Sun Fire ™ E25K Server

1. Sun Fire™ E25K Server Keith Schoby Midwestern State University June 13, 2005

2. Agenda • Overview • Processors & Interconnection Network • Memory • OS / Software • Performance • Availability / Industries / Applications • Maverick

3. Overview • Manufacturer: Sun Microsystems • Model: Fire E25K Server • Introduced in 2004 • RISC-based shared-memory multi-processor machine • “Massively scalable, highly available data center server”

4. Processors • Number and scalability • Up to 72 processors • 4 per Uniboard, 18 Uniboards max • Up to 144 threads • Model: UltraSPARC IV (dual-core) • 64 KB instruction and 128 KB data Level 1 cache • 16 MB of Level 2 cache • Mix and match with UltraSPARC III

5. UltraSPARC IV • Two CPU cores per chip • Each core is slightly modified UltraSPARC III processor • Large caches of various types • L1 – 64 KB instruction and 128 KB data on chip • L2 – 16 MB external cache

6. UltraSPARC IV Chip layout of the UltraSPARC IV processor.

7. UltraSPARC IV Block diagram of the UltraSPARC IV processor core.

8. Interconnection Network • Sun Fireplane • 150 MHz • Redundant 18×18 data, address and response flat crossbar interconnect • Flat crossbar provides uniform memory access with an aggregate bandwidth of 172.8 GB / s

9. Crossbar Interconnect • A network in which all input ports are directly connected to all output ports without interference from messages from other ports. In a one-stage crossbar this has the effect that for instance all memory modules in a computer system are directly coupled to all CPUs. This is often the case in multi-CPU vector systems. • In multistage crossbar networks the output ports of one crossbar module are coupled with the input ports of other crossbar modules. In this way one is able to build networks that grow with logarithmic complexity, thus reducing the cost of a large network.

10. Fireplane Interconnect

11. Memory • Shared memory model • Up to 32 GB per Uniboard • System maximum of 576 GB • 250+ TB direct connect storage • Disk arrays

12. Other Configuration Details • Hot-swappable Uniboard processor/memory boards • Each board contains four processors and up to 32 GB of RAM • Up to 18 boards connect to the Fireplane interconnect

13. Operating System and Software • Operating System • Solaris (Sun’s version of Unix) 8, 9, or 10 • Included Compilers • Fortran 77 • Fortran 90 • C • C++

14. System Parameters • Clock cycle up to 1.35 GHz • Theoretical peak performance • Per processor 4.8 Gflop / s • Maximal 345.6 Gflop / s • Main memory ≤ 576 GB • Number of processors ≤ 72 • Communication bandwith • Aggregate ≤ 172.8 GB / s

15. Current Availability

16. Electronics / Electric Education Energy Financial Services Government Healthcare Manufacturing Media / Entertainment / Publishing Retail trade Telecommunications Key Industries

17. Applications • Mainframe migration • High-performance Technical Computing (HPTC) • High-volume databases • Customer management applications • Decision support applications • Other mission-critical applications

18. Maverick • Supercomputer installed at UT’s Texas Advanced Computing Center • Dedicated on October 1, 2004 • Based on Sun Fire E25K • 64 UltraSPARK IV processors (128 cores) • 275 gigaflops (peak) • 512 GB shared memory • 16 dual-video-out commodity graphics cards

19. Maverick’s Tasks • Visualization and time-critical problems • Emergency management • Flood hazard forecasting • Hazardous weather • TerraGrid

20. Resources • www.sun.com/servers/highend • www.sun.com/processors • www.top500.org/ORSC/2004/sun.html • www.top500.org/ORSC/2004/sparcIV.html • www.tacc.utexas.edu/general/news/features/maverick.php