[SunRescue] SS20 (??) is it really?

[scott at imsa.edu]

> Excuse my ignorane with MP platforms, but does Solaris 2.6 automatically
> use the 2nd (or more) processor for regular tasking or does each used
> application have to be coded to use a particular/multiple CPUs?
Under Solaris 2.x (x > 1 or so), programs that are multithreaded can
have the individual threads migrate from processor to processor transparently
by the OS.  For true MP support at the application level, though, it has
to be coded (or compiled) for MP.
 
> In other words, should I decide to buy another CPU for my SS20, will I
> notice a difference with performance in X or normal applications?
Sure, since one processor can handle a task that would usually tie up
the machine, leaving the second free.

Also, for Solarises around 2.4, performance has hampered when you
only had one processor.  The kernel was /too/ optimized for MP ;)

HTH

Scott Swanson
scott at imsa.edu
day job: scott.swanson at ctw.org