The Sun Blade Blog

A July 2008 Posting

I have not posted in a while, so I thought I'd do something fun for this post, and not talk blades per se.  Our software portfolio gets a lot of press time, so I wanted to try them out.  I installed the StarOffice 9 BETA and xVM VirtualBox.  I also downloaded an ISO image for OpenSolaris.  I've coded with Java and MySQL previously, so I did not download them.  I've got a Mac OS X 10.5 laptop (1GB RAM).  Here are my noted impressions.  Screenshots are provided below as proof that I did boot OpenSolaris, through xVM VirtualBox, on my OS X.  Enjoy.

StarOffice 9 BETA

- I was skeptical at first.  Anything that says BETA and is a first timer on a Mac, is doomed for failure

- I am pleased to say that this BETA has worked really well.  Compared with OpenOffice, the load time is faster, the copy+paste works and whole experience is smoother

xVM VirtualBox

- Note the 'xVM' in the name.  This is the latest download of the software.  It supports OpenSolaris and many Windows' flavors

- It's free

- Setup was easy.  But, the dialog box for ISO booting was hard to find at first

- I only have 1 GB RAM on my machine.  Response time was good, but not great.  More horsepower would have helped. 

OpenSolaris

- It did boot!  What else can I say, it's up to creative developers to make the most of this combination.  

I am certain that developers, students and IT professionals can use our tools.  And while you're at, please run our software on our blade platforms. 

Posted at 07:45PM Jul 22, 2008 by Amit Raman in Personal  |  Comments[0]

Live From ISC in Dresden, Germany

Last night, before a packed audience of press, analysts and show attendees, we unveiled the newest editions to the Sun Constellation System.

Doing the honors are Bjorn Andersson, Director of HPC, and Marc Hamilton, VP of Systems Practice.  

On display are a Sun Constellation System with the 1U high Sun Datacenter Switch 3x24 (code named Nano Magnum) mounted on top. The mounting bracket is 2U, so there is room for a second switch, if desired. This switch, the most compact 72 node InfiniBand switch in the market, is the entry point to the line. Leveraging the same 12X cable technology as the Sun Datacenter Switch 3456 (code named Magnum) that was unveiled last year, it boasts one third the number of cables required of competing products – which means faster time to deployment and reduced complexity.

On the table in front of the Sun Constellation System is a Sun Datacenter Switch 3x24 and below it is a model of TACC (Texas Advanced Computing Center in Austin, Texas), the first Sun Constellation System installation.

Also on display is the new Sun Blade X6450 server module, which was code named Hercules. This is a 4-socket Intel Xeon blade server with 24 DIMM slots, 50% more capacity than competing products. Configure this in a Sun Constellation System and you get 7.37Tflops of peak performance per rack...not too shabby!

Proudly showing off these newest additions are yours truly with Bjorn Andersson. This serves as proof to my manager that I really did attend the show, so hopefully now he will approve my expense report! ☺

Posted at 10:02AM Jun 18, 2008 by Lisa Robinson Schoeller in Sun  |  Comments[2]

Our Third Intel Blade

First, there was X6250 ...

Then came X8450 ...

Now, we're introducing Sun Blade X6450 Server Module, our third blade server using Intel's Xeon processors.  We're announcing this blade to the supercomputing community today.  Lisa Schoeller will blog live from ISC-DRESDEN.

We've put a massive amount of hardware into our blade form factor: (4) 7300 series Xeon CPUs, 96GB RAM (expandable to 128GB) and a 16GB compact flash.  I've listed out sample use cases:

HPC::> X6450 + 6048 Chassis + Infiniband I/O Modules + Solaris + FC or SAS I/O Modules

VIRTUALIZATION::> X6450 + 96GB RAM + This I/O Card + Your choice of virtualization software

Posted at 08:35PM Jun 17, 2008 by Amit Raman in Sun  |  Comments[0]

Sun Blades Now Support All PCIe and PCI-X Cards

The title says it all.  Magma has created an ExpressModule that passes the PCIe signals from our blades to Magma's expansion box (see below).  The expansion boxes are 1U-4U and can hold PCI-X and PCIe cards.  Voila!  Our blades can be used for demanding visualization, telecom, BIDW and media applications.  Customers with customized PCI-X, PCIe cards [i.e.: SS7 telecom cards], should strongly consider Sun Blade Modular Systems as a deployment platform. 

The expansion boxes hold x4 to x16 cards in all form factors.  This solution  holds more  cards than  competing products from HP & IBM.  Pricing starts at $1900.   Please contact your  Sun rep. for full details. 

UPDATE: I've created a page on our Sun Blade Wiki.  Please take a look here.

UPDATE: The PR for this announcement is available.

Posted at 03:54PM May 22, 2008 by Amit Raman in Personal  |  Comments[0]

Sun Blade X8440 Server Module - Now with Quad Core Opteron!

Today we announced support for AMD Opteron Quad-Core processors in the Sun Blade X8440 Server Module. The Sun Blade X8440 supports the fastest (standard and low power) quad-core CPUs currently available from AMD.  For processor specific information, please visit the Sun Blade X8440 Server Module section of our website.

Posted at 03:20PM May 13, 2008 by Marc Shelley in Sun  |  Comments[2]

Cisco 3120 for HP C-Class

Someone brought this new(?)  Cisco 3120 switch for the HP Chassis to my attention.  

The 3120 has additional management features and provides 10G uplinks to the chassis.

These are all features that have been available in the top of the rack solutions for some time -> Blade switches lag in functionality available in industry standard switches.

Posted at 06:52PM May 03, 2008 by blades in Sun  |  Comments[0]

Power calculators

The topic of power consumption metrics seems to be an issue similar to TCO - everyone has their own idea on what it is and how to measure it, but no standard way that everyone agrees on.  Since data center power and cooling constraints are such 'hot' discussions these days - how would you answer the following questions?

Posted at 06:13PM Apr 21, 2008 by Douglas Wilson in Sun  |  Comments[0]

VMware offerings for Sun Blade Systems

As you may know, on February 27, 2008, Sun Microsystems announced an OEM agreement with VMware, adding VMware virtualization offerings to Sun's current x64 Server and Storage products.

Starting today, VMware is now available on Sun's worldwide pricelists.  Customers and channel partners may order VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3 Products with the Sun Blade Systems.  This provides customers with virtualization choice and flexibility across industry leading virtualization solutions.  Sun customers and partners have deployed VMware on Sun successfully in many deployments.  Further details can be found at: http://www.sun.com/vmware.

Try Solaris 10 Appliance for VMware and VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3) software on the Sun Blade Systems with a free 60-day evaluation through Sun's Try and Buy program.

Posted at 03:41PM Apr 15, 2008 by cbs in Sun  |  Comments[1]

Clear Up Sun Blade I/O FUD*

I've seen and heard a lot about our blade I/O strategy.  The most popular criticisms have been:

1) Why doesn't Sun get it, we [the customer] need switches to (reduce cables, lower cross charges, etc.)

2) If you believe in no in-chassis switching, why do you offer a 'Switched' Infiniband NEM?

Posted at 10:03AM Apr 04, 2008 by Amit Raman in Sun  |  Comments[4]

More Sun Blades in High Performance Computing

File this under increased traction for Sun Blades in HPC

#1
The Sun Constellation System received Supercomputing Online's Editors' Choice - 2007 Product of the Year Award. 

#2
Another design win for Sun Blades at UAE University with a 100 blade, 8.3 Terraflop grid.  Another potential Top 500 Super Computing entry for Sun Blades. 
[Read More]

Posted at 06:56PM Mar 31, 2008 by blades in Personal  |  Comments[0]

Would IBM "Dare To Compare" blade offerings more accurately? #4

"Dare to Compare" blade offerings Part 4 - the follow on to IBM's published competitive analysis of its BladeCenter offerings versus blade products from HP, Dell, and Sun. We'd like to again make things clearer for another claim where IBM is wrong about Sun Blades.  [Read More]

Posted at 11:22AM Mar 17, 2008 by Douglas Wilson in Sun  |  Comments[12]

Would IBM "Dare To Compare" blade offerings more accurately? #3

"Dare to Compare" blade offerings Part 3 - the follow on to IBM's published competitive analysis of its BladeCenter offerings versus blade products from HP, Dell, and Sun. We'd like to again make things clearer for another claim where IBM is wrong about Sun Blades.  We will share more of these IBM 'misrepresented truths' over the next few days ... so stay tuned. [Read More]

Posted at 02:02PM Mar 13, 2008 by Douglas Wilson in Sun  |  Comments[0]

Would IBM "Dare To Compare" blade offerings more accurately? #2

"Dare to Compare" blade offerings Part 2 - the follow on to IBM's published competitive analysis of its BladeCenter offerings versus blade products from HP, Dell, and Sun. We'd like to again make things clearer for another claim where IBM is wrong about Sun Blades.  We will share a few more of these IBM 'misrepresented truths' over the next few days ... so stay tuned. [Read More]

Posted at 11:00AM Mar 11, 2008 by Douglas Wilson in Sun  |  Comments[1]

Would IBM "Dare To Compare" blade offerings more accurately? (#1)

On its website, IBM published a competitive analysis of its BladeCenter offerings versus blade products from HP, Dell, and Sun. Of course, assessments on Sun's blade products were negative, misrepresented, and in some areas outright wrong, while positioning IBM in a positive light. The IBM blade "Dare To Compare" web page is posted at: http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/migratetoibm/systems/bladecenter/compare2.html  

Posted at 12:41PM Mar 05, 2008 by Douglas Wilson in Sun  |  Comments[5]

X8450 And The Four Socket Blade World

We're launching the Sun Blade X8450.  

I looked at the four socket blade landscape.  Sun and HP are the only vendors offering four socket blades using Intel.  We are differentiating ourselves from HP by offering a superior, four socket optimized chassis.   The Sun Blade 8000 chassis (with X8450s or X8440s) has screaming fast I/O and slick ILOM 2.0 management.  IBM does not want to touch this market and Dell is nowhere close. 

Posted at 08:28AM Feb 20, 2008 by Amit Raman in Sun  |  Comments[7]