Dual Xeon CPU Support...

RouterOS General
1

Hello,

Has anyone loaded MikroTik OS onto a Dual Xeon Server motherboard? I’m looking for a router that will handle PCI-x GB network interface cards and most motherboards with PCI-x slots are configured for dual Xeon processors.

Will MikroTik make use of two CPUs? Will MikroTik even run with dual CPUs?

Is there a limit as to how much bandwidth the MikroTik OS can handle or is it only hardware limited?

Thanks,

Brad Belton

2

I think I remember reading somewhere that the second CPU will be ignored. You could save yourself a bunch of money and get an Opteron-based motherboard. Especially since Xeons are quite slow (compared to their desktop counterparts, wheras the Opterons are right up there performance-wise).

As for bandwidth, it seems as though Mikrotik scales fairly well, but I haven’t tried it at gigabit speeds yet.

3

no! see: http://www.mikrotik.com/docs/ros/2.8/guide/specs.content
(we have an older p3 dual cpu running the MROS, but this might be working by chance)

Is there a limit as to how much bandwidth the MikroTik OS can handle or is it only hardware limited?

there are lots of threads about bandwidth in the forum. (haven’t seen a gbit/s condition, though)
it depends much from the application.

matthias

4

no software limit. a few gigabits throughput has been seen in tests.

5

Thanks for everyone’s replies.

I’ll look into the Opteron-based motherboards and see what I find.

Hello Normis!

Thanks again for the Intel six PCI slot motherboard feedback. I bought one and as far as I can tell it works like a champ. It’s currently configured with two RB44’s and two single port NICs.

What hardware was used on the GB speed tests?

Best,

Brad Belton

6

Intel server board with Intel Xeon processor.