I have a server (single socket Nehalem w/ 24GB RAM) acting primarily as a KVM host containing a bunch of Windows Servers and a few (tickless) Linux instances.
I usually compile my desktop kernels preemptible with 1000 Hz tickless timer, using the BFS CPU scheduler (via the CK patchset) and BFQ disk scheduler. On servers, I do it all vanilla with 100 Hz non-tickless using CFQ and no forced preemption.
However, I don't have the time or the skills to do benchmarking on this, so I'm looking for some input on the optimal settings for a KVM kernel. Would the throughput of the virtual machines benefit from a 1000 Hz kernel?
And, would it be a bad idea to use the BFS scheduler? I've heard that it may bring benefits to single CPU servers as well. I'm also thinking about using the BFQ disk scheduler with the low_latency option disabled.
Can anyone point me in the right direction here? I'm kind of a newbie when it comes to low-level system stuff. :-)