Sun Blade 6000 Family Architecture White Paper

S

UN BLADE™ 6000 AND 6048

MODULAR S

YSTEMS

Open Modular Ar

chitecture with a Choice of Sun™ SPARC®, Intel® Xeon®, and AMD Opteron™ Platforms

White Paper June 2008

Sun Microsystems, Inc.

T

able of Contents

Executive Summary

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

An Open Systems Approach to Modular Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

The Promise of Blade Architecture

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

The Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 Modular Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Open and Modular System Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 Modular Systems Overview

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Chassis Front Perspective

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Chassis Rear Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Passive Midplane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Server Modules Based on Sun SPARC, Intel Xeon, and AMD Opteron Processors . . . 19

A Choice of Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Server Module Architecture

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Sun Blade T6320 Server Module

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Sun Blade T6300 Server Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Sun Blade X6220 Server Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Sun Blade X6250 Server Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Sun Blade X6450 Server Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

I/O Expansion, Networking, and Management

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Server Module Hard Drives

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

PCI Express ExpressModules (EMs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

PCI Express Network Express Modules (NEMs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Transparent and Open Chassis and System Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Sun xVM Ops Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Conclusion

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

1

E

x

ecutive Summary


Executive Summary

The Participation Age is driving new demands that are focused squarely on the

capabilities of the datacenter. Web services and rapidly escalating Internet use are

driving competitive organizations to lead with innovative new services and scalable,

dynamic infrastructure. High performance computing (HPC) is constantly finding new

applications in both science and industry, fostering new demands for performance and

density. Agility is paramount, and organizations must be able to respond quickly to

unpredictable needs for capacity — adding compute power or growing services on

demand. At the same time, most datacenters are rapidly running out of space, power,

and cooling even as energy costs continue to rise. Rapid growth must be met with

consolidated infrastructure, controlled and predictable costs, and efficient

management practices. Simply adding more low-density power-consumptive servers is

clearly not the answer.

Blade server architecture offers considerable promise toward addressing these issues

through increased compute density, improved serviceability, and lower levels of

exposed complexity. Unfortunately, most legacy blade platforms don't provide the

necessary flexibility needed by many of today's Web services and HPC applications.

Complicating matters, many legacy blade server platforms lock customers into a

proprietary and vendor-specific infrastructure that often requires redesign of existing

network, management, and storage environments. These legacy chassis designs also

often artificially constrain expansion capabilities. As a result, traditional blade

architectures have been largely restricted to low-end Web and IT services.

Responding to these challenges, the Sun Blade™ 6000 and 6048 modular systems

provide an open modular architecture that delivers the benefits of blade architecture

without common drawbacks. Optimized for performance, efficiency, and density, these

platforms take an open systems approach, employing the latest processors, operating

systems, industry-standard I/O modules, and transparent networking and

management. With a choice of server modules based on Sun™ SPARC®, Intel® Xeon®,

and AMD Opteron™ processors, organizations can select the platforms that best match

their applications or existing infrastructure, without worrying about vendor lock-in.

Together with the successful Sun Blade 8000 and 8000 P modular systems, the Sun

Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems present a comprehensive multitier blade

portfolio that lets organizations deploy the broadest range of applications on the most

ideal platforms. The result is modular architecture that serves the needs of the

datacenter and the goals of the business while protecting existing investments into the

future. This document describes the Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems along

with their key applications, architecture, and components.

2

An Open S

ys

tems Appr

oac

h to Modular Ar

c

hitectur

e


Chapter 1

An Open Systems Approach to Modular Architecture

Organizations operating traditional IT infrastructure, business processing, and back

office applications are always looking for ways to cut costs and safely consolidate

infrastructure. For many, large numbers of older and less efficient systems constrain the

ability to grow and adapt, both physically and computationally. Emerging segments

such as Web services along with a renewed focus on high performance computing

(HPC) are demanding computational performance, density, and dramatic scalability.

With most datacenters constrained by space, heat, or power, these issues are very real.

Successful solutions must be efficient, cost effective, and reliable with investment

protection factored into fundamental design considerations.

Fortunately, new technology is yielding opportunities for increased efficiency and

flexibility in the datacenter. Dual and multicore processor technologies are doubling

compute density every other year. Virtualization technologies and more powerful

servers are making it possible to consolidate widely distributed datacenters using

smaller numbers of more powerful servers. Standard high bandwidth networking and

interconnect technologies are becoming more affordable. Modern provisioning

technology makes it possible to dynamically readjust workloads on the fly.

Regrettably, most current server form factors have failed to take full advantage of these

trends. For instance, most traditional rackmount servers require a box swap in order to

allow an organization to deploy new CPU and I/O technology. Modular architecture

offers the opportunity to rapidly harvest the returns of new technology advances, while

serving the constantly changing needs of the enterprise.

The Promise of Blade ArchitectureAt its best, modular or blade server architecture blends the enterprise availability and

management features of vertically-scalable platforms with the scalability and economic

advantages of horizontally-scalable systems. In general, modular architectures offer

considerable promise, and can contribute to:

• Higher compute density — providing more processing power per rack unit (RU) than

with rackmount systems

• Increased serviceability and availability — featuring shared common system

components such as power, cooling, and I/O interconnects

• Reduced complexity — through fewer required components, cable and component

aggregation, and consolidated management

• Faster service expansion and bulk deployment — letting organizations expand or

scale existing services and flexibly pre-provision chassis and I/O components

• Lowered costs — since modular servers can be less expensive to acquire, easier to

service, and easier to manage

3

An Open S

ys

tems Appr

oac

h to Modular Ar

c

hitectur

e


While some organizations adopted first-generation blade technology for Web servers or

simple IT infrastructure, many legacy blade platforms have not been able to deliver on

this promise for a broader set of applications. Part of the problem is that most legacy

blade systems are based on proprietary architectures that lock adopters into an

extensive infrastructure that constrains deployment. In addition, though vendors

typically try to price server modules economically, they often charge a premium for the

required proprietary I/O and switching infrastructure. Availability of suitable

computational platforms has also been problematic.

Together, these constraints caused trade-offs in both features and performance that

had to be weighed when considering blade technology for individual applications:

• Power and cooling limitations often meant that processors were limited to less

powerful mobile versions.

• Limited processing power, memory capacity, and I/O bandwidth severely constrained

the applications that could be deployed on blade server platforms.

• Proprietary tie-ins and other constraints in chassis design dictated networking

topology, and limited I/O expansion possibilities to a small number of proprietary

modules.

These compromises in chassis design were largely the result of a primary focus on

density — with smaller chassis requiring small-format server modules. Ultimately these

designs limited the broad application of blade technology.

Sun Blade™ 6000 and 6048 Modular SystemsTo address the shortcomings of earlier blade platforms, Sun started with a design point

focused on the needs of the datacenter, rather than with preconceptions of chassis

design. With this innovative and truly modular approach and a no-compromise feature

set, the newly expanded Sun Blade family of modular systems offers considerable

advantages for a wide range of applications. Organizations gain the promised benefits

of blades, and can save more by deploying a broader range of their applications on

modular system platforms.

• Scalable, Expandable, and Serviceable Multitier Architecture

Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems let organizations deploy multitier

applications on a single unified modular architecture. These systems support all

major volume CPU architectures, including UltraSPARC® T1 and T2 processors with

CoolThreads™ technology, the Intel Xeon processor, and Next Generation AMD

Opteron processors. The Solaris™ Operating System (Solaris OS) is supported

uniformly on all platforms, and support is also provided for Linux and Windows

operating systems as appropriate.

By offering the fastest AMD, Intel, and UltraSPARC T1 and T2 processors available,

large memory, and high I/O capacity, these systems support a very broad range of

applications. In addition, the Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems achieve

4

An Open S

ys

tems Appr

oac

h to Modular Ar

c

hitectur

e


better power efficiency by consolidating power and cooling infrastructure for

multiple systems into the modular system chassis. The result is high-performance

infrastructure that packs more performance and functionality into a smaller space

— both in terms of real estate as well as power envelope.

With innovative chassis design, Sun Blade modular systems allow organizations to

take full advantage of future technology without “forklift upgrades.”

Organizations can independently service, upgrade, and expand compute, I/O,

power, cooling, and management modules. All major components are hot

pluggable and hot swappable, including I/O modules.

• Sun Blade Transparent Management

Many blade vendors provide management solutions that lock organizations into

proprietary management tools. With the Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular

systems, customers have the choice of using their existing management tools or

Sun Blade Transparent Management. Sun Blade Transparent Management is a

standards-based cross-platform tool that provides direct management over

individual server modules and direct management of chassis-level modules using

Sun Integrated Lights out Management (ILOM). With direct management access

to server modules, existing or favorite management tools from Sun or third

parties can be used. With this approach, administrative staff productivity can be

retained, with no additional training or changes in management practices.

• Open and Independent Industry Standard I/O

The Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems provide a cable-once architecture

with complete hardware isolation of compute and I/O modules. Sun supports true

industry standard I/O on its modular systems platforms with a design that

completely separates CPU and I/O modules. Sun Blade modular systems utilize

standard PCI Express I/O architecture and adapters, the same technology that

dominates the rackmount server industry. I/O adapters from multiple vendors are

available to work with Sun Blade modular systems.

A truly modular design based on industry standard hot-pluggable I/O means that

systems are easier to install and service — providing simpler administration,

higher reliability, and better compatibility with existing network and storage

environments. For instance, replacing an I/O module in a Sun Blade modular

system requires less than a minute.

• Highly-Efficient Cooling

Traditional blade platforms have a reputation for being hot and unreliable — a

reputation caused by systems with insufficient cooling and chassis airflow. Not

only do higher temperatures negatively impact electronic reliability, but hot and

inefficient systems require more datacenter cooling infrastructure, with its

5

An Open S

ys

tems Appr

oac

h to Modular Ar

c

hitectur

e


associated footprint and power draw. In response, the Sun Blade 6000 modular

system provides optimized cooling and airflow that can lead to reliable system

operation and efficient datacenter cooling.

In fact, Sun Blade modular systems deliver the same cooling and airflow capacity

of Sun’s rackmount systems — for both SPARC and x64 server modules —

resulting in reliable system operation and less required cooling infrastructure.

Better airflow can translate directly into better reliability, reduced downtime, and

improved serviceability. These systems also help organizations meet growing

demand while preserving existing datacenters.

• Virtually Unmatched Investment Protection with the SunSM Refresh Service

Computing technology is constantly evolving, delivering improved performance

and new energy efficiencies over time. Unfortunately, this progress combined with

traditional purchasing models often results in server sprawl as businesses add new

servers year over year to meet growing needs for computational infrastructure.

This consumptive model causes real issues, driving datacenter buildout and power

and cooling costs that are often well in excess of hardware acquisition costs.

The SunSM Refresh Service for Sun Blade Modular Systems lets organizations break

away from the traditional “acquire-and-depreciate” life cycle — replenishing

datacenters with fresh technology and providing virtually unmatched investment

protection. With this service, IT managers can adapt to ongoing changes in

technology and business needs at lower costs, refreshing the datacenter

frequently in order to reap the benefits offered by the latest advancements in

technology. Increasing the productivity of datacenter infrastructure with the Sun

Refresh Service also minimizes the need to add more datacenter space.

Sun Blade modular systems in particular complement this approach, since

compute elements can be easily upgraded with minimal disruption to the rest of

the infrastructure. Careful planning has gone into Sun Blade 6000 and 6048

modular systems to help ensure that they provides the power, cooling, and I/O

headroom to operate future server modules. The Sun Refresh Service is being

expanded in phases to different geographies around the world. Please check

http://www.sun.com/blades for service availability in desired locations.

Open and Modular System ArchitectureAlong with the Sun Blade 8000 and 8000 P modular systems, the Sun Blade 6000 and

6048 modular systems provide a new approach to modular system architecture. This

approach combines careful long-term chassis design with an open and standard

systems architecture.

6

An Open S

ys

tems Appr

oac

h to Modular Ar

c

hitectur

e


Innovative Industry-Standard Design

Providing choice in modular system platforms is essential, both to help enable the

broadest set of applications, and to provide the best investment protection for a range

of different organizations and their requirements. Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular

systems offer choice and key innovations for modular computing.

• A Choice of Processor Architectures and Operating Systems

Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems support a range of full performance

and full featured Sun Blade 6000 server modules.

– The Sun Blade T6320 server module offers support for the massively-threaded

UltraSPARC T2 processor with either four, six, or eight cores, up to 64 threads

and support for 64 GB of memory.

– The Sun Blade T6300 server module provides a single socket for an

UltraSPARC T1 processor, featuring either six or eight cores, up to 32 threads,

and support for up to 32 GB of memory.

– The Sun Blade X6220 server module provides support for two Next Generation

AMD Opteron 2000 Series processors and support for up to 64 GB of memory.

– The Sun Blade X6250 server module provides two sockets for Dual-Core Intel

Xeon Processor 5100 series or two Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor 5300 series

CPUs with up to 64 GB of memory per server module.

– The Sun Blade X6450 server module provides four sockets for Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor 7200 series or Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor 7300 series CPUs, with up to 96 GB of memory per server module.

Each server module provides significant I/O capacity as well, with up to 32 lanes of

PCI Express bandwidth delivered from each server module to the multiple

available I/O expansion modules (a total of up to 142 Gb/s per supported per

server module). To enhance availability, server modules have no power supply or

fans and feature four hot-swap disks with hardware RAID built in. Organizations

can deploy server modules based on the processors and operating system that

best serve their applications or environment. Different server modules can be

mixed and matched in a single chassis, and deployed and redeployed as needs

dictate.

• Complete Separation Between CPU and I/O Modules

Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular system design avoids compromises because it

provides a complete separation between CPU and I/O modules. Two types of I/O

modules are supported.

– Up to two industry-standard PCI Express ExpressModules (EMs) can be dedicated

to each server module.

– Up to two PCI Express Network Express Modules (NEMs) provide bulk IO for all of the server modules installed in the system.

7

An Open S

ys

tems Appr

oac

h to Modular Ar

c

hitectur

e


Through this flexible approach, server modules can be configured with different

I/O options depending on the applications they host. I/O modules are hot-plug,

and customers can choose from Sun-branded or third-party adapters for

networking, storage, clustering, and other I/O functions.

• Transparent Chassis Management Infrastructure

Within the Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems, a Chassis Monitoring

Module (CMM) works in conjunction with the service processor on each server

module to form a complete and transparent management solution. Each Sun

Blade 6000 server module contains its own directly addressable management

service processor that is accessible through the CMM. Though similar in function,

these service processors vary with the individual server modules. Generally, these

service processors support Lights Out Management (LOM), and provide support for

IPMI, SNMP, CLI (through serial console or SSH), and HTTP(S) management

methods. In addition, Sun xVM Ops Center (formerly Sun Connection and Sun N1™

System Manager software ) provides discovery, aggregated management, and

bulk deployment for multiple systems.

• Innovative and Highly-Reliable Chassis Design for Different Needs

Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems are intended for a long life, with a

design that assumes ongoing improvements in technology. The chassis integrates

AC power supplies and cooling fans for all of the server and I/O modules. This

approach keeps these components off of the server modules, making them

efficient and more reliable. Power supplies and fans in the chassis are designed for

ease-of-service, hot-swappability, and redundancy. The chassis provides power and

cooling infrastructure to support current and future CPU and memory

configurations, helping to ensure that the chassis life-cycle will span multiple

generations of processor upgrades. All modular components such as the CMM,

server modules, EMs, and NEMs are hot-plug capable. In addition, I/O paths can

be configured in a redundant fashion.

• One Architecture with a Choice of Chassis

Organizations need modular chassis that allow them to deploy exactly the amount

of processing and I/O that they require, while scaling effectively to meet their

needs. With a single unified architecture, Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular

systems provide different levels of capacity. For smaller incremental growth, the

Sun Blade 6000 modular system is provided in a compact rackmount chassis that

occupies 10 rack units (10 RU). Each Sun Blade 6000 chassis can house up to 10

server modules, providing support for up to 40 server modules per rack. Designed

for maximum density and scalability, the Sun Blade 6048 modular system features

a standard rack-size chassis that facilitates the deployment of high-density

infrastructure. By eliminating all of the hardware typically used to rack-mount

8

An Open S

ys

tems Appr

oac

h to Modular Ar

c

hitectur

e


individual blade chassis, the Sun Blade 6048 modular system provides 20 percent

more usable space in the same physical footprint. Up to 48 server Sun Blade 6000

server modules can be deployed in a single Sun Blade 6048 modular system.

A Choice of Sun SPARC®, Intel® Xeon®, and AMD Opteron™ Processors

Legacy blade platforms were often restrictive in the processor architectures they

supported, limiting innovation for modular systems and forcing difficult architectural

choices for adopters. In contrast, Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems offer a

choice of server modules based on UltraSPARC T2 or T1 processors, Intel Xeon

processors, or Next Generation AMD Opteron 2000 Series processors. In addition, Sun

Blade 6000 server modules provide large memory capacities, while the individual

chassis provide significant power and cooling capacity. The available Sun Blade 6000

server modules are described below.

• Sun Blade T6320 Server Module

Based on the Industry’s first massively threaded system on a chip (SoC), the

UltraSPARC T2 processor based Sun Blade T6320 Server module brings next-

generation chip multithreading (CMT) to a modular system platform. Building on

the strengths of its predecessor, the UltraSPARC T2 processor offers support for

eight threads per core, and integrates memory control, caches, networking, I/O,

and cryptography on the processor die. Four-, six-, and eight-core UltraSPARC T2

processors are supported, yielding up to 64 threads. Like Sun’s rackmount Sun

SPARC Enterprise T5120 and T5220 servers, the Sun Blade T6320 server module

provides significant memory bandwidth with support for 667 MHz Fully-Buffered

DIMMs (FBDIMMs). Up to 16 FBDIMMs can be installed to support up to 64 GB of

memory. Individual Sun Blade T6320 server modules can provide industry-leading

performance as measured by the Space, Watts, and Performance (SWaP) metric1.

• Sun Blade T6300 Server Module

The Sun Blade T6300 server module utilizes the successful UltraSPARC T1

processor. With a single socket for a six- or eight- core UltraSPARC T1 processor, up

to 32 threads can be supported for applications that require substantial amounts

of throughput. Similar to the Sun Fire / SPARC Enterprise T2000 server, the server

module uses all four of the processor’s memory controllers, providing large

memory bandwidth. Up to eight DDR2 533 DIMMs at 400 MHz can be installed for

a maximum of 32 GB of RAM per server module.

• Sun Blade X6220 Server Module

Ideal for consolidation in x64 environments, the Sun Blade X6220 server module

provides support for two Next Generation AMD Opteron 2000 Series processors,

with dual cores per processor. Sixteen memory slots are provided for a total of up

to 64 GB of RAM with 667 MHz DDR2 DIMMs. Organizations can consolidate IT and

1.1. For more information on the SWaP metric, along with the latest benchmark results, please see www.sun.com/swap.

9

An Open S

ys

tems Appr

oac

h to Modular Ar

c

hitectur

e


Web services infrastructure at a fraction of the cost of competing x64 servers or

blades. The Sun Blade X6220 server module also delivers industry-leading floating

point performance helping to empower HPC applications that require both

computational density and performance.


The Sun Blade X6250 server module is ideal for x64 applications, such as those at

the Web and application tiers, and is also appropriate for HPC applications. Two

sockets are provided for Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor 5100 series or Quad-Core

Intel Xeon Processor 5300 series CPUs. A high memory density of up to 64 GB gives

the Sun Blade X6250 server module considerable capacity. This server module also

provides industry-leading integer performance and unconstrained I/O capacity as

compared to other Intel Xeon Processor-based blade servers.


The Sun Blade X6450 server module is ideal for x64 applications and scalable

workloads such as databases and HPC applications. Four sockets are provided for

Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor 7200 series or Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor 7300

series CPU, offering strong integer performance characteristics. Up to 24 FB-

DIMMs are supported, yielding a large memory capacity of up to 96 GB using 4 GB

FB-DIMMs. Industry-leading I/O capacity is provided as compared to other Intel

Xeon Processor-based blade servers.

Modular and “Future-Proof” Chassis Design

Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems provide significant improvements over

legacy server module platforms. Sun’s focus on the needs of the datacenter have

resulted in chassis designs that don’t force compromises in the performance and

capabilities delivered by the server modules. For example, in addition to offering a

choice of server modules that support the latest volume processors, these systems

deliver 100 percent of system I/O to the I/O modules through a passive midplane.

10 An Open Systems Approach to Modular Architecture Sun Microsystems, Inc.

The Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular system chassis are shown in Figure 1. The Sun

Blade 6000 modular system is provided in a 10 rack unit (10U) chassis with up to four

chassis supported in a single 42U rack or three chassis supported in a 38U rack. The Sun

Blade 6048 modular system chassis takes the form of a standard rack and features four

independent shelves

Figure 1. Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems (left and right respectively)

Both the Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems support flexible configuration, and

are built from a range of standard hot-plug, hot-swap modules, including:

• Sun Blade T6320, T6300, X6220, X6250, or X6450 server modules, in any combination

• Blade-dedicated PCI Express ExpressModules (EM), supporting industry-standard PCI

Express interfaces

• PCI Express Network Express Modules (NEMs), providing access and an aggregated

interface to all of the server modules in the Sun Blade 6000 chassis or Sun Blade 6048

shelf

• Integral Chassis Monitoring Module (CMM) for transparent management access to

individual server modules

• Hot-swap (N+N) power supply modules

• Redundant (N+1) cooling fans

With common system components and a choice of chassis, organizations can scale

capacity with either fine or course granularity, as their needs dictate. Table 1 lists the

capacities of the Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems along with single-shelf

11 An Open Systems Approach to Modular Architecture Sun Microsystems, Inc.

capacity in the Sun Blade 6048 modular system. Maximum numbers of sockets, cores,

and threads are listed for AMD Opteron, Intel Xeon, and UltraSPARC T1 and T2

processors.

Table 1. Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular system capacities

CategorySun Blade 6000 modular system

Sun Blade 6048 modular shelf

Sun Blade 6048 modular system

Sun Blade 6000 server modules 10 12 48

PCI Express Express Modules 20 24 96

PCI Express Network Express Modules Up to 2 Up to 2 Up to 8

Chassis monitoring modules (CMM) 1 1 4

Hot-swap power supplies (N+N) 2, 6000 Watt 2, 8400 Watt 8, 8400 Watt

Redundant cooling fans (N+1) 6 8 32

Maximum AMD Opteron sockets/cores/threads 20/40/40 24/48/48 96/192/192

Maximum Intel Xeon sockets/cores/threads 40/160/160 48/192/192 192/768/768

Maximum UltraSPARC T1 sockets/cores/threads 10/80/320 12/96/384 48/384/1536

Maximum UltraSPARC T2 sockets/cores/threads 10/80/640 12/96/768 48/384/3072

12 Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 Modular Systems Overview Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Chapter 2

Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 Modular Systems Overview

Together with the Sun Blade 8000 and 8000 P modular systems, Sun Blade 6000 and

6048 modular systems bring significant advancements to deploying modular systems

across the organization. Sun Blade 6000 modular system are ideal for delivering

maximum entry-level price/performance with superior features as compared to

traditional rackmount servers. With its standard rack-sized chassis and high density, the

Sun Blade 6048 modular system helps enable the streamlined deployment of dense and

highly-scalable datacenters. Supporting a choice of x64 or SPARC platforms, Sun Blade

6000 and 6048 modular systems are ideal for a variety of applications and markets.

• Web Services

For Web services applications sized to take advantage of two-socket x64 server

economy, the Sun Blade 6000 modular system delivers one of the industry’s most

compelling solutions. The system offers maximum performance, enterprise

reliability, and easy scalability at a fraction of the price of competing products.

The stateless approach of modular systems makes it easier to build large Web

server farms with maximum manageability and deployment flexibility.

Organizations can add new capacity quickly or redeploy hardware resources as

required.

• Virtualization and Consolidation

Virtualization and Consolidation have never been more important as organizations

seek to get more from their deployed infrastructure. Modular systems based on

Sun’s UltraSPARC T1 and T2 processors with CoolThreads technology can offer

consolidation solutions with Sun Logical Domains and Solaris Containers that cut

power and cooling costs. Modular systems based on Sun’s x64 based server

modules offer up to twice the memory and I/O of competing x64 blades or

rackmount servers. These systems offer enterprise-class reliability, availability, and

serviceability features — providing the needed headroom for consolidation with

VMware, Xen, or Microsoft Virtual Server.

• High Performance Computing (HPC)

Commercial and scientific computational applications such as electronic design

automation (EDA) and mechanical computer aided engineering (MCAE) place

significant demands on system architecture. These applications require a

combination of computational performance and system capacity, with exacting

needs integer and floating point performance, large memory configurations, and

flexible I/O. Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems based on Sun’s x64 based

server modules combined with the Sun Refresh Service allow organizations to

purchase the highest-performing and most cost-effective platforms now, while

maintaining that technological edge for years to come.


• Terascale and Petascale Supercomputing Clusters and Grids

The largest supercomputing clusters in the world are needed to push back the

fundamental limits of understanding in key scientific and engineering endeavors.

The Sun Constellation System serves these institutions as the world’s first open

petascale computing environment, combining ultra-dense high-performance

computing, networking, storage, and software into an integrated system. The Sun

Constellation System delivers massive scalability — from teraflops to petaflops —

while offering dramatically reduced complexity and breakthrough economics.

Components of the Sun Constellation System include:

– The Sun Datacenter Switch 3456, the world’s largest InfiniBand core switch with

capacity for 3,456 server nodes (and up to 13,824 server nodes with multiple

core switches)

– The Sun Blade 6048 modular system, for high-density compute nodes with inte-

gral InfiniBand switched NEM

– Sun Fire X4500 server clusters and the Sun StorageTek 5800 system, providing

massively scalable and cost-effective storage solutions.

– A comprehensive HPC software stack to manage and augment the worlds largest supercomputing clusters and grids.

Sun Constellation System components are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. The Sun Constellation System can be used to build the largest terascale and petascale supercomputing clusters and grids

Chassis Front Perspectives

Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 chassis house the server modules and I/O modules,

connecting the two through the passive midplane. Redundant and hot-swappable

power supplies and fans are also hosted in the chassis. All slots are accessible from


either the front or the rear of the chassis for easy serviceability. Server modules, I/O

modules, power supplies, and fans can all be added and removed while the chassis and

other elements in the enclosure are powered on. This capability yields great expansion

opportunity and provides considerable flexibility. The front perspectives of the Sun

Blade 6000 chassis and a single Sun Blade 6048 shelf are shown in Figure 3, with

components described in the sections that follow.

Figure 3. Front view of the Sun Blade 6000 chassis (left) and a single Sun Blade 6048 shelf (right)

Operator Panel

An operator panel is located at the top of the chassis, providing status on the overall

condition of the system. Indicators show if the chassis is on standby or operational

mode, and if an over-temperature condition is occurring. A push-button indicator acts

as a locator button for the chassis in case there is a need to remotely identify a chassis

within a rack, or in a crowded datacenter. If any of the components in the chassis

should present a problem or a failure, the operator panel reflects that issue as well.

Power Supply Modules and Front Fan Modules

Two power supply modules load from the front of the chassis or shelf. Each module

contains multiple power supplies cores enclosed within a single unit (two for the Sun

Blade 6000, and three for the Sun Blade 6048 power supply modules), and each module

requires a corresponding number of power inlets. Power supply modules are hot swap

capable and contain a replaceable fan module that helps cool both the power supplies

as well as the PCI Express modules in the rear of the enclosure. In case of a power

supply failure, the integral fan modules will continue to function because they are

actually energized directly from the chassis power grid, independently from the power

supply modules that contain them.

The power supply modules provide the total power required by the chassis (or shelf).

The power supply modules can be configured redundantly in an N+N configuration,

with a single power supply module able to power the entire chassis at full load. In order

Hot-swappable N+N power supply modules

Sun Blade 6000 server modules

with integral fans


to provide N+N redundancy, all power cords must be energized. If both power supply

modules are energized, all of the systems in the chassis are protected from power

supply failure. A power supply module can fail or be disconnected without affecting the

server modules and components running inside the chassis. To further enhance this

protection, power grid redundancy for all of the systems and components in the chassis

can be easily achieved by connecting each of the two power supply modules to different

power grids within the datacenter.

Sun Blade 6000 power supply modules have a high 90-percent efficiency rating and an

output voltage of 12 V DC. The high efficiency rating indicates that there are fewer

power losses within the power supply itself, therefore wasting less power in the energy

conversion stage from alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC). Also, by feeding

12V DC directly to the midplane, fewer conversion stages are required in the individual

server modules. This strategy yields less power conversion energy waste, and generates

less waste heat within the server module, making the overall system more efficient.

Provisioned power for rack mounted configurations depends on the number of chassis

deployed per rack. A 42U rack with four installed Sun Blade 6000 chassis requires 24

kilowatts, while a 38U rack with three chassis requires 18 kilowatts. Depending on the

ongoing load of the systems, actual power consumption will vary. For a more in-depth

analysis of day-to-day power consumption of the system please visit the power

calculator located on the Sun Website at http://www.sun.com/blades.

Sun Blade 6048 power supply modules include three power supply cores, facilitating

adjustable power utilization depending on the power consumption profiles of the

installed server modules and other components. Two or three cores can be energized in

each power supply module to make the system perform at optimal efficiency. An on-line

power calculator (www.sun.com/servers/blades/6048chassis/calc) can help identify

the power envelope of each shelf, and can help determine how many power supply

cores to energize. Energizing two cores will support 5,600 Watts, and energizing three

cores will support 8,400 Watts per shelf.

Server Modules

Up to 10 Sun Blade 6000 server modules can be inserted vertically beneath the power

supply modules on the Sun Blade 6000 chassis. The Sun Blade 6048 chassis supports up

to 12 Sun Blade 6000 server modules per shelf, or 48 server modules per chassis. The

four hard disk drives on each server module are available for easy hot-swap from the

front of the chassis. Indicator LEDs and I/O ports are also provided on the front of the

server modules for easy access. A number of connectors are provided on the front panel

of each server module, available through a server module adaptor (“octopus cable”).

Depending on the server module, available ports include a VGA HD-15 monitor port, two

USB 2.0 ports, and a DB-9 or RJ-45 serial port that connects to the server module and

integral service processors.


Chassis Rear PerspectiveThe rear of the Sun Blade 6000 chassis and a single Sun Blade 6048 shelf provide access

to the back side of the passive midplane for I/O modules (Figure 4). Slots for PCI Express

ExpressModules (EMs) and PCI Express Network Express Modules (NEMs) are provided.

I/O modules are all hot swap capable and provide I/O capabilities to server modules.

Figure 4. Rear view of the Sun Blade 6000 chassis

PCI Express ExpressModules (EMs)

Twenty hot-plug capable PCI Express ExpressModule slots are accessible at the top of

the Sun Blade 6000 chassis, with 24 EMs supported by each Sun Blade 6048 shelf. EMs

offer a variety of choices for communications including gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel,

and Infiniband interconnects. Different EMs can be chosen for every server module in

order to provide each with the right type of fabric connectivity with a high degree of

granularity. Two PCI Express ExpressModule slots are dedicated and directly connected

to each server module through the passive midplane. Slots 0 and 1 from right to left are

connected to server module 0, slots 2 and 3 are connected to server module 1,

continuing across the back of the chassis.

PCI Express Network Express Modules

Space is provided for up to two PCI Express Network Express Modules (NEMs) in the Sun

Blade 6000 chassis, and in each Sun Blade 6048 shelf. NEMs provide the same I/O

capabilities across all of the server modules installed in the chassis, simplifying

connectivity and also usually offering a low-cost I/O solution since they provide I/O to

all of the server modules. All the server modules are directly connected to each of the

configured NEMs through PCI Express connections. Due to the different chassis widths,

specific NEMS are provided to fit the Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems. More

details on available NEMs for both systems are provided in Chapter 3.

N+1 Redundantand Hot-Swappable

PCI Express

PCI Express

Fan Modules

Network Express Modules

ExpressModules

Plugs/Cords


Chassis Monitoring Module

A Chassis Monitoring Module (CMM) is located the NEM slots on the left-hand side of

the Sun Blade 6000 chassis, and to the left of the NEM slots on the Sun Blade 6048

chassis — providing remote monitoring and a central access point to the chassis. The

CMM includes an integrated switch that gives LAN access to the CMM's Ethernet ports

and to the individual server module management ports. Individual server module

management is completely transparent and independent from the CMM. The CMM on

the Sun Blade 6048 modular system is combined with the power input module.

Power Supply Inlets

Four power supply inlets (plugs) are available from the rear of the Sun Blade 6000

chassis, with six provided for each Sun Blade 6048 shelf. The number of inlets

corresponds to the number of power supply cores in the two front-loaded power supply

modules. Integral cable holders prevent accidental loss of power from inadvertent

cable removal. Each of the cables require a 220V, 20A circuit, and a minimum of two

circuits are required to power each chassis. For full N+N redundancy, four circuits are

required by the Sun Blade 6000 modular system, and six circuits are required by each

Sun Blade 6048 modular system shelf.

Fans and Airflow

Chassis airflow is entirely front to back in both chassis, and is powered by rear fan

modules, and by the front fan modules mounted in the power supply modules. All rear

fan modules are hot-swap and N+1, with six fan modules provided for each Sun Blade

6000 chassis, and eight fan modules provided for each Sun Blade 6048 shelf. Each rear

fan module is comprised of two redundant in-line fans.The front fan modules pull air in

from the front of the chassis and blow it across the power supplies and exhaust through

the EM and NEM spaces. The rear fan modules pull air from the front of the chassis and

exhaust it through the rear. When all of the fans in the chassis are running at full

speed, the chassis can provide up to 1,000 cubic feet per minute (CFM) of airflow

through the chassis.

Passive MidplaneIn essence, the passive midplanes in the Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems are

a collection of wires and connectors between different modules in the chassis. Since

there are no active components, the reliability of these printed circuit boards is

extremely high — in the millions of hours, or hundreds of years. The passive midplane

provides electrical connectivity between the server modules and the I/O modules.

All modules, front and rear, with the exception of the power supplies and the fan

modules connect directly to the passive midplane. The power supplies connect to the

midplane through a bus bar and to the AC inputs via a cable harness. The redundant


fan modules plug individually into a set of three fan boards, where fan speed control

and other chassis-level functions are implemented. The front fan modules that cool the

PCI Express ExpressModules each connect to the chassis via blind-mate connections.

The main functions of the midplane include:

• Providing a mechanical connection point for all of the server modules

• Providing 12 VDC from the power supplies to each customer-replaceable module

• Providing 3.3 VDC power used to power the System Management Bus devices on each

module, and to power the CMM

• Providing a PCI Express interconnect between the PCI Express root complexes on each

server module to the EMs and NEMs installed in the chassis

• Connecting the server modules, CMMs, and NEMs to the chassis management

network

Figure 5. Distribution of communications links from each Sun Blade 6000 server module

Each server module is energized through the midplane from the redundant chassis

power grid. The midplane also provides connectivity to the I2C network in the chassis,

letting each server module directly monitor the chassis environment, including fan and

power supply status as well as various temperature sensors. A number of I/O links are

also routed through the midplane for each server module (Figure 5), including:

• Two x8 PCI Express links connect from each server module to each of the dedicated

EMs

• Two x4 or x8 PCI Express links connect from each server module, one to each of the

NEMs

• Two gigabit Ethernet links are provided, each connecting to one of the NEMs

• Four x1 Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) links are also provided, with two connecting to

each NEM (for future use)

SAS Links

Gigabit EthernetPCI Express x4/x8 or XAUI

SAS Links

Gigabit EthernetPCI Express x4/x8 or XAUI

Service Processor

Ethernet

PCI Express x8

PCI Express x8

Server Module

NEM 0

NEM 1

CMM

EMs


Server Modules Based on Sun SPARC, Intel Xeon, and AMD Opteron ProcessorsThe ability to host demanding compute, memory, and I/O-intensive applications is

ultimately dependent on the characteristics of the actual server modules. The

innovative Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 chassis allow designers considerable flexibility in

terms of delivering powerful server modules for a broad range of applications.

Except for labeling, all Sun Blade 6000 server modules feature a physically identical

front panel design. This design is intentional since any server module can be used in

any slot of the chassis, no matter what the internal architecture of the server module.

As mentioned, all server modules use the same midplane connectors and have

equivalent I/O characteristics.

A Choice of Processors, a Choice of Operating Systems

By providing a choice of Sun SPARC, Intel Xeon, and AMD Opteron processors, the Sun

Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems can serve a wide range of applications and

demands. Organizations are free to choose the platform that best suits their needs or

fits in with their existing environments. Server modules of different architectures can

also be mixed and matched in a single Sun Blade 6000 chassis, or within a single Sun

Blade 6048 modular system shelf.

To help assure the best application performance, Sun Blade 6000 server modules

provide substantial computational and memory capacity to support demanding

applications. Table 2 lists the capabilities of the Sun Blade 6000 server modules

including processors, cores, threads, and memory capacity.

Table 2. Processor support and memory capacities for Sun Blade 6000 server modules

Server Module Processor(s) Cores/Threads Memory Capacity

Sun Blade T6320 server module

1 UltraSPARC T2 processor

• 4, 6, or 8 cores, up to 64 threads

Up to 64 GB, 16 FBDIMM slots

Sun Blade T6300 server module

1 UltraSPARC T1 processor

• 6 or 8 cores, up to 32 threads

Up to 32 GB, 8 DIMM slots

Sun Blade X6220 server module

2 Next Generation AMD Opteron processors

• 4 cores, 4 threads

Up to 64 GB, 16 DIMM slots


2 Intel Xeon Processor 5100 series or 5300 series CPUs

• 5100 series: 4 cores, 4 threads


Up to 64 GB, 16 FB-DIMM slots


4 Intel Xeon Processor 7200 series or 7300 series CPUs



Up to 96 GB, 24 FB-DIMM slots


Leading I/O Throughput

Sun Blade 6000 server modules provide extensive I/O capabilities and a wealth of I/O

options, allowing modular servers to be used for applications that require significant

I/O throughput:

• Up to 142 Gbps of I/O throughput is provided on each Sun Blade 6000 server module,

delivered through 32 lanes of PCI Express I/O, as well as multiple gigabit Ethernet

and SAS links. Each server module delivers its I/O to the passive midplane and the I/O

devices connected to it in the Sun Blade 6000 chassis or Sun Blade 6048 shelf.

• Four 2.5-inch SAS or SATA disk drives are supported in each server module (PCI-based).

• Two hot-plug PCI Express ExpressModules (EM) slots are dedicated to each server

module (20 per chassis) for granular blade I/O configuration.

• Network Express Modules (NEMs) provide bulk I/O across multiple server modules

and aggregate I/O functions. Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems supply up to

two NEMs, each with a PCI Express x8 or XAUI connection, gigabit Ethernet

connection, and two SAS link connections to each server module.

Table 3 lists the throughput provided through the passive midplane from each of the

three server modules.

Table 3. Midplane throughput for Sun Blade 6000 server modules

Enterprise-Class Features

Unlike most traditional blade servers, Sun Blade 6000 server modules provide a host of

enterprise features that help ensure greater reliability and availability:

• Each server module supports hot-plug capabilities

• Each server module supports four hot-plug disks, and built-in support for RAID 0 or 1

(diskless operation is also supported)1

• Redundant hot-swap chassis-located fans mean greater reliability through decreased

part count and no fans located on the server modules

• Redundant hot-swap chassis-located power supply modules mean that no power

supplies are located on individual server modules

LinksSun Blade T6320 server modulea (links, Gbps)

Sun Blade T6300 server module (links, Gbps)

Sun Blade x6220 server module (links, Gbps)

Sun Blade X6250 server modulea

(links, Gbps)

Sun Blade X6450 server modulea

(links, Gbps)

PCI Express links to EMs 2 x8 links, 32 Gbps each

2 x8 links, 32 Gbps each

2 x8 links,32 Gbps each



PCI Express Links to NEMs 2 x4 links, 16 Gbps each





Gigabit Ethernet links 2, 1 Gbps each 2, 1 Gbps each 2, 1 Gbps each 2, 1 Gbps each 2, 1 Gbps each

SAS links 4, 3 Gbps each 4, 3 Gbps each 4, 3 Gbps each 4, 3 Gbps each 4, 3 Gbps each

Total server module bandwidth 142 Gbps 142 Gbps 142 Gbps 110 Gbps 110 Gbps

a.Server modules with Raid Expansion Module (REM) and Fabric Expansion Modules (FEM)

1.Raid 0, 1, 5, and RAID 0+1 are supported by the Sun Blade X6250 and X6450 server modules with the Sun StorageTek RAID expansion module (REM)


Open Transparent Management

Together, Sun Blade 6000 server modules and Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular

systems provide a robust and comprehensive list of management features, including:

• A dedicated service processor on each server module for blade-level management

granularity

• A Chassis Monitoring Module (CMM) for direct access to server module management

features

• Sun xVM Ops Center for server module discovery and OS provisioning as well as bulk

application-level provisioning

A Choice of Operating SystemsIn order to provide maximum flexibility and investment protection, the Sun Blade 6000

server modules support a choice of operating systems, including:

• Solaris 10 OS

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

• Microsoft Windows

• VMware ESX Server

Table 4 lists the specific operating system versions supported by the Sun Blade 6000

server modules as of this writing. Please see www.sun.com/servers/blades/6000 for the

latest supported operating systems and environments.

Table 4. Processor and memory capacities for supported server modules

Solaris OS Support on all Server Modules

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

deployments. Supported on all Sun Blade 6000 server modules, the Solaris OS has

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

affecting different processors as noted.

Server Module Supported Operating Systems

Sun Blade T6320 server module Solaris 10 OS Update 4 with patches or later

Sun Blade T6300 server module Solaris 10 OS Update 3 with patches or later

Sun Blade X6220, X6250, and X6450 server modules

Solaris 10 11/06 OS on x64, HW2 64-bitRed Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Server 4, U4 and U5, 32-bitSuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, 32-bitVMware ESX 3.0.2 and 3.5Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2:

• Standard Edition 32- and 64-bit• Enterprise Edition, 32- and 64-bit

Microsoft Windows Server 2008


• Sun Logical Domains Support in Sun Blade T6320 and T6300 Server Modules

Supported in all Sun servers that utilize Sun processors with chip multithreading

(CMT) technology, Sun Logical Domains provide a full virtual machine that runs an

independent operating system instance and contains virtualized CPU, memory,

storage, console, and cryptographic devices. Within the Sun Logical Domains

architecture, a small firmware layer known as the Hypervisor provides a stable,

virtualized machine architecture to which an operating system can be written. As

such, each logical domain is completely isolated, and the maximum number of

virtual machines created on a single platform relies upon the capabilities of the

Hypervisor as opposed to the number of physical hardware devices installed in the

system. For example, the Sun Blade T6320 server with a single Sun UltraSPARC T2

processor supports up to 64 logical domains, and each individual logical domain

can run a unique instance of the operating system1.

By taking advantage of Sun Logical Domains, organizations gain the flexibility to

deploy multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single server module. In

addition, administrators can leverage virtual device capabilities to transport an

entire software stack hosted on a logical domain from one physical machine to

another. Logical domains can also host Solaris Containers to capture the isolation,

flexibility, and manageability features of both technologies. By deeply integrating

logical domains with both the industry-leading CMT capabilities of the UltraSPARC

T1 and T2 processors and the Solaris 10 OS, Sun Logical Domains technology

increases flexibility, isolates workload processing, and improves the potential for

maximum server utilization.

• Scalability and Support for CoolThreads™ Technology

The Solaris 10 OS is specifically designed to deliver the considerable resources of

UltraSPARC T1 and T2 processor-based systems such as the Sun Blade T6320 and

T6300 server modules. In fact, the Solaris 10 OS provides new functionality for

optimal utilization, availability, security, and performance of these systems:

– CMT awareness — The Solaris 10 OS is aware of the UltraSPARC T1 and T2 pro-

cessor hierarchies so that the scheduler can effectively balance the load across

all the available pipelines. For instance, even though it exposes the UltraSPARC

T2 processor as 64 logical processors, the Solaris OS understands the correlation

between cores and the threads they support.

– Fine-granularity manageability — The Solaris 10 OS has the ability to enable or

disable individual processors and threads. In the case of the UltraSPARC T1 and

T2 processors, this ability extends to enabling or disabling individual cores and

logical processors (hardware thread contexts). In addition, standard Solaris OS

features such as processor sets provide the ability to define a group of logical

processors and schedule processes or threads on them.

1.Though technically possible, this practice is not generally recommended


– Binding interfaces — The Solaris OS allows considerable flexibility in that pro-cesses and individual threads can be bound to either a processor or a processor set, if required or desired.

– Support for Virtualized Networking and I/O, and Accelerated Cryptography —The Solaris OS contains technology to support and virtualize components and subsystems on the UltraSPARC T2 processor, including support for the dual on-chip 10 Gb Ethernet ports and PCI Express interface. As a part of a high-perfor-mance network architecture, CMT-aware device drivers are provided so that applications running within virtualization frameworks can effectively share I/O and network devices. Accelerated cryptography is supported through the Solaris Cryptographic framework.

• 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 the Sun Blade server modules. Solaris Zones and Solaris Resource

Management work together with the Solaris fair-share scheduler on both SPARC-

and x64-based server modules.

– 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 a multicore multiprocessor system — such those provided by Sun Blade server modules — 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 consump-tion of CPU resources does not overlap. Resource pools also provide a persistent configuration mechanism for processor sets and scheduling class assignment. In addition, the dynamic features of resource pools let administrators adjust sys-tem 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 on both SPARC and x64 platforms 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 Blade X6220 server modules,

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

architecture. Namely, 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™ File System

The Solaris ZFS™ file system 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 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.

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


• 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 SPARC applications continue to

run unchanged on UltraSPARC T1 and T2 platforms, protecting investments.

Certified multi-level 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.

26 Server Module Architecture Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Chapter 3


The Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems provide high performance, capacity, and

massive levels of I/O through full featured interfaces that use the latest technology and

make the most of innovative chassis design. Sun Blade T6320, T6300, X6220, and X6250

server modules are described in this chapter, while PCI Express ExpressModules (EMs),

PCI Express Network Express Modules (NEMs), and the Chassis Monitoring Module

(CMM) are described in Chapter 4.

Sun Blade T6320 Server ModuleSuccessful Sun Fire / Sun SPARC Enterprise T1000 and T2000 servers and the Sun Blade

T6300 server module powered by the breakthrough innovation of the UltraSPARC T1

processor completely changed the equation on space, power, and cooling in the

datacenter. With the advent of the UltraSPARC T2 processor, the Sun Blade T6320 server

module takes chip multithreading performance, density, and energy efficiency to the

next level. Similar in capabilities to Sun SPARC Enterprise T5120 and T5220 servers, the

physical layout of the Sun Blade T6300 server module is shown in Figure 9.

Figure 6. The Sun Blade T6320 server module with key features called out

With support for up to 64 threads and considerable network and I/O capacity, the Sun

Blade T6320 server module virtually doubles the throughput of earlier Sun Blade T6300

server modules. In addition to its processing and memory density, each server module

hosts additional modules including an ILOM 2.0 service processor, fabric expansion

module (FEM), and RAID expansion module (REM), all while retaining its compact form

factor. With the Sun Blade T6320 server module, a single Sun Blade 6000 chassis can

support up to 640 threads in just 10 rack units, and up to 3,072 threads can supported

in a single Sun Blade 6048 modular system chassis.

RAID ExpansionModule (REM)

ILOM 2.0 ServiceProcessor Card

UltraSPARC T2Processor

Fabric ExpansionModule (FEM)

MidplaneConnector

Two hot-plug SAS orSATA 2.5-inch drives


16 FBDIMMSockets


The UltraSPARC® T2 Processor with CoolThreads Technology

The UltraSPARC T2 processor extends Sun’s Throughput Computing initiative with an

elegant and robust architecture that delivers real performance to applications.

Implemented as a massively-threaded system on a chip (SoC), each UltraSPARC T2

processor supports:

• Up to eight cores @ 1.2 Ghz – 1.4 Ghz

• Eight threads per core for a total maximum of 64 threads per processor

• 4 MB L2 cache in eight banks (16-way set associative)

• Four on-chip memory controllers for support of up to 16 FBDIMMs

• Up to 64 GB of memory (4 GB FBDIMMs) with 60 GB/s memory bandwidth

• Eight fully pipelined floating point units (1 per core)

• Dual on-chip 10 Gb Ethernet interfaces

• Integral PCI-Express interface

In spite of its innovative new technology, the UltraSPARC T2 processor is fully SPARC v7,

v8, and v9 compatible and binary compatible with earlier SPARC processors. A high-level

block diagram of the UltraSPARC T2 processor is shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. Block-level diagram of an eight-core UltraSPARC T2 processor

The UltraSPARC T2 processor design recognizes that memory latency is truly the

bottleneck to improving performance. By increasing the number of threads supported

by each core, and by further increasing network bandwidth, the UltraSPARC T2

processor is able provide approximately twice the throughput of the UltraSPARC T1

Cross Bar

L2$ L2$ L2$ L2$ L2$ L2$ L2$ L2$

C0 C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7

FPU FPU FPU FPU FPU FPU FPU FPU

System InterfaceNetworkInterface Unit

PCIe

10 GigabitEthernet Ports (2)

x8 @ 2.0 GHz

FB DIMM FB DIMM FB DIMM FB DIMM

FB DIMM FB DIMM FB DIMM FB DIMM

SPU SPU SPU SPU SPU SPU SPU SPU

MCU MCU MCU MCU


processor. Each UltraSPARC T2 processor provides up to eight cores, with each core able

to switch between up to eight threads (64 threads per processor). In addition, each core

provides two integer execution units, so that a single UltraSPARC core is capable of

executing two threads at a time.

The eight cores on the UltraSPARC T2 processor are interconnected with a full on-chip

non-blocking 8 x 9 crossbar switch. The crossbar connects each core to the eight banks

of L2 cache, and to the system interface unit for IO. The crossbar provides

approximately 300 GB/second of bandwidth and supports 8-byte writes from a core to a

bank and 16-byte reads from a bank to a core. The system interface unit connects

networking and I/O directly to memory through the individual cache banks. Using

FBDIMM memory supports dedicated northbound and southbound lanes to and from

the caches to accelerate performance and reduce latency. This approach provides

higher bandwidth than with DDR2 memory, with up to 42.4 GB/second of read

bandwidth and 21 GB/second of write bandwidth.

Each core provides its own fully-pipelined Floating Point and Graphics unit (FGU), as

well as a Stream Processing Unit (SPU). The FGUs greatly enhance floating point

performance over that of the UltraSPARC T1 processor, while the SPUs provide wire-

speed cryptographic acceleration with over 10 popular ciphers supported, including

DES, 3DES, AES, RC4, SHA-1, SHA-256, MD5, RSA to 2048 key, ECC, and CRC32.

Embedding hardware cryptographic acceleration for these ciphers allows end-to-end

encryption with no penalty in either performance or cost.


Figure 8 provides a logical block-level diagram of the Sun Blade T6320 server module.

Similar to the Sun SPARC Enterprise T5120 and T5220 rackmount servers, the Sun Blade

T6320 server module contains an UltraSPARC T2 processor, FB-DIMM sockets for main

memory, integrated lights out manager (ILOM) service processor, and I/O subsystems.

The memory configuration uses all eight of the UltraSPARC T2 processor’s memory

controllers to provide better memory bandwidth, The on-chip memory controllers

communicate directly to FB-DIMM memory through high-speed serial links. Up to 16

667 MHz FB-DIMMs may be configured in the server module.


Figure 8. Sun Blade T6300 server module block level diagram

For I/O, the UltraSPARC T2 processor incorporates an eight-lane (x8) PCI Express port

capable of operating at 4 GB/second bidirectionally. In the Sun Blade X6320 server

module, this port interfaces with a PCI Express switch chip that delivers various PCI links

to other parts of the server module, and to the passive midplane. Two of the PCI Express

interfaces provided by the PCI Express switch are made available through PCI Express

ExpressModules.

The PCI Express switch also provides PCI links to other internal components, including

sockets for fabric expansion modules (FEMs) and RAID expansion modules (REMs). The

FEM socket allows for future expansion capabilities. The gigabit Ethernet interfaces are

provided by an Intel chip connected to a x4 PCI Express interface on the PCI Express

switch chip. Two gigabit Ethernet links are then routed through the midplane to the

NEMs. The server module provides the logic for the gigabit Ethernet connection, while

the NEM provides the physical interface.

Sun Blade RAID 0/1 Expansion Module

All standard Sun Blade T6320 server module configurations ship with the Sun Blade

Blade 0/1 RAID Expansion Module (REM). Based on the LSI SAS1068E storage controller,

the Sun Blade 0/1 REM provides a total of eight hard drive interfaces or links. Four

interfaces are used for the on-board hard drives which may be Serial Attached SCSI

(SAS) or Serial ATA (SATA). The other four links are routed to the midplane where they

interface with the NEM for future use. The REM also provides RAID 0, 1, and 0+1.

Pa

ssiv

eM

idp

lan

e

PCI ExpressSwitch

PEX8548

PCI toPCI

Bridge

Server Module Front Panel

USB 2.0

RJ-45

Serial ALCOM

UltraSPARC

T2 Processor

FB-DIMMs

@667Mhz

Memory

10 Gb Ethernet

PCI Express x8

PCI Express x4

10/100MbpsManagement Ethernet

PCI Express x8 - 32Gbps


2x Gbit Ethernet


NEM #1

NEM #0

EM #1

NEM #1

NEM #1

NEM #0

CMM

SAS Links

RAIDExpansion

Module

Fabric

Expansion

Module

PCI Express x4 (16 Gbps) or XAUI

PCI Express x4 (16 Gbps) or XAUI

IntelOphir

EM #0

NEM #0

PCI toUSB

VGA HD-15 MPC885based

ALOM SP

Motorola

10 Gb Ethernet

T2

FB-DIMMs

@667Mhz

Memory

PCI Express x4

ATIGraphics

JUNTAFPGA


Integrated Lights-Out Management (ILOM) System Controller

Provided across many of Sun’s x64 servers, the Integrated Lights Out Management

(ILOM) service processor acts as a system controller, facilitating remote management

and administration. The service processor is fully featured and is similar in

implementation to that used in other Sun modular and rackmount x64 servers. As a

result, Sun Blade T6320 server modules integrate easily with existing management

infrastructure.

Critical to effective system management, the ILOM service processor:

• Implements an IPMI 2.0 compliant services processor, providing IPMI management

functions to the server's firmware, OS and applications, and to IPMI-based

management tools accessing the service processor via the ILOM Ethernet

management interface, giving visibility to the environmental sensors (both on the

server module, and elsewhere in the chassis)

• Manages inventory and environmental controls for the server, including CPUs,

DIMMs, and power supplies, and provides HTTPS/CLI/SNMP access to this data

• Supplies remote textual console interfaces,

• Provides a means to download upgrades to all system firmware

The ILOM service processor also allows the administrator to remotely manage the

server, independent of the operating system running on the platform and without

interfering with any system activity. ILOM can also send e-mail alerts of hardware

failures and warnings, as well as other events related to each server. The ILOM circuitry

runs independently from the server, using the server’s standby power. As a result, ILOM

firmware and software continue to function when the server operating system goes

offline, or when the server is powered off. ILOM monitors the following Sun Blade T6320

server module conditions:

• CPU temperature conditions

• Hard drive presence

• Enclosure thermal conditions

• Fan speed and status

• Power supply status

• Voltage conditions

• Solaris watchdog, boot time-outs, and automatic server restart events


Sun Blade T6300 Server ModuleThe highly successful Sun Fire / Sun SPARC Enterprise T1000 and T2000 servers powered

by the breakthrough innovation of the UltraSPARC T1 processor helped drive the fastest

product ramp in Sun’s history. The Sun Blade T6300 server module combines these

advantages with the density, availability, and serviceability advantages of Sun’s

modular systems. The Sun Blade T6300 server module is shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9. The Sun Blade T6300 server module with key components called out

The UltraSPARC® T1 Processor with CoolThreads Technology

The UltraSPARC T1 multicore, multithreaded processor was the first chip that fully

implemented Sun’s Throughput Computing initiative. Each UltraSPARC T1 processor

used in Sun Blade T6300 server modules has either six, or eight cores (individual

execution pipelines) all on the same chip. Each core, in turn, supports up to four

hardware thread contexts, a set of registers that represent the thread's state. The

processor is able to switch threads on every clock cycle in a round-robin ordered

fashion, and skip threads that are stalled and waiting for a memory access.

Figure 10. Block-level diagram of an eight-core UltraSPARC T1 processor


Eight DDR2 400DIMM sockets


MidplaneConnector

UltraSPARC T1Processor

ServiceProcessor

On-chip cross-bar interconnect FPU

L2 cache L2 cache L2 cache L2 cache

Core

0

Core

1

Core

2

Core

3

Core

4

Core

5

Core

6

Core

7

UltraSPARC T1 Processor

DDR-2 SDRAM DDR-2 SDRAM DDR-2 SDRAM DDR-2 SDRAM

System InterfaceBuffer Switch Core

Bus


As shown in Figure 10, the individual processor cores are connected by a high-speed,

low-latency crossbar interconnect implemented on the silicon itself. The UltraSPARC T1

processor includes very fast interconnects between the processor, cores, memory, and

system resources, including:

• A 134 GB/second crossbar switch that connects all cores

• A JBus interface with a 3.1 GB/second peak effective bandwidth

• Four DDR2 channels (25.6 GB/second total) for faster access to memory

The memory subsystem of the UltraSPARC T1 processor is implemented as follows:

• Each core has an Instruction cache, a Data cache, an Instruction TLB, and a Data TLB,

shared by the four thread contexts. Each UltraSPARC T1 processor has a twelve-way

associative unified Level 2 (L2) on-chip cache, and each hardware thread context

shares the entire L2 cache.

• This design results in unified memory latency from all cores (Unified Memory Access,

UMA, not Non-Uniform Memory Access, NUMA).

• Memory is located close to processor resources, and four memory controllers provide

very high bandwidth to memory, with a theoretical maximum of 25GB per second.

• Extensive built-in RAS features include ECC protection of register files, Extended-ECC

(similar to IBM’s Chipkill feature), memory sparing, soft error rates and rate

detection, and extensive parity/retry protection of caches.

Each core has a Modular Arithmetic Unit (MAU) that supports modular multiplication

and exponentiation to help accelerate Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) processing. There is a

single Floating Point Unit (FPU) shared by all cores, thus the UltraSPARC T1 processor is

generally not an optimal choice for applications with floating point intensive

requirements.


Figure 11 provides a logical block-level diagram of the Sun Blade T6300 server module.

Similar in design to the Sun SPARC Enterprise T2000 server, the memory configuration

uses all four of the processor’s memory controllers to provide better memory

bandwidth, and up to eight DDR2 533 DIMMs may be configured in the server module.

As in other UltraSPARC T1 based systems, the actual memory speed is 400 MHz.


Figure 11. Sun Blade T6300 server module block level diagram

For I/O, two PCI Express bridges are used to obtain the four x8 PCI Express interfaces

that communicate directly to the Fire Chip that directs I/O through a pair of PCI Express

bridges. Two of the PCI Express interfaces provided by the PCI Express bridges are made

available through PCI Express ExpressModules, and the other two interfaces are

connected to PCI Express Network Express Modules.

For storage, an LSI SAS1068e controller is included on the server module, providing

eight hard drive interfaces or links. Four interfaces are used for the on-board hard drives

which may be Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) or Serial ATA (SATA). The other four links are

routed to the midplane where they interface with the NEM slots for future use. The

storage controller is capable of RAID 0 or 1 and up to two volumes are supported in

RAID configurations.

The gigabit Ethernet interfaces are provided by an Intel chip connected to a x4 PCI

Express interface on one of the bridges. Two gigabit Ethernet links are then routed

through the midplane to the NEMs. The server module provides the logic for the gigabit

Ethernet connection, while the NEM provides the physical interface.

The ALOM Service Processor

The remote management capabilities of the Sun Blade T6300 server module are a

complete implementation of the Advanced Lights Out Manager (ALOM). The ALOM

service processor allows the Sun Blade T6300 server module to be remotely managed

and administered identically to Sun Fire / SPARC Enterprise T1000 and T2000 servers.

Fire

Chip

Pa

ssiv

eM

idp

lan

e

PCI ExpressBridge

UART

PCI toUSB

PCI toPCI

Bridge

JUNTAFPGA

Blade Module Front Panel

DB-9

Serial Posix

USB 2.0

RJ-45

Serial ALCOM

UltraSPARC

T1 Processor

DDR2 533

@400Mhz

Memory

3.2

GB

/sec

3.2

GB

/sec

JBUS

PCIe x8

PCIe x8Fire

E Bus

PCIe

PCIe x4

10/100MbpsManagement EthernetMPC885

basedALOM SP

Motorola

LSI LOGIC

PCIe x8 - 32Gbps

PCIe x8 - 32Gbps

PCIe x8 - 32Gbps

PCIe x8 - 32Gbps

2x Gbit EthernetPCIe x4 - 16Gbps

EM #0

NEM #0

NEM #0

NEM #1

EM #1

NEM #1

NEM #1

NEM #0

CMM

SAS Links

IntelOphir

LSISAS 1068e

PCI ExpressBridge

3.2

GB

/sec

3.2

GB

/sec


ALOM allows the administrator to monitor and control a server, either over a network

or by using a dedicated serial port for connection to a terminal or terminal server.

ALOM provides a command-line interface that can be used to remotely administer

geographically-distributed or physically-inaccessible machines. In addition, ALOM

allows administrators to run diagnostics remotely (such as power-on self-test) that

would otherwise require physical proximity to the server serial port. ALOM can also be

configured to send email alerts of hardware failures, hardware warnings, and other

events related to the server or to ALOM.

The ALOM circuitry runs independently of the server, using the server’s standby power.

As a result, ALOM firmware and software continue to function when the server

operating system goes offline or when the server is powered off. ALOM monitors disk

drives, fans, CPUs, power supplies, system enclosure temperature, voltages, and the

server front panel, so that the administrator does not have to.

ALOM specifically monitors the following Sun Blade T6300 server module components:

• CPU temperature conditions

• Enclosure thermal conditions

• Fan speed and status

• Power supply status

• Voltage thresholds

Sun Blade X6220 Server ModuleThe Sun Blade X6220 server module provides a two-socket x64-based platform with

significant computational, memory, and I/O density. The result is a compact, efficient,

and flexible package with leading floating-point performance for demanding

applications such as HPC. The physical layout of the Sun Blade X6220 server module is

illustrated in Figure 12.

Figure 12. The Sun Blade X6220 server module with key components called out

16 DDR2 667DIMM sockets



MidplaneConnector

AMD OpteronProcessors

ServiceProcessor


Second Generation AMD Opteron Series 2000 Processors

The Sun Blade X6220 server module is based on the Second Generation AMD Opteron

2000 Series processor, leveraging AMD’s Direct Connect Architecture and the nVidia

2200 Professional chipset for scalability and fast I/O throughput. The Sun Blade X6220

server module will initially support dual-core AMD Opteron processors, and will support

AMD’s future processors as they become available. The Sun Blade 6000 chassis provides

sufficient airflow for the server modules to be configured with any type of AMD Opteron

processor, including the Special Edition (SE) versions that consume more power but

provide greater clock speed.

The AMD Opteron processor extends the ubiquitous x86 architecture to accommodate

x64 64-bit processing. Formerly known as x86-64, AMD’s enhancements to the x86

architecture allow seamless migration to the superior performance of x64 64-bit

technology. The AMD Opteron processor (Figure 13) was designed from the start for

dual-core 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 13. 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

• 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

• Support for 64-bit operating systems provide full transparent, and simultaneous 32-

bit and 64-bit platform application multitasking

• A 128-bit wide, on-chip DDR memory controller supports ECC and Enhanced ECC and

provides low-latency memory bandwidth that scales as processors are added

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


Each processor core has a dedicated 1MB 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 AMD Opteron processor with integrated HyperTransport technology links provides 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.


As shown in Figure 14, the AMD Opteron processor uses DDR2 memory, running at a

faster memory bus clock rate of 667 MHz. Up to 10.7 GB per second of memory

bandwidth is provided for each memory controller, for a total aggregate memory

bandwidth of 21.4 GB per second. These higher clock rates can be sustained, even when

the CPUs are configured with up to four DDR2 DIMMs. When all eight DIMMs are

populated, the clock speed is dropped to 533 MHz. The total memory capacity available

is 64 GB per server module.

Figure 14. Sun Blade X6220 server module block level diagram

BCMVideo

over LANRedirect

Next Generation

AMD Opteron 2000

Series Processors

DDR2 667

Memory

10.7

GB

/sec

8 GB/s

3 USB 2.0 Ports - Remote KMS

10/100MbpsManagement

Ethernet

PCIe x8 - 32Gbps

PCIe x8 - 32Gbps

PCIe x8 - 32Gbps

PCIe x8 - 32GbpsEM #1

NEM #1

NEM #1NEM #0

EM #0

NEM #0

NEM #1

NEM #0

CMM

SAS Links

10.7

GB

/sec

8 GB/s

LSISA S1068e

LSI LOGIC


(Via adapter cable)

DB-9 Serial

USB 2.0

VGA HD-15RageXL

DVI VideoOutput

VGA VideoOutput

Super I/OController

IDE

MPC8275SP

Motorola

LP

C33

MH

z

PC

Iex4

PC

I

Gbit Ethernet

Gbit Ethernet

PCIe Bridge

IO-04

CK8-04nForce4

Pa

ssiv

eM

idp

lan

e

CompactFlash


The nVidia PCI Express bridges are connected to the AMD Opteron processors over 8 GB

per second HyperTransport links to provide maximum throughput capacity to the PCI

Express lanes that are directed through the passive midplane. Two HyperTransport links

connect the two CPUs, with one used for cache coherency and the other for I/O

communication between the processors and the second PCI Express bridge. These links

also run at 8 GB per second. Two x8 PCI Express interfaces are pulled from each of the

PCI Express bridges, with each link providing a 32 Gb per second interface through the

midplane. Each PCI Express bridge also provides a gigabit Ethernet interface that is

routed through the passive midplane to the PCI Express Network Express Modules.

Sun Blade X6220 server modules also provide a Compact Flash slot, connected to the

system through an IDE connection to the nVidia chipset. By inserting a standard

compact flash device, administrators can store valuable data or even install a bootable

operating environment. The compact flash device is internal to the server module, and

it cannot be removed unless the server module is removed from the chassis.

As in the Sun Blade T6300 server module, an LSI SAS1068e controller is located on the

Sun Blade X6220 server module, providing eight hard drive interfaces. Four interfaces

are used for the on-board hard drives (either SAS or SATA). The other four links are

routed to the midplane for future use. The storage controller is capable of RAID 0 or 1

and up to two volumes are supported in RAID configurations.

The Integrated Lights Out Management (ILOM) Service Processor

The Integrated Lights Out Management (ILOM) service processor is fully featured and is

identical in implementation to that used in other Sun modular and rackmount x64

servers. As a result, the Sun Blade X6220 server module integrates easily with existing

management infrastructure.

Critical to effective system management, the ILOM service processor:

• Implements an IPMI 2.0 compliant BMC, providing IPMI management functions to

the server module's BIOS, OS and applications, and to IPMI-based management tools

accessing the BMC either thru the OS interfaces, or via the ILOM Ethernet

management interface, providing visibility to the environmental sensors (both on the

server module, and elsewhere in the chassis)

• Manages inventory and environmental controls for the server module, including

CPUs, DIMMs, and EMs, and provides HTTPS/CLI/SNMP access to this data

• Supplies remote textual and graphical console interfaces, as well as a remote storage

(USB) interface (collectively these functions are referred to as Remote Keyboard Video

Mouse and Storage (RKVMS)

• Provides a means to download BIOS images and firmware


The ILOM service processor also allows the administrator to remotely manage the

server, independently of the operating system running on the platform and without

interfering with any system activity. To facilitate full-featured remote management, the

ILOM service processor provides remote keyboard, video, mouse, and storage (RKVMS)

support that is tightly integrated with the Sun Blade server modules. Together these

capabilities allow the server module to be administered remotely, while accessing

keyboard, mouse, video and storage devices local to the administrator (Figure 15). 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 Sun Blade server module and ILOM Remote Console

on the Web-based client management console.

.

Figure 15. Remote keyboard, video, mouse, and storage (RKVMS) support in the ILOM service processor allows full-featured remote management for Sun Blade server modules

Sun Blade X6250 Server ModuleBroadening Sun’s x64-based modular offerings, the Sun Blade X6250 server module

provides support for Dual-Core and Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processors. Intel Xeon

Processor 5100 series CPUs provide the highest clock speeds in the industry in a dual-

core package. Intel Xeon Processor 5300 series CPUs provide quad-core processing

power. Figure 16 shows a physical view of the Sun Blade X6250 server module with key

components identified.

Management

Console

CDROM, DVDROM

or .iso Image

Keyboard, Mouse, CDROM,

and Floppy are Seen as

USB Devices by BIOS and O

ILOM Remote Console

Displays Remote Video in

Application Window

Video

(Up to 1024x768@60Hz)

ILOM Remote Console

Connected to ILOM Over

Management Ethernet

Local Mouse and

Keyboard

Sun Blade X6220

Server Module

Graphics Redirect Over Ethernet

Floppy Disk or

Floppy Image

Remote Keyboard, Mouse and Storage

Emulated as USB Devices by ILOM


Figure 16. The Sun Blade X6250 server module with key components called out

Intel Xeon Processor 5100 and 5300 Series

Utilizing the Intel Core microarchitecture, the Intel Xeon Processor 5100 series and 5300

series provide performance for multiple application types and user environments, in a

substantially reduced power envelope. The dual-core 5100 series processor provides

significant performance headroom for multithreaded applications and helps boost

system utilization through virtualization and application responsiveness. The quad-core

5300 series processor maximizes performance and performance per Watt, providing

increased density for datacenter deployments.

Logical block-level diagrams for both the 5100 and 5300 series processors are provided

in Figure 17. The 5100 series processor includes two processor cores, each provided with

a 64K level-1 cache (32K instruction/32K data). Both cores share a 4 MB level-2 cache to

increase cache-to-processor data transfers, maximize main memory to processor

bandwidth, and reduce latency. The 5300 series processor provides four processor cores,

with two processor cores sharing a 4 MB level-2 cache for a total of 8 MB. The

processors share a high-speed front side bus (FSB).

Figure 17. Intel Xeon Processor 5100 and 5300 series block-level diagrams

Intel XeonProcessors



MidplaneConnector

16 FB DIMM667 sockets

RAID ExpansionModule

Dual-core Intel Xeon 5100 Series

Core 1

64K L1

Cache

4 MB L2 Cache

Core 2

64K L1

Cache

Front Side Bus

Quad-core Intel Xeon 5300 Series

Core 1

64K L1

Cache

4 MB L2 Cache

Core 2

64K L1

Cache

Front Side Bus

Core 3

64K L1

Cache

4 MB L2 Cache

Core 4

64K L1

Cache



The Sun Blade X6250 server module (Figure 18) uses the Intel 5000P Memory Chip Hub

(MCH), which provides communication to the processors over two high-speed Front

Side Buses (FSBs). The FSBs run at 1,333 MHz for the higher clock speed processors and

at 1,033 MHz for the slower speed bins. The maximum bandwidth through each FSB is

10.5 GB per second for an aggregate processor bandwidth of 21 GB per second.


The MCH also provides the system with high speed memory controllers, and PCI-Express

bridges as well as a high speed link to a second I/O bridge (the ESB2 I/O control hub).

The total memory bandwidth provides read speeds up to 21.3 GB per second and write

speeds of up to 17 GB per second. One of the PCI Express x8 lane interfaces from the

MCH is directly routed to a PCI Express ExpressModule via the passive midplane. The

other interface is routed to the Fabric Expansion Module (FEM) socket — available for

future expansion capabilities.

The Intel ESB2 PCI Express bridge provides connectivity to the other PCI Express

ExpressModule and access to the dual gigabit Ethernet interfaces that are routed

through the passive midplane to the NEMs. This bridge also provides the IDE

connection to the compact flash device, used for boot and storage capabilities.

Sun Blade X6250 RAID Expansion Module (REM)

All standard Sun Blade X6250 server module configurations ship with the Sun Blade

X6250 RAID Expansion Module (REM). The REM provides a total of eight SAS ports,

battery backed cache, and RAID 0, 1, 5, and 1+0 capabilities. Using the REM, the server

module provides SAS connectivity on the internal drive slots. Four 1x SAS links are also

Fabric

Expansion

Module (FEM)

FDBIMM

667 Memory

10.5 GB/s


Ethernet

PCIe x8 - 32Gbps


NEM #0

NEM #1

NEM #0

NEM #1

EM #0

NEM #1

NEM #0

CMM

SAS Links

5.3

GB

/sec


(Via Adapter Cable)

DB-9 Serial

USB 2.0

VGA HD-15

IDE

ES

IP

CI

Gbit Ethernet

Gbit Ethernet

CompactFlash

5000MCH

ESB2 IO

PCI Bridge

5.3

GB

/sec10.5 GB/s

SuperI/O

AST 2000Service

Processor

MUX

10/100PHY

SAS/SATAHDDs

SATA x4

RAID

Expansion

Module (REM)

SASHW RAIDController

Gigal

PCIe x4 or XAUI

PCIe x4 or XAUI

PC

Iex8

PC

Iex4

LP

C

PC

I

Passiv

eM

idpla

ne

Fabric

Expansion

Module5.

3G

B/s

ec5.

3G

B/s

ec


routed to the NEMs for future storage expansion. Build-to-order Sun Blade x6250 server

modules can be ordered without the REM. While these server modules will not provide

SAS support, SATA connectivity to the internal hard disk drives can be provided by the

Intel ESB8210 PCI Express bridge.

The Embedded LOM Service Processor

Similar to the other Sun Blade 6000 server modules, the Sun Blade X6250 server

module includes an embedded lights out manager (embedded LOM). This built-in,

hardware-based service processor enables organizations to consolidate system

management functions with remote power control and monitoring capabilities. The

service processor is IPMI 2.0 compliant and enables specific capabilities including

system configuration information retrieval, key hardware component monitoring,

remote power control, full local and remote keyboard, video, mouse (KVM) access,

remote media attachment, SNMP V1, V2c, and V3 support, and event notification and

logging.

Administrators simply and securely access the service processor on the the Sun Blade

X6250 server module using a secure shell command line, redirected console, or SSL-

based Web browser interface from a remote workstation. The Desktop Management

Task Force’s (DMTF) Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware (SMASH)

command line protocol is supported over both the serial interface and the secure shell

network interface. A Web server and Java Webstart remote console application are

embedded in the service processor. This approach minimizes the need for any special-

purpose software installation on the administrative workstation to take advantage of

Web-based access. For enhanced security, the service processor includes multilevel role

based access to features. The service processor flexibly supports native and Active

Directory Service lookup of authentication data. All functions can be provided out-of-

band through a designated serial or network interface, eliminating the performance

impact to workload processing.

Sun Blade X6450 Server Module

Adding to the capabilities of the Sun Blade X6250 server module, the Sun Blade X6450

server module provides increased scalability of dual-core and quad-core Intel Xeon

processors. Dual-core Intel Xeon Processor 7200 series and and quad-core Intel Xeon

Processor 7300 series provide support for quad-socket configurations, such as those

offered by the Sun Blade X6450 server module. Offering both quad-core and quad-

socket support in a blade package provides significant computational density while

offering the flexible advantages of a modular platform. Figure 19 illustrates a physical

view of the Sun Blade X6450 server module with key components identified.


Figure 19. The Sun Blade X6450 server module supports up to four Intel Xeon processors

Intel Xeon Processor 7200 and 7300 Series

The Intel Xeon Processor 7200 Series and 7300 Series processors use a Multi-Chip

Package (MCP) to deliver quad-core configurations. This packaging approach increases

die yields and lowers manufacturing costs, which helps Intel and Sun to deliver higher

performance at lower price points. The dual-core Intel Xeon Processor 7200 Series and

quad-core Intel Xeon Processor 7300 Series both incorporate two die per processor

package, with each die capable of containing two processor cores (Figure 20).

Figure 20. Intel Xeon Processor 7200 and 7300 series block-level diagrams

In the dual-core Intel Xeon 7200 Series, each die includes one processor core, but in the

quad-core Intel Xeon Processor 7300 Series, each die contains two cores. In a Sun Blade

X6450 server server module with four processors, this dense configuration provides up

to 16 execution cores in a compact blade form factor. The 7000 Sequence processor

families share these additional features:

• An on-die Level 1 (L1) instruction data cache (64KB per die)

• An on-die Level 2 (L2) cache (4MB per die for a total of 8MB in packages with two die)

• Multiple, independent Front Side Buses (FSBs) that act as high-bandwidth system

interconnects

Intel 7000 MCH(Clarksboro Northbridge)

Compact FlashStorage

24 FB-DIMM667 sockets

MidplaneConnector

Intel XeonProcessors



The Sun Blade X6450 server module (Figure 21) uses the Intel 7000 Memory Chip Hub

(MCH) — also known as the Clarksboro Northbridge — which provides communication

to the processors over four high-speed Front Side Buses (FSBs). The FSBs run at 256 MHz

or 1033 MT/s. The maximum bandwidth through each FSB is 8.5 GB per second for an

aggregate processor bandwidth of 34 GB per second.


The MCH also provides the system with high-speed memory controllers, and PCI Express

bridges as well as a high speed link to a second I/O bridge (the ESB2 I/O control hub).

The total memory bandwidth provides read speeds up to 21.3 GB per second and write

speeds of up to 17 GB per second. One of the PCI Express x8 lane interfaces from the

MCH is directly routed to a PCI Express ExpressModule via the passive midplane. The

other interface is routed to the Fabric Expansion Module (FEM) socket — available for

future expansion capabilities. An x4 PCI Express connection powers an optional RAID

Expansion Module (REM) that can be configured to access Serial Attached SCSI (SAS)

storage devices over the passive midplane.

The Intel ESB2 I/O PCI Express bridge provides connectivity to the other PCI Express

ExpressModule and access to the dual gigabit Ethernet interfaces that are routed

through the passive midplane to the NEMs. This bridge also provides the IDE

connection to the compact flash device. The Sun Blade X6450 server module is diskless,

and contains no traditional hard drives. The integrated CompactFlash device provides a

means for internal storage that can be used as a boot device or as a generic storage

medium.

FD-BIMM

667 Memory

8.5 GB/s


Ethernet

PCIe x8 - 32Gbps


NEM #0

NEM #1

NEM #0

NEM #1

EM #1

NEM #1

NEM #0

CMM

SAS Links

5.3

GB

/sec


(Via Adapter Cable)

DB-9 Serial

USB 2.0

VGA HD-15

IDE

ES

IP

CI

Gbit Ethernet

Gbit Ethernet

CompactFlash

7000MCH

ESB2 IO

PCI Bridge

5.3

GB

/sec

SuperI/O

AST 2000Service

Processor

MUX

10/100PHY

Optional

SASHW RAIDController

Gigal

PCIe x4 or XAUI

PCIe x4 or XAUI

PC

Iex8

PC

Iex4

LP

C

PC

I

Pa

ssiv

eM

idp

lan

e

Fabric

Expansion

Module

5.3

GB

/sec

5.3

GB

/sec

8.5 GB/s

PCIe x8 - 32Gbps

PCIe x8 - 32Gbps


The Embedded LOM Service Processor

Like the Sun Blade X6250 server module, the Sun Blade X6450 server module includes

an embedded lights out manager (embedded LOM). This built-in, hardware-based

service processor enables organizations to consolidate system management functions

with remote power control and monitoring capabilities. The service processor is IPMI

2.0 compliant and enables specific capabilities including system configuration

information retrieval, key hardware component monitoring, remote power control, full

local and remote keyboard, video, mouse (KVM) access, remote media attachment,

SNMP V1, V2c, and V3 support, and event notification and logging.

Administrators simply and securely access the service processor on the the Sun Blade

X6250 server module using a secure shell command line, redirected console, or SSL-

based Web browser interface from a remote workstation. The Desktop Management

Task Force’s (DMTF) Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware (SMASH)

command line protocol is supported over both the serial interface and the secure shell

network interface. A Web server and Java Webstart remote console application are

embedded in the service processor. This approach minimizes the need for any special-

purpose software installation on the administrative workstation to take advantage of

Web-based access. For enhanced security, the service processor includes multilevel role

based access to features. The service processor flexibly supports native and Active

Directory Service lookup of authentication data. All functions can be provided out-of-

band through a designated serial or network interface, eliminating the performance

impact to workload processing.

45 I/O Expansion, Networking, and Management Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Chapter 4

I/O Expansion, Networking, and Management

Today’s datacenter investments need to be protected, especially as systems are re-

purposed, expanded, and altered to meet dynamic demands. Modular systems can play

a key role, allowing organizations to derive maximum benefit from their infrastructure,

even as their needs change. More importantly, modular systems must avoid arbitrary

limitations that restrict choice in I/O, networking, or management. The Sun Blade 6000

and 6048 modular systems in particular are designed to work with open and

multivendor industry standards without dictating components, topologies, or

management scenarios.

Server Module Hard DrivesA choice of hot swappable 2.5-inch SAS or SATA hard disk drives is provided with all Sun

Blade 6000 server modules except for the Sun Blade X6450 server module.

• Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) drives provide high performance and high density. Drives

are 10,000 rpm and available in capacities of 73 GB or 146 GB. These drives provide

enterprise-class reliability with 1.6 million hours mean time between failures (MTBF).

• Serial ATA (SATA) drives are 5400 rpm and available in 80 GB capacities.

Please check Sun’s Website (www.sun.com/servers/blades/6000) for the latest

available disk drive offerings.

PCI Express ExpressModules (EMs)Industry-standard I/O, long a staple of rackmount and vertically-scalable servers has

been elusive in legacy blade platforms. Unfortunately the lack of industry-standard I/O

has meant that customers often paid more for fewer options, and were ultimately

limited by a single vendor’s innovation. Unlike legacy blade platforms, Sun Fire 6000

and 6048 modular systems accommodate PCI Express ExpressModules (EMs) compliant

with PCI SIG form factor. This approach allows for a wealth of expansion module options

from multiple expansion module vendors, and avoids a single-vendor lock on

innovation. The same EMs can be used on both Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular

systems as well as Sun Blade 8000 modular systems.

The passive midplane implements connectivity between the EMs and the server

modules, and physically assigns pairs of EMs to individual server modules. As shown in

Figure 22, EMs 0 and 1 (from right to left) are connected to server module 0, EMs 2 and

3 are connected to server module 1, EMs 4 and 5 are connected to server module 3, and

so on. Each EM is supplied with an x8 PCI Express link back to its associated server

module, providing up to 32 Gb/s of I/O throughput. EMs are hot-plug capable according

to the standard defined by the PCI SIG, and fully customer replaceable without opening

either the chassis or removing the server module.


Figure 22. A pair of 8-lane (x8) PCI Express slots allow up to two PCI Express ExpressModules per server module in the Sun Blade 6000 (shown) and 6048 chassis

With the industry-standard PCI Express ExpressModule form factor, EMs are available

for multiple types of connectivity, including

• 4 Gb FiberChannel, dual port (Qlogic, SG-XPCIE2FC-QB4-Z)*

• 4 Gb FiberChannel, dual port (Emulex, SG-XPCIE2FC-EB4-Z)

• Gb Ethernet, dual-port (copper, X7282A-Z)*

• Gb Ethernet, dual-port (fiber, X7283A-Z)

• 4X InfiniBand, dual-port (Mellanox, X1288A-Z)*

• 12 Gb SAS, dual-port (LSI Logic, SG-XPCIE8SAS-EB-Z)

• 12 Gb SAS RAID, single-port (Intel SRL, SGXPCIESAS-R-BLD-Z)

• Gb Ethernet, quad-port (copper, X7284A-Z)

• Gb Ethernet, quad-port (copper, X7287A-Z)

• 10 Gb Ethernet, dual-port (fiber, X1028A-Z)

• 4x Infiniband, no-mem, single-port (Mellanox, X1290A)

EMs marked with an asterisk are shown in Figure 23. For the latest available EMs,

please refer to www.sun.com/servers/blades/6000.

Figure 23. Several PCI Express ExpressModules available for the Sun Blade 6000 modular server.

Serv

er

Module

9

Serv

er

Module

5

Serv

er

Module

4

Serv

er

Module

3

Serv

er

Module

2

Serv

er

Module

1

Serv

er

Module

0

Serv

er

Module

8

Serv

er

Module

7

Serv

er

Module

6


PCI Express Network Express Modules (NEMs)Many legacy blade platforms include integrated network switching as a way to gain

aggregate network access to the individual server modules. Unfortunately, these

switches are often restrictive in their options and may dictate topology and

management choices. As a result, datacenters often find legacy blade server platforms

difficult to integrate into their existing networks, or are resistant to admitting new

switch hardware into their chosen network fabrics.

Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems address this problem through a specific PCI

Express Network Express Module (NEM) form factor that provides configurable network

I/O for all of the server modules in the system. Connecting to all of the installed server

modules through the passive midplane, NEMs represent a space-efficient mechanism

for deploying high-density configurable I/O, and provide bulk or I/O options for the

entire chassis.

Gigabit Ethernet Pass-Through NEMs

Gigabit Ethernet Pass-Through NEMs are available for configuration with both the Sun

Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems, providing pass-through access to the gigabit

Ethernet interfaces located on the server modules. Separate NEMs are provided to

support the different numbers of server modules in the two chassis. Gigabit Ethernet

interface logic resides on the server module while the passive midplane simply provides

access and connectivity. With the Gigabit Ethernet Pass-Through NEMs, individual

servers can be connected to external switches just as easily as rackmount servers —

with no arbitrary topological constraints.

The Gigabit Ethernet Pass-Through NEMs provide an RJ-45 connector for each of the

server modules supported in the respective chassis — 10 for the Sun Blade 6000

modular system, and 12 for the Sun Blade 6048 modular system shelf. Adding a second

pass-through NEM provides access to the second gigabit Ethernet connection on each

server module. Figure 24 illustrates the Gigabit Ethernet Pass-Through NEM.

Figure 24. The Gigabit Ethernet Pass-Through NEM provides a 10/10/1000 BaseT port for each installed Sun Blade server module (Sun Blade 6000 Pass-Through NEM shown)


Sun Blade 6048 InfiniBand Switched NEM

Providing dense connectivity to servers while minimizing cables is one of the issues

facing large HPC cluster deployments. The Sun Blade 6048 InfiniBand Switched NEM

solves this challenge by integrating an InfiniBand leaf switch into a Network Express

Module for the Sun Blade 6048 chassis. The NEM shares components, cables, and

connectors with the Sun Datacenter Switch (DS) 3456 and 3x24, facilitating build-out of

very large InfiniBand clusters (up to 288 nodes per Sun DS 3x24, and up to 3,456 nodes

per Sun DS 3456. Up to four Sun DS 3456 core switches can be employed to construct

truly massive clusters with up to 13,824 Sun Blade 6000 server modules. A block-level

diagram of the dual-height NEM is provided in Figure 25, aligned with an image of the

back panel.

Figure 25. The Sun Blade 6048 InfiniBand Switched NEM provides eight switched 12x InfiniBand connections to the two on-board 24-port switches, and twelve pass-through gigabit Ethernet ports, one to each Sun Blade 6000 server module in the Sun Blade 6048 shelf

Each Sun Blade 6048 InfiniBand Switched NEM employs two of the same Mellanox

InfiniScale III 24-port switch chips used in Sun DS 3456 and 3x24 InfiniBand switches,

providing 12 internal and 12 external connections. Redundant internal connections are

provided from Mellanox ConnectX HCA chips to each of the switch chips, allowing the

system to route around failed links. Additionally, 12 pass-through gigabit Ethernet

connections are provided to access gigabit Interfaces provided on individual Sun Blade

6000 server modules mounted in the Sun Blade 6048 modular system. The same

standard Compact Small Form-factor Pluggable (CSFP) connectors are used on the back

panel for direct connection to the Sun DS 3456 or 3x24 switch, with each 12x

connection providing four 4x InfiniBand connections.

HCA HCA HCA HCA HCA HCA HCA HCA HCA HCA HCA HCA

24 Port 384 Gbps IB Switch 24 Port 384 Gbps IB Switch

12 PCI Express x8 Connections from Server Modules

InfiniBand Leaf SwitchNEM Components

External NEM Profile

Gigabit Ethernet Connections to Each Server Module


Transparent and Open Chassis and System ManagementManagement in legacy blade platforms has typically either been lacking, or

administrators have been forced into adopting unique and platform-specific

management infrastructure. To address this issue, the Sun Blade 6000 and 6048

modular systems provide a wide range of flexible management options.

Chassis Monitoring Module (CMM)

The Chassis Monitoring Module (CMM) is the primary point of management of all

shared chassis components and functions, providing a set of management interfaces.

Each server module contains its own service processor, giving it similar remote

management capabilities to other Sun servers. Through their respective Lights Out

Management service processors, individual server modules provide IPMI, HTTPs, CLI

(SSH), SNMP, and file transfer interfaces that are directly accessible from the Ethernet

management port on the Chassis Monitoring Module (CMM). Each server module is

assigned an IP address (either manually, or via DHCP) that is used for the management

network.

CMM Network Functionality

A single CMM is built into each Sun Blade 6000 modular system and Sun Blade 6048

shelf, and is configured with an individual IP address assigned either statically or

dynamically via DHCP. The CMM provides complete monitoring and management

functionality for the chassis (or shelf) while providing access to server module

management functions. In addition, the CMM supports HTTP and CLI “pass-thru”

interfaces that provide transparent access to each server module. The CMM also

provides access to each server module via a single serial port through which any of the

various LOM interfaces can be configured. The CMM's management functions include:

• Implementation of an IPMI satellite controller, making the chassis environmental

sensors visible to the server module’s BMC functions

• Direct environmental and inventory management via CLI and IPMI interfaces

• CMM, ILOM, and NEM firmware management

• Pass-through management of blades using IPMI, SNMP, and HTTP links along with

command line interface (CLI) SSH contexts

The management network internal to the CMM joins the local management processor

on each server module to the external management network through the passive

midplane.

CMM Architecture

A portion of the CMM functions as an unmanaged switch dedicated exclusively to

remote management network traffic, letting administrators access the remote

management functions of the server modules. The switch in the CMM provides a single

network interface to each of the server modules and to each of the NEMs, as well as to


the service processor located on the CMM itself. Figure 26 provides an illustration and a

block-level diagram of the Sun Blade 6000 CMM. The Sun Blade 6048 NEM has a

different form factor but provides the same functionality.

Figure 26. The CMM provides a management network that connects to each server module, the two NEMS, and the CMM itself (Sun Blade 6000 CMM shown)

The CMM’s functionality provides various management functions, including power

control of the chassis as well as hot-plug operations of infrastructure components such

as power supply modules, fan modules, server modules, and NEMs. The CMM acts as a

conduit to server module LOM configuration, allowing settings such as network

addresses and administrative users to be configured or viewed.

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

Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems.

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 distributions

Gigabit Ethernet Uplink 1

Server Module 0

Server Module 1

Server Module 5

Server Module 2

Server Module 3

Server Module 4

Server Module 6

Server Module 7

Server Module 8

Server Module 9NEM 0NEM 1

Gigabit Ethernet Uplink 0

To CMM Service Processor

UnmanagedSwitch


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 Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems. The remote management interface

discovers and presents the Sun Blade server modules in the chassis as if they were

individual servers. In this fashion, the server modules appear in exactly the same way

as individual rackmount servers, making the same operations, detailed inventory, and

status pages available to administrators. The server modules are discovered and

organized into logical groups for easy identification of individual modules, and the

system chassis and racks that contain them. Organizing servers into groups also allows

features such as OS deployment across multiple server modules. At the same time,

individual server modules can also be managed independently from the rest of the

chassis. This flexibility allows for management of server modules that may have

different requirements than the other modules deployed in the same chassis.

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.

52 Conclusion Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Chapter 5

Conclusion

Sun's innovative technology and open-systems approach make modular systems

attractive across a broad set of applications and activities— from deploying dynamic

Web services infrastructure to building datacenters run demanding HPC codes. The Sun

Blade 6000 modular system provide the promised advantages of modular architecture

while retaining essential flexibility for how technology is deployed and managed. The

Sun Blade 6048 modular system extends and amplifies these strengths, allowing

organizations to build ultra-dense infrastructure that can scale to provide the world’s

largest terascale and petascale supercomputing clusters and grids.

Sun’s standard and open-systems based approach yields choice and avoids compromise

— providing a platform that benefits from widespread industry innovation. With

chassis designed for investment protection into the future, organizations can literally

cable once, and change their deployment options as required — mixing and matching

server modules as desired. A choice of Sun SPARC, Intel Xeon, or AMD Opteron based

server modules and a choice of operating systems makes it easy to choose the right

platform for essential applications. Industry-standard I/O provides leading flexibility

and leading throughput for individual servers. Transparent networking and

management means that the Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems fit easily into

existing network and management infrastructure.

The Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 modular systems get blade architecture right. Together

with the Sun Blade 8000 and 8000 P modular systems, Sun now has one of the most

comprehensive modular system families in the industry. This breadth of coverage

translates directly to savings in terms of administration and management. For example,

unified support for the Solaris OS across all server modules means that the same

features and functionality are available on all processor platforms. This approach saves

both time in training and administration — even as the system delivers agile

infrastructure for the organization’s most critical applications.

53 Conclusion Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Sun Blade 6000 and 6048 Modular Systems On the Web sun.com/servers/blades/6000

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

© 2007-2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, CoolThreads, Java, JVM, Solaris, Sun Blade, Sun Fire, N1 and ZFS are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. and its subsidiaries 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. Intel Xeon is a trademark or registered trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. AMD Opteron is a trademark or registered trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices. Information subject to change without notice. Printed in USA SunWIN #:494863 06/08

Sun Blade 6000 Family Architecture White Paper

Documents

Transcript of Sun Blade 6000 Family Architecture White Paper