Hi Rob,
> I need some pretty basic advice on building a new box specifically for the
> purposes of virtualisation (running about 3 servers). My current Sempron
> 3200+ with 2Gb of RAM isn't cutting it.
What are you trying to do? What are you doing with your VMs? What
virtualisation technology are you using? In what way is the current
setup unsatisfactory?
> So, without the funds to go really
> top end, I'm going for the fastest CPU I can afford and give it plenty of
> RAM. Q1 - is this a good strategy for virtualisation?
Depends what you want to do. If, for example, you need a dedicated
core per vm, then no. If, for example, your vms need more memory,
yes. Incidentally, is there a reason why you can't simply buy more
RAM?
> Q2 Do I have to run a 64-bit kernel to address all 6Gb (if I go for that
> much) RAM?
This is a tremendously FAQ. The short answer is no, but you probably
should. The detail of how Linux memory management works,
specificially with respect to getting 32 bit systems to address large
amounts of memory is here:
http://kerneltrap.org/node/2450/7217
S.
