Dual Processor Support
 

Hi Everyone,
A Short Article, and some advice needed? :newbie:

I've been using SUSE on & off for about a year now and when I get a chance to sit down in front of the screen I'm always impressed with the features compared to the well known OS. :p

I've recently purchased a DELL Poweredge Server with 2x Pentium III 866mhz processors, 1 gig RAM and 9.1GB SCSI hard disk which I will add more drives soon (as this unit can take upto six SCSI drives). :rolleyes:
I haven't installed SUSE onto the system, but I've just loaded the Live CD and booted straight from that.

By the way, I think a LiveCD is one brilliant idea, as it allows you to see just how the Operating System looks, feels, and behaves before you commit. :cool:
Oh Yes, I forgot to mention there nothing installed on the hard disk.
In one of my earlier threads I mentioned about people asking me silly questions like - "Why did you install Linux"?, "Why this, and why that"?
(Kind of like those kids in the back of a car asking, "are we there yet"? Every hundred yards or so... :mad:)

Anyway I decided to purchase this server to learn a bit more about dual processing, RAID, SCSI etc and it prevents me from playing around with the family PC which I put together but I'm now told, "you've got that PC over there to mess about with". :tisk: :study:
Now what I did realise is that SCSI drives do perform a bit quicker than IDE, even with the CD Drive the data accessed from the LiveCD is quite quick, maybe this could be down to the 1gig of ram as well.

But just one question?
I recently purchased another Pentium III processor the same speed etc and installed it and it works fine, now going into the Control Centre, Hardware, BIOS I can see both processors in SUSE.
Does SUSE 10.1 utilise a system with dual core/processors or will I need to install another programme?

One final point! :scratch:
Before I start powering up PC's or poking around inside I always give the unit a good clean inside with a vacuum cleaner, you'll be supprised at the amount of dust and how annoying it can be when a PC overheats and when you've dissected the thing only to find a bit of string stopping the fan from spinning. :tisk:

Thanks
Carlonlinux
:cool:

In response to your question, type "uname -a" in a console and look for something called "SMP". If you see it, then you are most likely utilizing both cores.

I also wouldn't clean your computer out with a vacuum cleaner, as it can damage components. If you have access to an air compressor then I would use that. And yes, it is a very good idea to clean out your comp semi-regularly.

Good practice to clean the inside. Use a soft brush to clean the dust off and vacuum the dust from the bottom of the case. Don't use compressed air, it can actually blow components right of the circuit boards. Even industrial and military electronics, which are far more robust than any PC you're likely to have in the home, are supposed to be cleaned with compressed air.

Use of the command ' top ' can show both processors. Also going to /proc/acpi/processor and if you see 2 directories CPU0 and CPU1 then it should be active. If not then you need a kernel compiled with SMP enabled. It is best to have one kernel with non-smp support and then have one with smp enabled which you will run all of the time. The only reason to have a non-smp kernel is smp is not 100% perfect and can cause some issues. This way you can confirm whether the kernel has something to do with it or not.

Brian1

To quickly find out whether or not you have the correct kernel installed for multiple processors, go to Control Centre -> YaST2 -> Software -> Install and Remove. Enter the root password when prompted. When the next screen comes up, click on the top drop-down list box and select Package Groups. Find the group which includes the kernels included in your installation media. If you see the kernel with SMP in the name as installed, you are good to go. If your installed kernel doesn't have SMP in the name, you will have to install the correct kernel in order to make use of multiple cpus.

I can't say whether or not you will also have to go through kernel config or not. When I installed SuSE on my box with dual AMD Opterons, kernel selection was done for me.

You might check the SuSE documentation in /usr/share/doc/manual, SuSE admin guide.

I have an x2 and I went to:
www.sabayon.org
The distro's great, and it supports multiple processors.
I am Goatee on their forums.