Comments on: Oh whatta day: the fisking http://scalability.org/?p=362 not so random musings and mutterings about high performance computing Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:40:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Joe http://scalability.org/?p=362&cpage=1#comment-13859 Joe Thu, 02 Aug 2007 02:50:15 +0000 http://scalability.org/?p=362#comment-13859 Stu Jackson, at Penguin now (I think) used to run something like 4000 processors for Incyte before they pulled out of the business. He had a team of 2 people, and they did software development as well. It was a pretty cool setup. I haven't seen hard/fast rules of thumb, but typically we see 100-1000 systems per linux sysadmin. Once the administrative stuff is set up (usually well automated), the rest of the maintenance should be simple. Setting up the administrative bits is generally not hard either. I don't know of the windows rules of thumb, but in discussions with a number of admins it was quite a bit less than 100 systems per admin. The sense I get is that the people saying it is hard either haven't tried it, or don't really know, and are repeating what they have heard from others. Could also be people thinking that they want to avoid new things. I don't know for sure. I do know that while there are many windows admins around, there are also many (and growing in number) linux admins around. That is, the FUD masqquerading as a statement of fact that "everyone knows how to administer windows machines, and linux people are hard to find" is simply not true. I do know a number of hardcore windows users whom have installed packages like Kubuntu on their laptops, without incident, and are happily using them. Stu Jackson, at Penguin now (I think) used to run something like 4000 processors for Incyte before they pulled out of the business. He had a team of 2 people, and they did software development as well. It was a pretty cool setup.

I haven’t seen hard/fast rules of thumb, but typically we see 100-1000 systems per linux sysadmin. Once the administrative stuff is set up (usually well automated), the rest of the maintenance should be simple. Setting up the administrative bits is generally not hard either. I don’t know of the windows rules of thumb, but in discussions with a number of admins it was quite a bit less than 100 systems per admin.

The sense I get is that the people saying it is hard either haven’t tried it, or don’t really know, and are repeating what they have heard from others. Could also be people thinking that they want to avoid new things. I don’t know for sure.

I do know that while there are many windows admins around, there are also many (and growing in number) linux admins around. That is, the FUD masqquerading as a statement of fact that “everyone knows how to administer windows machines, and linux people are hard to find” is simply not true.

I do know a number of hardcore windows users whom have installed packages like Kubuntu on their laptops, without incident, and are happily using them.

]]> By: Jeff N http://scalability.org/?p=362&cpage=1#comment-13856 Jeff N Thu, 02 Aug 2007 01:32:44 +0000 http://scalability.org/?p=362#comment-13856 We run a huge distributed HPC data center with several 128+ node clusters with specialized cluster interconnects, and do it with a staff of 2. The 2 also handle HPC support so it is not just sys admin work all day. ANyone who says you need a fleet of people to run several thousand Linux servers is lying, incompetent, or both. We run a huge distributed HPC data center with several 128+ node clusters with specialized cluster interconnects, and do it with a staff of 2. The 2 also handle HPC support so it is not just sys admin work all day. ANyone who says you need a fleet of people to run several thousand Linux servers is lying, incompetent, or both.

]]> By: Dan Ciruli http://scalability.org/?p=362&cpage=1#comment-13700 Dan Ciruli Mon, 23 Jul 2007 17:09:29 +0000 http://scalability.org/?p=362#comment-13700 I'm sorry about my "Upper Peninsula" joke, Joe. I was attempting to make a joke (and take into account your state of residence, where I used to live as well). If it came across as an ad hominem attack, I failed in my attempt and I apologize. I’m sorry about my “Upper Peninsula” joke, Joe. I was attempting to make a joke (and take into account your state of residence, where I used to live as well). If it came across as an ad hominem attack, I failed in my attempt and I apologize.

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