c0t0d0s0.org

heise.de hat einen sehr wohlwollenden Artikel über unsere neuen Server auf Basis des UltraSPARC T2+ prozessors veröffentlicht: Suns Enterprise-Server T5440 mischt die Szene auf:

Mit dem neuen Vierprozessor-Server SPARC Enterprise T5440 stellen Sun und Fujitsu unter Beweis, dass mit der SPARC-Architektur in der Serverwelt weiterhin zu rechnen ist.

und

Mit solchen Ergebnissen haben Sun und Fujitsu eine gute Chance, verloren gegangenes Terrain im HPC- und Supercomputer-Bereich wieder zurück zu erobern.

At 256 threads some of the Solaris commands have a really long output:Solaris on the T5440. Just look at the mpstat output at the end of the article

256 compute threads, 512 GB of main memory and just announced : Sun (NASDAQ: JAVA) jointly announced the SPARC Enterprise T5440

"... 7,520 SAP SD Benchmark users ...", "14,000 active Siebel benchmark users was set on a single SPARC Enterprise T5440 server" and "Sun SPARC Enterprise T5440 (4 chips, 32 cores, 256 threads): SPECint_rate2006 - 301, SPECfp_rate2006" are just a few numbers you will find in the press release at Sun Sets Multiple World Records with New Solaris-Powered Sun SPARC Enterprise T5440 Server. You will find further informations about the system on the sun.com website.

The following numbers are really interesting as well. I did some calculations in the Sun SE T5440 power calculator. At full load fully loaded with options (512 GB memory, 4 HDD, 4 Procs@1,4Ghz, 2 PCIe cards, 2 XAUIs) the system just takes 1906 Watts. At full load but with minimal 4proc configuration (32 GB Memory, 2 HDD, 4 Procs@1,2 GHz, no XAUI or PCI cards) the system just takes 942 Watts.

(Substantiation of the benchmarks in the press release)

I should cook tea the whole day. I had an idea what we could do with all this threads in a 4 socket Victoria Falls system while waiting for the water to boil: Let´s build a poor mans fault tolerant system out of it. It´s an unrefined idea ...

Let´s assume you have to control something: For example a valve in a chemical plant. It´s an important valve, thus you can´t afford a fault (for example by cosmic rays flipping a bit). Thus it´s a common method to compute something multiple times and compare the result. Two computations isn´t enough. When the results differ, you can´t tell what result is the right one. Or better: What´s the result with the highes probability to be correct. The practice suggests to compute it three times and to compare it afterwarts. The result with at least two votes of three in this quorum wins.

You could implement every decision making instance in an LDOM. Thus you could even implement different operating system patch levels in each of the systems.

And this fits with the four procs of a fully blown Victoria Falls system . Three procs for computations and one procs for the comparator. To ensure that every process runs on the same core it was tested, you could bind it to a processor.

This would reduce the thread count to 64 effective processors, but you have implemented a poor-mans fault-tolerant system (poor man because of no hardware lockstepping, it would be just application lockstepping) and well, you have more than enough hardware threads in a Victoria Falls system ...

I will think a little bit more about it in the next few days....

Today Sun and Fujitsu announced the the first new multiproc Victoria Falls systems: Sun Microsystems And Fujitsu Expand SPARC Enterprise Server Line With New UltraSPARC T2 Plus Processor-Based Systems. The benchmark results for this new system are really good:

The SPARC Enterprise T5240 server supported 4,170 SAP SD Benchmark users - a result more than double the 2,035 SAP SD Benchmark users achieved by the IBM p570 system with two POWER6 processors.

orThe dual-socket SPARC Enterprise T5240 server running the Solaris 10 OS excels on the Lotus iNotes email benchmark with 65,000 users -- the highest ever number of supported users..

The announcement already resulted in a huge amount of blog articles. Some really interesting entries so far:

• Scaling Solaris on Large CMT Systems
• Fast! Java on UltraSPARC T2 Plus
• T5240 PCI-E I/O Performance
• 10 Gigabit Ethernet on UltraSPARC T2 Plus

In Sun's 256-thread African journey begins next month reports about the upcoming servers with the multi-socket enabled Victoria Falls System. While i won´t comment about the facts (albeit much of it isn´t really new), there is an error in the report:

Sun says it has turned the UltraSPARC Tx servers into a $1bn+ business, which is nice enough. As far as we can tell, however, sales of these systems have just replaced sales of Sun's lower-end, regular UltraSPARC gear rather than creating a grand, swelling new market.

That´s not correct, with UltraSPARC Tx our standing at ISPs got much better, i think we got our mindshare back here in the .com business.

This was the only presentation i´ve left early. Nothing new in it for people who try to stay informed and the presentation had room for improvement (to say it polite) . Nevertheless i can´t write about the contents of this presentations, as it was marked as "Sun internal" only. Enough said....

Rick Hetherington was in Munich today ... he gave a good presentation into the future of CMT SPARC and what we will see in the near and the middle term. Many people have the opinion, that Sparc will see it´s end soon, especially after the announcement of TI to stop investments in new process technologies. The direct opposite is true, more than ever. I was quite impressed. Unfortunately it´s not up to me to disclose things.

Good summary at IT Jungle: Sun Details Server Chip Roadmaps at Analyst Summit.
In my opinion the heartening message behind all the processor news is: When you are able to to boot up the processor in such a short time after you got the silicon from your foundry , there isn´t a huge gap between concept and reality, your construction plan and the physical gear. They showed it with Niagara I, they showed it with Niagara II and the show it with Victoria Falls. So i have an incredible confidence, that Rock will appear in time and in specification.

Victoria Falls (dubbed Niagara III by TheRegister) taped out in October last year. I have some more encouraging news about Victoria Falls(No, i´m still not authorized to be a leak). The processor makes really good and fast progress.