System News for Sun Users - The Blog

Latest Release Adds Support for Intel 5500 and Six-core AMD Processors

Oracle VM is server virtualization software that fully supports both Oracle and non-Oracle applications. The latest release is version 2.2, which features the latest Xen-based, industry-standard hypervisor, Xen 3.4, and provides performance enhancements for customers running Intel Xeon processor 5500 series, as well as six-core AMD Opteron processors.

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Sun Servers with Six-Core AMD Opterons Featured

An Illuminata Spotlight piece considers the trend of virtualization moving into business applications, and how that is both reflected and enabled by the latest generation of Sun servers based on the new six-core AMD Opteron processors. The evolution of virtualization software, processors and systems are covered. Sun systems discussed include the Sun Fire X4140, X4440, X4640, Sun Blade X6240, X6440 and 6048.

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New Istanbul Processor 2435 Now Available

There are two new PTO options for Sun Fire X4540 with six-core AMD Opteron Processor 2435. The two new PTOs offer either two AMD Opteron 2435 CPUs, 32 GB memory and 24 TB of storage or two 2435 CPUs, 32 GB memory and 48 TB of storage. The desired system will be preinstalled with Solaris 10 Update 7 OS. The new CPU Opteron 2435 processor has six cores in each CPU as compared to the quad core CPU for higher throughput I/O and better data throughput rate for each CPU.

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Know Your Needs, Blogger Recommends, Then Choose the Processor

The IT atmosphere is clouding up and, as it does, administrators are going to have to address certain issues, among them, which is the most suitable processor for a particular use of cloud computing. Mr. Benchmark provides a few suggestions in this direction in his blog, “What processor will fuel your first private cloud: Intel Nehalem or AMD Istanbul?”

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Six-Core Performance in the Same Quad-Core Footprint

The Sun Blade X6240 and X6440 server modules now support the six-core AMD Opteron processors. Find out more about the specific model numbers and what features these new six-core processors offer. Sun also announced that the Sun Blade X6240 now supports 8GB DIMMs, and that there are new Assemble-to-Order (ATO) blade assemblies required for both Sun Blade X6240 and X6440 server modules with the new six-core processors.

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With Web 2.0 Toolkit Olio and iGen with PostgreSQL 8.4

Sun recently integrated AMD’s six-core Opteron processors in its x64 blades and rackmount servers. With six processing units on each chip, the new processors help deliver increased performance for environments such as virtualization, database and web serving. Sun Staff Engineer Jignesh K. Shah decided to test drive the Sun Fire X4140 set up with 2 x 6-core Opterons, 36GB RAM and Web 2.0 toolkit Olio. Shah also tested the final release of PostgreSQL 8.4 (64-bits) in the download of Solaris 10 binaries on the system. See what he found.

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Also Announced: Sun Open Network Systems Enterprise 2.0 Solution for Oracle, New Six-Core AMD Opteron-Processor Servers

Chip multi-threaded (CMT) Sun SPARC Enterprise systems now offer 1.6 GHz processors. When used with the recently released Logical Domains 1.2, users can expect to experience additional virtualization and compute performance, simplified management, a reduction in I/O bottlenecks and accelerated application response time, Sun reports. The company also announced the Sun Open Network Systems Enterprise 2.0 Solution for Oracle that claims enterprise infrastructure deployment at up to 75 percent faster rates than traditional approaches. Additionally, new x64 blades and rackmount servers with the latest six-core AMD Opteron processors are available.

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That’s 2.9 GHz Quad-Core AMD Opteron Processors

Select x64 Sun Fire Servers now come with Quad Core AMD Opteron Processors. For enhanced performance, the processors run at 2.9 GHz. Sun’s x64 server models equipped with this technology include the following: Sun Fire X4140, Sun Fire X4240, and Sun Fire X4440.

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With 8-DIMM Slots and High Efficiency Enhanced Quad-Core AMD Opteron ProcessorsWith 8-DIMM Slots and High Efficiency Enhanced Quad-Core AMD Opteron Processors

New enhanced quad-core processor boards are available for the Sun Fire X4600 M2. The boards come with 8-DIMM slots and 1 x AMD Opteron Model 8376 HE 2.3 GHz, ACP 55W Quad Core Processor. Available in an XATO (Assemble to Order) option and X-Option, customers of the Sun Fire X4600 M2 now have the choice of support for modular 2, 4, 6, or 8 quad core processors, allowing for more multithreaded applications to be run in this 4RU modular x64 server.

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Sun’s x64 servers based on the new Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor have posted five world record results on industry standard benchmarks. Key systems in Sun’s x64 family include:

• Sun Blade X6440 server module - The Sun Blade X6440 is a four-socket server with industry leading memory footprint and high-speed I/O to deliver a compute dense platform balanced for high-volume workloads. The Sun Blade X6440 server module posted a world record 16-thread result on the prominent HPC SPECompM2001 benchmark that is often used to compare the performance of shared memory servers executing compute-intensive scientific applications(1).
• Sun Fire X4600 M2 server - The only compact two-to-eight socket server that can consolidate over 110 x86 servers onto one Sun Fire X4600 M2 server, saving typically over $150,000 per year. With the enhanced Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor, the unique 32-core 4U rackmount server delivers world record integer throughput performance for all x86 systems (2) as well as the best eight processor result on SPECjbb2005, the Java-based Enterprise benchmark(3),
• Sun Fire X4240 server - The two-socket Sun Fire X4240 is designed with more memory slots and storage capacity and higher storage throughput delivering a world record-breaking two CPU result on the SPECweb2005 benchmark with 25 percent better web server performance than the HP ProLiant DL385 G5 and 27 percent better performance than the HP ProLiant DL380 G5 (4).
• Sun Fire X4440 server - A SPECompL2001 world record holder running 16 threads (5), the Sun Fire X4440 server is the industry’s only four-socket 2RU x64 server based on the Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor. It also provides the same socket capacity in half the space of competitive servers.

Additional information on Sun servers’ record setting performance is available at: http://www.sun.com/x64/amd/benchmarks/

For more on Sun’s new systems:  http://www.sun.com/servers/index.jsp