Performance of BOINC Linux client with virtualization

Message boards : Number crunching : Performance of BOINC Linux client with virtualization

Author	Message
Nautilus Send message Joined: 19 Jun 06 Posts: 44 Credit: 657,257 RAC: 0	Message 1306099 - Posted: 14 Nov 2012, 14:43:45 UTC Last modified: 14 Nov 2012, 14:49:21 UTC
	I'm running the Windows client on 64bit Windows7. But the Lunatics optimized apps are not available due to licensing issues and that causes me some loss of credits. Seeing the Linux version of lunatics is still available, the thought came to my mind whether I can run the Linux client + lunatics apps via a virtualization software (such as virtual box) and get more performance out of it... Is this possible? ____________
	ID: 1306099 ·

Terror Australis Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 14 Feb 04 Posts: 1415 Credit: 181,084,249 RAC: 159,252	Message 1306108 - Posted: 14 Nov 2012, 15:28:42 UTC - in response to Message 1306099.
	I'm running the Windows client on 64bit Windows7. But the Lunatics optimized apps are not available due to licensing issues and that causes me some loss of credits. Seeing the Linux version of lunatics is still available, the thought came to my mind whether I can run the Linux client + lunatics apps via a virtualization software (such as virtual box) and get more performance out of it... Is this possible? I tried running a virtual Linux box at one time as the Linux CPU apps at one time were faster than the Windows versions. However the extra overhead of the VM made it slower overall. You can't run CUDA on a VM as the OS needs direct access to the GPU's. A while ago I did some serious experimenting with Linux vs Windows crunchers. I found the Linux GPU apps work well enough, but use more CPU than the Windows versions plus Linux does not seem to handle a busy PCIE bus as well as Windows. A point to consider if you are using more than 2 GPU's Taking all the above into account, if you make your machine "dual boot" and run a full on Linux cruncher, This is still faster than the stock Windows app. T.A.
	ID: 1306108 ·

Spencer Send message Joined: 18 Mar 00 Posts: 6 Credit: 2,514,987 RAC: 125	Message 1306497 - Posted: 15 Nov 2012, 18:27:28 UTC Last modified: 15 Nov 2012, 18:30:06 UTC
	I tried running a few tests on an Apple Xserve octo core (dual Xeon E5520), using a minimal ubuntu install, versus a Windows7 install, these installs being VMs inside ESXi. For each test, only one VM was turned on, with all 16 threads and all 32GB RAM allotted to the VM. There was little loss noted, especially if you just simply compare the CPU benchmark tests that BOINC runs. I'm currently testing similar on a Dell R815 (dual Opteron 6128) running ESXi. Noted very little loss. Except surprisingly the Opteron pales in comparison to the Xeon!
	ID: 1306497 ·

Message boards : Number crunching : Performance of BOINC Linux client with virtualization