AMD EPYC NAPLES VS ROME AND VSPHERE CPU SCHEDULER UPDATES
Recently AMD announced the 2nd generation of the AMD EPYC CPU architecture, the EPYC 7002 series. Most refer to the new CPU architecture using its internal codename Rome. When AMD introduced the 1st generation EPYC (Naples), they succeeded in setting a new record of core count and memory capacity per socket. However, due to the CPU multi-chip-module (MCM) architecture, it is not an apples-to-apples comparison when compared to an Intel Xeon architecture. As each chip module contains a memory controller, each module presents a standalone NUMA domain. This impacts OS scheduling decisions and, thus, virtual machine sizing. A detailed look can be found here in English or here translated by Grigory Pryalukhin in Russian. Rome is different, the new CPU architecture is more aligned with the single NUMA per Socket paradigm, and this helps with obtaining workload performance consistency. There are some differences between Xeons and Rome. In addition, we made some adjustments to the CPU scheduler to deal with this new architecture. Let’s take a closer look at the difference between Naples and Rome.
60 MINUTES OF NUMA VMWORLD SESSION COMMANDS
Verify Distribution of Memory Modules with PowerCLI Get-CimInstance -CimSession $Session CIM_PhysicalMemory | select BankLabel, Description, @{n=‘Capacity in GB';e={$_.Capacity/1GB}} PowerCLI Script to Detect Node Interleaving Get-VMhost | select @{Name="Host Name";Expression={$_.Name}}, @{Name="CPU Sockets";Expression={$_.ExtensionData.Hardware.CpuInfo.NumCpuPackages}}, @{Name="NUMA Nodes";Expression={$_.ExtensionData.Hardware.NumaInfo.NumNodes}} Action-Affinity Monitoring Sched-Stats -t numa-migration Disable Action Affinity numa.LocalityWeightActionAffinity = 0 numa.PreferHT For more information on how to enable PreferHT: KB article 2003582 Host Setting: numa.PreferHT=1 VM Setting: numa.vcpu.PreferHT = TRUE
5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT PROJECT PACIFIC
During the keynote of the first day of VMworld 2019, Pat unveiled Project Pacific. In short, project Pacific transforms vSphere into a unified application platform. By deeply integrating Kubernetes into the vSphere platform, developers can deploy and operate their applications through a well-known control plane. Additionally, containers are now first-class citizens enjoying all the operations generally available to virtual machines. Although it might seem that the acquisition of Heptio and Pivotal kickstarted project Pacific, VMware has been working on project Pacific for nearly three years! Jared Rosoff, the initiator or the project and overall product manager, told me that over 200 engineers are involved as it affects almost every component of the vSphere platform.
VMWORLD US 2019 - KNOW BEFORE YOU GO PODCAST
Last week I had the pleasure of connecting again with my friends and colleagues Pete Flecha, Duncan Epping and amateur back up dancer to Pat Benatar, Mr. Ken Werneburg. During the podcast, we discussed the upcoming VMworld. As it is returning to San Francisco, it might be interesting to revisit your conference strategy. Although Moscone Center has been rebuilt and expanded, I believe we are still using all three buildings; North, South, and West (Located at Howard and 3rd). So take at least a jacket with you, SF Summers can be treacherous
ALLEN, MCKEOWN, AND KONDO
The title is a reference to one of the most interesting books I have ever read, Escher, Godel, and Bach. Someone described it as, “Read this book if you like to think about thinking, as well as to think about thinking about thinking”. The three books I want to share my thoughts on are in a sense feeding and shaping the behavior that allows you to clear your mind and focus more on the task at hand.
VMWARE CLOUD ON AWS ON VIRTUALLY SPEAKING PODCAST
Last week I had the pleasure of connecting again with my friends and colleagues Pete Flecha a.k.a PedroArrow and eternal sunshine John Nicholson. During the podcast, we discussed the road to Hybrid cloud, cloud mobility, multi-cloud operations, and the necessity of replatforming apps or not. It’s always fun hanging out with these guys especially when talking about cool things. Hope you enjoy the show as much as I did.
AMD EPYC AND VSPHERE VNUMA
AMD is gaining popularity in the server market with the EPYC CPU platform. The EPYC CPU platform provides a high core count and a large memory capacity. If you are familiar with previous AMD generations, you know AMD’s method of operation is different than Intel’s. For reference, take a look at the article I wrote in 2011 about the 12-core 6100 Opteron code name Magny-Cours. EPYC provides an increase of scale but builds on the previously introduced principles. Let’s review the EPYC architecture and see how it can impact your VM sizing and ESXi configuration. (Please note that this article is NOT intended as a good/bad comparison between AMD and Intel, I’m just describing the architectural differences).
KUBERNETES, SWAP AND THE VMWARE BALLOON DRIVER
Kubernetes requires to disable the swap file at the OS level. As stated in the 1.8 release changelog: The kubelet now fails if swap is enabled on a node. Why disable swap? Turning off swap doesn’t mean you are unable to create memory pressure. Why disable such a benevolent tool? Disable swap doesn’t make any sense if you look at it from a single workload, single system perspective. However, Kubernetes is a distributed system that is designed to operate at scale. When running a large number of containers on a vast fleet of machines, you want predictability and consistency. Disabling swap is the right approach. It’s better to kill a single container than to have multiple containers run on a machine at unpredictable, probably slow, rate.
FREE VSPHERE CLUSTERING DEEP DIVE BOOK AT VMWORLD EUROPE
Last year Rubrik gave away hard copies of the vSphere Host Deep Dive book, this year they are doing it again with the vSphere 6.7 Clustering Deep Dive Book. Come by the Rubrik Booth #P305 on Tuesday from 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM to get a signed, complimentary copy of vSphere 6.7 Clustering Deep Dive and meet the authors. Last year we gave away a thousand copies and were gone within an hour. As most of you can remember, the line was insane. This year we have a similar amount, so make sure you’re on time.
KUBERNETES AT VMWORLD EUROPE
With only a few days left until VMworld Europe 2018 kicks off in Barcelona, I would like to highlight some of the many Kubernetes focussed sessions. I’ve selected a bunch of breakout sessions and meet the expert sessions based on my exposure to them at VMworld US or the quality of the speaker. The content catalog has marked some sessions as “at capacity”, but experience thought us that there are always a couple of no-shows. Plans change during VMworld. People register for a session they would like to attend but get pulled in an interesting conversation along the way. Or sometimes you suffer from information overload and want to catch a breather. In many cases, spots open at sold-out sessions and therefore it’s always recommended to walk up to sold out sessions and try your luck.