Solaris 10 64bit for Intel's EMT64 Technology?
I've read about SUN's support for AMD's 64 bit technology and the recently release commercial Server Platforms.
Does anyone know IF SUN's Solaris 10 release is available in 64bit aware flavor for Intels' EM64T XEON processors?
I also read the Solaris 10 Specs on SUN's site (http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/specs.html) and it states that EM64T is a "Supported Platform", but that's about it. Any further elaboration would be appreciated.
I look forward to your responses.
Thanks,
ieeecons
[544 byte] By [
ieeecom] at [2007-11-26 0:43:44]
# 1
It should be -- I believe EMT64 is just the name given to its implementation of the 64-bit extensions to the x86 instruction set that AMD created
# 2
Yes -- I agree, all the literature points to Solaris 10 64 bit support but is there any formal documentation providing specifics?
Also, AFAICT: the available version of Solaris 10 (FREE) is only 32 bit, does a 64 bit flavor of the public Solaris 10 release exist? If so, does anyone know where to download for testing on the Intel and/or AMD ChipSets?
Thanks,
ieeecom
# 3
Software Express 11/04 (Beta 72) runs in 64 bit mode on the opteron. My V20z shows the following:
root[leon:/]# uname -a
SunOS leon 5.10 s10_72 i86pc i386 i86pc
root[leon:/]# isainfo -v
64-bit amd64 applications
sse2 sse fxsr amd_3dnowx amd_3dnow amd_mmx mmx cmov amd_sysc cx8 tsc fpu
32-bit i386 applications
sse2 sse fxsr amd_3dnowx amd_3dnow amd_mmx mmx cmov amd_sysc cx8 tsc fpu
root[leon:/usr/sbin]# file /usr/lib/64/libc.so.1
/usr/lib/64/libc.so.1: ELF 64-bit LSB dynamic lib AMD64 Version 1, dynamically linked, not stripped, no debugging information available
# 4
Okay -- yep -- I know that Solaris 10 (express) is 64 bit capable on AMD Opteron. What about Intel EM64T Xeon's (3.4ghz or better)?ieeecom
# 5
Fom SUN's website:
Improved Service and Application Performance
Sun continues to invest in technologies that improve the performance for applications and network services. With support for SSE/SSE2 on Intel Xeon and AMD Opteron systems, compiler optimizations, and Solaris 10 innovations like Dynamic Tracing (DTrace) and a new high performance TCP/IP stack, Sun provides solutions that help businesses run at top speed.
http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/10/ds/solaris10x86.jsp
# 6
Is'nt there anybody from SUN who can answer this simple question? I also need to know if my EM64T Pentium chip will run 64bit Solaris 10?Build 72 only mentions AMD Opteron support. How about other 64-bit capable chips like Athlon 64, FX and Intel EM64T's?
Igme at 2007-7-5 19:39:24 >
# 7
> Is'nt there anybody from SUN who can answer this
> simple question? I also need to know if my EM64T
> Pentium chip will run 64bit Solaris 10?
>
> Build 72 only mentions AMD Opteron support. How about
> other 64-bit capable chips like Athlon 64, FX and
> Intel EM64T's?
Yes, it runs on Athlon 64 and Atlhon FX.
Yes, it should run on EM64T. If it doesn't right now, it will likely do so with a light patch from Sun. Best thing to do is sign up for Express (it's free), download the CD's and try it out, assuming you already possess an EM64T machine. EM64T is just Intel's repackaging of the AMD64 instruction set, so there is no reason why it shouldn't work.
The only issue would be if Solaris properly enables the 64-bit kernel when running on a Xeon64 chip, though this would be a simple patch from Sun to fix, as I said.
Dylan
# 8
According to this message, Solaris 10 x86 64-bit runs on EM64T: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/solarisx86/message/17887
# 9
Go to http://docs.sun.com/ and read document 817-0552 in the Solaris 10 docs area. It is the Beta 7 Release Notes.
On page 9 "Preface", there is the following paragraph, quoted in full:
Note -- This Solaris release supports systems that use the SPARCtm and x86 families of processor architectures: UltraSPARC(R), SPARC64, AMD64, Pentium, and Xeon EM64T. The supported systems appear in the Solaris 10 Hardware Compatibility List at http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/hcl. This document cites any implementation differences between the platform types.
# 10
Not sure about the Pentium EM64T compatibility (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EM64T ) but it runs great on my dual-Xeon EM64T box, a Dell SC1425. And as you probably know, the EM64T is not a true 64-bit processor, but has extensions that allow it to access >4GB memory.
There's also an entry in the Solaris HCL for the Dell SC1425 server.
> uname -a
SunOS fluxnew 5.10 Generic i86pc i386 i86pc
> psrinfo -v
Status of virtual processor 0 as of: 06/15/2005 15:05:53
on-line since 03/25/2005 20:45:36.
The i386 processor operates at 2800 MHz,
and has an i387 compatible floating point processor.
Status of virtual processor 1 as of: 06/15/2005 15:05:53
on-line since 03/25/2005 20:45:42.
The i386 processor operates at 2800 MHz,
and has an i387 compatible floating point processor.
Status of virtual processor 2 as of: 06/15/2005 15:05:53
on-line since 03/25/2005 20:45:44.
The i386 processor operates at 2800 MHz,
and has an i387 compatible floating point processor.
Status of virtual processor 3 as of: 06/15/2005 15:05:53
on-line since 03/25/2005 20:45:47.
The i386 processor operates at 2800 MHz,
and has an i387 compatible floating point processor.
> prtconf -v
i86pc
System properties:
[snip]
name='whoami' type=string items=1
value='/platform/i86pc/kernel/amd64/unix'
and prtconf -x gives a 0 result code, no output. so in theory it's running the real 64bit Solaris :-)
mbw23 at 2007-7-5 19:39:24 >
# 11
I have tried running Solaris 10 on a SuperMicro machine with a Xeon64, and it only booted in 32bit mode. The same CD installed on a Tyan Opteron machine in 64bit mode.IMHO EMT64 is not supported in 64Bit mode on Solaris 10 x86Andrew
# 12
> I have tried running Solaris 10 on a SuperMicro
> machine with a Xeon64, and it only booted in 32bit
> mode.
Did you just boot from the CD#1, or did you boot a
Solaris 10 x86 what was installed to the SuperMicro's HDD?
The Solaris kernel on the install CD#1 is 32-bit only.
But the Solaris 10 x86 installed to the HDD should contain both 32-
and 64-bit modules.
# 13
I installed from CD1 and then booted from the installed version on the internal HD. Exactly the same procedure as used for the Opteron machine. The opteron ran in 64bit mode, the EMT64 machine in 32bit modeAndrew
