Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 Server Architecture · SUN FIRE™ X4140, X4240, AND X4440 SERVER ARCHITECTURE Compact, Dense, and Scalable Systems Based on Powerful Dual-Core and

SUN FIRE™ X4140, X4240, AND X4440

SERVER ARCHITECTURE

Compact, Dense, and Scalable Systems Based on Powerful Dual-Core and Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ Processors

White PaperMay 2008

Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

The Evolution of x64 Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Sun Fire™ X4140, X4240, and X4440 Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

System Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

A Choice of Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Innovative and Consistent System Design for the Datacenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

AMD Opteron™ Processor Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Dual-Core AMD Opteron Processors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Quad-Core AMD Opteron Processors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Server Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

System-Level Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Sun Fire X4140 Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Sun Fire X4240 Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Sun Fire X4440 Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Enterprise-Class Operating System and Management Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

The Solaris™ Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Integrated Lights Out Management (ILOM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Sun xVM Ops Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Fore More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Executive Summary


Executive Summary

Explosive growth in a wide range of computing disciplines is putting immense pressures

on the datacenter. Applications from Web services to high performance computing

(HPC) are calling for ever-increasing resources, even as they demand robust IT

infrastructure that is truly mission critical. As servers grow in number, it becomes ever

more important to deploy systems that consider datacenter needs as a fundamental

aspect of design.

Regrettably, deploying and administering dynamic compute and storage infrastructure

can be fraught with complexity. Administrative, energy, and real estate costs continue

to grow unabated, and sprawl within the datacenter can severely strain IT budgets.

Many are responding with consolidation strategies that combine ever more powerful

standard x64 systems with innovative new approaches to virtualization. Not only does

consolidation offer to improve vital resource utilization, but it can also greatly enhance

business agility by providing computational resources where they are needed most.

Sun Fire™ X4140, X4120, and X4440 servers combine the latest high-performance AMD

Opteron™ processors with Sun's proven datacenter-centric design focus. Ideal for high-

performance and mission-critical applications alike, these systems deliver scalable and

manageable x64 computing in dense and servicable rackmount enclosures. Using the

latest Dual-Core and Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors, Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and

X4440 servers are ideal for HPC, database, and Web infrastructure, as well as

consolidation and virtualization initiatives. These systems offer compelling compute,

memory, storage, and I/O density, as well as considerable energy efficiency to help

organizations live within their means. Sun Fire X4140, X4120, and X4440 servers also

share innovative rackmount packaging with Sun™'s other volume x64 and SPARC

®

servers

With a choice of operating systems — including the Solaris™ Operating System (Solaris

OS), Linux, Microsoft Windows, and VMware — these servers effectively combine Dual-

Core and Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors with balanced system designs. Large

memory support, large numbers of internal disks, large I/O bandwidth, and up to four

processor sockets give these systems the capacity to handle the most demanding

applications. With datacenter operation as a fundamental design assumption, these

systems offer redundant and hot-swappable components, efficient front-to-back air

flow, highly-efficient power supplies, and built-in system management tools. Sun Fire

X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers are engineered for mission-critical application

availability, conserve valuable energy resources, and lower operational expenses —

even as they deliver performance and agility in a dense and effective package.

This document details the systems architecture of Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440

servers, along with key software components.

2

The Evolution of x64 Systems


Chapter 1


Modern IT infrastructure is under near-constant strain. Compute and storage demands

have caused datacenters to grow exponentially in recent years to support new Web

services, high-performance computing (HPC), and other compute-hungry applications.

To stay competitive, organizations must deploy applications quickly, delivering compute

power where it is needed most, all with increasingly little margin for error. As a result,

many datacenters have become sprawling and complex, and most are up against very

real constraints in terms of power, cooling, and real estate.

Consolidation through virtualization has emerged as an effective strategy for

addressing the very real need for computing scalability while increasing the work that

can be done in a given power, thermal, and physical footprint. Consolidation can

improve resource utilization, reduce administrative complexity, and drive down IT costs.

Consolidating many smaller legacy servers into fewer more powerful systems can also

help to minimize administrative workloads while increasing capacity and conserving

valuable datacenter floor space. Energy costs can be drastically reduced, vastly

improving available performance relative to the amount of energy consumed. Perhaps

more importantly, consolidation through virtualization often gives organizations the

agility they need to apply key resources to their most important and business-critical

applications.

Sun Fire™ X4140, X4240, and X4440 Servers

To help IT managers address the challenge of increasing capacity while managing

datacenter growth, Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X440 servers provide a range of dense

and scalable systems based on the latest AMD Opteron processors. These systems

feature high performance and unprecedented density in energy-efficient and compact

1U and 2U form-factors. With capabilities that complement the rest of the Sun server

product line, the Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers raise the bar for 32- and 64-

bit enterprise-class computing. These systems offer:

• Best-in-Class Performance

The Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers feature Dual-Core and Quad-Core

AMD Opteron processors. With a sophisticated cache hierarchy, and on-chip

memory management, these processors offer high system performance and

throughput compared with systems based on earlier-generation x86 chipsets. In

high-end configurations, these servers can house multiple Quad-Core AMD

Opteron processors — for example, the Sun Fire X4440 server supports up to four

Third-Generation Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors, for a maximum of 16 cores

and impressive performance in a compact 2U chassis.

3



• Remarkable Density

Density is the cornerstone of the Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 server designs.

When populated in a 40-rack unit (RU) enclosure, these 1U and 2U servers

facilitate a single rack with up to 320 cores, 640 DIMM slots, and 120 PCI Express

slots. In addition, a single 1U or 2U system can house up to 2.3 TB internally using

16 2.5-inch SAS drives (via a PCI Express Host Bus Adapter). Sun Fire X4140, X4240,

and X4440 servers provide the densities needed to achieve consolidation and

virtualization efficiencies. Such density facilitates the consolidation of many

smaller servers, helping to conserve real estate, lower energy expense, and

reduce costly administrative talent. In addition, these servers support multiple

operating systems, which helps to simplify consolidation efforts and diminish

server sprawl.

• Extensive System Expandability

The ability to expand a server over time reduces the need for additional capital

acquisitions and lowers application lifecycle costs. Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and

X4440 servers feature either two or four processor sockets per system and provide

maximum memory configurations of either 64 GB or 128 GB (using 4 GB DIMMs),

along with a maximum of 2.3 TB of internal storage. Four Gigabit Ethernet ports

are standard, as are five USB ports (two front, two back, one internal), and one

video port (HD-15). Because of breakthrough system densities, these servers are

designed to scale to support new users, more transactions, or new 32-bit or 64-bit

applications, enhancing system longevity and increasing overall return on

investment (ROI).

• Improved Energy Efficiency

Sun offers a portfolio of eco-responsible products and computing solutions to

address a broad range of infrastructure requirements. In Sun Fire X4140, X4240,

and X4440 servers, AMD Opteron processors incorporate new technologies that

minimize power use and enhance energy efficiency.

AMD PowerNow!

technology

optimizes processor performance relative to the power consumed, allowing CPU

clock frequency to be adjusted to the needs of applications. Enhanced AMD

PowerNow! features in Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors offer features such as

Independent Dynamic Core technology

and

Dual Dynamic Power Management

.

High-efficiency power supplies in the server chassis lessen overall power

consumption. Variable-speed fans, effective disk carrier design, and front-to-back

air flow in the chassis help to effectively cool the system and maintain appropriate

ambient temperatures for both the processor and the system.

• Enterprise-Class High Availability

Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers are designed with enterprise-class

reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) features. To maximize uptime,

systems include redundant hot-swappable fans and can be configured with

redundant hot-swappable power supplies. Using a Sun StorageTek™ Host Bus

4



Adapter (HBA), internal SAS disk drives can be configured for RAID 0, 1, 1E, 10, 5,

5EE, 50, 6, and 60. Disk drives are also hot-swappable. Four integrated Gigabit

Ethernet ports enhance network availability and can be installed in failover

configurations. On-board system management tools encourage proactive remote

monitoring and intervention.

• Tightly-Integrated Management

To support out-of-band management, Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers

incorporate an Integrated Lights Out Management (ILOM) service processor . This

built-in hardware-based management functionality allows administrators to

monitor and manage systems remotely, letting them take corrective action as

necessary to minimize unplanned downtime.

Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers combine best-in-class performance with

noteworthy compute, memory, and I/O capacities. As a result, these systems are

designed to scale up, scale out, and scale within, enabling deployment in a wide range

of application architectures:

•

Scale-up architectures

— With up to 16 cores available, these servers are well suited

to scale for growing workloads that deliver Web, database, and other key

infrastructure services.

•

Scale-out architectures

— With large memory capacities, significant internal storage,

four Gigabit Ethernet ports, and high-bandwidth PCI Express expansion, these servers

can scale to solve complex computing problems that demand intensive computing

power and data bandwidth.

•

Scale-within capabilities

— With the ability to support Solaris 10 virtualization

technology and VMware, Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers are ideal systems

to consolidate multiple applications within a single extensible platform.

5



Figure 1 illustrates the 1U Sun Fire X4140 and the 2U Sun Fire X4240 and X4440 server

enclosures.

Figure 1. Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers

Sun Fire X4140 server



6



System Comparisons

Table 1 compares the features of Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers.

Table 1. Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 server features

Features in all systems include:

• Support for multiple Dual-Core or Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors

• Large memory capacities (up to 128 GB in the Sun Fire X4440 server)

• Large-capacity internal storage, with support for either eight or 16 internal SAS disk

drives

• RAID support provided with host bus adaptors

• PCI Express expandability

• Built-in quad Gigabit Ethernet support

• Integrated Lights Out Management (ILOM) service processor and firmware

• Support for multiple operating systems

Multiple off-the-shelf configurations of each platform are available, along with a wide

spectrum of options to tailor each system for specific workload requirements.

Feature Sun Fire X4140 Server Sun Fire X4240 Server Sun Fire X4440 Server

Processors One or two Dual-Core or Quad-Core AMD Opteron series 2000 processors

One or two Dual-Core or Quad-Core AMD Opteron Series 2000 processors

Two or four Dual-Core or Quad-core AMD Opteron Series 8000 processors

Memory capacity Up to 64 GB (1, 2, or 4 GB DDR2 DIMMs)

Up to 64 GB (1, 2, or 4 GB DDR2 DIMMs)

Up to 128 GB(1, 2, of 4 GB DDR2 DIMMs)

Maximum internal disk drives

Up to eight SFF 2.5-inch SAS 73 or 146 GB disk drives, choice of RAID HBAs

a

Up to 16 SFF 2.5-inch SAS 73 or 146 GB disk drives, choice of RAID HBAs

a

Up to eight SFF 2.5-inch SAS 73 or 146 GB disk drives, choice of RAID HBAs

a

RAID Hardware RAID

0, 1, 1E, 10, 5, 5EE, 50, 6, and 60

with SAS RAID HBA

Hardware RAID

0, 1, 1E, 10, 5, 5EE, 50, 6, and 60

with SAS RAID HBA

Hardware

0, 1, 1E, 10, 5, 5EE, 50, 6, and 60

with SAS RAID HBA

Removable and pluggable I/O

Slimline DVD+/-RWFive USB 2.0 ports (Two front, two rear, one internal)

Slimline DVD-RFive USB 2.0 ports (Two front, two rear, one internal)

Slimline DVD-RFive USB 2.0 ports (Two front, two rear, one internal)

PCI Two x8 PCI Express slots, One x16 PCI Express slot

One x4 PCI Express slot,Four x8 PCI Express slotsOne x16 PCI Express slot

One x4 PCI Express slot,Four x8 PCI Express slots,One x16 PCI Express slot

Ethernet Four on-board Gigabit Ethernet ports (10/100/1000)

Four on-board Gigabit Ethernet ports (10/100/1000)

Four on-board Gigabit Ethernet ports (10/100/1000)

Power supplies Dual redundant hot-swappable AC 650 W power supply units (N+N redundancy)

Dual redundant hot-swappable AC 1050 W power supply units (N+N redundancy)

Dual redundant hot-swappable AC 1050 W power supply units(N+N redundancy)

Fans Redundant, hot-swappable fan modules (N+1 redundancy)

Redundant, hot-swappable fan modules (N+1 redundancy)

Redundant, hot-swappable fan modules (N+1 redundancy)

Form factor 1 rack unit (1U) 2 rack units (2U) 2 rack units (2U)

a.The RAID HBA consumes a single PCI Express slot

7



A Choice of Operating Systems

In order to provide maximum flexibility and investment protection, Sun Fire X4140,

X4240, and X4440 servers support a choice of operating systems, including:

• The Solaris Operating System

• The Linux operating system (64-bit Red Hat or SuSE Linux)

• Microsoft Windows Server

• VMware ESX Server

Table 2 lists supported OS releases supported by the Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440

servers as of this writing. Please see

sun.com/x64

for the latest supported operating

systems and environments.

Table 2. Supported OS releases for Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers

The Solaris™ Operating System

Distributed under a commercial and open source licensing model, the Solaris 10 OS

offers many innovative technologies that change the equation for organizations

needing to reduce costs, minimize complexity, and help eliminate risk. The Solaris 10

OS is optimized for Sun systems and is supported on over one thousand third-party x86/

x64 systems. In addition, the Solaris 10 OS is free for download without requirement to

purchase a support contract, providing an economic advantage over other community-

based operating system offerings.

Taking advantage of the Solaris 10 OS can bring added flexibility and power to the

enterprise. Supporting systems from laptops and single-board computers to datacenter

and cluster installations, the Solaris 10 OS serves applications ranging from military

command and control systems, to telecommunication switch gear, to stock trading. The

Solaris 10 OS also includes more than 180 applications from the free and open source

software (F/OSS) community, and thousands of others are freely available for download

over the Internet.

Provided on all Sun systems at no charge, the Solaris OS delivers performance, security,

scalability, and reliability advantages for scale-out computing environments.

Underlying technologies, such as a high-performance networking stack, advanced file

Operating System Minimum Version

Solaris OS

Solaris 10 OS Update 4 (64-bit)

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, SP2, (32-bit/64-bit)

Red Hat Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, Update 5 (32-bit/64-bit)Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (32-bit/64-bit)

SuSE Linux

SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, SP1 (64-bit)

VMware

VMware ESX 3.0.2 (64-bit) or higher or ESX 3.5 Update 1 or higher (please see

sun.com/software/vmware f

or the latest information on support of Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors)

8



system, and modern memory model combine to optimize the performance of hosted

applications. A suite of security features previously only found in Sun’s military-grade

Trusted Solaris™ operating system are now included to fortify the commercial

enterprise. The Solaris OS supports near linear scalability from 1 to 72 CPUs and

addressability of up to 2

64

bytes of memory, well beyond the physical memory limits of

even Sun’s largest server. In addition, by providing the ability to automatically recover

from hardware faults, the Solaris OS provides maximum data and application

availability.systems. The Solaris 10 OS is free for download without requirement to

purchase a support contract, offering an economic advantage over other community-

based operating system offerings.

Linux Environments

Sun offers and supports the leading Linux variants on Sun Fire x64 servers, including

Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. As the leader in

enterprise services for UNIX®, Sun brings decades of expertise to Linux environments.

Sun support contracts for Linux provide all front-line support and transparent access to

back-line support from Red Hat and Novell.

Sun is one of the largest contributors to the open-source community. Areas of

contribution include OpenOffice.org, Mozilla, GNOME, and X.org. In addition, Sun

provides key software offerings for Linux including

• Lustre™ parallel file system

• Sun Ray™ Server Software

• Sun xVM software

• StarOffice™ productivity suite

• Java™ Desktop Powered Program

• Sun Studio, Sun Java Studio Creator, and NetBeans™ IDE software

• MySQL™ database

Microsoft Windows Environments

Organizations are constantly seeking to reduce the variety of platforms in the

datacenter, even when a wide range of workloads are present. To help this effort, Sun

Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers can run the Microsoft Windows operating

environment. These servers have passed stringent Microsoft compatibility test suites,

achieving the Designed for Windows certification and a listing in Microsoft Windows

catalogs. Support contracts for Microsoft Windows are also available from Sun. This

certification and support demonstrates Sun’s commitment to providing the best

platforms to run not only the Solaris OS and Linux, but Microsoft Windows as well.

9



VMware

Ground-breaking virtualization solutions from VMware help improve asset utilization,

operational efficiency, and business agility. Sun offers the VMware Infrastructure

product suite on Sun hardware systems with full support from Sun. VMware

virtualization technology also combines with key Solaris 10 OS features such as DTrace,

Solaris Containers, and Solaris Predictive Self Healing software. As a result,

organizations can create breakthrough approaches to virtualization. In fact, utilizing

VMware virtual infrastructure software with the Solaris 10 OS for consolidation projects

can increase system utilization by up to ten times.

Innovative and Consistent System Design for the Datacenter

Beyond the capabilities of individual systems, Sun understands that datacenters have

unique and pressing needs that require attention on the part of system designers.

Density, performance, and scalability are all essential considerations, but systems must

also be serviceable and fit in with modern datacenter strategies that consider power,

cooling, and serviceability. Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers share an

innovative design philosophy that extends across Sun’s volume x64 and SPARC server

platforms. Principals of this philosophy include:

•

Common chassis design

— Shared chassis design leverages key system innovations

across multiple architectures, provides for common components and subassemblies,

and greatly simplifies administration for those deploying multiple processor

architectures.

•

Maximum Compute Density

— Sun’s volume servers provide leading density in terms

of CPU cores, memory, storage and I/O. This focus on density often lets Sun’s 1 rack

unit (1 RU) rackmount servers replace competitive 2U rackmount servers, for a 50-

percent space savings.

•

Leading Storage Capacity

— Sun’s volume servers provide leading density and

flexible RAID options. Smaller disk drives and innovations in structure, airway, and

carrier design allow more disk capacity in smaller spaces, while enhancing system

airflow.

•

Common, Shared Management

— Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers are

designed for ease of management and serviceability with service processors shared

by other Sun volume server platforms. Systems and components are designed for

easy identification and hot-swap components facilitate on-line replacement.

•

Continued Investment Protection

— Sun designs for maximum investment

protection. Even with breakthrough x64 technology, Sun’s Solaris Binary

Compatibility Guarantee means that applications simply run without modification.

10



Chassis Design Innovations

Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers share basic chassis design with other Sun x64

and SPARC server platforms. This approach not only provides a consistent look and feel

across the product line, but it simplifies administration through consistent component

placement and shared components. Beyond mere consistency, this approach provides a

datacenter design focus that places key technology where it can make a difference for

the operations.

• Enhanced System and Component Serviceability

Finding and identifying servers and components in a modern datacenter can be a

challenge. Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers are optimized for lights-out

datacenter configurations with easy-to-identify servers and modules. Color-coded

operator panels provide straightforward diagnostics. Systems are designed for

deployment in hot-isle / cold-isle multiracked deployments with both front and

rear diagnostic LEDs and Fault Remind features to help identify faulty or failed

components.

Consistent connector layouts for power, networking, and management make

moving between Sun’s systems straightforward. All hot-plug components are tool-

less and easily available for serviceability. For instance, an integral hinged lid

provides access to dual fan modules so that fans can be serviced without exposing

sensitive components, or causing unnecessary downtime.

• Robust Chassis, Component, and Subassembly Design

Sun’s volume servers share chassis that are carefully designed to provide

reliability and cool operation. Even features such as the hexagonal chassis

ventilation holes are designed to provide the best compromise for high strength,

maximum air flow, and maximum reductions in EMI emissions. Next-generation

hard disk drive carriers share the hexagonal ventilation holes of the chassis and

provide a seven-percent smaller front plate for greater storage density while

increasing airflow to the system.

A removable disk cage in each system plugs directly in front of the fan tray

assemblies, allowing airflow to be directed both above and below disk drives, and

then above and below memory DIMMs and mezzanine boards to efficiently cool

the system. Dual fan modules are isolated from chassis to avoid transfer of

rotational vibration to other system components. Also, integration of the fan

power board into the Fan Tray assembly protects users from electrical shock during

fan removal/insertion.

In spite of their computational, I/O, and storage density, Sun’s servers are able to

maintain adequate cooling using conventional technologies. Efficient modular fan

assemblies keep the chassis within an effective operating temperature range.

Minimized DC-DC power conversions also contribute to overall system efficiency.

11



By providing 12 volt power to the motherboard, power conversion stages are

eliminated. This approach reduces generated heat, and introduces further

efficiencies to the system.

• Minimized Cabling for Maximized Airflow

To minimize cabling and increase reliability, a variety of smaller boards and riser

cards are employed on both SPARC and x64 servers, appropriate to each chassis.

These infrastructure boards serve various functions in the Sun Fire X4140, X4240,

and X4440 servers.

– Power distribution boards (PDBs) distribute system power from the dual power

supplies to the motherboard and to the disk backplane (via a connector board)

– Connector boards eliminate the need for many discrete cables, providing a direct

card plug-in interconnect to distribute control and most data signals to the disk

backplane, fan boards, and the PDB.

– Fan boards provide connections for power and control for both the primary and

secondary fans in the front of the chassis. No cables are required since every

dual fan module plugs directly into one of these PDBs which, in turn, plugs into

the Connector Board.

– PCI Express riser cards plug directly into the motherboard, allowing PCI Express

cards to be installed.

– The disk backplane mounts to the disk cages in the two chassis, delivering disk

data through two 4-channel discrete mini-SAS cables from the installed host bus

adapter (HBA) card. An 8-disk backplane is offered for the Sun Fire X4140 and

X4440 servers while the Sun Fire X4240 server supports a 16-disk backplane.

– Also provided via the disk backplane, are two USB connections to the front of the

system.

12

AMD Opteron™ Processor Technology


Chapter 2


Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers are powered by AMD Opteron processors,

utilizing AMD’s Direct Connect Architecture and NVIDIA chipsets for scalability and fast

I/O throughput. These servers support both Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors as well

as Third-Generation Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors. The sections that follow

describe the architecture and feature set of AMD Opteron processors.

Dual-Core AMD Opteron Processors

Second-Generation AMD Opteron processors are native Dual-Core AMD Opteron

processors that feature AMD’s Direct Connect Architecture. These processors offer a

common core architecture that is consistent across 1-socket, 2-socket, and 4-socket

systems, and is also consistent with previous AMD Opteron processors. This strategy

helps organizations minimize the cost of transitions while they maximize past

investments in software and hardware optimization. AMD Opteron processors are

offered in three series:

• 1000 Series — Single socket

• 2000 Series — Up to two sockets

• 8000 Series — Four to Eight sockets

Innovative Processor Technology

The AMD Opteron processor extends the ubiquitous x86 architecture to accommodate

64-bit processing. Formerly known as x86-64, AMD’s enhancements to the x86

architecture allow seamless migration to the superior performance of 64-bit

technology. Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors offer considerable advantages,

including:

•

AMD64 technology

— AMD64 technology lets 64-bit operating systems provide full,

transparent, and simultaneous 32-bit and 64-bit platform application multitasking.

This approach lets systems run the existing installed-base of 32-bit applications and

operating systems at peak performance, while providing a 64-bit migration path.

•

Direct Connect Architecture

— AMD’s Direct Connect Architecture helps to reduce the

very real challenges and bottlenecks of system architecture.

– Memory is directly connected to the processor, optimizing memory performance

– I/O is directly connected to the processor, for more balanced throughput and I/O

– Processors are directly connected to other processors, allowing for more linear

symmetrical multiprocessing

•

Integrated DDR2 memory controller

— A 144-bit wide, on-chip DDR2 memory

controller provides 128 bits for data and 16 bits for ECC and Enhanced ECC

technologies, while providing low-latency memory bandwidth that scales as

processors are added.

13



•

AMD HyperTransport technology

— AMD HyperTransport Technology provides a

scalable bandwidth interconnect between processors, I/O subsystems, and other

chipsets.

•

Quad-Core upgradeability

— AMD Opteron processors with DDR2 memory are

designed to offer a seamless upgrade path from dual-core to quad-core processors.

Similar power and thermal envelops help protect investments, letting organizations

upgrade to Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors while realizing similar power

efficiencies.

•

AMD Virtualization (AMD-V)

— AMD Virtualization reduces overhead by selectively

intercepting instructions destined for guest environments while the Direct Connect

Architecture helps guest operating systems run at near native speed. A virtualization-

aware integrated memory controller provides efficient isolation of virtual machine

memory.

•

Enhanced performance per watt

— Energy-efficient DDR2 memory uses up to 30

percent less power than DDR1 memory, and up to 58 percent less power than FB-

DIMM memory. In addition, AMD PowerNow! technology with Optimized Power

Management can deliver performance on demand, while minimizing power

consumption.

Dual-Core Processor Architecture

The AMD Opteron processor (Figure 2) was designed from the start for multicore

functionality, with a crossbar switch and system request interface. This approach

defines a new class of computing by combining full x86 compatibility, a high-

performance 64-bit architecture, and the economics of an industry-standard processor.

Figure 2. High-level architectural perspective of a Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor

Enhancements of the AMD Opteron processor over the legacy x86 architecture include:

• 16 64-bit general-purpose integer registers that quadruple the general-purpose

register space available to applications and device drivers as compared to x86

systems

DDR2Memory

Controller

HyperTransport 0

HyperTransport 1

HyperTransport 2

System Request Interface

Crossbar Switch

Second-Generation Dual-Core AMD Opteron

Core 1 Core 2

128 KB L1 Cache

1MB L2 Cache

128 KB L1 Cache

1MB L2 Cache

14



• 16 128-bit XMM registers provide enhanced multimedia performance to double the

register space of any current SSE/SSE2 implementation

• A full 64-bit virtual address space offers 40 bits of physical memory addressing and 48

bits of virtual addressing that can support systems with up to 256 terabytes of

physical memory

Each processor core has a dedicated 1 MB Level-2 cache, and both cores use the System

Request Interface and Crossbar Switch to share the Memory Controller and access the

three HyperTransport links. This sharing represents an effective approach since

performance characterizations of single-core based systems have revealed that the

memory and HyperTransport bandwidths are typically under-utilized, even while

running high-end server workloads.

The Second-Generation AMD Opteron processor integrates three HyperTransport

technology links, providing a scalable bandwidth interconnect among processors, I/O

subsystems, and other chip-sets. HyperTransport technology interconnects help

increase overall system performance by removing I/O bottlenecks and efficiently

integrating with legacy buses, increasing bandwidth and speed, and reducing processor

latency. At 16 x 16 bits and 1 GHz operation, HyperTransport technology provides

support for up to 8 GB/s bandwidth per link.

HyperTransport Technology

HyperTransport technology is a high-speed, low-latency, point-to-point link designed to

increase the communication speed between integrated circuits in computers, servers,

embedded systems, and networking and telecommunications equipment. Second-

Generation and Third-Generation AMD Opteron processors continue to use

HyperTransport technology links to provide a scalable bandwidth interconnect among

processors, I/O subsystems, and other chip sets. HyperTransport technology:

• Helps increase overall system performance by removing I/O bottlenecks typically

found in Front Side Bus (FSB) architectures, efficiently integrating with legacy buses,

increasing bandwidth and speed, and reducing latency of processors.

• Provides up to 8 GB/second bandwidth per link at 16 x 16 bits, 1 GHz operation,

offering significantly more bandwidth than most current technologies, and sufficient

bandwidth for supporting new interconnects such as PCI Express

• Uses low-latency responses and low pin counts for enhanced performance and

reliability

• Maintains compatibility with legacy PC buses while being extensible to new Systems

Network Architecture (SNA) buses

• Appears transparent to operating systems, so that peripheral drivers continue to

operate

15



Quad-Core AMD Opteron Processors

Unlike multichip package technology (MCP), native Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors

incorporate four processor cores on a single silicon die. Despite this innovation, Quad-

Core AMD Opteron processors are electrically, thermally, and socket-compatible with

Second-Generation AMD Opteron Socket F (1207) processors. Figure 3 provides a block-

level diagram of the third-generation Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor.

Figure 3. Third-Generation Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor block-level diagram

Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors go beyond simply adding two additional cores.

With a native multicore design, all four cores share the same silicon, and are directly

connected via AMD’s Direct Connect Architecture. Processors, I/O, and memory

controller logic are all connected to each other, aiding performance and reducing

bottlenecks. Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors provide a broad set of significant

enhancements, described in the sections that follow.

• Enhanced AMD PowerNow! Technology

Enhanced AMD PowerNow! technology provides significant power-management

advancements.

AMD CoolCore technology

can reduce energy consumption and

heat generation by turning off unused parts of the processor.

Independent

Dynamic Core technology

allows each core to vary its clock frequency depending

on the specific performance requirements of the applications it is supporting,

helping to reduce power consumption.


(formerly called “splitplane”) provides an independent power supply to the cores

and to the memory controller, allowing them to operate on different voltages,

depending on usage.

DDR2Memory

Controller

HyperTransport 0

HyperTransport 1

HyperTransport 2


Crossbar Switch

2 MB L3 Cache

512 KB L2 Cache

Core 1 Core 2 Core 4Core 3

128 KBL1 Cache

512 KBL2 Cache

128 KBL1 Cache

128 KBL1 Cache

128 KBL1 Cache

512 KBL2 Cache

512 KBL2 Cache

512 KBL2 Cache

Third-Generation Quad-Core AMD Opteron

16



• Investment Protection

Not only are Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors the first native x86 quad-core

processors, but they are the first quad-core processors designed to operate within

similar thermal and power envelops as AMD’s current Second-Generation

processors. This consistency allows simplified upgradeability and protects

organizations investments in AMD Opteron based systems with a seamless

upgrade path.

• Virtualization Enhancements

Virtualization is memory intensive, and Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors

provide exceptional memory throughput with an integrated memory controller.

AMD Virtualization introduces Rapid Virtualization Indexing (formerly called

“nested page tables”) and a tagged translation look-a-side buffer (TLB). While TLBs

exist in almost every processor architecture, AMD implemented tagged TLBs to

improve virtual to physical memory lookups from one virtual machine to another.

AMD’s Rapid Virtualization Indexing feature is designed to reduce the overhead

penalty associated with virtualization technologies by moving the process of

managing virtual memory from software to hardware. This approach reduces the

complexity of existing x86 virtualization solutions and facilitates increased

performance and efficiency for many virtualized workloads.

• Support for High Performance Computing (HPC)

A variety of features coalesce in Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors to make them

ideal for HPC workloads.

AMD Memory Optimizer Technology

increases memory

throughput by up to 50 percent compared to previous generations of the AMD

Opteron processor.

AMD Wide Floating Point Accelerator

provides 128-bit

Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE) floating point capabilities, letting each core

simultaneously execute up to four floating point operations (FLOPS) per clock —

four times the floating-point computations of previous-generation AMD opteron

processors.

AMD Balanced Smart Cache

provides significant cache enhancements

with 128 KB of Level-1 cache, and 512 KB of Level-2 cache per core, combined with

2 MB of shared Level-3 cache shared across all cores.

Processor Design for Energy Efficiency

Power consumption continues to be one of the top concerns for managing today's

datacenters. Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors address this concern by providing

industry-leading overall power-efficiency that can deliver significant performance gains

over Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors while operating in the same thermal envelope.

All AMD Opteron processor series — current Single-Core, Dual-Core, Quad-Core, and

future AMD Opteron processors — have been designed to a consistent power and

thermal specification.

17



Average CPU Power (ACP)

Average CPU Power (ACP) is a metric that offers a relevant estimation of the power

consumption for AMD Opteron processors. ACP is determined by breaking down

multiple components of the power consumed within the processor, including the power

dedicated to the cores, the integrated memory controller, and to HyperTransport

technology links. In contrast, thermal design power (TDP) refers to the power that

processors are capable of consuming, and is the specification that system designers

typically follow. ACP and TDP are both valid indicators of processor power.

AMD has referenced processor power consumption based on TDP values to date.

However, ACP represents a relevant measure that reflects power consumption while

running server-class enterprise workloads. In particular, ACP is a useful metric for

datacenter operators to use when estimating power budgets to size their datacenters,

while TDP is more useful and relevant to system designers. Table 3 illustrates both TDP

and ACP for Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors.

Table 3. TDP and ADP for Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors

Enhanced AMD PowerNow! and Independent Dynamic Core Technology

Enhanced AMD PowerNow! Technology is designed to reduce power consumption of

the entire quad-core processor. The native quad-core design of Third-Generation AMD

Opteron processors lets enhanced power management address each of the four cores

independently. Independent Dynamic Core technology allows each core to vary its

frequency, based on the specific needs of the application. This ability allows for more

precise power management to reduce datacenter energy consumption and thereby

reduce total cost of ownership (TCO).

Power consumption is related to the voltage level of the voltage supply to the processor

as well as the frequency of operation. General purpose systems are designed to operate

at a voltage level and frequency level that meets their peak computational

performance. Unfortunately, this level of operation can consume significant amounts of

power, especially when peak processor performance is not required. Power is typically

saved by reducing the supply voltage of the processor when peak performance is not

needed. With this approach, the sections of the processor which are unused have the

clock frequency reduced which reduces power consumption.

AMD Opteron Processor Low Power CPU Modules (HE)

Standard Power Modules

Performance Optimized Power (SE)

Quad-core processors TDP 75 W 115 W 137 W

ACP 55 W 75 W 105 W

18



As shown in Figure 5, the core frequency with the Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor is

locked based on the load characteristics of Core 0. Core 1 will operate at the same core

frequency even though it's load characteristics are low. With Independent Dynamic

Core Technology, the native quad-core processor can operate each of the cores at

different frequencies based on the load characteristics of that particular core.

Figure 4. Independent Dynamic Core technology adjusts frequency on a per-core basis


Dual Dynamic Power Management (formally “splitplane”) allows each processor to

maximize the power-saving benefits of AMD PowerNow! technology without

compromising performance. Dual Dynamic Power Management can reduce idle power

consumption and allow for per-processor power management in multisocket systems to

decrease power consumption. Figure 5 illustrates a Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor

powered by both a conventional unified power supply, as well as powered from

independent voltage supplies.

Figure 5. With Dual Dynamic Power Management system motherboards can deliver separate power for the processor cores and memory controller

Core 0 Core 1

Idle MHzMHzIdle

75% 1%Idle

Idle

IdleCore 0

MHzMHz

Core 1

IdleMHzMHzCore 2 Core 3

Dual-Core Native Quad-Core

75% 35%

1%10%

MHz and Voltage are lockedto the highest utilized

core’s p-state.

MHz is independently adjustedseparately per core.

DDR2Memory

Controller

HyperTransport 0

HyperTransport 1

HyperTransport 2


Crossbar Switch

2 MB L3 Cache

Core 1 Core 2 Core 4Core 3

Unified PowerSupply

DDR2Memory

Controller

HyperTransport 0

HyperTransport 1

HyperTransport 2


Crossbar Switch

2 MB L3 Cache

Core 1 Core 2 Core 4Core 3CPU Power

Memory ControllerPowerr

19



The illustration shows that power for the CPU and Memory Controller on Third-

Generation AMD Opteron processors can be powered from independent voltage

supplies — if supported by the system motherboard — offering greater performance

and better power management. These same processors can also run in legacy systems

with a unified power supply. Second-Generation AMD Opteron processors use a unified

voltage plane for the memory and processor cores. These processors are still

compatible with motherboards designed to support Dual Dynamic Power Management

but they will deliver the same voltage to the CPU and Memory Controller power.

High-Bandwidth Chip-Level I/O for High Performance Computing

Implementing a multicore processor is only one part of providing fast and reliable

performance. In addition to computational performance, high performance computing

and other demanding applications require the ability to move data between processors,

memory, and I/O with a minimum of bottlenecks. Third-Generation Quad-Core AMD

Opteron processors are designed to provide high-bandwidth chip-level interconnects to

other processors, memory, and system I/O. Multiple HyperTransport links connect

between multiple processors and to system I/O bridges. Integrated memory controllers

provide fast low-latency access to memory.

HyperTransport Dual Link

Hypertransport Dual Link refers to two-socket or four-socket system configurations in

which the processors are connected by a pair of HyperTransport Technology links. Each

link represents a HyperTransport path that runs at speeds up to 1 GHz for up to 8 GB/s

of theoretical bandwidth between each processor and each processor's attached

controllers.

The Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor has one (2000 Series) or three (8000 Series)

coherent Hypertransport links that allow each processor to access another processor’s

memory. HyperTransport Dual Link works by “ganging” a coherent and non-coherent

HyperTransport link together. With HyperTransport Dual Link the peak available

bandwidth between the two processors doubles to 16 GB/s — which can provide up to

three to five percent better system performance.

Integrated Memory Technology

AMD Opteron processors integrate a DDR memory controller directly into the processor.

The memory controller runs close to the processor’s core frequency and greatly

increases bandwidth to the processor at significantly reduced latencies. The

performance-enhancing effect is even more dramatic within multisocket AMD Opteron

systems, because each additional processor has its own memory controller, allowing

memory bandwidth to scale within the server.

20 AMD Opteron™ Processor Technology Sun Microsystems, Inc.

AMD Opteron processors are designed to work with Double Data Rate (DDR) SDRAM.

Similar to first-generation DDR memory, DDR2 memory cells transfer data both on the

rising and falling edge of the clock (a technique called “dual pumping”). The key

difference between DDR and DDR2 is that in DDR2 the bus is clocked at twice the speed

of the memory cells, so four words of data can be transferred per memory cell cycle. As

a result, DDR2 can effectively operate at twice the bus speed of DDR, without speeding

up the memory cells themselves.

Figure 3 illustrates the Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor architecture featuring the

cache controller and three stages of caches. The dedicated per-core 128 KB L1 cache

provides a 64 KB instruction cache and a 64KB for data, and is capable of delivering two

data loads per cycle instead of one load per cycle of competing x86 processors. The

latency for the L1 cache is three clock cycles with very fast access time.

The quad-core architecture also features a dedicated per-core 512 KB L2 cache to

eliminate conflicts common in shared caches. These caches are 16-way set associative,

and the latency for each core to retrieve data from its L2 cache is 12 clock cycles. A

large, 2 MB L3 cache is shared between all processor cores in Quad-Core AMD Opteron

processors. The L3 cache is 32-way set associative and is based on a non-inclusive victim

cache architecture. The latency for any core to retrieve data from the L3 cache is less

than 38 clock cycles.

The L2 cache was designed for those applications that are running on a single core and

consume most or all of the 2 MB L3 cache. This situation can cause a problem on other

processor architectures that do not have three levels of cache, since the shared cache

can be busy serving one core while the others are starved. In AMD Opteron processors,

even if one thread is consuming the L3 cache, other threads run effectively from the

core’s L2 cache, which is sized to accommodate the majority of modern working sets.

AMD Virtualization Technology

Virtualization technology lets organizations achieve higher levels of efficiency,

utilization, and flexibility by dividing a given system into several virtual machines —

allowing the consolidation of many legacy systems onto one physical machine. AMD's

Virtualization (AMD-V) technology provides an enhanced AMD Opteron instruction set

that subsumes some tasks that virtual machine managers (VMMs) typically perform

through software emulation.

Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors with Direct Connect Architecture help enable

industry leading virtualization platform efficiency. Featuring AMD-V technology with

Rapid Virtualization Indexing, Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors can accelerate the

performance of virtualized applications and improve the efficiency of switching among

virtual machines. This feature allows organizations to host more virtual machines and

users per system to maximize the consolidation and power-saving benefits of

virtualization.

21 AMD Opteron™ Processor Technology Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Third-Generation Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors offer enhancements to AMD-V

that provide a balanced approach to improve virtualization performance and help

enable near-native performance for virtualized applications. AMD Opteron processors

also provide silicon feature-set enhancements that are designed to improve

performance, reliability, and security of existing and future virtualization environments

to support more users. Some of the AMD-V enhancements that are built into the Third-

Generation AMD Opteron architecture include:

• Direct Connect Architecture to Host More Virtual Machines (VMs) Per Server

AMD’s Direct Connect Architecture helps improve application performance within

a virtual machine. This architecture provides direct CPU-to-memory, CPU-to-I/O,

and CPU-to-CPU connections to streamline server virtualization. The Integrated

Memory Controller is designed to improve performance on memory-intensive

virtualization environments through high bandwidth, low latency, and scalable

access to memory. HyperTransport technology optimizes the movement of data

and the sharing of resources among VMs and I/O for greater system scalability.

• Tagged Translation Look-aside Buffer for Increased Responsiveness

Unique to AMD Opteron processors, the Tagged Translation Look-aside Buffer (TLB)

allows for faster switching times between virtual machines by maintaining a

mapping to the VM’s individual memory spaces. Competing solutions cannot

distinguish one VM's memory space from another’s, resulting in additional

memory management overhead and reduced responsiveness when switching

between virtual machines.

• Device Exclusion Vector (DEV) for More Efficient Security

Device Exclusion Vector (DEV) performs security checks in hardware, protecting

memory access to un-authorized requests from external devices. The DEV controls

access to virtual machine memory based on permission, isolating virtual

machines for secure operation. The DEV performs these security checks in

hardware, rather than software — resulting in efficiency. The DEV creates

Protection Domains that deny memory access for unauthorized requests from

external devices, such as hard disks, network controllers, and other devices.

• Rapid Virtualization Indexing for Better Performance in a Virtualization Environment

Rapid Virtualization Indexing is an enhancement to AMD-V technology in Quad-

Core AMD Opteron processors. This feature is designed to dramatically increase

the performance of virtualized applications while providing faster switching

between virtual machines. Rapid Virtualization Indexing allows users to host more

VMs per server and maximize the benefits of virtualization. This feature must be

supported in the virtualization software.

22 Server Architecture Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Chapter 3

Server Architecture

Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers are designed to provide high performance

with high reliability and low power consumption. The sections that follow detail

physical and architectural aspects of the systems, highlighting similarities and

differences between the three server platforms.

System-Level ArchitectureSun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers all employ the same motherboard, but offer

different functionality depending on the system, as determined by both chassis and

supported system modules. Though they occupy different chassis, the Sun Fire X4140

and Sun Fire X4440 both share a similar system architecture, illustrated in Figure 6.

Shaded boxes in the diagram indicate functionality only provided on Sun Fire X4440

servers.

Figure 6. Sun Fire X4140 and X4440 motherboard block-level diagram

Sun Fire X4140 servers support one or two AMD Opteron processors and up to 16 DDR2

DIMM slots. Sun Fire X4440 servers support up to four AMD Opteron processors with the

addition of a mezzanine card that connects via dual Hypertransport links. As shown in

IO55

USBto IDE

(4) SAS Lanes

(4) SAS Lanes

USB 2.0

(8) Disk Backplane

MCP55

USB Hub

(4) SAS Lanes Cable

USB 2.0

USB 2.0

PCI

(4) SAS HDDs

(4) SAS HDDs

DVD/CD/RW

4x 1GbEthernet

PCI Express

Slot 5 x8Slot 4 x8Slot 3 x8


RAID card

USB 2.0

Serial RJ-45

Management10/100 Ethernet

VGA Video

RearRearFrontFront

Internal

x8x8

x16

x8x8

Hypertransport8 GB/s

10.7GB/s

10.7GB/s

10.7GB/s

10.7GB/s

Sun Fire X4440Server only

AST2000

Q62611.1 GP

0608 TAN A2

Mezzanine Card

CPU-1

CPU-0

CPU-3

CPU-2

DDR2

DDR2

DDR2

DDR2

Electrical Lanes x4


the illustration, the Sun Fire X4440 server provides HyperTransport Dual Link technology

on the optional mezzanine card. Both the Sun Fire X4140 and X4440 servers provide an

eight-disk backplane driven by a RAID host bus adapter (HBA) expansion card that

occupies one of the PCI Express slots. Two SAS cables with four lanes each connect form

the RAID HBA card to the eight-disk backplane.

Figure 8 illustrates the Sun Fire X4240 server block-level diagram. Like the Sun Fire

X4140 server, the Sun Fire X4240 provides support for up to two AMD Opteron

processors. The two rack-unit chassis allows deployment of a 16-disk backplane that

attaches to a RAID HBA card residing in one of the PCI Express slots.

Figure 7. Sun Fire X4240 motherboard block-level diagram

Memory Subsystem

The AMD Opteron processor’s integrated DDR2 memory controller improves the way

that typical x64 processors access main memory, resulting in increased bandwidth,

reduced memory latencies, and increased processor performance. The dual-channel

DDR2 memory controller on each processor is capable of yielding a memory bandwidth

of 10.7 GB per second (two 5.35 GB per second channels). Each AMD Opteron processor

IO55

USBto IDE

(4) SAS Lanes

(4) SAS Lanes

USB 2.0

(16) Disk Backplane

MCP55

USB Hub

(4) SAS Lanes Cable

USB 2.0

USB 2.0

PCI

(4) SAS HDDs

(4) SAS HDDs

DVD/CD/RW

4x 1GbEthernet

PCI ExpressSlot 5 x8Slot 4 x8Slot 3 x8


RAID Card

USB 2.0

Serial RJ-45

Management10/100 Ethernet

VGA Video

RearRearFrontFront

Internal

x8x8

x16

x8x8

Hypertransport8 GB/s

10.7GB/s

10.7GB/s

AST2000

Q62611.1 GP

0608 TAN A2

CPU-1

CPU-0

DDR2

DDR2

28 Port

SAS Expander

+ +

+ +

(4) SAS Lanes

(4) SAS Lanes

(4) SAS HDDs

(4) SAS HDDs

Electrical Lanes x4


supports up to eight registered DDR2-667 DIMMs. Sun Fire X4140 and X4240 servers

support up to 64 GB of memory, and Sun Fire X4440 servers support up to 128 GB of

memory. 1 GB, 2 GB, and 4 GB DIMMs are available and supported.

I/O Subsystem

The I/O subsystem in Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers is designed to provide

maximum throughput and flexibility to suite a wide variety of server needs.

NVIDIA nForce Pro 3600 (MCP55) Chipset

In Sun Fire X4140, X4120, and X4440 servers, one AMD Opteron processor connects to

an NVIDIA nForce Pro 3600 (MCP55) chipset via a 1 GHz HyperTransport connection. The

servers utilize the NVIDIA nForce Pro 3600 chipset to provide a wealth of system I/O. The

MCP55 architecture facilitates full-featured motherboards that provide maximum

performance and low latency, along with lower levels of power consumption and heat

dissipation. The first CPU (CPU 0) connects with the chipset across a 1 GHz

HyperTransport link.

The NVIDIA nForce Pro 3600 chipset provides:

• Three PCI Express interfaces that extend to three of the PCI Express slots (one 16-lane

and two 8-lane interfaces1

• Dual IEEE 802.3 MACs for two 10/100/1000Base-T gigabit auto-negotiating Ethernet

interfaces

• Five USB 2.0 ports

• LPC bus interface connecting to the AST2000 and BIOS boot flash

• One 32-bit 33 MHz PCI bus connecting to the AST2000

• Integrated SATA 3.0 Gigabit per second controllers

• System power sequencing and monitoring of many of the systems’ power status

indicators

NVIDIA nForce Pro 3050 (IO-55) Chipset

The NVIDIA nForce Pro 3050 (IO-55) chipset augments the I/O capabilities of Sun Fire

X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers, connecting to CPU 1 via another dedicated 16-bit

HyperTransport interconnect operating at a 1 GHz clock rate.

1.Sun Fire X4140 servers provide three PCI Express slots total, comprised of one x16 port from theNVIDIA 10-55 chip and two x8 ports from the nVIDIA MCP55 chip. One physical PCI Express slot on allsystems is dedicated to house a low-profile RAID HBA card.


The NVIDIA nForce Pro 3050 chipset provides:

• Three PCI Express interfaces to low profile PCI Express slots (one 16-lane, one 8-lane,

and one 4-lane)

• Dual IEEE 802.3 MACs for two 10/100/1000Base-T gigabit auto-negotiating Ethernet

interfaces

• Integrated SATA 3.0 Gigabit per second controllers

I/O and RAID Options

Up to eight or 16 2.5-inch disk drives are supported per system, depending on the server

selected. The same disk drives can be used on Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers

as on Sun’s latest x64 and SPARC servers. All of these drives share a next-generation

hard drive carrier design that is optimized for both airflow and density. Drives insert

into a modular disk tray and cable-free disk backplane that increases reliability and

serviceability.

In all three servers, SAS disks are controlled by a host bus adapter (HBA) that occupies

one of the systems x8 PCI Express slots. A choice of host bus adapters is provided, both

running easy-to-use Sun StorageTek RAID Manager software. Options include:

• The Sun StorageTek SAS RAID Host Bus Adapter, Internal — an 8-channel HBA card

that supports 3 Gb/second SAS and RAID levels 0, 1, 10, 1E, 5, 6, 5EE, and 50

• The Sun StorageTek PCI Express SAS Host Bus Adapter, Internal (LSI 3081E) — a HBA

card that supports RAID levels 0, 1, and 1EE

Two SAS cables with four lanes each connect to the disk backplane to control the disk

drives. In the case of the Sun Fire X4240, the four SAS links connect to a SAS expander in

the 16-disk backplane (the LSISASX28). The SAS expander then provides the 16 SAS links

to the individual disks in the drive tray.

Sun Fire X4140 ServerThe compact Sun Fire X4140 server provides significant computational power in a space-

efficient low-power 1U rackmount package. With high levels of price/performance and

a low acquisition cost, this server is ideally suited to the delivery of horizontally-scaled

transaction and Web services, and can function as a very capable HPC compute node.

The server is designed to address the challenges of today's datacenter with greatly

reduced power consumption and a small physical footprint.

Enclosure

The 1U Sun Fire X4140 server enclosure is designed for use in a standard 19-inch rack

(Table 4).


Table 4. Dimensions and weight of the Sun Fire X4140 server

The Sun Fire X4140 server includes the following major components:

• One or two Dual-Core or Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors

• From 2 GB up to 64 GB of memory in up to 16 DDR2 DIMM slots (1 GB, 2 GB, and 4 GB

DDR2 DIMMs supported)

• Four on-board 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet ports

• Three internal MD2 Low Profile PCI Express slots (one x16 and two x8 slots)

• Five USB 2.0 ports (two forward facing, two rear facing, one internal)

• Up to eight small form factor (SFF) SAS hot-swappable 2.5-inch internal SAS disk

drives with add-on SAS Host Bus Adapter (diskless configurations also available)

• Integrated Lights out Management (ILOM) system controller

• Dual redundant (N+N) hot-swappable high-efficiency 650 watt power supply units

running at 8.2 Amps RMS at 100 VAC

• Seven fan assemblies (each with two fans), under environmental monitoring and

control, N+1 redundancy, accessed through a dedicated top panel door

Dimension U.S. International

Height 1.746 inches (1 RU) 44 millimeters

Width (not including ears) 16.75 inches 426 millimeters

Depth (not including PSU handle) 28.125 inches 714 millimeters

Weight (approximate, without PCI Express cards or rackmount slide rail kit)

36.49 pounds 16.55 kilograms


Front and Rear Perspectives

Figure 8 illustrates the front and rear panels of the Sun Fire X4140 server.

Figure 8. Sun Fire X4140 server, front and rear panels

External features of the Sun Fire X4140 server include:

• Front and rear system and component status indicator lights provide locator (white),

service required (amber), and activity status (green) for the system

• A disk drive numbering map for easy access

• Eight hotplug SAS disk drives insert through the front panel of the system

• One slimline, slot-accessible DVD+/-RW is accessed through the front panel

• Five USB 2.0 ports are provided, two on the front panel, two on the rear, and one

internally

• Two hotplug/hotswap (N+N) power supplies with integral fans insert from the rear

• Rear power-supply indicator lights convey the status of each power supply

• A single AC plug is provided on each hotplug/hotswap power supply

• Four 10/100/1000Base-T autosensing Ethernet ports are provided

• An HD-15 video port is provided

• A total of three PCI Express card slots are provided

• Two management ports are provided for use with the ILOM system controller (The

RJ-45 serial management port provides the default connection to the ILOM controller

while the network management port supports an optional RJ-45/10/100Base-T

connection to the ILOM system controller.)

Hard disk drives

System status indicators

PCI Express slotsRedundant (N+N) power supply units

10/100/1000 Ethernet ports Video port (HD-15)

Serial and network

DVD+/-RW driveSystem status indicators

Component status indicators

USB ports

Management ports USB ports

Disk drive numbering map


Sun Fire X4240 ServerThe expandable Sun Fire X4240 server is optimized to deliver a dual-socket Web and

virtualization platform with maximized expansion capabilities. In addition to the

capabilities of the Sun Fire X4140 server, the Sun Fire X4240 adds support for additional

PCI Express expansion and support for up to 16 disk drives.

Enclosure

The Sun Fire X4240 server features a compact yet expandable 2U rackmount chassis

(Table 5), giving organizations the flexibility to scale their I/O and storage needs

without wasting precious space.



• Two Dual-Core or Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors

• From 2 GB up to 64 GB of memory in up to 16 DDR2 DIMM slots (1 GB, 2 GB, and 4 GB

DDR2 DIMMs supported)


• Six internal MD2 Low Profile PCI Express slots including one x16, four x8, and one x4

(x8 physically)


• Up to 16 SFF SAS hot-swappable 2.5-inch internal SAS disk drives with add-on SAS

Host Bus Adapter (diskless configurations also available)


• Dual redundant (N+N) hot-swappable high-efficiency 1050 watt power supply units

running at 8.2 Amps RMS at 100 VAC

• Six fan assemblies (each with two fans), under environmental monitoring and

control, N+1 redundancy, accessed through a dedicated top panel door


Height 3.49 inches (1 RU) 88 millimeters

Width (not including ears) 16.75 inches 426 millimeters

Depth (not including PSU handle) 28 inches 711.25 millimeters

Weight (approximate, without PCI Express cards or rackmount slide rail kit)

45.53 pounds 20.65 kilograms



Figure 9 illustrates the front and back panels of the Sun Fire X4240 server.






• Up to 16 hotplug SAS disk drives insert through the front panel of the system

• One slimline, slot-accessible DVD+/-RW is accessed through the front panel



• Rear power-supply indicator lights convey the status of each power supply

• A single AC plug is provided on each hotplug/hotswap power supply

• Four 10/100/1000Base-T autosensing Ethernet ports are provided

• An HD-15 video port is provided

• A total of six PCI Express card slots are provided on the rear panel

• Two management ports are provided for use with the ILOM system controller (The




System status indicators DVD+/-RW Drive

Disk drives

USB ports

PCI Express slotsRedundant (N+N)Power supply units

System status indicators10/100/1000 Ethernet ports Video port (HD-15)

Serial and networkManagement ports USB ports

Component status indicators



Sun Fire X4440 ServerThe expandable Sun Fire X4440 server offers four sockets for AMD Opteron processors

and up to 128 GB of memory, making it ideal as a scalable datacenter compute engine.

Well suited as a database server and for consolidation of multiple less capable servers,

Sun Fire X4440 servers combine processor scalability with ample memory, I/O

expansion, and disk storage capacity. The Sun Fire X4440 server is also ideal for HPC

environments where delivering high-density floating point performance is critical.

Enclosure

The Sun Fire X4440 server is delivered in a compact 2U rackmount chassis (Table 6).



• Two or four Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors or Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors

• Up to 128 GB of memory in up to 16 DDR2 DIMM slots (1 GB, 2 GB, and 4 GB DDR2

DIMMs are supported)


• Six internal MD2 Low Profile PCI Express slots including one x16, four x8, and one x4

slot (x8 physically)


• Up to eight SFF SAS hot-swappable 2.5-inch internal SAS disk drives with add-on SAS

Host Bus Adapter (diskless configurations also available)


• Dual redundant (N+N) high-efficiency 1,050 watt power supply units (hot swappable

in redundant configuration)

• Six fan assemblies (each with two fans), under environmental monitoring and

control, N+1 redundancy, accessed through a dedicated top-panel door


Height 3.46 inches (2 RU) 87.85 millimeters

Width (not including ears) 16.75 inches 425.5 millimeters

Depth (not including PSU handle) 28 inches 711.2 millimeters

Depth (with PSU handle) 28.99 inches 733.4 millimeters

Weight (approximate, withPCI Express cards but without rackmount slide rail kit)

63 pounds 28.6 kilograms



Figure 9 illustrates the front and back panels of the Sun Fire X4440 server.






• Up to eight hotplug SAS disk drives insert through the front panel of the system

• One slimline, slot-accessible DVD+/-RW accessed through the front panel

• Five USB 2.0 ports, two on the front panel, two on the rear, and one internal


• Rear power-supply indicator lights that convey the status of each power supply

• A single AC plug provided on each hotplug/hotswap power supply

• Four 10/100/1000Base-T autosensing Ethernet ports

• An HD-15 video port

• A total of six PCI Express card slots are on the rear panel

• Two management ports for use with the ILOM system controller (The




PCI Express slotsRedundant (N+N)Power supply units

System status indicators10/100/1000 Ethernet ports Video port (HD-15)

Serial and networkManagement ports USB ports

System status indicators DVD+/-RW Drive

Disk drives

USB ports Component status indicators


32 Enterprise-Class Operating System and Management Software Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Chapter 4

Enterprise-Class Operating System and Management Software

Unlike many x64 systems, Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers are ideally suited

for enterprise environments. Not only are the systems designed with the datacenter in

mind, but the operating system and management software provided with these

systems allow them to serve the most important and mission-critical applications. The

sections that follow describe the Solaris 10 OS and key enterprise-grade management

technology.

Solaris 10 OS SupportAmong the available operating systems, the Solaris OS is ideal for large-scale enterprise

deployments. Supported on all of Sun’s x64 and SPARC platforms, the Solaris OS has

specific features that can enhance flexibility and performance — with different features

affecting different processors as noted in the sections that follow.

• Solaris Containers for Consolidation, Secure Partitioning, and Virtualization

Solaris Containers comprise a group of technologies that work together to

efficiently manage system resources, virtualize the system, and provide a

complete, isolated, and secure runtime environment for applications. Solaris

Containers can be used to partition and allocate the considerable computational

resources of Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers. Solaris Zones and Solaris

Resource Management work together with the Solaris fair-share scheduler.

– Solaris Zones — Solaris Zones can be used to create an isolated and secure envi-

ronment for running applications. A zone is a virtualized operating system envi-

ronment created within a single instance of the Solaris OS. Zones can be used to

isolate applications and processes from the rest of the system. This isolation

helps enhance security and reliability since processes in one zone are prevented

from interfering with processes running in another zone.

– Resource Management — Resource management tools provided with the Solaris OS lets administrators dedicate resources such as CPU cycles to specific applications. CPUs in multicore multiprocessor systems — such as Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers — can be logically partitioned into processor sets and bound to a resource pool, and can ultimately be assigned to a Solaris zone. Resource pools provide the capability to separate workloads so that con-sumption of CPU resources does not overlap. Resource pools also provide a per-sistent configuration mechanism for processor sets and scheduling class assignment. In addition, the dynamic features of resource pools let administra-tors adjust system resources in response to changing workload demands.


• Solaris Dynamic Tracing (DTrace) to Instrument and Tune Live Software Environments

When production systems exhibit nonfatal errors or sub-par performance, the

sheer complexity of modern distributed software environments can make accurate

root-cause diagnosis extremely difficult. Unfortunately, most traditional

approaches to solving this problem have proved time-consuming and inadequate,

leaving many applications languishing far from their potential performance levels.

The Solaris DTrace facility provides dynamic instrumentation and tracing for both

application and kernel activities — even allowing tracing of application

components running in a Java Virtual Machine (JVM™)1. DTrace lets developers and

administrators explore the entire system to understand how it works, track down

performance problems across many layers of software, or locate the cause of

aberrant behavior. Tracing is accomplished by dynamically modifying the

operating system kernel to record additional data at locations of interest. Best of

all, although DTrace is always available and ready to use, it has no impact on

system performance when not in use, making it particularly effective for

monitoring and analyzing production systems.

• NUMA Optimization in the Solaris OS

With memory managed by each processor on Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440

servers, the implementation represents a non-uniform memory access (NUMA)

architecture. In NUMA architectures, the speed needed for a processor to access

its own memory is slightly different than that required to access memory

managed by another processor. The Solaris OS provides technology that can

specifically help applications improve performance on NUMA architectures.

– Memory Placement Optimization (MPO) — The Solaris 10 OS uses MPO to

improve the placement of memory across the physical memory of a server,

resulting in increased performance. Through MPO, the Solaris 10 OS works to

help ensure that memory is as close as possible to the processors that access it,

while still maintaining enough balance within the system. As a result, many

database and HPC applications are able to run considerably faster with MPO.

– Hierarchical lgroup support (HLS) — HLS improves the MPO feature in the

Solaris OS. HLS helps the Solaris OS optimize performance for systems with

more complex memory latency hierarchies. HLS lets the Solaris OS distinguish

between the degrees of memory remoteness, allocating resources with the low-

est possible latency for applications. If local resources are not available by

default for a given application, HLS helps the Solaris OS allocate the nearest

remote resources.

• Solaris ZFS

Solaris ZFS offers a dramatic advance in data management, automating and

consolidating complicated storage administration concepts and providing

unlimited scalability with the world’s first 128-bit file system. ZFS is based on a

1.The terms "Java Virtual Machine" and "JVM" mean a Virtual Machine for the Java platform.


transactional object model that removes most of the traditional constraints on I/O

issue order, resulting in dramatic performance gains. ZFS also provides data

integrity, protecting all data with 64-bit checksums that detect and correct silent

data corruption.

• A Secure and Robust Enterprise-Class Environment

Best of all, the Solaris OS doesn’t require arbitrary sacrifices. The Solaris Binary

Compatibility Guarantee helps ensure that existing Solaris applications continue

to run unchanged, protecting investments. Certified multilevel security protects

Solaris environments from intrusion. Sun’s comprehensive Fault Management

Architecture means that elements such as Solaris Predictive Self Healing can

communicate directly with the hardware to help reduce both planned and

unplanned downtime.

Integrated Lights Out Management (ILOM)Each Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 server offers an Integrated Lights Out Manager

(ILOM) service processor, allowing remote management for all activities that do not

require physically touching the system. Industry standards are embraced throughout,

letting these systems easily integrate into existing environments. In addition, since the

ILOM service processor is a core component of Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440

systems, and there is no additional charge for this functionality.

On-Board ILOM Firmware and Connections

The ILOM service processor connects to all major components via on-board interfaces

such as I2C with a separate management network provided for remote access. Equipped

with field-upgradeable firmware, the ILOM service processor supplies management

functions for fan speed control and diagnostic LEDs, and provides a wealth of

connections to individual server components. Sensors can use the ILOM service

processor to generate entries in the system event log when the sensor crosses a certain

value. Examples in Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers include:

• Chassis sensors for intrusion, power supply failure, temperature failure, or fan failure

• Front and back panel sensors sensing the state of various LEDs and system locate

button

• Motherboard temperature sensors to monitor the ambient temperature chip on the

motherboard

• Power supply sensors to determine whether power supplies are present, connected

to AC power, and/or powering the system

• Hard disk drive backplane sensors to determine the presence and health of the disk

backplane

• Fan sensors to determine the presence of the fan tray, the speed of individual fans,

and to detect the failure of individual fans.


ILOM Communication Channels, User Management, and Security

Access to ILOM functionality on Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers can be made

through a variety of both out-of-band and in-band communication channels. Out-of-

band communication helps ensure that effective management can take place even in

the event of hardware or networking failures, and includes:

• A management serial port that provides direct console access via a command line

interface (CLI)

• A dedicated Ethernet port that provides a web-based GUI (over HTTPS), a CLI via SSH,

IPMI 2.0, and SNMP v1, v2c, and v3

In-band communication to the ILOM service processor is provided via the host OS

running on the server. A variety of management tools can be used to access

management information on individual servers:

• Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) with IPMItool

IPMItool is a simple command-line interface to systems that support the

Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) v2.0 specification. IPMItool

provides the ability to read the sensor data repository and print sensor values,

display the contents of the system event log, print field-replaceable unit

information, read and set LAN configuration parameters, and perform remote

chassis power control. IPMItool was originally written to take advantage of IPMI-

over-LAN interfaces but it is also capable of using the system interface as provided

by a Linux kernel device driver such as OpenIPMI or a Solaris OS driver called BMC

that is provided with the Solaris 10 OS. IPMItool is available under a

BSDcompatible license.

IPMItool is not designed to replace the OpenIPMI library but instead provides a

completely command-line oriented tool that can be used by administrators in

conjunction with other tools. Where possible, IPMItool supports comma-

separated values for output to facilitate parsing by other scripts or programs.

IPMItool is designed to run quick command-response functions that can be as

simple as turning the system on or off, or as complex as reading in the sensor data

records while extracting and printing detailed sensor information for each record.

• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Management

SNMP management provides remote access by SNMP-compliant entities to

monitor and control network devices and manage configurations including

statistics collection, performance, and security on a network. SNMP is a network

management protocol used almost exclusively in TCP/IP networks. Sun Fire X4140,

X4240, and X4440 servers provide SNMP MIBs to manage and monitor the servers

using any SNMP-capable network management system, such as HP OpenView

Network Node Manager (NNM), Tivoli, CA Unicenter, or IBM Director. The MIB

data describes the information being managed, reflects current and recent server

status and provides server statistics.


SNMP v1, v2c, and v3 are supported with v3 selected by default (v1 and v2c are

disabled by default). SNMP “sets” can be selected or disabled (default). An IPMI-

specific trap called a Platform Event Trap, or PET, may also be generated. The

following SNMP MIBs are supported:

– SNMP-FRAMEWORK-MIB

– SNMP-USER-BASED-SM-MIB

– SNMP-MPD-MIB

– ENTITY-MIB

– SUN-PLATFORM-MIB

• Role-Based Administration

Different management users can be defined with corresponding roles and

responsibilities. Up to 10 user IDs can be created locally on the service processor

with each user ID consisting of a user name and the roles that are allowed. By

default, Administrator and Operator roles are defined. Authentication is carried

out against a local service processor database. Alternately, an LDAP client is

implemented in the ILOM service processor as well to allow authentication

against an LDAP server (LDAP groups must be mapped to service processor roles).

Up to 10 concurrent active sessions are supported on the service processor,

including serial, secure shell and web clients. User accounts can be authenticated

through LDAP, Radius, and Active Directory.

Remote Keyboard, Video, Mouse, and Storage (RKVMS)

To facilitate effective and full-featured remote management, the ILOM service processor

provides remote keyboard, video, mouse, and storage (RKVMS) support that is tightly

integrated with Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers. Together these capabilities

allow the servers to be administered remotely, while accessing keyboard, mouse, video

and storage devices local to the administrator (Figure 11). ILOM Remote Console

support is provided on the ILOM service processor and can be downloaded and


executed on the management console. Input/output of virtual devices is handled

between ILOM on the server and ILOM Remote Console on the web-based client

management console.

Figure 11. Remote keyboard, video, mouse, and storage (RKVMS) support in the ILOM service processor allows full-featured remote management for Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers

• Remote Keyboard and Mouse Support

Through the ILOM service processor, the Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers

detect a USB keyboard and mouse. ILOM Remote Console captures mouse and

keyboard input on the management console and sends it to the ILOM service

processor. The service processor then transmits mouse and keyboard inputs on the

respective USB buses on the server. The server receives keyboard entries and

mouse movements as if they were generated by local USB devices.

• Remote Video Support

Each server incorporates a VGA graphics controller, provided by the AST2000 chip.

Graphics from the ATI graphics controller is sent to the ILOM service processor. The

service processor then redirects the video signal to ILOM Remote Console running

on the management system over a network connection, where the video is

displayed on the management console. ILOM Remote Console supports 16-bit

video to accommodate higher quality.

ManagementConsole

CDROM, DVDROMor .iso Image

Keyboard, Mouse, CDROM,and Floppy are Seen as

USB Devices by BIOS and OS

ILOM Remote ConsoleDisplays Remote Video in

Application Window

Video(Up to 1024x768@60Hz)

ILOM Remote ConsoleConnected to ILOM OverManagement Ethernet

Local Mouse andKeyboard

Sun FireX4140/X4240/X4440

Server

Graphics Redirect Over Ethernet

Floppy Disk orFloppy Image

Remote Keyboard, Mouse and StorageEmulated as USB Devices by ILOM


• Remote Virtual Storage

Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers detect two USB storage devices through

the ILOM service processor that can be set up in the BIOS as floppy, CD/DVDROM,

or disk image (floppy and CD/DVDROM by default). When the server tries to access

either the virtual floppy disk or the virtual CDROM, the ILOM service processor

redirects the request over the Ethernet connection to ILOM Remote Console on the

management console. ILOM Remote Console accesses the content from the

physical floppy disk drive, CD/DVDROM, or disk image, returning it across the

network to the server. The ILOM service processor presents the data to the server

as if it were coming from a local USB storage device. This capability allows the

server to boot remotely from a virtual USB storage device. The content of the

storage device can be an actual CD, floppy disk, or disk image (ISO or IMG).

Sun xVM Ops CenterBeyond local and remote management capabilities, datacenter infrastructure needs to

be agile and flexible, allowing not only fast deployment but streamlined redeployment

of resources as required. Sun xVM Ops Center technology (formerly Sun N1™ System

Manager and Sun Connection) provides an IT infrastructure management platform for

integrating and automating management of thousands of heterogeneous systems. To

improve life-cycle and change management, Sun xVM Ops Center supports the

management of applications and the servers on which they run, including the Sun Fire

X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers

Sun xVM Ops Center simplifies infrastructure life-cycle management by letting

administrators perform standardized actions across logical groups of systems. Sun xVM

Ops Center can automatically discover and group bare-metal systems, performing

actions on the entire group as easily as operating on a single system. Sun xVM Ops

Center remotely installs and updates firmware and operating systems, including

support for:

• Solaris 8, 9, and 10 on SPARC systems

• Solaris 10 on x86/x64 platforms

• Red Hat and SuSE Linux distributions

In addition, the software provides considerable lights-out monitoring of both hardware

and software, including fans, temperature, disk and voltage levels — as well as swap

space, CPU utilization, memory capacity, and file systems. Role-based access control

lets IT staff grant specific management permissions to specific users. A convenient

hybrid user interface integrates both a command-line interface (CLI) and an easy-to-use

graphical user interface (GUI), providing remote access to manage systems from

virtually anywhere.


Sun xVM Ops Center provides advanced management and monitoring features to the

Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers. The remote management interface discovers

and presents the the servers, making operations, detailed inventory, and status pages

available to administrators. Servers can be discovered and organized into logical

groups. Organizing servers into groups also allows features such as OS deployment

across multiple servers.

Some of the functions available through Sun xVM Ops Center software include

operating system provisioning, firmware updates (for both the BIOS and ILOM service

processor firmware), and health monitoring. In addition, Sun xVM Ops Center includes

a framework allowing administrators to easily access inventory information, simplify

the task of running jobs on multiple servers with server grouping functionality.

40 Conclusion Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Chapter 5

Conclusion

As datacenter pressures continue to escalate, organizations need effective, scalable,

and flexible infrastructure that responds to meet their changing needs. More than fast

or inexpensive servers, organizations require systems that are designed for enterprise

scale, with feature sets that anticipate datacenter requirements. Systems must provide

balanced design, with an effective mixture of processor performance, memory capacity,

and I/O throughput.

Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers feature advanced enterprise-class designs

based on Sun’s long history serving enterprise customers. Based on innovative Dual-

Core and Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors, these servers can provide powerful

building blocks to help scale, virtualize, and consolidate datacenter infrastructure.

Offering best-in-class performance, remarkable density, and extensive system

expandability, Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers make the most of constrained

datacenter resources. In addition, these servers offer extensive reliability, availability,

and serviceability features along with improved energy efficiency. Integrated Lights Out

Management technology in each server provides advanced monitoring and

management — at no extra cost.

Ultimately, even the most capable servers require enterprise-class operating systems

and tools. With a choice of the Solaris OS, Linux, Microsoft Windows, and VMware

virtualization software, these servers provide a wealth of popular options. The Solaris

OS in particular offers advanced and innovative features such as Solaris Containers and

DTrace that can help consolidate and tune enterprise deployments. With powerful

management tools such as Sun xVM Ops Center, organizations can deploy Sun Fire

X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers quickly with confidence, knowing that their choices

can improve their results as well as the bottom line.

41 Conclusion Sun Microsystems, Inc.

For More InformationTo learn more about Sun products and the benefits of Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440

servers, contact a Sun sales representative, or consult the related documents and Web

sites listed in Table 7.

Table 7. Related Websites

Web Site URL Description

sun.com/x64 Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 servers

sun.com/solaris The Solaris Operating System

sun.com/xvm Sun xVM Ops Center

sun.com/vmware VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3 (VI3) on Sun x64 servers

sun.com/software/products/sunmanagementcenter Sun Management Center

Sun Fire X4140, X4240, and X4440 Server Architecture On the Web sun.com/x64

Sun Microsystems, Inc. 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara, CA 95054 USA Phone 1-650-960-1300 or 1-800-555-9SUN (9786) Web sun.com

© 2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Sun, Sun Microsystems, Java, JVM, Lustre, MySQL, NetBeans, N1, Solaris, StarOffice, Sun Fire, Sun Ray, Sun StorageTek, and Trusted Solaris are trademarks or registered

trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. in the US and other

countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. Information subject to change without notice. AMD and Opteron are trademarks or registered

trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Printed in USA SunWIN #: 509874 05/08

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