I really doubt anyone actually reads this blog. But just in case, don't forget to register your systems at: https://inventory.sun.com/inventory/

Want to get an idea of the CPU used by a job? Try the prstat command:

#!/bin/ksh
prstat 20 20 > prstat.out &
java Example

Looking for the Java process in this example:

  7956 user0103  203M   13M cpu0     0    0   0:00:20  30% java/12
  7956 user0103  203M   13M cpu1     0    0   0:00:40  42% java/12
  7956 user0103  203M   13M cpu1     0    0   0:01:00  47% java/12
  7956 user0103  203M   13M cpu1     0    0   0:01:19  49% java/12
  7956 user0103  203M   13M cpu1     0    0   0:01:40  49% java/12

I can see that on average 40% of the cpu was used. We can also see the other processes running:

   PID USERNAME  SIZE   RSS STATE  PRI NICE      TIME  CPU PROCESS/NLWP
 27796 root       13M   10M sleep   49    0   1:24:39 0.2% dsmonitor/1
     9 root     9080K 8140K sleep   59    0   0:00:46 0.1% svc.configd/14
   304 root     5056K 2628K sleep   59    0   0:04:17 0.0% automountd/3
  7955 user0103 4408K 3992K cpu1    34    0   0:00:00 0.0% prstat/1
   754 root       31M   28M sleep   59  -10   0:27:05 0.0% sge_execd/1
  7950 root     4156K 1468K sleep   54  -10   0:00:00 0.0% sge_shepherd/1
  7954 user0103 1152K  912K sleep   14    0   0:00:00 0.0% 66414/1
     7 root     9124K 8140K sleep   59    0   0:03:03 0.0% svc.startd/14
  7956 user0103 7716K 1280K cpu0    24    0   0:00:00 0.0% java/1
   323 nobody   2932K 1836K sleep   59    0   0:07:32 0.0% gmond/1
   143 root     4340K 3456K sleep   59    0   0:04:54 0.0% nscd/26
 27785 root     3832K 1972K sleep   59    0   0:00:10 0.0% syslogd/15
   282 root     1952K 1160K sleep  100    -   0:02:49 0.0% xntpd/1
   150 root     2256K 1476K sleep   59    0   0:00:00 0.0% devfsadm/6
   122 root     2120K 1300K sleep   59    0   0:00:00 0.0% syseventd/14
Total: 40 processes, 156 lwps, load averages: 0.01, 0.00, 0.00

Sun Grid is based on Solaris 10. Somehow, somewhere you will need to have access to a x86 Solaris 10 based machine to prepare your jobs (Except if the jobs are all Java programs and you feel very confident with your scripts!).

I do all my development on an Ultra 20 Solaris 10 based machine. While lots of people have heard how great Solaris was on the server, I am not too sure people realize that Solaris is also a GREAT development platform on the desktop. I use an Ultra 20 using an AMD Opteron processor with two cores running at 2.4 GHz and 2 Gigabytes of memory running Solaris 10. Did I mention these boxes were really inexpensive?

Solaris 10 comes with JDS (Java Desktop System), a customized version of GNOME.


Here are some of the Software tools I use. Most of them are available at Blastwave:

• Firefox
• Thunderbird
• GAIM - including the encryption plugin
• Acrobat Reader
• Macromedia Flash Player
• Open Office
• Real Player
• GIMP (Image Editor)
• The incredible Netbeans
• VNC Client and Server
• Subversion

Give it a try! Did I mention no viruses?