[BlueOnyx:12392] BlueOnyx on alternative platforms

[Chris Gebhardt - VIRTBIZ Internet]

On 3/5/2013 9:04 AM, Jeff Rhys-Jones wrote:
> If you heard a distant 'boooo!' that was just me learning the very sad news that there will never be an ARM port of BX.
>
> If I ever win the lottery, I'm going to visit Michael with a suitcase of money specifically for BX on ARM.
>
> With my ear to his development studio door, listening for signs of progress - I suspect I would hear alternate screams, laughs, screams.
>
> Would be well worth it IMHO!

The really lovely thing about an OpenSource project is that if somebody 
wants something badly enough, it's possible to get involved with the 
project and make something happen rather than forever being stuck with 
only what the vendor will release.

As for platforms other than i386 or x86_64, the fact of the matter is 
there just isn't enough of it out there to really warrant the resources 
necessary to make it happen.

ARM architecture rocks, and as a datacenter owner, I look forward to the 
day when more stuff moves that direction.  Have you heard about  The 
electric and cooling requirements for some of the gear that is rumoured 
to be in the works is roughly half the equivalent x86 gear.  Electricity 
is our number one cost, and it would be fantastic to be able to devote 
those resources elsewhere.

The trouble, for now at least, is that the niche is so small.  Think 
about the number of BlueOnyx users that are out there.  Sure there are a 
lot of us but in the grand scheme, we're a drop in the bucket.  Now 
consider how many of the BlueOnyx users would really and honestly get 
excited enough about an ARM port to ditch their current gear and invest 
in new stuff.  I mean, as cool as having 4 CPU cores, drive controller 
and up to 10GigE Ethernet all on a single stamping sounds, how many 
small operators (the core of BlueOnyx's base) will be in favor of 
casting off their commodity hardware when the real-world benefits to 
them will be minimal?

It's not that I don't support the concept, but in terms of 
prioritization, there are other things that are well ahead in line when 
considering how BlueOnyx can continue to evolve, improve and pick up 
additional user-base.

But yeah, when we start spending our suitcases of money on alternate 
platform development, I've got a couple I'll enjoy exploring.  One of 
them is DEC Alpha.  We've got a massive Alpha running in a corner of the 
DAL1 datacenter that will be finally coming out of production next year. 
  It predates my involvement in the business and my understanding is it 
first went online in 1992.  The thing has not been rebooted in 4 years. 
  It sits there on its own dedicated 3-phase 208V power, along-side its 
drive array cabinet.  There is an entire 42U cabinet loaded with drive 
shelves and PDU that consumes about 60amps of 208 single-phase.  All 
those drives come together to make a 1TB volume.  Yes, you read 
correctly.   In terms of stability, reliability, and bullet-proof, I 
haven't personally seen anything that comes close, although I've heard 
many stories.  I've been on console with it a handful of times and AIX 
looks neat, but it's kind of like an American trying to understand 
Welsh.  It's kind of similar, just different enough to be confusing.   I 
can't wait to play with it.  :)   BlueOnyx would be fun on it.

-- 
Chris Gebhardt
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