >this hardware are software, and being irix has been 64 bit for
> >years.....  I'm sure there is a limit on the total diskspace you can use
> >in irix, but if anyone knows it I'd really like to know.
> >	Nick
> Its not really a cluster but a NUMA(Non-Uniform Memory Access) based 
> machine.  Each system board has full access to the other system 
> boards' ram and there is cache coherency among *ALL* cpus(at least on 
> SGI systems, not all NUMA machines are cache coherent).  Its a sick 
> and twisted system but it gets *REALLY* hard to build something like 
> a 512cpu machine without it.
> 
> Each board can handle 4cpus (r12k 400s) and 8gigs of ram(think an 
> octane or origin200, but in a modular board and 2 more cpus). 
> http://www.sgi.com/origin/3000/bricks.html gives an example of what 
> these things have in them.  The origin 3k series has only one basic 
> I/O module per system (fiberchannel disk, cdrom, PCI slots, ethernet, 
> USB and FireWire).   I'd say SGI sells perhaps 1-2 of the high end 
> units a quarter, if that.
> XFS(sgi filesystem) scales to hundreds of terabytes, perhaps multiple 
> petabytes and its journaling and faster than UFS.  There is a reason 
> to buy sgi systems.  IRIX was designed from the begining of the Power 
> series to be SMP friendly and Its had 64bit support since the R4k and 
> Irix 6.  Their technology is to say the least impressive. 
> Unfortunately their prices more than make up for it when buying new.
> 
> daniel
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