Best OS to run on a dual Alpha EV6?

[evilroot]

I just aquired a dual Alpha EV6 rack server, with two 667mhz cpus (4mb DDR cache each) on a UP2000+ motherboard. I've seen quite a few *nix variants that will run on this system, and I'm curious as to which will yeild the best performance with this type of SMP system. (I've only administrated x86 SMP servers to this point)

If anybody has some experience in this, their advice will be appreciated. It's a pretty non-standard archetecture, but when used at full potential it should be extremely fast. I'd hate to be held back by an OS that isn't optimized correctly to run with this hardware.



BTW: NT is NOT an option.

 

[TheOmegaCode]

I wish I could just aquire a server like that.

There is a SMP HowTo for Linux you might like to look at. I don't have any experience with Alpha's but it seems like Linux with a 2.4.x kernel would be your safest bet, unless of course you can aquire Tru64 UNIX.

 

[Sunner]

Tru64 perhaps?
Not free, but I believe you can pick it up for relatively cheap if it's for personal/educational use.

Other options...
FreeBSD?
Linux?

 

[evilroot]

I've run several Linux varients on SMP x86 systems before, but I've heard that there are speed issues with the way some things are ported to Alpha.

Tru64 seems to be getting the most support, both here and with several other people I've asked. I'll have to see if I can get my hands on a copy.

 

[Buddha Bart]

OpenVMS!!

 

[Nothinman]

I'd put Debian on it like I did all my other boxes =)

If ya ever wanna get rid of it, shoot me an email =)

 

[n0cmonkey]

Tru64

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Buddha Bart
OpenVMS!!

I would kill many a PHB for an OpenVMS system.

 

[Nothinman]

I would kill many a PHB for an OpenVMS system.

You can get decently cheap Alpha or VAX systems on eBay and the software can be had under a 'hobbyist' license that isn't too expensive.

 

[Crab cake]

If you're going with any of the nix or semi-nix flavors, you might as well go with kernel that Alpha was designed for -- Ultrix. Compiling the kernel might be a problem. A walk in the park it is not. As mentioned above, OpenVMS is another option. Probably the easier of the two. If you're in the LA Area, you buy pizza and beer and I'll get it up and running for you.

 

[Vadatajs]

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[evilroot]

Nothinman: It'd be quite expensive if I did.

 

[Nothinman]

Nothinman: It'd be quite expensive if I did.

I know, I've priced dual Alpha boxes before. But I figured since you 'acquired' it, you'd be able to give me a price break

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: Crab cake
If you're going with any of the nix or semi-nix flavors, you might as well go with kernel that Alpha was designed for -- Ultrix. Compiling the kernel might be a problem. A walk in the park it is not. As mentioned above, OpenVMS is another option. Probably the easier of the two. If you're in the LA Area, you buy pizza and beer and I'll get it up and running for you.

I've never used Ultrix, so I don't know it's pros and cons, but there's a crapload of software that won't compile on Ultrix, at least according to their readme's

 

[Armitage]

We run Suse 7.3 with a 2.4.18 custom kernel on our Alpha cluster. We've had excellent performance & stability, although I can't compare the performance to anything else you would run on em, as we never have.

 

[thornc]

I have to agree that Tru64 is the best option... we a few EV6 wokstation here at the lab and we tried using
linux with them, the performance isn't even comparable... the main problem yet is the software! Some companies,
mathworks being one of them, will only support Alpha with either VMS or Tru64(Digital Unix,OSF) and since our main
application is Matlab we just have to use tru64...

But even so you can get your hands on some of their freeware, that will give some goodies including gcc that will allow
you to compile most open source code out there....