AMD64 Redux: Sun 40Z on fire!

A few months ago I blogged about [AMD64/Linux 64 bit|JDK1.5 beta 64 bit](https://gregluck.com/blog/archives/2004/07/amd64_jdk150_an_1.html).
The project I am on has purchased four servers. The servers are Sun [40Z](http://www.sun.com/servers/entry/v40z/index.xml)s which consist of 4 AMD64 Opteron cpus. Fedora Core 2 64 bit and installs fine on them, as it should, because Redhat AS3 is supported and available pre-installed.
Extreme Performance
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Running our application-specific benchmark, on the Sun 40Z we got 2700 JSP pages per second compared with 900 per second on the Quad Xeon 32 bit machines. That is 3 times the Xeon performance. On another benchmark we got 4,500 JSP pages per second!
Sun Microsystems Reborn
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The client I am working at has been a loyal Compaq then HP user. However the Sun 40Z has recorded the some record [benchmarks](http://www.sun.com/servers/entry/v40z/benchmarks.html) which got the client interested. These benchmarks have been born out by our own application specific benchmark results.
I think Sun’s partnership with AMD is a great idea. The JDK 1.5.0 for AMD64 seems very fast and very stable. (We are running a week long stability stress test as I write). I think Ultra Sparc is washed up from a price-performance point of view. But AMD Opteron is 64 bit as well and rocks! I hope this leads to a rebirth of Sun.
I am also happy to finally be able to recommend some Sun hardware on price-performance alone.
JBenchmark
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So how do you reliably record performance of 4,500 pages per seconds? Not with JMeter, which will fall over after 100. With [jbenchmakr](jbenchmark.sf.net), a performance tool we rolled on our project, and one which is still a little raw, but which can reliably measure extreme performance.
ehcache
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So how do you do 4,500 JSPs per second? Well, with [ehcache](http://ehcache.sf.net), a high performance Java cache. I will be adding the JSP page filters to the project shortly, which use the BlockingCache constructs already there.

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Categorized as Java

By Greg Luck

As Terracotta’s CTO, Greg (@gregrluck) is entrusted with understanding market and technology forces and the business drivers that impact Terracotta’s product innovation and customer success. He helps shape company and technology strategy and designs many of the features in Terracotta’s products. Greg came to Terracotta on the acquisition of the popular caching project Ehcache which he founded in 2003. Prior to joining Terracotta, Greg served as Chief Architect at Australian online travel giant Wotif.com. He also served as a lead consultant for ThoughtWorks on accounts in the United States and Australia, was CIO at Virgin Blue, Tempo Services, Stamford Hotels and Resorts and Australian Resorts and spent seven years as a Chartered Accountant in KPMG’s small business and insolvency divisions. He is a regular speaker at conferences and contributor of articles to the technical press.