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SPARC Enterprise
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The SPARC Enterprise series is a range of UNIX server computers co-developed by Sun Microsystems and Fujitsu introduced in 2007. They are marketed and sold by Sun Microsystems, Fujitsu, and Fujitsu Siemens Computers under the common brand of SPARC Enterprise, superseding Sun's Sun Fire and Fujitsu's PRIMEPOWER server product lines.
SPARC64 VI and SPARC64 VII processor based models (M-class)
The midrange and high-end SPARC64 VI processor based servers are designated "M-class".
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Encyclopedia
The SPARC Enterprise series is a range of UNIX server computers co-developed by Sun Microsystems and Fujitsu introduced in 2007. They are marketed and sold by Sun Microsystems, Fujitsu, and Fujitsu Siemens Computers under the common brand of SPARC Enterprise, superseding Sun's Sun Fire and Fujitsu's PRIMEPOWER server product lines.
Systems
| Model | RU | Max processors | Processor frequency | Max memory | Max disk capacity | GA Date |
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| M3000 | 2 | 1× SPARC64 VII | 2.52 GHz | 32 GB | 4× 2.5" SAS | October 2008 |
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| M4000 | 6 | 4× SPARC64 VI or VII | 2.15 GHz (VI) or 2.4 GHz (VII) | 128 GB | 2× 2.5" SAS | April 2007 (VI), July 2008 (VII) |
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| M5000 | 10 | 8× SPARC64 VI or VII | 2.15 GHz (VI) or 2.4 GHz (VII) | 256 GB | 4× 2.5" SAS | April 2007 (VI), July 2008 (VII) |
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| M8000 | N/A | 16× SPARC64 VI or VII | 2.28, 2.4 GHz (VI) 2.52 GHz (VII) | 512 GB | 16× 2.5" SAS | April 2007 (VI), July 2008 (VII) |
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| M9000 | N/A | 64× SPARC64 VI or VII | 2.28, 2.4 GHz (VI) or 2.52 GHz (VII) | 2048 GB | 64× 2.5" SAS | April 2007 (VI), July 2008 (VII) |
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| T1000 | 1 | 1× UltraSPARC T1 | 1.0 GHz | 32 GB | One 3.5" SATA or Two 2.5" SAS | April 2007 |
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| T2000 | 2 | 1× UltraSPARC T1 | 1.0, 1.2, 1.4 GHz | 64 GB | Up to four 2.5" SAS | April 2007 |
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| T5120 | 1 | 1× UltraSPARC T2 | 1.2, 1.4 GHz | 64 GB | Up to four 2.5" SAS | November 2007 |
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| T5140 | 1 | 2 UltraSPARC T2+ | 1.2 GHz | 128 GB | Up to four 2.5" SAS | April 2008 |
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| T5220 | 2 | 1× UltraSPARC T2 | 1.2, 1.4 GHz | 64 GB | Up to eight 2.5" SAS | November 2007 |
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| T5240 | 2 | 2× UltraSPARC T2+ | 1.2, 1.4 GHz | 256 GB | Up to sixteen 2.5" SAS | April 2008 |
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| T5440 | 4 | 4× UltraSPARC T2+ | 1.2, 1.4 GHz | 512 GB | Up to four 2.5" SAS | Oct 2008 |
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SPARC64 VI and SPARC64 VII processor based models (M-class)
The midrange and high-end SPARC64 VI processor based servers are designated "M-class". The "M" indicates mainframe class features.
- M4000 - Up to 4 processor sockets, 6U rack-mount
- M5000 - Up to 8 processor sockets, 10U rack-mount
- M8000 - Up to 16 processor sockets, one data center rack
- M9000 - Up to 64 processor sockets, one or two data center racks
Processor
The SPARC64 VI is a dual core processor, with each core featuring two-way vertical multithreading (VMT). A M9000 server configured with the maximum amount of processors supports running 256 concurrent threads. VMT is a Coarse grained multi-threading implementation. Each core in the SPARC64 VI can handle two strands or threads. VMT switches execution from one strand to the other on the basis of events. To execute instructions from another thread, the pipeline must be saved/flushed and switched to the registers
for the other thread. These events include L2 cache misses, a hardware timer exception, interrupts, or some multi-threading related control instructions. This is also called Switch On Event (SOE) Threading.
In 2008, Fujitsu released the SPARC64 VII, a quad core processor, with each core featuring two-way simultaneous multithreading. Existing M-class servers will be able to upgrade to the SPARC64 VII processors in the field. A SPARC64 VII processor module includes four physical cores, where each core can execute two threads. Each physical core is able to run both threads simultaneously. With SMT, there is no context switch time and the two threads share the instruction pipeline smoothly. When both are ready to run, they alternate cycles for superscaler instruction issue, and share the functional units according to need.
An important capability of the M-Series is the ability to mix processor generations and clock speeds in the same system and domain. All M-Series servers can have both SPARC64 VI and SPARC64 VII CPUs installed and they will run at their native speed, with no clocking down to the slowest CPU.
Benchmark record
On April 17, 2007, a Sun SPARC Enterprise M9000 achieved 1.032 TFLOPS on the LINPACK benchmark, making it the fastest
single system supercomputer at that time.
On May 2, 2008, Sun SPARC Enterprise M9000 server achieved a world performance record on the TPC-H data warehousing benchmark at the 1 Terabyte scale factor using the Oracle Database.
As of February 19, 2009, the SPARC Enterprise M8000 holds the 64-thread world performance records on the SPEC OMP2001 benchmark, both for medium
and for large
UltraSPARC T1 processor based models
The UltraSPARC T1-based Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 are branded to the SPARC Enterprise line:
- T1000 - 1 processor socket, 1U rack-mount
- T2000 - 1 processor socket, 2U rack-mount
UltraSPARC T2 processor based models
In Oct 2007, Sun added the UltraSPARC T2-based servers to the SPARC Enterprise line:
- T5120 - 1 processor socket, 1U rack-mount
- T5220 - 1 processor socket, 2U rack-mount
UltraSPARC T2+ processor based models
In April 2008, Sun added the UltraSPARC T2 Plus-based servers to the SPARC Enterprise line:
- T5140 - 2 processor sockets, 1U rack-mount
- T5240 - 2 processor sockets, 2U rack-mount
In October 2008, Sun released the 4-way SMP UltraSPARC T2 Plus-based server:
- T5440 - 4 processor sockets, 4U rack-mount
Partitioning and virtualization
The M-class supports Dynamic Domains and Dynamic Reconfiguration, which enable a single machine to be divided into multiple electrically isolated partitions.
The UltraSPARC T1 and UltraSPARC T2/T2+ models partition the system using Logical Domains.
Both M-class and UltraSPARC T1 models support Solaris Containers, which supports a maximum of 8191 non-global zones in each Dynamic Domain or Logical Domain.
External links
- (Sun Microsystems)
- (for European, African and Middle Eastern markets)
- (Fujitsu global)
- (For North American markets)
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