Reality Check: Server Insights : G6

Lots of activity at HPTF in Vegas, not just in the casinos! HP announced the new ExSO. Where does it fit into the virtualization landscape?

Kristie Popp — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:04:00 GMT

by Doug Dewerd

Lots of activity this week at HP Tech Forum in Las Vegas - and not just in the casinos! The announcement of the new Extreme Scale Out (ExSO) systems (SL160z G6, SL170z G6, SL2x170z G6, along with their cousin the DL1000 G6) appears to be a huge hit. The folks showing this in the HP booth have been busy non-stop demonstrating it to customers. Being a virtualization guy, I asked about where these servers fit into the virtualization landscape. Although it may be a bit early to tell definitively, the most likely usage would be in some sort of cloud computing infrastructure. Certainly these "skinless" high density, high performance systems should be popular with the High Performance Computing (HPC) crowd, but that type of use is usually not geared towards virtualization.

The ExSO servers are certified for use with Citrix XenServer, Microsoft Hyper-V, and VMware vSphere, so the foundation is there to be used in a virtual cloud infrastructure. The flexibility of the configurations for maximum memory, maximum storage, or maximum CPU density should satisfy the needs of cloud customers. I'm looking forward to see how these servers play out with virtualization in the extreme scale out world, but one thing I know is that they're sure to be a hit.

I'd love to hear what you think about cloud computing and virtualization. Where does virtualization fit in the cloud (which, of course depends on how you define "cloud"). Pros/cons/benefits/issues? Or is my head virtually in the clouds :-)

HPTF 2009: "What happens in Vegas doesn't have to stay in Vegas!!" Stay connected.

Kristie Popp — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:54:00 GMT

Traveling to the show? Share with us your experiences. Can't travel? Stay tuned to this web site for the latest info.

At Tech Forum (June 16 - 18 in Las Vegas) HP will showcase its premier enterprise computing solutions. The event will feature daily keynote speakers, presentations and booth demos. If travel restrictions are preventing you to attend in person, you still have the opportunity participate. Via a dedicated website that includes a wide range of tools, HP will provide access to summary videos of selected keynote presentations and demos. See this year's choices of topics at the event & expo.

"What happens in Vegas doesn't have to stay in Vegas!!" Check www.hp.com/go/HPTF-buzz for all the info on the HP Tech Forum 2009 for servers, storage and software. Share with us what you are seeing and experiencing on Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, Slideshare, upload your photos to Flicker and videos to YouTube.

More blog info coming from the show including lists of the "top threes" from the event. Please also feel free to comment on the site www.hp.com/go/HPTF-buzz to help us give you the info you want. Likes, dislikes?

Doubling Down

s_mathur — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:44:00 GMT

In blackjack, if you have a great hand versus the house, you can double your bet or “double down” to show the confidence that you have in winning it all. HP’s commitment to our new Six-Core AMD Opteron™ processor is a clear signal that our technology partnership is strong, and the products are even stronger.

In today’s economic environment, customers can’t afford to make anything other than a safe bet. They are concerned about energy efficiency, performance and manageability – these are the keys to getting the most out of IT investments. With the new HP ProLiant G6 servers, based on Six-Core AMD Opteron processors, HP is increasing the capabilities of their award-winning ProLiant product line. Seven new models feature an uncompromising six-core processor that is designed for outstanding performance while still working within the same power and thermal ranges of existing HP servers based on our quad-core family.

We’ve written over and over again that consistency is critical for our customers. In large data centers, having consistency of platforms provides a huge benefit for customers, helping to turn the complexity of managing thousands of devices into a much easier task. From managing to servicing, if you can reduce the complexity and variance of the platforms, you can reduce the costs. And who wants to spend more in management costs? Especially with the business constraints of today’s market bearing down on you.

While we strive for consistency in our processors, we also offer a no-compromise approach to the products. Some in the industry may artificially limit the capabilities of the processors for marketing reasons, but we believe that keeping a consistent set of features from the top of the line down to the lowest option helps customers better manage their platforms. And, when it comes to planning, you know exactly what you are getting, from I/O to memory to cache – making it far easier to plan for your deployment needs.

HP takes the consistency concept a step further. The G6 servers have a common set of features, regardless of the processor, that allow us to cleanly integrate our technology into their platforms and bring the customer a unified product offering that makes it easier to make HP the clear choice for the data center.

From the “Sea of Sensors” to help manage the systems, to the commonality across power supplies and even the HP ProLiant Onboard Administrator, managing an HP server becomes a simple, and most importantly, repeatable activity. This helps drive more consistency in the data center and allows you to maximize your critical IT resources.

We’re also very excited about the new levels of performance that customers will see with a Six-Core AMD Opteron processor, and a great compliment to that is the new 6GB/second SAS drives that, when combined with the HP Smart Array controllers, allow the I/O subsystem to keep pace with all of those cores. Combining that with our new HT Assist feature is expected to bring an unprecedented level of I/O and memory throughput for AMD-based ProLiant servers.

With all of this new performance, we haven’t pushed the power consumption up, allowing the new six-core processors to work in the same power and thermal ranges as their four-core counterparts. If your goal is to get the most out of your data center while keeping a “green IT” focus, this is the product for you.

There is no greater compliment than being chosen as the cornerstone of a great platform, and with the new G6 servers, there are seven new reasons for customers to choose HP ProLiant G6 servers featuring AMD Opteron processors, each a winning hand for solving today’s IT challenges without breaking the bank.

In Vegas you “double down” when you have a great hand against the house, and it is clear that, with all of these new platforms coming to market, HP saw the great hand that we were dealing with the new six-core processors and doubled down as well.

John Fruehe is the Director of Business Development for Server/Workstation products at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

Unleashing the power of six-cores with AMD Istanbul

s_mathur — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:26:00 GMT

By Paul Gottsegen, Vice-president, Integrated Marketing, Enterprise Servers & Storage, HP

Today, AMD is introducing their new Six-Core AMD Opteron "Istanbul" processors. For our customers, the performance gains of AMD's new chip combined with the innovations around energy efficiency, virtualization and management of our new ProLiant G6 platform will enable them to get more value from every IT dollar they spend.

We are really excited about Istanbul and you can bet that we'll be introducing new AMD-based rack, tower and blade servers in very short order. We could have just dropped the new chip in to existing servers, but that wouldn't have allowed our customers to take full advantage of the power of Istanbul. So, instead you'll see that we've innovated around Istanbul to deliver systems that lead the industry on price/performance.

The performance gains and power efficiency of these new ProLiant G6 systems can also have a significant impact on the bottom line. In fact, replacing the single-core systems with new ProLiant G6 systems, customers can see a pay-back on their investment of right around 3-months. This is due to the combination of lower energy bills, increased computing capability of each server and fewer software licenses required to do the same amount of work.

AMD's execution was nothing short of flawless. Once again, they delivered ahead of schedule. And right around the corner you'll see a full suite of Istanbul server products from HP.

The drives matter: HP G6 server benchmarks

s_mathur — Sun, 31 May 2009 02:31:00 GMT

Have a high performance environment? Are you trying to create a green data center. The drives matter! Choosing a drive isn't all about capacity.

In his blog "For HP servers, what a difference a drive makes!", Pete Steege comments on the HP DL370 G6 and HP DL380 G6 benchmarks and how the choice of drives can affect system metrics.

Click here to read Pete's blog.

Buying an HP ProLiant Server Bundled with the Insight Control Suite Just Got Easier

aimeeschoaf — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 05:33:00 GMT

By John Schmitz

On March 30, we announced our new G6 line of HP ProLiant servers - built for performance and reliability. These servers, which run the HP Insight Control suite, are the industry's best managed x86 servers. HP Insight Control suite, popularly known as "ICE," provides essential infrastructure management capabilities for system administrators who need to save time, reduce complexity, and lower the costs associated with day-to-day server administration.

The HP Insight Control suite (ICE) delivers an essential set of management capabilities including: (1) rapid server deployment, (2) proactive server health management, (3) the ability to optimize server power, and (4) server remote control from anywhere. ICE delivers this robust set of management capabilities with our award-winning HP Systems Insight Manager tool which is available for both Windows and Linux-based environments

And, in an effort to make the HP Insight Control suite easier for our customers to buy, HP now offers ICE bundled with select HP ProLiant DL360 G6 and DL380 G6 models. These offerings include a high-performing ProLiant server AND the HP Insight Control suite - and can NOW be ordered as a single SKU/part number. Additionally, customers who choose to buy these bundles with a ProLiant DL360 G6 or DL380 G6 server will save an additional 20 percent off the price of an individual ICE software license. Learn more at www.hp.com/go/insightcontrol You can see the value and savings is tremendous. Be cool and order your next ProLiant server bundled with ICE and save big!

And to get the most out of your HP Insight Control suite, take advantage of HP Education Services, which are available to help train you and your staff on the fundamentals and advanced capabilities of ICE. Learn more at http://h10076.www1.hp.com/education/hp_ice_curriculum.htm

The ROI on power savings alone makes the new HP ProLiant G6 servers worth looking at...

aimeeschoaf — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 03:41:00 GMT

By Nick Vanderzweep

Director of Product Management, HP Insight Software

OK, we just announced our new HP ProLiant G6 servers and I was told they use a lot less power, are a much better virtualization platform, and let you spend less money without sacrificing service levels for your customers. These topics all strike a deep chord with most of us, especially during these tough economic times.

But is this true? Will they really make a dent in a typical ROI? I decided to put the G6 servers to the test. I had some scenarios run though our Insight Dynamics - VSE capacity planning SW using real customer data and the results will really knock your socks off. Here's roughly what we found:

We took real utilization data that was shared with us from one of our customers on 55 of their older servers; and
Ran that data through Insight Dynamics - VSE's "Smart Solver" module to see how they might work when consolidated onto virtual machines running on the new G6 platforms

The results were amazing based on power consumption alone! Here's how it broke down in terms of rough numbers:

We were able to predict that this customer could get a consolidation ratio of about 11:1 with G6, without compromising application horsepower or end-user service levels in any way;
Average power consumption went from about 12.8 kilowatts to 1 kilowattfor the new scenario; and
The savings on reduced power consumption alone was about $1,100 per month, without even yet considering the beneficial effect of reduced software licenses, less foot-print, and so forth.

I expected pretty good results given the "more-bang-for-less-power" message around G6, but -- WOW -- they still amazed me. Your mileage may vary, but I recommend you run your configurations thru our Insight Dynamics - VSE software to give you a confident estimate what your savings might be. Like me, I think you will find that the new G6 servers are way "cooler" than you already imagined.

Are 6Gbps SAS drives right for your environment?

s_mathur — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:42:00 GMT

So, you’ve heard about the transition to 6Gb/s SAS drives and HP is at the front of this transition, like most others; but does your environment really need the greater system throughput, the improved zoning, enhanced diagnostics, multiplexing and spread spectrum clocking (SSC) – among other benefits of 6G SAS?

The experts agree the new SAS interface is technically more robust than current interface technologies. When it comes to system performance, the benefits of 6G SAS technology can be seen in applications which aggregate multiple components, resulting in higher bandwidth for the whole system. Storage-intensive, high I/O applications such as video streaming, backups, large databases, high online transactions, and virtualization will benefit from the higher throughput of storage and other system devices.

But keep in mind: if you are looking to achieve a 6Gb/s line rate, you need an end-to-end 6G infrastructure, including server backplanes, HBAs and storage controllers, as well as drives. If any of the components of a storage subsystem operate at different data transfer rates, the system bandwidth will be negotiated down to an acceptable level for all components. The good news is that you don’t have to upgrade your whole infrastructure at once. The new HP 6G SAS drives that launched on March 30 are backward (hmm…and sideways?) compatible with 6G/3G SAS and 3G/1.5G SATA drives.

So, the 6G SAS drives have advanced features, improve performance, and work with your current hardware. It sounds like your environment can benefit from 6G SAS drives.

Nehalem is not the only thing new with G6...

s_mathur — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:50:00 GMT

By Jeff Fisher. Nehalem is not the only thing new with G6; don’t forget the DDR3 memory!

All the talk about Intel’s new Nehalem processors (the Xeon 5500 series) leads one to maybe think that these new processors are all there is to faster server performance; but that’s not the only component of performance. For years many have considered memory, not the processor, to have a greater impact on performance. Intel says the new system is well-suited for virtualization, along the lines of a 160% increase in virtualization performance. Intel also said (in the press) that the new addition to its Xeon line can more than double the computing performance of existing models at the same power consumption. Memory should never be considered “just memory”, and the above performance claims can’t be achieved without a lot of memory. With an entirely new system architecture to start with, now is the perfect time to look at these new processors AND the DDR3 memory that works with them. To reduce power, maximize virtualization and optimize your IT budget, buy the new ProLiant G6 servers and fill ‘em up with DDR3 memory!