To support the execution of multiple workloads without starving applications of vital compute resources, a virtualization platform needs to offer high compute performance, a large memory footprint, and superior I/O expansion capabilities. According to Oracle, its Sun Fire X4470 fits the bill, making it an ideal mission-critical virtualization platform. A 30-page white paper elaborates on the architecture of this x86 system to support why Oracle states this server's performance, memory capacity, I/O, and high reliability characteristics is best for virtualization.

The basic specifications of this server include support for up to four Intel Xeon Processor 7500 Series CPUs, each of which are equipped with up to eight cores and two integrated memory controllers. Its QuickPath Interconnects (QPIs) create fast data paths, linking processors to each other and to the I/O subsystem.

To increase I/O responsiveness, the Sun Fire X4470 server provides the throughput of SAS-2 disk devices and a large number of PCI Express 2.0 data transfer buses. The Sun Fire X4470 server also supports SSD Flash technology to accelerate data transfer rates.

Of importance to virtualized workloads is memory footprint and I/O expansion characteristics. The Sun Fire X4470 servers support up to 512 GB of memory using 8 GB DIMMs. In addition, four built-in Gigabit Ethernet ports and ten PCI Express 2.0 slots provide for I/O expandability.

The white paper covers the specifications noted above, among others, in much more detail. Topics include:

• Intel Xeon 7500 Platform, Series CPUs, Memory Architecture
• Motherboard
• Memory
• PCI Express
• Internal Drives
• Chassis
• Cooling
• Power
• ILOM Service Processor
• SNMP Support
• Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center Software

More Information

Oracle’s Sun Fire X4470 Server Architecture: Virtualization Platform for Mission-Critical Applications

Sun Fire X4470 Server Product Page

Documentation

Sun Fire x86 Clustered Systems Launched

Architecture and Performance Documentation Released on New Sun Fire x86 Clustered Systems [...read more...]

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Other articles in the Servers section of Volume 149, Issue 4: A Virtualization Platform for Mission-Critical Applications (this article) See all archived articles in the Servers section.

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