On Fri, 8 Aug 2003, David Laight wrote:

> On Thu, Aug 07, 2003 at 11:57:01AM -0400, gabriel rosenkoetter wrote:
> > Now, real partitioning al=E1 Sun's SunFire series, that's some
> > fancy stuff.
>
> But requires that you do actually have the >20 real processors etc...
> Why not just use simple single cpu systems!

I'd guess because it's easier to manage. You can re-partition on the fly,
so if your work load changes, now you have a few 2-CPU boxes. Or 4-CPU
boxes. If a CPU dies, you just move it's "machine" to another working CPU.
My understanding is you can also share disks amongst all of them, so if
you're cheep, you can get away with less than 20 disks. And you can have
two or three power feeds & supplies, as opposed to 20 (or 40 or 60 if you
have redundant power).

Just a thought. I think there's an advantage to using a StarFire type
system, and an advantage to 20 different boxes. :-)

Take care,

Bill