Clearspace Server Syndication Feed

Caching in on the Cloud...

2011-08-24T02:28:00Z

http://vmblog.com/archive/2011/08/23/caching-in-on-the-cloud-with-the-power-of-more-cores.aspx

Caching in on the Cloud with the Power of More Cores, a contributed article by Margaret Lewis, director of Commercial Solutions and Software Strategy at AMD.

Cache is a word you hear every day when you when you work for a silicon vendor. For CPUs, cache plays the very important role of reducing memory access by buffering frequently used data. But caching goes way beyond the CPU and there are many different methods to cache data - all with the common goal of increasing application performance.

The world of Cloud Computing is filled with dynamic Web applications that have many small transactions, such as page clicks and search query strings, that are better off cached in memory as opposed to letting them pass to storage. Enter Memcached, a high-performance, distributed memory object caching system which is used by web sites like WordPress, YouTube, and Twitter to alleviate database load and reduce response time between a Web user and an application.

Memcached was originally developed in 2003 by Danga Interactive to help speed up LiveJournal . This was an era when the majority of server processors were single core. ##Previous studies* have indicated that Memcached is thread limited, not scaling in performance beyond 4-6 threads on Linux. This limits the usage of the additional cores on the system and requires the addition of more physical systems as the workload scales up.

We now live in a multi-core world with processors like the AMD Opteron^TM 6100 Series and our upcoming "Bulldozer" technology offering a wealth of real cores. So how can thread limited software make effective use of core rich processors? This is where virtualization comes into play.

AMD recently did a study that demonstrates a 3x improvement in throughput when running Memcached in a virtualized environment as compared to natively (unvirtualized). A server with AMD Opteron 6100 Series processors and VMware ESX was used to create 12 VMs each running Red Hat Linux 6.1 and Memcached. Our study indicates that the throughput levels scale linearly with the number of VMs used, thus making it attractive to use systems with larger number of cores.

If you want to learn more about how a thread limited software like Memcached can use virtualization to make effective harness the power of more cores, please attend the VMworld session SPO2115, Scaling Memcached - Harnessing the Power of Virtualization with AMD's Dr. Rema Hariharan on Thursday, September 1^st- 11:00 a.m.

And don't forget to visit the AMD booth #311 at VMworld. See you there.

* Neil Gunther, Shanti Subramanyam, and Stefan Parvu, "Hidden Scalability Gotchas in Memcached and Friends", http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/44/Hidden%20Scalability%20Gotchas%20in%20Memcached%20and%20Friends%20Presentation.pdf and Paul Saab, " Scaling Memcached at Facebook",
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=39391378919"

What the What is AMD up to at VMworld 2011?

2011-08-19T16:37:46Z

Come see us at Booth #311 and experience the Power of More Cores!

For more information: http://server.amd.com/LP=173

We will showcase HP and Dell servers featuring our AMD Opteron™ 6000 and 4000 Series platforms in a series of exciting demos at Booth #311:

End to End VDI and Live Migration- along with AMD's first-hand experience at implementing VMware View
Virtualizing Memcached – to add scalability and performance to web serving clusters
Failover of VMs in a heterogeneous x86 environment
Sneak preview of our upcoming "Bulldozer" technology

Register today for the AMD SUPER SESSION:

Journey to the Core with AMD SUP1002
Wednesday, August 31^st – 1:00 p.m.

Come by the AMD booth #311 to claim your Free gift, and register to win a daily AMD based product giveaway*!

Join AMD's GM of server products, Pat Patla, AMD Server CTO, Don Newell, and VMware and Digital Globe as they present an exciting look into the future of virtualization and cloud computing.

AMD technical sessions:

Advanced Multi-core Architecture for Unlimited Virtualization Possibilities SPO3968 - Tim Mueting
Tuesday, August 30^th - 4:30 p.m.

Scaling Memcached - Harnessing the Power of Virtualization SPO2115 - Dr. Rema Hariharan
Thursday, September 1^st - 11:00 a.m.

Check out AMD's speaker line up today and be entered to win an ATI FirePro? Graphics card

2009-09-02T16:54:12Z

11:00 - 11:30	AMD, Wei Huang Senior Software Engineer	AMD's IOMMU: Sepcification, Design and Demo
12:00 - 12:30	Sun, Ron Graham Technical Marketing Manager	Architecting Superior Virtualization Performance with Sun and AMD
1:00 - 1:30	Citrix, Simon Crosby CTO Virtualization	Virtualization: The Future of the Desktop
2:00 - 2:30	First Data, Scott Ramnitz Virtualization Program Manager	First Data: Virtualization Strategy (Customer presentation)
3:00 - 3:30	Virtual Computer, Doug Lane Sr Director, Product Management	Client Hypervisor + AMD-V = PC Lifecycle Management Redefined
4:00 - 4:30	Mellanox, Sujal Das Sr Director, Product Management	On Demand Network Services in Clouds
5:00 - 5:30	HP, Anand Akela Product Marketing Manager	HP ProLiant DL785 G6: consolidate, virtualize and save some green

Leaner, Meaner and Greener...

2009-09-01T15:15:50Z

AMD intros

Four Benefits of AMD's ‘Istanbul' Six-Core Opteron

The release of the 40-watt 6-core Opteron CPU, codenamed ‘Istanbul', from AMD means servers with more processing horsepower and less power consumption. Businesses will be able to do more, spend less, and save the environment all at the same time.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/blogs/bizfeed/171124/four_benefits_of_amds_istanbul_sixcore_opteron.html

ATI FirePro? Graphics Cards....

2009-09-01T15:00:30Z

Come to the AMD booth at the Moscone (#1408 ask for Tracey) and answer the following question correctly to be entered to win one of three AMD ATI FirePro v3700 Professional Graphics cards!*

- How many cores are in the new AMD Six-Core Opteron^TMprocessor?

Yes it's that easy ...

For more chances to win - come listen to our AMD Masters of Virtualization Theater presentations.

*To win you must have a Full Conference pass

New video - ProLiant DL785 with Six-Core AMD Opteron processors running 180 VMs

2009-08-30T03:31:23Z

http://links.amd.com/180VMBlog

By: Tim Mueting

Gearing up for VMware, I had a chance recently to spend some time in AMD's performance lab and showcase one of the cooler demos I have ever been a part of. Operating a Six-Core AMD Opteron^TM 8400 Series processor-based HP DL785 G6 server with VMware ESX 4.0 software we were able to successfully consolidate 180 virtual machines onto one physical server.¹

That is 25% more virtual machines than the competition can claim running the same workload. As a side note, running the same workload on either a Six-Core AMD Opteron processor-based HP ProLiant DL585 G6 server or BL685c G6 blade - we're able to consolidate 120 virtual machines, which is 43% more VMs than the competition on a 4-socket, 24 core server.

But, don't take my word for it, check out the video below (we also just broke our own record with HP releasing a a new top 48-core VMmark result on the same server with a score of 53.73 running 210 VMs!).

And, join us at VMworld August 31-September 3^rd. We'll be showcasing this demo at our booth (#1408) as well as many more.

Keep It Simple.

2009-08-30T03:14:49Z

Win AMD ATI FirePro Graphics cards next week...

Come to the AMD booth at the Moscone (#1408 ask for Tracey) and answer the following question correctly to be entered to win one of three AMD ATI FirePro v3700 Professional Graphics cards!*

-How many cores are in the new AMD Six-Core Opteron ^TM ^processor?

Yes it's that easy ...

For more chances to win - come listen to our AMD Masters of Virtualization Booth Theater presentations.

*To win you must have a Full Conference pass

AMD engineering teams turn to VDI for quick provisioning of desktops

2009-08-25T16:34:26Z

At AMD we continue to practice what we preach - VDI is a robust, hosted client solution, read more...

http://tinyurl.com/nkuron

AMD Theater at VMworld - check it....

2009-08-20T20:59:22Z

In the spirit of partnership, AMD is featuring a stellar line up of speakers in our theater at VMworld again this year -

Major ISV partners, leading techonologists, OEMs even key AMD customers will take the stage, because all is fair in love and virtualization...

Oh and we are giving away some killer ATI FirePro cards again too, come on by...

Check out our blog for more detail on speakers: http://tinyurl.com/mds2g2