HP ProLiant DL580 G5 server technology

technology brief

Abstract..... 2 Introduction..... 2 Operating system support.... 3 DL580 G5 architecture.... 3 Intel 7300 chipset.... 4 Memory technologies..... 5 I/O technologies.... 8 Storage technologies.... 8 Serial Attached SCSI.... 8 SAS and SATA Small Form Factor drives... 9 Networking technologies..... 9 TCP Offload Engine.... 9 Accelerated iSCSI.... 9 Server management technologies.... 10 HP Insight Control.... 10 HP Integrated Lights-Out 2.... 10 Power management technology.... 10 Conclusion..... 11 For more information.... 12 Call to action.... 12

Abstract

The fifth generation (G5) HP ProLiant DL580 server offers the performance and efficiency of six-core Intel Xeon processors, enhanced by improvements to all major subsystems in the server. This technology brief explains the technologies implemented in the HP ProLiant DL580 G5 server that make it an excellent choice for enterprise customers needing increased performance and investment protection with a 64-bit migration path. This brief is intended for IT professionals familiar with system administration and HP ProLiant industry-standard servers. It discusses only key technologies of the ProLiant DL580 server.

Introduction

For the HP ProLiant DL580 G5 server, HP improved upon the design of previous DL580 generations by integrating six-core processors and enhancing key subsystems. The DL580 G5 provides excellent system performance by using powerful processors, a large memory footprint, and fully redesigned I/O and disk subsystems. The 4-processor HP ProLiant DL580 G5 server (Figure 1) supports 16 internal drives in a 4U rack-optimized form factor.
Figure 1. HP ProLiant DL580 G5
This server is particularly well suited for the following computing environments: Datacenter virtualization and consolidation projects High-performance technical computing (HPTC) Electronic design automation (EDA)/semiconductor design Financial applications Large database applications Enterprise resource planning/customer relationship management Petrochemical applications Life science and material science applications Video rendering applications

Operating system support

The DL580 G5 supports the following operating systems and virtualization software: Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2: Standard (32- and 64-bit), Enterprise (32- and 64-bit), Compute Cluster Server, and Datacenter editions Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Red Hat Enterprise Linux4 and 5 SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 and 10 VMWare ESX virtualization software Microsoft Virtual Server Xen virtualization software For a complete and up-to-date listing of supported operating systems and versions, visit the ProLiant OS Support Matrix at http://www.hp.com/go/supportos.

DL580 G5 architecture

The DL580 G5 is a powerful, 4U enterprise server incorporating technologies that extend the capabilities of industry-standard x86 computing. This high performance server can run both 32-bit and 64-bit applications simultaneously with no performance penalty when using an operating system that supports 64-bit extensions. The DL580 G5 architecture includes the following essential features: Support for up to four six-core or four-core Intel Xeon 7400-series processors Intel 7300 Chipset with 1066 MT/s Front Side Bus (FSB) Four PCI Express (PCIe) x8 slots Four PCIe x4 slots Three additional PCIe x8 or 100MHz PCI-X slots (optional) Two embedded 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports with iSCSI and TCP/IP Offload Engine HP Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) 2 management Intel Xeon 7400-series processors include four or six separate microprocessor cores on one physical die. This technology delivers high performance and reduced latency for multi-threaded and multitasking environments. Figure 2 outlines the processor architecture. Four- and six-core processors provide two primary benefits: Enhanced performance per watt: significant performance increase while operating within the same power and thermal envelopes as dual-core processors 16 MB shared L3 cache: While each core has its own L1, it shares an L2 with another core. All cores share the large L3 cache. The shared L3 cache greatly reduces snoop traffic from the FSB.
Figure 2. HP ProLiant DL580 G5 six-core processor architecture
Multiple threads execute more efficiently when the number of processors available to the operating system is increased. In addition, a four-core processor uses less power than two (equivalent) dual-core processors, thereby reducing power consumption and heat production.

Intel 7300 chipset

Targeted for the multiprocessor server space, the Intel 7300 chip set is configured for symmetric multiprocessing across four independent FSB interfaces. The four independent FSBs improve performance through increased speeds and bandwidth. Each FSB is optimized to support one processor through a 64-bit wide, 1066 MHz data bus capable of transferring data at 8.5 GB/s for a total bandwidth of 34 GB/s. The chipset supports up to 32 fully buffered DIMMs (four memory channels with up to eight DIMMs per channel).

In addition, the chipset provides a wide range of features: memory interface ECC (including internal data paths) x4/x8 Single Device Data Correction cyclic redundancy check (CRC) parity protection out-of-band register access through System Management Bus and Joint Test Action Group 1 memory mirroring memory sparing Hot-Plug support on the PCI Express interface

Memory technologies

The DL580 G5 provides 16 Fully-Buffered Dual Inline Memory Module (FBDIMM) slots on the processor-memory board. System administrators can double the number of FBDIMM slots by installing optional memory expansion boards that allow up to 256GB using 8-GB FBDIMMs. The memory expansion boards must be installed in pairs (Figure 3).
For more information about JTAG, visit the website at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Test_Action_Group.
Figure 3. Location of optional memory expansion boards
Memory expansion boards 1 and 2 must be installed first, followed by memory expansion boards 3 and 4. Administrators must populate memory expansion boards sequentially, beginning with bank A on boards 1 and 2 and proceeding to bank A on boards 3 and 4. The memory subsystem is divided into two branches. The FBDIMMs map to the two branches as indicated in Table 1. Each memory branch is essentially a separate memory controller. This multi-branch architecture provides enhanced performance in Advanced ECC mode. The concept of multiple branches is important for the operation of online spare mode and mirrored memory mode. The Advanced Memory Protection (AMP) option is configured in the HP ROM-Based Setup Utility (RBSU). By default, the server is set to Advanced ECC mode. If the configured AMP mode is not supported by the installed FBDIMM configuration, the system boots in Advanced ECC mode. The following AMP options optimize server availability:
Advanced ECC supports up to 256 GB of active memory utilizing 8-GB FBDIMMs. The server provides notification if the level of correctable errors exceeds a pre-defined threshold rate. Standard ECC can only correct single-bit memory errors, while Advanced ECC can correct single-bit memory errors and multi-bit memory errors if all failed bits are on the same DRAM device on the FBDIMM. Online spare memory provides additional protection against degrading FBDIMMs and supports up to 224 GB of active memory and 32 GB of online spare memory using 8-GB FBDIMMs. If one of the non-spare FBDIMMs reaches a level of correctable memory errors higher than a specified threshold, the server automatically copies the contents of the degraded memory to the online spare, deactivates the failing memory, and automatically switches over to the online spare. This action reduces the likelihood of uncorrectable memory errors that would result in server downtime. Online spare is performed per branch of the memory controller. One branch can fail over to the associated online spare while the other branch is still protected. This protection is available without any operating system support. Mirrored memory provides protection against failed FBDIMMs and supports up to 128 GB of active memory and 128 GB of mirrored memory using 8-GB FBDIMMs. Mirroring is performed on the branch level. Branch 0 and branch 1 mirror each other. Each branch maintains a copy of all memory contents. Memory writes go to both branches. Memory reads come from only one of the two branches, unless an uncorrectable error occurs. If a memory read on one branch returns incorrect data due to an uncorrectable memory error, the system automatically retrieves the proper data from the other branch. Mirroring protection is not lost because of transient and soft uncorrectable errors. Systems maintain mirroring protection unless there is a failure of both branches. For the latest memory configuration information, see the QuickSpecs on the HP website at http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12770_na/12770_na.html.

Table 1. Memory FBDIMM map to branches Branch 0 FBDIMM # Bank G Bank E Bank C Bank A Bank Branch 1 FBDIMM # Bank H Bank F Bank D Bank B Bank
Memory expansion board 1 (optional) Memory expansion board 2 (optional)
Memory expansion board 3 (optional) Memory expansion board 4 (optional)

I/O technologies

The DL580 G5 supports up to eleven I/O expansion slots with the available option card installed. The standard configuration includes eight slots: four full length PCIe x8, one full length PCIe x4, and three half length PCIe x4 slots. The option card adds either three PCI-X (64-bit, 100-MHz) or three PCIe x8 slots. PCIe is an expansion bus technology that builds upon earlier PCI technology, but it uses a serial interface rather than the traditional parallel PCI bus. A PCIe interface can support one or more lanes, as determined by the PCIe slot. Multiple-lane connections are described as x4 for a 4-lane connection, x8 for an 8-lane connection, and so forth. Each lane is a separate serial connection of four wires and has a bandwidth of 250 MB/s in each direction (for a total bandwidth of 500 MB/s per single PCIe lane link). PCIe links automatically negotiate the highest number of lanes that the slot and the card support. Therefore, a PCIe expansion card can be installed into any slot in which it will physically fit and it will work correctly.

Storage technologies

The DL580 G5 includes a Smart Array P400 Controller which supports Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) storage. Some configurations of the DL580 G5 include a battery-backed write cache (BBWC) on the P400 controller. For models that do not include the BBWC, it is available as an option. The battery will last two days without receiving any power from the computer. The BBWC buffers disk writes so that disk I/O can be handled efficiently. If there is an unexpected system shutdown, the battery maintains the information in the buffer so that data will not be lost. In the event of a complete system failure, the controller and disks can be moved to a different server, where the controller will flush out the cache to the disks once power has been restored. If a controller fails, the cache module and disks can be removed from the failed controller and installed on a working controller, where the cache will be flushed out to the disks. The Smart Array P400 supports RAID levels 0, 1, 1+0, and 5. RAID 6 (double parity) is available and does require the BBWC. Mirror splitting is available for RAID 1 arrays. It allows the user to split a RAID 1 mirror into two separate RAID 0 arrays (breaking the mirror). Mirror recombining is the opposite combining two RAID 0 arrays into a RAID 1 mirror. BBWC is not required for mirror recombining. The BBWC is required for capacity expansion which allows the user to add a physical disk to an existing array. The controller then recalculates parity and balances the data across the disks. During the expansion, data and logical structures on the array are preserved. The P400 controller supports a recovery ROM that will fail back to the previous valid ROM in the event of a failed attempt to flash the controllers ROM. Online Drive Flashing is also supported. With Online Drive Flashing, disk drive firmware updates can be pre-loaded onto the controller, and then at the next reboot, the controller will flash the firmware on the hard drives.

Serial Attached SCSI

Serial Attached SCSI uses the same electrical and physical connection interface with Serial ATA (SATA). This provides logical SCSI compatibility as well as SCSI reliability, performance, and manageability. SAS provides investment protection in compatible SCSI software and middleware and the choice of direct-attach storage devices (SAS or SATA). In addition, longer cabling distances, smaller form factors, and greater addressability enhance flexibility when deploying mainstream data center servers and subsystems.
SAS and SATA Small Form Factor drives
The SAS architecture supports both high-performance SAS and high-capacity SATA Small Form Factor (SFF) drives. IT managers can select from a broad range of storage solutions to choose the best storage devices for their needs based on reliability, performance, and cost. SFF drives provide higher performance than large form factor drives. The smaller SFF platters reduce seek times because the heads have a shorter distance to travel. RAID performance improves by increasing the numbers of spindles. HP ships SATA drives with Drive Write Cache (DWC) disabled to provide greater safety for drive data in case of sudden power loss when the controller has no battery to protect the cache. Enabling DWC may result in data loss if power is lost to the server and the server is configured without power protection. Native Command Queuing (NCQ) increases SATA drive performance by internally prioritizing read and write command execution. This reduces unnecessary drive head movement and results in increased performance, especially in server or storage-type applications with outstanding multiple simultaneous read/write requests. To be functional, NCQ must be supported and activated in both the controller and the drive. Without NCQ, the drive can process and complete only one command at a time. For specific SATA hard drive capacities that support NCQ, see the SATA Hard Drive QuickSpecs http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11940_div/11940_div.html.

Networking technologies

The DL580 G5 includes two embedded NC373i multifunction gigabit Ethernet (GbE) network adapters. The NC373i supports TCP/IP Offload Engine and accelerated iSCSI through an optional ProLiant Essentials Licensing Kit.

TCP Offload Engine

Network bandwidth has improved steadily since the early days of TCP/IP networking. This improvement in speed has produced increased demand for CPU cycles to manage the network protocol stack. A busy, full-duplex gigabit Ethernet connection can consume the available computing power of a 1-GHz Pentium 4 processor. Unfortunately, this means that even a modern, high-powered processor will show degraded performance in processing application instructions while data is being transferred onto or off of the network. Computers most susceptible to this problem are application, web, and file servers that have a high number of concurrent connections. To reduce this burden on the processor, the embedded network controller in the DL580 G5 supports TCP Offload Engine (TOE) capabilities. TOE NICs (network interface cards) have on-board logic to process common and repetitive tasks of TCP network traffic. Because the processor does not have to devote cycles to processing these tasks, it can be used more efficiently to significantly increase application performance on servers attached to gigabit Ethernet networks.

Accelerated iSCSI

iSCSI (internet SCSI) is a standard that implements the SCSI protocol for interacting with storage devices over a TCP/IP network. While iSCSI can be implemented over any TCP/IP network, the most common implementation is over gigabit Ethernet. iSCSI serves the same purpose as Fibre Channel in building Storage Area Networks (SANs) without the cost, complexity, and compatibility issues associated with Fibre Channel SANs. A more efficient approach is to offload the protocol management to the network adapter. Adapters that implement the iSCSI protocol are known as iSCSI host bus adapters (HBAs). The embedded NIC of the DL580 G5 is an iSCSI HBA and appears to the operating system as a SCSI HBA.
Server management technologies

HP Insight Control

HP Insight Control is a full suite of essential ProLiant management software that integrates into the HP Systems Insight Manager console. HP Insight Control taps into and exposes the ProLiant Onboard Administrator, a set of embedded management capabilities designed into every ProLiant server. With Insight Control, administrators can manage ProLiant servers running Windows, Linux, VMware ESX, and Citrix XenServer environments, or even integrate Insight Control with leading third-party enterprise management consoles, including HP Operations Center and Microsoft System Center. HP Insight Control reduces IT operating costs in multiple ways: Deploy ProLiant servers quickly with a reliable drag-and-drop tool that can turn a manual server deployment into an unattended, repeatable, and highly automated deployment Monitor ProLiant server health with one simple, integrated interface and receive proactive notification of any actual or impending component or server failure Control ProLiant servers from anywhere, regardless of location, reduce costs, and improve system recovery times Optimize ProLiant server power by fitting more ProLiant servers within an existing power envelope

HP Integrated Lights-Out 2
The DL580 G5 server includes HP Integrated Lights-Out 2 (iLO 2) management technology. iLO 2 hardware and firmware provide remote server management capabilities over Ethernet. The iLO 2 management processor obtains its power from the auxiliary power plane of the server, so it is always available when the server is plugged into a power sourceeven when the OS not operating. iLO 2 connects through a dedicated Ethernet port. This port can connect to a highly secured, dedicated management network that is out of the servers data path. Alternately, iLO 2 provides a Shared Network Port (SNP) that allows network access to both iLO and the host server using a single network port. SNP allows iLO network traffic to be routed through a sideband connection on one of the server NIC interfaces. Although the iLO traffic shares a port with the server OS traffic, both the iLO processor and the server NIC have their own Media Access Control (MAC) address, which gives iLO and the server separate Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Using the SNP simplifies hardware installation and reduces overall hardware costs because both corporate and iLO network traffic comes through the system NIC.
Power management technology
The HP DL580 G5 includes HP Power Regulator, an innovative, OS-independent power management tool. It is a ROM-based utility that administrators can use to set the server to one of four power modes. HP Power Regulator improves the energy efficiency of the DL580 G5 by allowing the processors to run at full power when they need it, yet reducing power consumption without performance degradation when application activity is reduced. Administrators can select HP Power Regulator modes through the RBSU during POST or through the iLO 2 remote management interface during runtime. For more information about HP Power Regulator, visit the HP web site at http://h18013.www1.hp.com/products/servers/management/ilo/power-regulator.html.

Conclusion

The HP ProLiant DL580 G5 is a 4U rack-optimized, four-processor server created for large data center deployments requiring enterprise-class performance, uptime, and scalability, plus ease of management and expansion. It offers customers running both 32- and 64-bit applications increased performance and memory speed. Four- and six-core processor support and improved network and I/O subsystems ensure that the DL580 G5 is scalable in high-performance computing environments.

For more information

For additional information, refer to the resources listed below.
Type of information Up-to-date information on operating systems and versions supported by the HP ProLiant DL580 G5 server Latest drivers available for the HP ProLiant DL580 G5 server Details about HP Insight Control Information about iLO 2 Information about SAS technology Details about Serial ATA technology Memory technology evolution: an overview of system memory technologies technology brief For more information on PCIe technology Details about the Joint Test Action Group

Source http://www.hp.com/go/supportos
http://www.hp.com/support/files http://www.hp.com/go/insightcontrol http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportMa nual/c00257345/c00257345.pdf http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportMa nual/c01613420/c01613420.pdf http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportMa nual/c00301688/c00301688.pdf http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManu al/c00256987/c00256987.pdf http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManu al/c00231623/c00231623.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Test_Action_Group

Call to action

Send any comments about this paper to TechCom@HP.com.
2006, 2008, 2009 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. Intel and Xeon are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Microsoft and Windows are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Linux is a U.S. registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. TC090908TB, September 2009