From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 31 09:32:30 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9A23B16A45F for ; Wed, 31 May 2006 09:32:30 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from a@jenisch.at) Received: from srvdmz13.oekb.co.at (srvdmz13.oekb.co.at [143.245.5.103]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7C70643D4C for ; Wed, 31 May 2006 09:32:27 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from a@jenisch.at) X-SEF-Processed: 5_0_0_910__2006_05_31_11_32_25 X-SEF-EB89CDFD-460A-478E-BCAC-B017B9EC121B: 1 Received: from Unknown [143.245.2.187] by srvdmz13.oekb.co.at - SurfControl E-mail Filter (5.2.0); Mi, 31 Mai 2006 11:32:25 +0200 Received: from aurora.oekb.co.at ([143.245.9.16]) by MAIL1.oekb.co.at with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.2499); Wed, 31 May 2006 11:32:25 +0200 Received: from aurora.oekb.co.at (localhost.oekb.co.at [127.0.0.1]) by aurora.oekb.co.at (8.13.6/8.13.6) with ESMTP id k4V9WPvR002565; Wed, 31 May 2006 11:32:25 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from a@jenisch.at) Received: (from ej@localhost) by aurora.oekb.co.at (8.13.6/8.13.6/Submit) id k4V9WOuJ002564; Wed, 31 May 2006 11:32:24 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from a@jenisch.at) X-Authentication-Warning: aurora.oekb.co.at: ej set sender to a@jenisch.at using -f Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 11:32:24 +0200 From: Ewald Jenisch To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org Message-ID: <20060531093224.GA2508@aurora.oekb.co.at> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.1i X-OriginalArrivalTime: 31 May 2006 09:32:25.0663 (UTC) FILETIME=[207C04F0:01C68495] Cc: Subject: Selecting CPU/architecture for new system? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 09:32:34 -0000 Hi, I'm currently in the process of selecting hardware for a FreeBSD system having the main task of collecting network statistics via MRTG or RRDtool. In addition the machine in question should be used to collect netflow statistics plus providing a web-interface for displaying them. To give you an impression about the workload to be expected: Currently the system is a dual Xeon machine with 3GHz-CPUs reaching work loads (top) of 7 to 9. Disk-IO btw is not the problem. For the new system I thought about a 4-CPU machine, 4GB RAM - with either 32- or 64-bit architecture. Here are my questions: o) Should I stick with a 32-bit architecture (i386) or go for any of the 64-architectures? o) Is FreeBSD 6.1 considered equally stable under the i386 architecture as under any of the 64bit architectures? o) Are SMP-systems with 4 CPUs supported in i386? o) Are SMP-systems with 4 CPU supported in any of the 64-bit architectures? o) Anything else to consider in this context? Thanks much in advance for any clue, -ewald