High-End Servers

Some Windows server applications require prodigious amounts of processing power. If you use such applications, you're aware of the challenges you face when selecting server hardware. New servers based on Intel Itanium 2 and Xeon processors can supply the processing power you need. Intel's next-generation Itanium 2 processors (code-named Madison) are now available, and most of the vendors I mention have announced Madison-based models in time for this article. But all the Itanium 2 servers I discuss are Madison-ready, so their features won't change. (For a complete list of vendors that offer Itanium 2–based systems, see the Intel Web site at http://www .intel.com/buy/wtb/wtb1008.htm?iid=ipp_srvr_proc_itanium2+ relate_buysrv&.) Servers based on Advanced Micro Devices' (AMD's) AMD Athlon MP and AMD Opteron series of processors are another alternative. AMD Opteron processor systems weren't available when I wrote this article, but AMD's Web site lists many vendors that offer both AMD Opteron and AMD Athlon MP–based servers. You can view this list at http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ComputingSolutions/0,,30_288_3091_3929,00.html.

Itanium 2 Systems
At the top of the Wintel heap sits the Itanium 2. Itanium 2 systems draw their performance advantages from several new features, including

• support for explicitly parallel instruction execution
• intelligent compilers that achieve higher levels of parallel-instruction-processing efficiency and recognize opportunities to preload data into cache memory, thereby reducing processing delays that result from memory access latency
• greatly expanded processor hardware resources, including additional instruction execution units and a system bus bandwidth of 6.4GBps*three times faster than the previous Itanium processor

In the simplest terms, a processor's core function is to take data from system memory and do something with it. In parallel processing, a processor takes parts of a program that would otherwise run sequentially and runs them simultaneously. To achieve high levels of parallel processing, the processor must do a good job of determining which data won't be affected by processing of other data so that the processor can process the two data sets in parallel without adverse results. The Itanium 2 architecture adds a feature set that Intel calls Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing. EPIC lets the compiler designate code segments that can run in parallel and recognize parallel processing opportunities in code. Similarly, the compiler looks for ways to reduce memory access latency*the time the processor must wait after loading data into a memory location before it can access that data*by loading data several instruction cycles before using it. The original Itanium 2 processor operated at 900MHz or 1.0GHz with 1.5MB or 3.0MB of Level 3 cache. Madison processors expand the line with 1.3GHz, 1.4GHz, and 1.5GHz models with 3.0MB, 4.0MB, and 6.0MB of Level 3 cache, respectively.

Several vendors offer Itanium 2–based systems. Let's look at systems from Dell, HP, IBM, NEC Solutions America, and Unisys. For pricing information for these systems, see Table 1.

Dell's PowerEdge 3250
Dell's PowerEdge 3250 supports one or two Madison processors in a 2U (3.5") rack-mount chassis. This server, which Dell built around the Intel E8870 chipset, supports 16GB of RAM. The PowerEdge 3250 includes two 100MHz PCI Extended (PCI-X) slots and one 133MHz PCI-X slot, as well as a RAID 1 controller for mirroring attached SCSI hard disks. The server supports Windows Server 2003 and Red Hat Linux. Two embedded Gigabit Ethernet adapters help conserve PCI slots. Cluster configurations are also available from Dell.

HP Itanium 2 Systems
HP offers three Itanium 2 servers. The HP Integrity rx2600 is available with one or two processors running at 1.3GHz or 1.5GHz, as much as 24GB of RAM, and four 133MHz PCI-X slots. (For more information about PCI-X, see Lab Notes, "The Chase Is On," August 2000, http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 9064.) The HP Integrity rx5670 supports four processors and 96GB of RAM and has three 133MHz PCI-X slots, six 66MHz PCI-X slots, and one 33MHz PCI slot. The HP Integrity Superdome supports as many as sixty-four 1.5GHz processors, as much as 512GB of RAM, and as many as 192 I/O slots when using available expansion units.

HP designed the servers to run Windows 2003, Enterprise Edition (64-bit). The systems also support HP-UX, SuSE Linux (except HP Integrity Superdome), and Red Hat Linux, and HP plans to add OpenVMS support. HP built the rx2600 and rx5670 systems around its zx1 chipset and the Superdome around its sx1000 chipset; all systems support Itanium 2's 6.4GBps system bus bandwidth. All models include service processors that have an auxiliary Ethernet port for remote systems management and monitoring and interface with leading systems management platforms, such as HP OpenView.