SMP support in 7.0 GENERIC

[Database Administrator]

I've traditionally run my desktops on linux, but I've recently converted
to FreeBSD since I saw how screaming fast it runs on this box. (Normally
I've just used FreeBSD for servers.) I used the generic kernel, and have
everything set up... gnome, apps, nvidia driver, everything works great.

My question is about SMP.

My uname output is this:
FreeBSD hal10000 7.0-RELEASE FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE #0: Sun Feb 24 19:59:52
UTC 2008 root@logan.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC i386

And dmesg gives me this:
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ (3006.84-MHz 686-
class CPU)
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 2 CPUs
cpu0 (BSP): APIC ID: 0
cpu1 (AP): APIC ID: 1
cpu0: on acpi0
powernow0: on cpu0
cpu1: on acpi0
powernow1: on cpu1
SMP: AP CPU #1 Launched!


Now the uname doesn't say anything about it being an SMP kernel, however,
dmesg shows that SMP is in use and both CPUs are detected. I was under
the (possibly misguided) assumption that the stock generic kernel in 7.0
had SMP support and I did not have to build an SMP kernel specifically.
System Monitor in gnome shows that I only have 1 cpu. For giggles I
installed conky and it will only see 1 cpu as well. ??

What say ye? Do I need to build an SMP kernel to have SMP working, or is
SMP already working? Why do apps show I only have 1 cpu? I'm guessing
BSP is the Bootstrap Processor and AP is the Application Processor.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Database Administrator]

Mike Bleiweiss wrote:
> What say ye? Do I need to build an SMP kernel to have SMP working, or is
> SMP already working?

SMP is already working - you dmesg lines showed you that.

> Why do apps show I only have 1 cpu?

Perhaps the "apps" are broken?

Who do you trust - the fine operating system that you are running on -
or some third-party, non-verified application? :-)

> I'm guessing
> BSP is the Bootstrap Processor and AP is the Application Processor.

Probably.
--
Torfinn Ingolfsen,
Norway

[Database Administrator]

The only thing you might want to do (if you want to make a custom
kernel) is enable the ULE scheduler, rather then the 4_BSD scheduler.
ULE works better for SMP.

Mike Bleiweiss wrote:
>
> What say ye? Do I need to build an SMP kernel to have SMP working, or is
> SMP already working? Why do apps show I only have 1 cpu? I'm guessing
> BSP is the Bootstrap Processor and AP is the Application Processor.
>
> Thanks in advance for your help.

[Database Administrator]

In article ,
Mike Bleiweiss wrote:


>What say ye? Do I need to build an SMP kernel to have SMP working, or is
>SMP already working?

It's already working.

To convince yourself of this, write a trivial cpu-bound program that
takes a few seconds to execute. Then run two copies of it at once,
and see how long they take.

-- Richard
--
Please remember to mention me / in tapes you leave behind.