Browse by Tags

I received a new HPC Multi-core server today – documenting the configuration

One of the complexities in benchmarking applications is defining the server configuration adequately. The purpose of a benchmark is to provide guidance - to demonstrate how to obtain a given performance from a specific application workload. This guidance...

Published 12-04-2008 2:36 PM by d-field

Filed under: HPC, servers, ProLiant, multi-core processor, performance measurement

Virtualization Never Looked So Good

Virtualization has become a mainstay, even a business imperative, within most data centers today. Today, every server manufacturer is claiming leadership in virtualization platforms, so the real question you need to ask is, "Why HP?" Well, let...

Published 11-21-2008 9:33 PM by R_Palmer

Filed under: servers, virtualization, x86, ProLiant, multi-core processor, AMD

I received a new HPC Multi-core server today – Live from SC08

This week, I am attending the annual SC08 conference. For 2 decades, the tradition in HPC is to announce and demonstrate new products at the SC conference, and there is a lot to absorb. For me, the event started with a 2-day HP user conference, attracting...

Published 11-18-2008 10:59 PM by d-field

Filed under: HPC, cooling, power, container, servers, datacenter, HP POD, pod, x86, multi-core processor, AMD

AMD launches quad-core Shanghai processors

This is an exciting time for our partner, AMD, as they launch their newest family of processors, and HP is pleased that our ProLiant portfolio will offer new capabilities computing to customers of all sizes. The new "Shanghai" products (Quad...

Published 11-17-2008 1:47 AM by aimeeschoaf

Filed under: servers, x86, BladeSystem, ProLiant, multi-core processor, AMD

I received a new HPC Multi-core server today – How to measure the power usage

Given that it is important to measure power usage and correlate it to application performance, how do you measure the power? We use 2 different methods - one for rack-mounted servers and another for blade servers. The rack-mounted servers do not provide...

Published 11-12-2008 12:38 AM by d-field

Filed under: HPC, power, servers, management, BladeSystem, ProLiant, multi-core processor, performance measurement

I received a new HPC Multi-core server today – Intro to power measurement

Until a couple of years ago, when we referred to performance measurement of an application, we meant the amount of time that it took the job to run vs. the specific resources it used - number of cores, number of servers if you are using a cluster, the...

Published 11-06-2008 12:02 AM by d-field

Filed under: HPC, scale-out, power, servers, ProLiant, multi-core processor, performance measurement

I received a new HPC Multi-core server today – Running on a subset of cores

In some situations, it is useful to not use some of the cores on a server. Since most processors do not have sufficient memory BW to support a memory BW-intensive code running on all cores, such codes do not "scale" perfectly. There are 2 common...

Published 10-29-2008 8:57 PM by d-field

Filed under: HPC, servers, ProLiant, multi-core processor, performance measurement

I received a new HPC Multi-core server today – Measuring memory BW

The lmbench memory latency benchmark gave us a lot of information about the new system. Next, we ran the STREAM memory BW benchmark suite. Before running HPC codes, we needed to ensure that hardware multi-threading is disabled, if it exists. This feature...

Published 10-21-2008 2:39 PM by d-field

Filed under: HPC, servers, ProLiant, multi-core processor, performance measurement

I received a new HPC Multi-core server– Learning from standard benchmarks

Now that we have configured the hardware components and firmware settings in a known and hopefully optimum way, it is time to run the 1 st performance test. Personally, I like to run the memory bandwidth benchmark lmbench first, since there is a lot to...

Published 10-15-2008 10:07 PM by d-field

Filed under: HPC, scale-out, servers, ProLiant, multi-core processor, performance measurement

I received a new HPC Multi-core server today - Initial test, part 2

Today's work needed to be done before we can do any code performance testing: First, we configured the memory. I received half as many memory DIMMs as the system can hold, and I searched for the person who could tell me which memory slots to use for...

Published 10-09-2008 6:36 PM by d-field

Filed under: HPC, servers, ProLiant, multi-core processor, performance measurement

I received a new HPC Multi-core server today - Initial performance testing

After the operating system boots on a new server model, it's time to start performance testing. I'm hoping to get some comments on this, since there are many different ways to proceed. Personally, I am not a fan of industry standard benchmarks...

Published 10-01-2008 11:15 PM by d-field

Filed under: HPC, servers, BladeSystem, ProLiant, multi-core processor, performance measurement

I received a new HPC Multi-core server today!

About this blog series - This is the 1 st posting of a series which describes the experiences of engineers who test the performance of HPC servers and server clusters at HP. My name is Dave Field. I lead an engineering group at HP - we measure the performance...

Published 09-23-2008 7:16 PM by d-field

Filed under: HPC, servers, BladeSystem, ProLiant, multi-core processor, performance measurement

Syndication

Recent Posts

Tags

Archives

I received a new HPC Multi-core server today – documenting the configuration

Virtualization Never Looked So Good

I received a new HPC Multi-core server today – Live from SC08

AMD launches quad-core Shanghai processors

I received a new HPC Multi-core server today – How to measure the power usage

I received a new HPC Multi-core server today – Intro to power measurement

I received a new HPC Multi-core server today – Running on a subset of cores

I received a new HPC Multi-core server today – Measuring memory BW

I received a new HPC Multi-core server– Learning from standard benchmarks

I received a new HPC Multi-core server today - Initial test, part 2

I received a new HPC Multi-core server today - Initial performance testing

I received a new HPC Multi-core server today!