Upgrade HW and OS 11i question

[TwoProc]

Two questions:
Has anyone upgraded from PA8900 to PA8900? Or at least have the different ones to know how much faster the 8900 performance (I mean actual vs projected) is? We're not ready to transition to Itanium yet, (prob next year), so I was wondering if an interim 8900 step might work to give us some punch.

Secondly - Does anyone *KNOW* that you can run more than 64 cores (32 chips) in HPUX 11i (11.11)? I've heard that one must be at least at HPUX 11.2 to have more than 64 cores. I've found documents from HP that claim both! A) That you can, B) that you can't. I've got HP folks saying I can, I've got HP folks saying that you can't - both with official documents to prove their argument. Does anyone have such a thing, or does anyone KNOW of such a thing in place?

Just doing some capacity planning for down the road, thanks!

[Torsten.]

Upgrading from what CPU model?

I guess your "8900 to 8900" is just a typo.

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

Though they won't be sold after this year, PA-RISC Superdome systems used to run 11.11 HP-UX and could support up to 128 CPU's.

So I would say that you should be able to run more than 32 cores.

However the conflict you see tells me you might want to see this done rather than believe one side or the other in the conflicting information you received.

SEP

[TwoProc]

Yeah Torsten 8800 to 8900. Sorry about that one - good catch.

[Torsten. · Accepted solution]

There are pa8800 with a frequency from 800 to 1000 MHz, the 8900 has 800-1100MHz.

Both are dual-core, the 8900 has a larger L2 cache (32 vs. 64 MB).

I don't know about detailed performance numbers.

Regarding the max. core numbers:

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11721_na/11721_na.HTML

...

Maximum cores per HP-UX 11i v1 partition
16 32 64

Maximum cores per HP-UX 11i v2 partition
16 32 128

Maximum memory per HP-UX 11i v1 partition
128 GB 256 GB 512 GB

Maximum memory per HP-UX 11i v2 partition 128 GB 256 GB 1 TB

[TwoProc]

SEP - Thanks for the input - you're right - but yeah, I'd rather have the option than not have it. But, the whole group of HPers has decided as of last night that you can't go past 64 cores (32 dual cores) on HPUX 11.11. Well, it just leaves me a bit uncomfortable with the fact that delivered answer seems a little like a "vote" rather than a definitive. So, I was just wondering if anyone knows of it being done first hand, or even second hand knowledge.

Much like you Steven - I think the hardware does, of course handle 128, but I think the OS at HPUX 11.11 is limited to 64 from what I'm being told. It looks to me like some early 8800 brochures talked about doing 128, but they didn't specify OS, or if they did, it was the "planned" enhancement of going to 128 on 11.11, not necessarily the implemented one.

I've learned over the years, to be very insistent on correct data from system and software providers (*all of them*, not just HP). You can be lead to making very costly mistakes from seemingly innocent incorrect or outdated information on OS or system capabilities - it's bitten me before. Thus, it's often helpful to throw it out to the community and ask if anyone has direct experience.

... Still interested in hearing from anyone who has implemented more than 64 cores in a single HPUX 11i environment.

[Torsten.]

... cross posting ...

[TwoProc]

Cross Posting?
I don't see it... Only created one thread...

[Torsten.]

I meant you posted in the same minute like I did ... the previous post answers your question already.

Trust the quickspecs - what is written there is supported.

According to this

Maximum cores per HP-UX 11i v1 partition is 64 cores.