CentOS released for ARM devices!

[drmike]

I know CentOS is the OS of choice for many web hosts and I assume some of them use it otherwise day to day.


CentOS has released a new version with ARM support:

We were only given access to the download links, and based on the name of the binary images, we can tell you that CentOS 7 Linux will now work on various AMv7 devices. However, pre-built binary images are available only for the popular Raspberry Pi 2, Banana Pi, and CubieTruck single-board computers (SBCs).

Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/centos-7-linux-officially-released-for-raspberry-pi-2-banana-pi-and-cubietruck-497891.shtml

 

[texteditor]

now all we need are actual ARM boards that aren't gimmicky cheap SoCs like the pi or cubieboards


for years people have been talking about ARM in the datacenter, ARM-based storage appliances, and we aren't seeing any of it.


it would be cool to build out inexpensive, scale-out storage on ARM someday

 

[drmike]

now all we need are actual ARM boards that aren't gimmicky cheap SoCs like the pi or cubieboards


for years people have been talking about ARM in the datacenter, ARM-based storage appliances, and we aren't seeing any of it.


it would be cool to build out inexpensive, scale-out storage on ARM someday

There are real ARM 64 bit boards out there that are many many core and with real backplanes.  Issue is you are buying a complete solution with such, the CPU, the server chasis, RAM, drives, all of it.   So the units aren't cheap whatsoever.   With that you get odd vendor lockin, not like IBM or HP or Dell or name that big company with network of support and warehoused parts regionally.  Probably not much DIY parts swap either.  So dealing with higher ownership cost than many generic box buyers are use to.


Bundle all that with what has a been a limited software stack, plenty still not available for ARM... and the lower performance so far on sheer wide open testing compared to big iron CPUs.


ARM is taking longer to arrive as a  serious contender in the DC.  Clearly isn't yet the time for it, but, it seems like we are getting closer for a lot of different usage cases.  I welcome it.  Using lowly ARM now all over with limited network and shared bus stuff... Stuff works, just not enterprise-like.

 

[wlanboy]

ARM is a wide range of cpu, soc and system designs.


ARM cores are used in PDAs and smartphones. Microsoft's first generation Surface and Surface 2, Apple's iPads, and Asus's Eee Pad Transformer tablets used ARMs. Others include Apple's iPhones and iPod, Canon PowerShot digital cameras, Nintendo DS handheld game consoles and TomTom navigation systems.


And all embedded and appliance stuff like Pogoplug, NAS, firewalls, netfilters, Voip gateways,...  

 

[willie]

for years people have been talking about ARM in the datacenter, ARM-based storage appliances, and we aren't seeing any of it.

I've been using Scaleway.com ARM servers for a while and they work pretty well.  You can't buy the hardware though.  And ARM storage appliances definitely do exist.  But ARM stuff currently competes only against the low end of x86 stuff.  At the high end, there's Power8, but it hasn't gotten that much traction.  I don't see what's so great about ARM anyway though.  It's a product, it fills a need, fine.  But ARM Holdings is not exactly a knight in shining armor saving us from the evil behemoth Intel.  AMD is sort of that, though shaky these days.  All the current ARM application processors have instruction sets you can only find out through an NDA, plus the on-chip GPU's (Mali etc) are also non-public.  With Intel stuff, at least the manuals are all online and public.

 

[TheLinuxBug]

I don't see what's so great about ARM anyway though.

Low power consumption, able to run at higher ambient heat than most standard chips, can be used in industrial use cases (you can actually order industrial versions which can sustain quite a vast range of operating temperatures)which means lower cooling costs and all adds up to lower cost of operation per core/server.  The reason scaleway can provide them at the cost they do is because of the density and the relatively low power consumption.  If you go and read,  there are 18 C1s per blade * 16 blades per rack mountable unit * 3 units per rack => 864 C1s/rack. (though they speculate up to 1000?).   So  it is much less expensive to run than standard blade servers running Intel or AMD gear, per core and power costs. 


 "Even if the actual density of C1 servers is 50% less than you'd achieve with a virtualised setup, the bang per buck will be far greater."


Cheers!

 

[drmike]

Definitely @TheLinuxBug the power envelope adds up.  Question is if they can plumb the rest of it to deal with the mass traffic / packets / etc.


Didn't Scaleway have multiple layer problems with their solution?  I saw their network appeared to perform very slowly.   Unclear if contention in the racks and switches or out to the net.  Considering they were doing disk across network, could be both.  Then again, maybe they racked dual network and split things to own switching fabrics.


I love their model and impossible not to like the pricing.   Just need more inventory and to take PayPal


This model of lowly ARM and MIPs boards as parallel processors in a 'cluster' has been done many times over in labs at Universities.  It was viable and competitive / even outperformed Intel per watt the better part of a decade ago.


Unsure if 2016 is going to be the year of ARM in the datacenter, but it's happening soon.  I keep pointing to the maturing software stack.  Once that stack fleshes out a bit more, yeah, I think it will be like the impact of ARM with tablets and phones and what it did to Intel/AMD on the desktop and eroded sales for them.

 

[DomainBop]

 At the high end, there's Power8, but it hasn't gotten that much traction.  

OVH decided not to offer Power8 cloud service after testing it on RunAbove.  Online.net is offering a Power8 dedicated for €1,599 /month (plus €1,500 setup https://www.online.net/en/dedicated-server/dedibox-power8 ) and they announced plans for a Power8 cloud offering in September ( http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/47681.wss )

for years people have been talking about ARM in the datacenter, ARM-based storage appliances, and we aren't seeing any of it.

This year was the year we began to see it in European datacenters and in the corporate sector.  The Scaleway (Online.net) cloud, Hetzner with a range of ARM servers, RunAbove (OVH) testing a 64-bit ARM cloud.  PayPal also announced it was deploying ARM servers earlier this year ( http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2015/04/29/paypal-deploys-arm-servers-in-data-centers/ )

 

[drmike]

Too expensive, but interesting PoS purchaseable:


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813190006&cm_re=NVIDIA_Jetson_TX1NVIDIA_Jetson_TX1-_-13-190-006-_-Product


4GB of RAM and real connects... including SATA.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_Cortex-A57

 

[drmike]

Looks like AMD is getting deep into ARM:


http://wccftech.com/amd-8-core-arm-cpu/

 

[RomaScala]

As per my knowledge ARM cores are used in PDAs and smartphones. Microsoft's first generation Surface and Surface 2, Apple's iPads, and Asus's Eee Pad Transformer tablets used ARMs. Others include Apple's iPhones and iPod, Canon PowerShot digital cameras, Nintendo DS handheld game consoles and TomTom navigation systems.

 

[ZenithHosting]

That got me excited

 

[raj]

ARM is a wide range of cpu, soc and system designs.


ARM cores are used in PDAs and smartphones. Microsoft's first generation Surface and Surface 2, Apple's iPads, and Asus's Eee Pad Transformer tablets used ARMs. Others include Apple's iPhones and iPod, Canon PowerShot digital cameras, Nintendo DS handheld game consoles and TomTom navigation systems.


And all embedded and appliance stuff like Pogoplug, NAS, firewalls, netfilters, Voip gateways,...  

As per my knowledge ARM cores are used in PDAs and smartphones. Microsoft's first generation Surface and Surface 2, Apple's iPads, and Asus's Eee Pad Transformer tablets used ARMs. Others include Apple's iPhones and iPod, Canon PowerShot digital cameras, Nintendo DS handheld game consoles and TomTom navigation systems.

Over 3 months apart....