Latest Release Adds Support for Intel 5500 and Six-core AMD Processors 
Oracle VM is server virtualization software that fully supports both Oracle and non-Oracle applications. The latest release is version 2.2, which features the latest Xen-based, industry-standard hypervisor, Xen 3.4, and provides performance enhancements for customers running Intel Xeon processor 5500 series, as well as six-core AMD Opteron processors.
Depends on the OS, Apparently
Curious about the impact of virtualization on benchmarking results? Jan Brosowski blogged in SAPonSun about testing two “half-box” virtual machines on the same box. He discovered a striking difference.
How Best to Configure a System with Memory
Learn how to configure and optimize Intel Xeon Processor 5500 and 3500 series systems in a Sun blog by John Nerl. He discusses the processors’ memory subsystem and population guidelines and explains how to optimize the processors for capacity, performance and power. This detailed technical entry demonstrates that users will need to determine what aspects of these processors’ offerings are best for their specific environment and configure accordingly.
Know Your Needs, Blogger Recommends, Then Choose the Processor
The IT atmosphere is clouding up and, as it does, administrators are going to have to address certain issues, among them, which is the most suitable processor for a particular use of cloud computing. Mr. Benchmark provides a few suggestions in this direction in his blog, “What processor will fuel your first private cloud: Intel Nehalem or AMD Istanbul?”
Quick Reference Guide for Developers
This quick reference guide is intended for developers interested in a briefing on what specific capabilities of Intel Xeon processor 5500 series systems can be optimized with the Solaris Operating System. The authors provide a short overview of the Sun and Intel collaboration, and briefly highlight technical descriptions of specific features and capabilities in the two companies’ technologies. It specifically covers intelligent performance, automated energy efficiency, reliability & availability and developer tools. Numerous record-setting benchmarks complete the 39-page PDF.
Sun Fire X4170, X4270 and X4275
Sun Fire X4170, X4270 and X4275 are part of Sun’s new family of servers based on the Intel Xeon 5500 series processors. These new servers are best suited for large enterprises as well as for sophisticated small and medium businesses (SMB).
A Mixed Review but One that Finds Positive Attributes
In his ITPro review of the Sun Fire X2270 Server, Dave Mitchell finds a Nehalem-based, powerful 1U rack server that offers some unusual storage features. It earned four out of a possible six stars with its hardware spec and value winning Mitchell’s praise, while its high operational noise level and thirst for power garnered criticism.
To Present Overview of Scalability, Performance Improvements
Sign up for MySQL 5.4 Benchmarks technical Webinar set to take place May 21 at 6 p.m. E.T./3 p.m. PT/22:00 UTC where presenters Allan Packer, principal engineer, and Jimmy Guerrero, senior product marketing manager, will discuss MySQL 5.4 Sysbench results on CMT and Nehalem systems, an OLTP workload derived from an industry-standard benchmark, and provide an overview of the scalability and performance improvements in this upcoming version of Sun’s open source database.
Short News Items of Interest for SysAdmins
Powerful Enough for Large-scale HPC/Grid Computing and Web Infrastructure Deployments
The Sun Fire X2270 is an x64 entry-level HPC server that is fast, expandable, and energy-efficient and runs Solaris, Linux, Windows and VMware operating systems. With Intel Xeon processor 5500 series, the Sun Fire X2270 server delivers 32-bit and 64-bit performance in rack-mountable 1RU form factor.
