Question on benchmarking a clustered system

[kxu]

Hi there,

The SPECvirt_sc2013 FAQ mentioned this benchmark is only designed for a single host system
https://www.spec.org/virt_sc2013/docs/SPECvirt_FAQ.html#mozTocId332917

Just wonder if there are any specific technical reasons?

Let's say if I get a chassis consisting of 4 nodes (e.g. ESXi hosts), and I configure them in a single cluster (e.g. in VMware vCenter). Can I still use SPECvirt_sc2013 to benchmark this clustered system?

Thanks,
Ke

[sumairkayani]

Hello,

The specvirt_sc2013 is currently intended to fairly evaluate a single server performance.  You may be able to run it on a cluster of machines, however the results from a cluster will not be accepted by SPEC if you chose to publish.

[kxu]

Thanks for your reply.

It seems like theoretically there is no technical limitation preventing me testing a cluster without considering publication.