So here are are generating load for a JackRabbit test. A prospective partner wants to know what it can handle. Fair enough, we would like to know if we can push it to its limits. Basic test: 4-way channel bond gigabit, with NFS export. 4 client machines mounting this, all generating load via iozone. Iozone run like this: I started out with a motley crew of client hosts, all running whatever version of Linux, figuring this would be fine.

or something like that. Running IOzone (slightly modified to be able to run in a region far outside cache) on JackRabbit-s. 8TB raw, using a 5.5TB partition of 13 drives in a RAID6. Run is done via As soon as it finishes, I will put the excel file up for download. We are seeing pretty good performance. Here is a snippet: [ ](http://scalability.org/images/iozone-big.png) The file sizes are 64 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB (last row).

After reading this at that bastion of high value reporting, Valleywag, I am henceforce going to borrow … er … steal … er … use Amir’s idea and call HPC what it really is. Social (and physical) networking for highly autistic AI Processing elements. Yeah, they are highly focused. On computing. And networking. Need a name for this. I know, SNAP. Yeah. There we go. And a logo. [ ](http://scalability.org/images/snap.jpg)

I had not written about this two weeks ago when I learned of it, but Panta Systems, a pioneer in flexible HPC and computing systems, closed its doors. Details are sketchy, basically they were unable to find a buyer is what I have heard. They were pursuing VC money about a year ago, though I am not sure what happened. Best guess, based upon conversations, was that they ran out of money.

In an article today, a report noted that Sony may be trying to sell off its fabs that make the Cell BE processor. This is, to quote the article Remember, there are 3 partners working on this: IBM, Sony, and Toshiba. Sony is using these in the PS3, which by all accounts are not selling well. PS3’s are badly crippled for computing (rumor has it that this is the case as a result of an agreement with IBM), and are having a hard time against Wii and others.

It turns out that others, who know far more about the law than I do (I am not a lawyer, and don’t give legal advice) are suggesting that chapter 11 is less likely. They did a similar analysis, though with more legal detail. Worth the read. The punchline is that someone may have advised them that this was a good idea, and that an external analysis seems to show that this plan was a very bad one for SCO.

Ok, I need to ask this. Was the September 10th Barcelona launch, a paper launch? I can’t seem to find any in the channel. We have customers interested in them, and yes, I can get pricing. But delivery? Or delivery dates? Hmmmmmmmmmm….. AMD, please remember my suggestion for 8 core. It shouldn’t be hard. And if you don’t do something like that I can guarantee your competitor will.

Yes, SCO filed for chapter 11 protection from its creditors today. I guess I find it odd, as they did not appear to be in debt. Call me naive, but, in order to get Chapter 11 protection, mustn’t you already be in debt and unable to pay your creditors? From our friends at Yahoo: That is, SCO has no debt on its balance sheet. Oh, that is, unless they came around to Novell’s position.

Ok, this was perfect for a sleepy wednesday … I haven’t said much about Barcelona. Yeah, it released. Yeah, I want to play with some. No, I don’t have any (big hint there AMD….) The Inquirer has an article on power, and some of the press (mis)interactions currently going on with AMD. And a little commentary. This gem was in the commentary … Yeah, well, thats about the size of it.

Have a new JackRabbit-S unit in the lab, 5.5TB (16 drive unit, 2 allocated for OS, 1 for hot spare, RAID6 built out of remaining 13 drives). and dbench output a really simple script: #!/bin/bash sync echo -n "start at " date dd if=/dev/zero of=/local/big.file bs=134217728 count=100 oflag=direct sync echo -n "stop at " date and its results Hmmm…. on a 16 GB machine, even with the sync’s I am worried about cache.