Sun Fire V100 Server Architecture

Technical White Paper

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1. Low Cost Server Computing from Sun ...... 1 The Sun Fire V100 Server ...... 1 Meeting the Needs of Today’s Businesses ...... 3 Low Cost, High Density ...... 4 2. Sun Fire V100 Architectural Features ...... 5 Motherboard ...... 5 UltraSPARC-IIi Processor...... 6 Memory...... 7 Networking and I/O ...... 7 Ethernet...... 8 Serial Ports...... 8 USB Ports ...... 8 EIDE ...... 8 On-board PCI Device Control ...... 9 System Configuration Card ...... 9 Lights-Out-Management...... 9 Optional Components ...... 10 Enclosure and Power ...... 11 Environmental Specifications...... 11 3. Remote Management...... 12 Lights-Out-Management ...... 12 4. System Management and Services ...... 14 Solaris Operating Environment ...... 14 System Management...... 15 Solaris Resource Manager ...... 15 Solaris Bandwidth Manager ...... 15 Sun Management Center...... 16 Solaris Management Console ...... 16 Storage Management Tools ...... 17 Diagnostics ...... 17 Power-On Self-Test (POST)...... 17 SunVTS...... 18 Services...... 18 Professional Services ...... 19 Workforce Development Solutions ...... 19 Proactive System Management...... 19 Sun Remote Services ...... 20 SunTone Certification and Branding Program ...... 20 5. Summary...... 21 A. Glossary ...... 22 B. References...... 24 CHAPTER 1

Low Cost Server Computing from Sun

With escalating processor clock rates and high performance networking technologies, computing performance is increasing at a phenomenal rate. While such advances provide access to powerful applications, organizations remain concerned about the costs associated with these performance gains. Indeed, businesses are increasingly cost-conscious, and managers are constantly looking for technology to give them high performance solutions at significantly lower cost.

The personal computing (PC) industry has tempered these fears by moderating skyrocketing computing costs through advanced, high volume manufacturing techniques. Nevertheless, while the lower costs of PC technologies have satisfied shrinking hardware budgets, they have left users wanting in functionality. These trends indicate a conflict in expectations — users want lower cost systems, but are unwilling to accept the reduced functionality that typically accompanies them.

Understanding this, Sun™ set a new standard for ultra low cost technology and the performance that users require with the introduction of the Sun Fire™ V100 server. By capturing the manufacturing techniques and capitalizing on the economies of scale that have propelled the PC industry, Sun gives its customers all the cost benefits without sacrificing the quality, reliability, functionality and performance that users have come to expect from the world’s leading server vendor.

The Sun Fire V100 Server

Part of an ultra low cost product family, the Sun Fire V100 server offers the high performance users demand at very low cost. Utilizing volume manufacturing techniques and leveraging the economies of scale of off-the-shelf system components, the Sun Fire V100 server provides industry-leading functionality and price/performance ratios in high-density rackmount configurations.

1 Table 1-1 describes the features of the Sun Fire V series server product family.

Sun Fire V100 Server Sun Fire V120 Server

• 19” rackmount system • 19” rackmount system • 436.7 x 43.6 x 478 (mm) • 436.7 x 43.6 x 478 (mm) Enclosure 17.2 x 1.72 x 18.8 (in) 17.2 x 1.72 x 18.8 (in) • 1 U form factor • 1 U form factor • Density per rack of 32 systems • Density per rack of 32 systems • 550 or 650 MHz UltraSPARC-IIi • 550 MHz or 650 MHz UltraSPARC-IIi Processors • 512KB level 2 cache • 512 KB level 2 cache • 4 DIMM slots • 4 DIMM slots • Standard PC133 128 MB, 256 MB • Standard PC133 256 MB Memory or 512MB memory modules or 512 MB memory modules • Up to 2 GB memory • Up to 4 GB memory • ECC error correction • ECC error correction • Up to two 40-GB 7200 RPM • Up to two 36-GB 10,000 RPM hot-pluggable, Internal Storage IDE disk drives low-profile Fast-40 (UltraSCSI2) disk drives • 24x CD-ROM drive • • Two 10/100 Base-T Ethernet ports • Two 10/100 Base-T Ethernet ports • Two USB ports • Two USB ports • Two serial ports • Two serial ports System I/O • One Fast-40 (UltraSCSI2) interface • 24x CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive (optional) • One full-length PCI slot (optional) • Lights-Out-Management • Lights-Out-Management • Automatic server restart • Automatic server restart Special Features • Removable system configuration • Removable system configuration card card • Zip drives (USB) • Zip drives (USB or SCSI) • Printers (USB) • Printers (USB or SCSI) External Peripherals • Scanners (USB) • Scanners (USB or SCSI) • Disk arrays (SCSI) Performance • xx.x SPEC cpu2000 • xx.x SPEC cpu2000 Operating System • Solaris™ 8 (02/02 or later) • Solaris™ 8 (10/01 Update 6 or later)

TABLE 1-1 Sun Fire V series servers provide low cost, high density computing Based on the Sun Netra™ T1 server architecture, the Sun Fire V100 server is an ultra- low cost, high performance rackmount entry-level system. A thin (1U) server, the Sun Fire V100 server is configured with high performance, 64-bit SPARC™ Version 9 compliant UltraSPARC™-IIi processors. Fully binary compatible with existing software, the UltraSPARC-IIi processor accelerates SPARC-based applications to even greater levels of performance.

Designed with high density server environments in mind, Sun Fire V100 servers offer sophisticated functionality in a compact design. All system configuration information is stored on a System Configuration Card (SCC), enabling systems to be replaced with minimal reconfiguration. Combined with Lights-Out-Management capabilities and remote management tools, the Sun Fire V100 server gives organizations full-fledged, highly manageable and serviceable Sun servers at PC prices.

2 Sun Fire V100 Server Architecture Meeting the Needs of Today’s Businesses

Designed to deliver on the Sun ONE vision, the Sun Fire V100 server enables the development and deployment of today’s dedicated and Web-based applications, as well as the emerging service delivery methods of tomorrow. Targeted for service providers currently running Microsoft Windows or Linux on an Intel-based platform, the Sun Fire V100 server delivers a more powerful, robust, and secure UNIX®-based solution to support a variety of disciplines and applications: ■ Firewalls ■ Domain name servers (DNS) ■ Log processing ■ Authentication ■ Mail relay ■ Distributed SNMP ■ Front-end Web servers ■ Front-end Web hosting servers ■ Front-end application servers ■ Print servers ■ Proxy servers

Able to deliver high performance at low cost, the Sun Fire V100 server is ideal for cost-sensitive or volume applications where a large number of high performance servers is required. Their modular design allows incremental additions of both system performance and I/O options (Figure 1-1).

FIGURE 1- 1 The Sun Fire V100 server delivers powerful, UNIX-based solutions in a compact enclosure

Low Cost Server Computing from Sun 3 Low Cost, High Density

The Sun Fire V100 server is a breakthrough offering in UltraSPARC-based, rack- optimized server systems. Like its predecessor, the Netra X1, the Sun Fire V100 server runs the Solaris™ operating environment, Sun’s benchmark implementation of the System V Release 4 (SVR4) of the UNIX operating system, and enjoys full binary compatibility with other SPARC-based Sun systems. With carefully balanced performance, a full complement of advanced remote management features, and industry leading remote management capabilities, the Sun Fire V100 server is a potent combination of next-generation technology and low cost manufacturing techniques that promises to herald in a new era in low cost, high density server computing (Figure 1-2).

• Optimized for high density computing

• Designed for massive horizontal scalability

• Based on proven hardware

• Utilizes highly serviceable components

• Based on the mature Solaris operating environment

• Provides sophisticated remote management capabilities

• Delivers smart services via the Sun ONE framework

• Ready to use

• Provides highly available, rack-optimized computing

• Delivers excellent total cost of ownership via aggressive pricing

FIGURE 1- 2 The Sun Fire V100 server gives organizations ready-to-use, rack optimized, low cost servers that deliver total cost of ownership

4 Sun Fire V100 Server Architecture CHAPTER 2

Sun Fire V100 Architectural Features

The Sun Fire V100 server was designed to provide high performance, scalability, and flexibility at very low cost. The use of high volume components and application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) have resulted in a greatly reduced part count, high reliability, and low cost without compromising access to expansion options through high performance, standardized interfaces.

The following pages describe the Sun Fire V100 server architecture in detail. The UltraSPARC-IIi processor, memory subsystem, network and I/O, system configuration card, and optional components are discussed. Because the Sun Fire V100 server supports some very powerful remote management capabilities, a separate chapter describing Lights-Out-Management immediately follows this one.

Motherboard

Sun Fire V100 servers utilize a state-of-the-art, compact motherboard. Features integrated into, or supported by the motherboard include: ■ UltraSPARC-IIi processor with 512 KB L2 cache ■ One flash PROM for housing the system firmware, internal diagnostics, and power-on self-test ■ Four PC133 DIMM sockets with ECC error correction ■ Two 10/100BASE-T Fast Ethernet ports, self-sensing ■ Two USB ports, with individual OHCI controllers ■ Three UDMA66 EIDE connectors for internal hard disks and CD-ROM ■ Two asynchronous RJ45 serial ports ■ Time of day NVRAM for clock and ID functions

Figure 2-1 depicts the system design employed in Sun Fire V100 servers.

5 Clock Generation UltraSPARC-IIi Processor Module

CPU PCI Device Clocks Clocks

Interrupts Interrupt Memory DIMMS Controller

Ethernet Ethernet Controller PCI Bus

Ethernet Ethernet Controller Flash SMBus SCC PROM Reader

RTC and I/O USB Port NVRAM Bridge USB Port ATA (EIDE) Serial LOMLite2 Serial Port

FIGURE 2- 1 The Sun Fire V100 server offers sophisticated functionality in a compact design

UltraSPARC IIi Processor

The heart of the Sun Fire V100 Server is the UltraSPARC-IIi microprocessor. The processor incorporates on-chip memory and I/O control to facilitate easy and economical integration into a system: ■ UltraSPARC-IIi microprocessor, a high-performance, highly-integrated superscalar processor implementing the SPARC-V9 64-bit RISC architecture and VIS™ Instruction Set, running at 550 or 650 MHz ■ PCI controller, providing a direct interface to an internal 32-bit PCI version 2.1 compliant bus ■ Memory controller, managing virtual to physical memory address mappings ■ Level 2 cache, fostering high transfer bandwidth

6 Sun Fire V100 Server Architecture Key Features of the UltraSPARC-IIi Processor A member of Sun’s family of SPARC CPUs, the UltraSPARC-IIi is part of a second generation of UltraSPARC™ pipeline-based products. In addition to using new process technology, the UltraSPARC-IIi provides a higher clock frequency, multiple SRAM modes and system-to-processor clock ratios to accommodate varying economics for a range of products. At the same time, it provides software compatibility with all other UltraSPARC-based systems.

The UltraSPARC-IIi processor offers the following key features: ■ SPARC Version 9 architecture compliant ■ 64-bit superscalar processor ■ Binary compatible with all existing SPARC applications ■ VIS instruction set to support balanced general-purpose computing ■ Four-way superscalar pipeline ■ 64-bit memory interface with 800 MB/second capacity ■ 64-bit internal buses ■ On-chip load and store mechanism ■ Employs a 0.18 micron 6-LM process

Memory

Sun Fire V100 servers have a memory system which uses standard memory for easy expandability and lower total cost of ownership. Four PC133 DIMMs are supported. The systems support 128 MB, 256 MB,and 512 MB modules for increased memory capacity. Maximum memory capacity is 2 GB.

Sun Fire V100 servers feature 512KB internal secondary cache with a 64-byte line size. The datapath to the external cache is 64 bits wide and is parity protected.

Networking and I/O

The Sun Fire V100 Server provides standard 100 Mbps Ethernet which can autosense and switch to 10 Mbps operation automatically, if needed. Sun Fire V100 servers also incorporate a 16.7 MB/second EIDE disk interface using a standard 40 pin connector. Up to three internal IDE devices are supported.

In addition, the Sun Fire V100 server provides two serial ports, two USB ports. (Figure 2-2).

Sun Fire V100 Architectural Features 7 SCC Slot Serial Ethernet Power/Fault LEDs Ports Ports USB Link LEDs Ports

FIGURE 2- 2 Sun Fire V100 servers offer serial and USB connectivity options.

Ethernet To support higher performance network connectivity, all Sun Fire V100 servers support 10/100 Mbps FastEthernet. FastEthernet technology from Sun is backwards compatible with 10 Mbps Ethernet, with the speed being autosensed by the interface. The Ethernet interface on Sun Fire V100 servers supports access to Category 5 twisted pair through an RJ45 connector.

Serial Ports Two RJ45 serial ports provide a convenient way to connect Sun Fire V100 servers to terminal devices. All systems include two asynchronous serial ports with RJ-45 connectors that adhere to a standard developed by Cisco for serial pinouts. Asynchronous transfers can occur at up to 460 Kbaud.

USB Ports Two USB ports provide a convenient way to connect Sun Fire V100 servers to handheld devices for configuration management, or to peripheral devices, such as scanners, printers and CD-ROM drive.

EIDE Sun Fire V100 servers support the Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE) peripheral interface. The EIDE interface running at 16.7 MB/second offers equivalent performance at significantly lower cost than comparable SCSI disk drives. The Sun Fire V100 Server supports up to two internal 40 GB EIDE devices.

8 Sun Fire V100 Server Architecture On-board PCI Device Control The on-board PCI device control ASIC has two functions in Sun Fire V100 servers. It supplies 10/100 Mbit/sec Ethernet media access control (MAC). It also implements the EBus2 interface, an asynchronous 8-bit bus that supports flash PROM/EPROM, NVRAM, and serial ports.

System Configuration Card

System administrators often need the ability to replace a faulty server with a replacement with minimal downtime. The System Configuration Card (SCC) stores the Sun Fire V100 server configuration, including the host ID, MAC address, and default NVRAM settings to facilitate faster upgrades and repairs. The system configuration stored on the SCC can be easily moved from one server to another, enabling administrators to replace a Sun Fire V100 server with minimal reconfiguration. Transferring the system configuration is easy — simply remove the SCC from one server and insert it into another (Figure 2-3).

FIGURE 2- 3 The System Configuration Card stores Sun Fire V100 server configuration information

Lights-Out-Management

System administrators often need to perform system management remotely. With the Lights-Out-Management feature of Sun Fire V100 servers, system administrators can locate and resolve problems quickly, either on-site or remotely.

Sun Fire V100 Architectural Features 9 In Sun Fire V100 servers, Lights-Out-Management is performed by the LOMlite2 autonomous service processor. An embedded Flash microcontroller, LOMlite2 handles system monitoring and control functions. Key features of LOMlite2 include: ■ Enclosure monitoring and control ■ NVRAM event storage (holds the last 700 monitoring events) ■ Host status monitoring ■ Power control ■ Automatic server restart (ASR) ■ Programmable soft alarms ■ Console-accessible serial management interface

The LOMlite2 software is a standard, pre-installed component of the Solaris operating environment. Figure 2-4 illustrates the LOMlite2 architecture.

LOMlite2 Microcontroller

Console Management Interface Serial A/LOM

+5V, +3.3V, +12V, -12V Environmental Management Fan Speed

Term Power Status Management Power LED

LOMlite2 IRQ Host Interface POWER SW Power Button Host Power State Management

PSU

EEPROM Temp

FIGURE 2- 4 The LOMlite2 processor performs system monitoring and control functions

Optional Components

The Sun Fire V100 server offers several optional components for flexible configurations, simplified upgrades and future expansion: ■ 128 MB memory modules ■ 256 MB memory modules ■ 512 MB memory modules ■ 40 GB, 7200 RPM IDE hard drive

10 Sun Fire V100 Server Architecture Enclosure and Power

The enclosure design employed in Sun Fire V100 servers is designed to reduce operating costs. Indeed, the small form factor employed enables multiple systems to be densely packed into rackmounted systems. All internal components are easily accessed from the top of the enclosure.

Table 2-1 summarizes the enclosure and power specifications of the Sun Fire V100 server. Height • 43.6 mm (1.72 in) Enclosure O/A Width • 436.7 mm (17.2 in) Depth, including bezel • 478 mm (18.8 in) System Weight • 9 kg (19.8 lbs) Weight Shipping Weight • 13 kg (28.6 lbs) Base System • 22.5 W estimated power consumption Power Management Memory • 256 MB DIMM, 4.59 W estimated power consumption Disk Drive • 40 GB @ 7200 RPM, 6.5 W (idle) Maximum In-Rush Current • 40A peak at 115V and 25ºC (Cold Start) Maximum In-Rush Current • 100A peak at 115V and 25ºC (Warm Start) Input Power Operating Input Voltage • 90 to 264 Vrms Requirements Voltage Frequency • 47 to 63 Hz Power Factor • 0.9 to 0.99 Maximum volt-ampere Rating • 130 VA BTu/hr • 335 (min), 550(max) OFF • +5VSB not present • +5V, +3.3V, +12V, -12V not present • No inlet power STANDBY • +5VSB present Power States • +5V, +3.3V, +12V, -12V not present • Host switched off ON • +5VSB present • +5V, +3.3V, +12V, -12V present • Host switched on TABLE 2-1 Sun Fire V100 server enclosure and power specifications Environmental Specifications

All Sun Fire V100 servers meet all relevant domestic and international agency safety, ergonomics, EMI, and environmental requirements. Table 2-2 summarizes the Sun Fire V100 server environmental specifications.

Specifications Operating Storage Ambient Temperature • 14ºF to 104ºF • -8ºF to 158ºF • 5ºC to 35ºC • -40ºC to 70ºC Temperature Variation • 30ºC/hr maximum • 30ºC/hr maximum • 86ºF/hr maximum • 86ºF/hr maximum Relative Humidity • 5% to 85% • 10% to 95% (non-condensing) (non-condensing) Altitude • -300m to +3000m • -300m to +12000m

TABLE 2- 2 Sun Fire V100 server environmental specifications

Sun Fire V100 Architectural Features 11 CHAPTER 3

Remote Management

The need for continuous operation in mission- and business-critical systems demands strong remote management capabilities. For years, the remote networking capabilities of the Solaris operating environment have enabled Sun systems to be remotely managed. Administrators can log into remote systems to perform administrative tasks or access system consoles through network terminal servers. These basic capabilities are extended through the use of sophisticated systems management and monitoring tools.

True lights-out-management — with its need for remote event notification and problem diagnosis — requires remote access at a level that makes few assumptions about the correct operation of an operating system or other critical system components. As a result, remote system administration capabilities for geographically distributed or physically inaccessible systems require a fundamental system design that includes an independent or out-of-band control channel. This channel plays an essential role when the operating system on a remote system is not able to respond due to software, hardware or network connectivity problems, or power outages.

Lights-Out-Management

Sun Fire V100 servers feature a remote management capability known as Lights-Out- Management (LOM). Provided by an embedded service processor integrated into the Sun Fire V100 server motherboard, LOM gives system administrators to ability to locate and resolve problems quickly.

12 The autonomous service processor provides for remote system management through a console-accessible serial management interface on the back panel — in fact one of the Sun Fire V100 server’s serial ports is directly provided by the LOM service processor (also known as the LOMlite device). Administrators can gain access to the LOM service through a serial connection from a modem, terminal server, personal computer, Palm Pilot, or Sun Workstation.

The following are the remote system management capabilities supported in Sun Fire V100 servers: ■ Host status monitoring and automatic server restart

The service processor monitors environmental conditions, as well as the status of the power supply and fans in the Sun Fire V100 server. It provides a fault LED panel and alarms to notify administrators of events or failures. The service processor also provides an automatic server restart (ASR) function triggered by a system alarm. When properly configured, ASR can restart the server if it becomes unresponsive (a watchdog reset). ■ Power control

The service processor gives administrators full control of the server, including remote power-on and power-off of the system. The service processor itself utilizes auxiliary power, enabling it to continue monitoring and controlling functions even when the server is powered off or the operating system is not running. When the system is running, the service processor performs event reporting via the serial port that it controls. ■ Software accessible alarms

While most administrators use a variety of utilities for communicating with the service processor, three user-configurable alarms are available for specialized applications that require them. For example, an application can set an alarm to be triggered if a particularly important server process is not responding. If this condition occurs, remote management software — possibly custom developed code — notices that the alarm condition has been set and takes the appropriate action. ■ Sun™ Management Center support

The Sun Management Center software provides support for Sun Fire V100 server alarms and service processor features. To enable this support, a Sun Management Center agent and server module must be downloaded and installed on the appropriate systems. An SNMP MIB package is also available to integrate the service processor with packages like HP Openview or Unicenter TNG. Support is also provided for BMC Patrol through Sun Professional ServicesSM.

Remote Management 13 CHAPTER 4

System Management and Services

No remote system solution is complete without user application support and management tools. Sun Fire V100 servers include a variety of tools aimed at easing the construction of a platform that provides services on demand.

Solaris Operating Environment

The Solaris operating environment is designed to deliver the power, flexibility, availability, and compatibility to support enterprise-wide computing. It combines key computing elements — operating system, networking, and user environment — into a stable, high quality foundation that organizations can depend on to develop, deliver, and manage business- and mission-critical computing solutions. The strengths of the Solaris operating environment lie in its enterprise-class reliability, scalability, and performance. Organizations supplying services on demand will appreciate key functionality that aids in the constant and consistent delivery of applications and services to customers: ■ High performance through its complete 64-bit computing environment, enabling the delivery of applications and services to large numbers of users. ■ Extended security features through authentication, data integrity, data privacy, and single sign-on capabilities so that tampering, snooping, and eavesdropping do not compromise data or associated transactions. ■ Enhanced scalability with a 64-bit kernel that enables access to more system resources and the ability to consolidate applications onto a single server. ■ Superior reliability and availability for maximum data and application accessibility, with features such as on-line patch installations without the need for system downtime.

14 ■ Software investment protection, with complete binary compatibility. Additional options, such as Solaris™ Resource Manager and Solaris™ Bandwidth Manager, build upon the reliability and scalability of the Solaris operating environment to help deliver a comprehensive platform infrastructure.

System Management

Sun offers a variety of tools that facilitate both local and remote system management and monitoring.

Solaris Resource Manager

Driven by the increasing popularity of applications and network service providers, customers are demanding service level agreements to ensure processing, storage, and throughput resources will be available during periods of peak usage. At the same time, managers must strive to ensure that meeting the demands of one user does not unfairly starve another.

Integrated into the Solaris operating environment, the Solaris Resource Manager (SRM) software allows system managers to allocate resources within a Sun Fire V100 server among individual tasks and users in a structured, policy-driven fashion. With the SRM software, administrators can, on a fine-grained basis, proactively allocate, control, and monitor system resources, such as CPU time, processes, virtual memory, connect time, and logins within a system or domain. This enables the system manager to better predict and guarantee the level of service available to a particular task. When additional resources are required to meet urgent demands, allocations can be easily shifted to provide needed levels of service. Users and applications receive a more consistent level of service, enabling even higher application availability.

Solaris Bandwidth Manager

The Solaris Bandwidth Manager software enables administrators to control the bandwidth assigned to particular applications, users, and departments that share the same intranet or Internet link. By installing Solaris Bandwidth Manager software on a network’s major links and application servers, and by setting consistent policies, bandwidth can be evenly distributed throughout the organization.

System Management and Services 15 Traffic can also be prioritized, preventing a small number of applications or users from consuming all available bandwidth. The Solaris Bandwidth Manager software enables organizations to: ■ Provide differentiated classes of service to users, and bill accordingly ■ Guarantee bandwidth to priority users, applications, or servers ■ Reduce traffic congestion and increase network efficiency ■ Control user and application access to network resources ■ Gather detailed network use statistics and accounting data for usage-based billing and trend analysis

Sun Management Center

Sun Management Center (SunMC) software provides a powerful and easy-to-use platform for administrative and management operations — helping Sun systems and the services they provide remain available. Sun Management Center now offers a single point of management for all Sun systems, independent of their geographic location. Through a Web interface, Sun Management Center enables system administrators to perform remote system configuration, performance monitoring, and isolate hardware and software faults. In addition, the Sun Management Center software integrates with the LOM capabilities of the Sun Fire V100 server, further enhancing remote management.

To support legacy networks and heterogeneous environments, SunMC is tightly integrated with all major management frameworks using an SNMP MIB package, including CA Unicenter TNG, HP Open-View, IBM Tivoli, and BMC Patrol.

Solaris Management Console

The Solaris™ Management Console (SMC) software is a Java™ technology-based console that provides access to Solaris administrative tools. Designed for simplicity, the console relies on SMC servers running on one or more computers to perform modifications and report data. Each server is a code repository, enabling the console to retrieve information once a user is authenticated. With Solaris Management Console, administrators can take advantage of configurable presentations, stored preferences, operating system independence, and integration with other technologies to create a local or remote management environment that meets enterprise needs.

The console can also run in a terminal (non-graphical environment) for use over remote connections, or non-interactively from a script.

16 Sun Fire V100 Server Architecture Storage Management Tools

To manage the growing volumes of mass storage in today’s networked environments, Sun provides the advanced Sun StorEdge™ line of redundant storage arrays along with a variety of powerful management tools. Volume managers are available both as hardware-based options that are an integral part of disk subsystems and host-based managers that run on the host.

In addition to individual volume management tools, redundant storage-area networks (SANs) are available to connect storage devices via a switch to deliver high-speed, high-bandwidth access to data. Sun’s portfolio of SAN solutions is a customer-ready, network-ready, answer that is easy for customers and partners to install, simple to manage, and very economical.

Sun provides several software suites that help ease storage management tasks: ■ Sun StorEdge™ Utilization Suite software, providing supreme protection and rapid access to large volumes of enterprise data ■ Sun StorEdge™ Performance Suite software, optimizing storage resources for speed and continuous data availability, even for very large files ■ Sun StorEdge™ Availability Suite software, providing a comprehensive solution that minimizes disruption, maintains productivity, protects data, recovers from disaster, and ensures continuity in business planning and integration ■ Sun StorEdge™ Resource Management Suite software, enabling administrators to analyze storage usage, understand consumption, identify bottlenecks, forecast growth, and plan efficiently for new storage networks.

Diagnostics

The Sun Fire V100 server has been designed for easy diagnosis and problem repair. Supporting this are several PROM-resident and UNIX- based diagnostic programs that can be applied by end-users and service personnel.

Power-On Self-Test (POST)

Under user control, a power-on self-test (POST) can be automatically executed to test the system board, NVRAM, on-board I/O devices, and memory system each time power is applied to the system. While not intended to be a comprehensive diagnostic, POST can quickly establish that no severe problems exist with the system, and communicates that through a set of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) on the keyboard. POST tests may be monitored via a serial-port connection to another desktop system or dumb terminal.

System Management and Services 17 SunVTS

The SunVTS™ system exerciser is a graphically-oriented UNIX application that permits the continuous exercising of system resources and internal and external peripheral equipment. Used to determine if the system is functioning properly, SunVTS incorporates a multi-functional stress test of the system through operating system level calls, and allows the addition of new tests as they become available.

Services

Keeping availability high means relying on people and processes even more than products. Sun experts help integrate the methodologies, expertise, products, and services needed to craft high availability environments that make service grids work smoothly. Based on field-proven methodologies, best practices, and experience implementing thousands of servers into data centers worldwide, Sun's extensive portfolio of services delivers the “how to” architecture, implementation, and operations management services for Sun Fire V100 servers.

With large demands from the industry, qualified system administrative talent is increasingly expensive and hard to find. As organizations continue to grow, they must extend the expertise of valuable system administrative staff — asking them to manage larger and larger numbers of systems. To reduce the possibility of human error causing unplanned downtime, easy-to-use management tools are needed to help to automate and standardize key administrative tasks.

Key services include: ■ Consulting expertise to help design and implement solutions that can handle rapid growth without sacrificing performance and availability. ■ Workforce development solutions that provide staff with the skills to assess, architect, build, and manage scalable data centers through a specially designed curriculum. ■ Comprehensive, flexible support services developed to address the unique needs of the data center and which complement the business model and operational support strategy of individual enterprises.

18 Sun Fire V100 Server Architecture Professional Services

Sun Professional ServicesSM teams help organizations create the right infrastructure based on Sun Fire V100 systems through several services: ■ Application Readiness Service, providing implementation and project management services. ■ Data Center Readiness Service, addressing configuration, design and testing, change management, and process and documentation issues. ■ SunReadySM Availability Assessment Service, identifying the gaps and assessing the risks in an architecture or operational environment, as well as evaluating the organizational structure or personnel skill levels in a particular application environment that may affect availability. ■ Mainframe Migration Services, helping a growing computing environment prepare to take advantage of the latest technologies in hardware, software, and middleware.

Workforce Development Solutions

A properly trained staff can help ensure high levels of availability, fast and accurate deployment of new products and services, quick identification of problems, and rapid response to system failures and interruptions. As a leading supplier of training solutions around the world, Sun Educational Services can help organizations take full advantage of their hardware and software investment by giving their personnel the right training.

Proactive System Management

Managing a large number of servers requires obtaining the right level of support to help improve operational efficiency and increase business and mission-critical system reliability. Sun Support Services offers proactive support, monitoring and sustaining services to help manage system availability: ■ SunSpectrumSM Support Programs, enabling enterprises to choose a service level based on specific need. Levels of service range from mission-critical support for maximum solution availability to backup assistance for self-support customers. ■ SunSpectrum PlatinumSM, Sun's most comprehensive high-availability system support solution, designed to provide services to support around-the-clock, mission-critical computing environments. SunSpectrum Platinum support services include a mission-critical account team, support planning, 24x7 telephone assistance, customer-defined service priorities, 24x7 on-site hardware service, and many other services.

System Management and Services 19 ■ Sun RAS (Reliability, Availability, Serviceability) Profile, enabling enterprises to identify those areas where operational efficiency and business- and mission- critical system reliability can be improved with Sun Fire V100 servers.

Sun Remote Services

The Sun Remote Services (SRS) program is a set of tools, technologies, and expertise designed to support Sun’s remote services strategy. The strategy aims to improve mission-critical support and increase the overall availability of the environments of Sun’s SunSpectrum GoldSM or SunSpectrum PlatinumSM support customers. SRS methodologies allow Sun experts to detect and manage Sun system events faster and more proactively — resolving potential problems before they impact Sun environments and business operations.

SunToneSM Certification and Branding Program

In a market fraught with time-to-market pressures, ensuring the quality and reliability of applications can be a time consuming task. To help this effort, Sun created the SunToneSM Certification and Branding program to recognize and promote service provider investments in process, methodology and infrastructure — elements that enable the delivery of secure, reliable, and predictable Internet services. The SunTone Certification and Branding Program provides customers of Web-based services, applications and integrator services with a means for identifying suppliers who meet defined high standards for providing quality service over the Internet and gives the companies that provide those quality services a means to differentiate themselves in an ever more competitive and expanding market.

All SunTone Certified services meet established requirements for hardware infrastructure, security, and operational processes. Additionally, in deploying SunTone Certified services, service providers follow a recommended methodology for building services, providing security, and ensuring reliability and scalability.

SunTone Certified applications conform to requirements addressing scalability, availability, security, and management practices, and are optimized and tuned to run on the Sun platform. Using the SunTone Certified logo as a guide, customers can quickly and confidently choose service providers who have met high quality standards aimed at making Web tone as reliable as dial tone.

20 Sun Fire V100 Server Architecture CHAPTER 5

Summary

Today’s organizations are facing many challenges. Data centers must be on-line 24 hours a day, and systems must be managed to handle peak loads without disruption or service degradation. The computing infrastructure must be able to scale both horizontally and vertically — without downtime or added system complexity. Organizations must find ways to deal with server sprawl and manage thousands of servers in heterogeneous environments spread across the globe, and corporate and user information must remain secure. As if these tasks weren’t challenging enough, organizations are also facing the need to solve them with low cost solutions.

The Sun Fire V100 server sets a new standard for ultra low cost server-based computing. Designed with high density server environments in mind, Sun Fire V100 servers offer sophisticated functionality in a compact design. Combined with sophisticated system management techniques, Lights-Out-Management capabilities, and remote management tools, the Sun Fire V100 server gives organizations full- fledged, highly manageable and serviceable Sun servers at volume prices. Utilizing the manufacturing techniques and capitalizing on the economies of scale that have propelled the PC industry, the Sun Fire V100 server gives organizations all the cost benefits without sacrificing the quality, reliability, functionality and performance that users have come to expect from Sun servers.

Sun Microsystems™ has been developing high performance, robust computing technology for over twenty years. In a world where technology advances at breakneck speeds, companies are looking to forge alliances that enable them to capitalize on each other’s strengths. The combination of Sun systems, the Solaris operating environment, remote management tools, and key technologies like lights- out-management join forces in Sun Fire V100 servers to enable organizations to capitalize on the power of low cost server computing.

21 APPENDIX A

Glossary

1U One rack unit, as define by the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA). 1U is a vertical measurement equal to 1.75 inches.

ASR Automatic server restart. A feature of the lights-out-management module that reduces downtime caused by system lock-up. ASR enables administrators to configure the server to restart automatically in the event of a software failure.

density The number of units in a given amount of space.

E-cache External cache.

Ethernet 10/100 BaseT The most widely used LAN access method. Defined by the IEEE 802.3 standard, ethernet uses standard RJ-45 connectors and telephone wires. Ethernet 10/100 BaseT is also referred to as Fast Ethernet.

external cache A memory cache that is external to the CPU. An external cache is also referred to as an L2 cache.

Fast Ethernet See Ethernet 10/100 BaseT.

FRU Field replaceable unit.

general-purpose server A server designed to perform any type of function. General-purpose servers typically require skilled IT professionals and system administrators to install and maintain them.

hot-pluggable A feature that enables an administrator to remove a drive without affecting hardware system integrity.

hot-swappable A feature that enables an administrator to remove and/or replace a device without affecting software integrity. While the system does not need to be rebooted, the new component is not automatically recognized by the system.

I/O Input/output. Transferring data between the CPU and any peripheral.

L2 cache See external cache.

LOM Lights-Out-Management.

22 Lights-out- management A service and availability feature that monitors the system board, fan power and RPM, and temperature via a dedicated LOM serial port, combined console/LONG serial port, or alarm software that can be integrated with SNMP. The LOM module includes a remote power on/off and cycle.

RAM Random Access Memory.

SCSI Small Computer Systems Interface. A hardware interface that enables the connection of up to 15 peripheral devices to a single bus.

Glossary 23 References

Sun Microsystems Computer Company posts product information in the form of data sheets, specifications, and white papers on its Internet World Wide Web Home page at: http://www.sun.com.

Look for abstracts on these and other Sun technology white papers and manuals:

Solaris Resource Manager, Sun Microsystems, 2001.

Solaris Resource Manager: Consolidate Servers and Increase Resource Utilization, Sun Microsystems, 2001.

Sun Fire V100 Server Architecture, Sun Microsystems, 2002.

Sun Management Center — Managing the Integrated Enterprise, Sun Microsystems, 1999.

Web sites of interest:

http://www.sun.com

http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/hw/peripherals/index.html

http://www.sun.com/service/support

http://www.sun.com/software

http://www.sun.com/solaris

http://www.sun.com/solaris/sunmanagementcenter

http://www.sun.com/storage/

http://docs.sun.com

24 Sun Fire V100 Server Architecture

Sun Microsystems, Inc. 901 San Antonio Road Palo Alto, CA 94303

1 (800) 786.7638 1.512.434.1511 http://www.sun.com

March 2002