Before reading any further, please observe the center of the image below very, very closely for approximately 45-60 seconds. Empty your mind. Relax. Turn the waterfall soundtrack on, too. Do it now.
Well done. Please repeat:
I will not split a single 8 core machine into two 4 core boxes.
I will not split a single 8 core machine into two 4 core boxes.
No matter what they say to me, I will not split a single 8 core machine into two 4 core boxes.
I feel like sending Russell fifty bucks
I will not split a single 8 core machine into two 4 core boxes.
Now, think about splitting up a happy, loving 8-core family and sending half to live in some cold dark place. If you do not feel a general sense of disquiet, sadness, and perhaps even a little bit of disgust, return to the top of this page and try again. Repeat as necessary. Especially that 4th line.
What about 16 into 2 8’s?
Oh sure, that’s fine.
Typically folks who want to split an 8 core do so because they want HIgh Availability (and therefore they need more machines — “Lets split the 8 core”) . These folks don’t really understand that 8 cores is not really a “big” server to begin with and you don’t want to subdivide it any more. They also may not really *need* HA – they just want it because that’s what the “big boys” do. However, if you’re not really in a mission critical situation, HA for HA’s sake doesn’t make tons of sense – you add additional complexity to your solution for a questionable payoff. If you go here (https://vts.inxpo.com/scripts/Server.nxp?LASCmd=AI:4;F:QS!10100&ShowKey=27270) you should watch the On Demand session “Tableau Server and AWS EC2: Like Chocolate and Peanut Butter” under the IT track. A buddy and I actually tested what happens when you take X cores of Tableau and set them up different ways: 2 x 4 core boxes vs. 1 x 8 core box, or maybe 2 x 8 core boxes vs. 1 x 16 core box, etc. 4 Core machines just don’t stand up. It’s pretty interesting stuff.
Depending on your workload, you may find that 2 x 8 is actually slightly better for you (or slightly worse). We get into that stuff in the session above. The beauty of all this is with TabJolt (which we used to do the testing) you can actually figure out what’s right for you with a pretty low investment of your time….
Have fun!
I feel Tableau coming out in droves to drive this sentiment as a message to leadership to not go down this dangerous path. When having redundancy and HA is a requirement and you only have 8-cores there’s not a lot of options other than to split. Yes, you leave yourself open to painful nights, but until performance is so dire in which organizations are forced/persuaded into upgrading their cores… it’s just a frustrating road.
Love the way you get the message out!
What about splitting an 8-core between four two-core machines? I have some old laptops lying around…
Only if they run Linux.
I love your blogs!!!
Now I just need to know how to send you fifty bucks!