New AMD64 barebone server for virtualization

I just build a new barebone machine for playing with a lot of virtualization technologies on Linux, preferablely on a fresh install Debian r4.0 Etch. In the coming weeks and months, I will document my experience on the following virtualization technologies that I am going to playing around:

• UML - User-mode-Linux
• KVM - Kernel-based Virtual Machine for Linux
• Xen
• VServer
• qemu for ARM

I have been using UML for years. It has been providing complete isolated environments for building Voyage Linux and kernel on daily basis. However, UML is rather slow. These years, we have been seeing VServer, Xen as well as virtual machine support in kernel (KVM). In addition, I would like to explore the ARM emulation under QEMU. My final goal is to setup a guest ARM emulation system for porting Voyage Linux on ARM platforms.

The new server is built from a Asus P1-AH2 barebone chassis with the following configurations:

• Chassis : Asus P1-AH2
• Processor : AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ (65nm 2.3GHz DD)
• RAM : 2 x 1GB Kingston DDR2-667
• HD : WD250YS 250GB (SATA-II 16MB cache 7200rpm)

There is also a ASUS 1814BL DVD-Writer, but it was only used for Debian installation.

I chose barebone instead of a full ATX/mATX because I already have a full ATX server that is now serving punknix.com and voyage.hk and generates too much noise in my room. My plan is to migrate punknix.com to this new barebone and rebuild the existing one into a RAID-5 NAS, and make it less noisy.

This barebone costs HKD 3,300 in total. There is another Asus barebone P2-P5945G which supports Intel Core 2 Duo. With a new E6320 and it costs HKD 800 more in total. The major reason I chose AMD Athlon 64X2 is that it supports AMD-V (a.k.a. Pacifica), which is essential to speed up virtualization in KVM and Xen. With Intel, the cheapest processor with virtualization support is E6X00 series, while the cheaper E4X00 removed the virtualization support.

However, using the barebone as a server I have some limitations: the extension capability and power restriction. That's why I installed A64X2 4400+ but not 4800+. I can only plug two more PCI cards but should also aware of the PSU power limit. It is just 250W! Actually I was planning to plug a quad-LAN/Hub card and a wireless LAN card. If I am going to setup PBX with asterisk I will be run out of PCI slot. To reduce power consumption in the barebone I decided to remove the DVD-Writer after Debian Etch is installed.

One more upset point for this Asus barebone is that I cannot run the memory with full DDR2-667 speed. Otherwise, the whole system will hang at one point. For example, when I started the Debian Etch installation using a netinst CD, it always hang after kernel was loaded. After all, "crc error" is reported and "System halt" was shown. This was very frustrated. Tracing the problem I found two possible solutions: 1) Using one RAM slot so you run with a single channel; or 2) reduce the RAM Clock to 533. Running single channel of course is not a wise choice as it also reduces the memory to 1GB and single channel is slower. So, I decided to give out the memory speed. Although this is not very nice, this is the only option for stability. Now, it is forced to run at DDR2-533 and proved to be stable for completing Debian installation.

Stay tuned for my virtualization experience in the article section.