FBSD 5 & SMP

[Eric Anderson]

agent dero wrote:
> I was reading the FBSD 5.0 release notes, and how the new version has
> better support for multiple processors. I haven't been able to find any a
> 4.x-STABLE SMP support docs. Does this mean that 4.7, my current release,
> doesn't support the multiple processors well. I am rebuilding my small
> business' server, and trying to decide if a dual processor will be the
> better way to go, but not sure if the advantages are going to be huge with
> the. I read the previous message about WITH_THREADS as a ports option, but
> the ports maximizing the dual CPUs isn't my greatest, I need the kernel
> itself to maximize the CPUs. Is this possible under any of the stable
> releases, before 5.0 ??

Yes, FreeBSD versions prior to 5.0 have SMP support, however 5.0's 
support is more "finely tuned" and will give you better results. 
However, since this sounds like a production server, you may want to 
stick with 4.8-RELEASE, and built a new kernel with SMP support. 
Depending on what you are using the machine for, you may or may not see 
a performance benefit of a dual processor machine.

What's the machine's primary function?

Eric


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Eric Anderson	   Systems Administrator      Centaur Technology
Attitudes are contagious, is yours worth catching?
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