IT General TechnologyServer

General Knowledge About Servers

Chapter 1 Server Overview
Chapter 2 Components and Key Technologies

Chapter 3 Component Configuration

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Whats Server?

Server

The server is a high-performance computer, as the network nodes, storing and

operating 80% information of network, therefore, its called the soul of the network There is a vivid metaphor: the server is like the post office switches, but the computer,

laptop, PDA, mobile phone and other fixed or mobile terminals like telephones
scattered in the family, offices, public places.

Request

Server and PC difference

Server
File

Respond
Data Query

Database

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Basic Server Concept and RASUM Feature

Basic Concept
A Server is a high-performance computer and serves as a network node and hub. It stores and processes 80% of data and information on the network. It also provides information services for multiple network clients at the same time. For this

reason, the server is also called the soul of the network.

RASUM Feature
Reliability Reliability is a feature used to ensure data reliability and consistency. By using this feature, a server can ensure data integrity and generate warnings for hardware errors. The feature involves hardware redundancy, warnings, and redundant array of independent disks (RAID) technologies. Availability Availability is a feature indicating that a server is available at any time and can be used immediately. This feature allows a server to quickly recover from system errors, and supports hot swap for key components and replacement of faulty components. Scalability Scalability is a feature indicating that a server can be expanded. This feature increases the memory, CPU, and disk capacities, and supports multiple mainstream operating systems (OSs). Usability Usability is a feature indicating whether a system is easy to operate. For example, whether the user navigation system is complete, whether the chassis is designed for better user experience, whether key recovery functions are allowed, whether OS backup is supported, and whether sufficient training and support are provided for users. Manageability Manageability is a feature providing the following two functions: supports efficient management to reduce manpower and material resources and provides simple infrastructure to streamline management.

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Server Category-1
By instruction set used by CPUs
Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC)
1. Intel x86 series CPUs and compatible CPUs 2. AMD full series CPUs and Intel series CPUs excluding the Itanium series

Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC)

1. Minicomputer (from IBM, HP, and SUN); (2) Dedicated platform and system; (3)Application-intensive processing system The mid- and high-range servers generally use the RISC-based CPUs, especially all high-range servers use RISC-based CPU.

Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing (EPIC)

EPIC permits microprocessors to execute software instructions in parallel. It is used by the Intel Itanium and Itanium 2 series CPU.

By appearance
Tower server: A tower server is a common server built in an upright and horizontal chassis. The tower server can be used in common office environments. It adopts a large chassis to offer large expansion space for internal hard disks, redundant power supply units (PSUs), and redundant fan modules, and provides excellent heat dissipation. Rack Server: A rack server is a server mounted on a rack. The rack server uses the standardized rack dimensions for traditional telecom equipment rooms. The standardized width is 19 inches, and the height is calculated by the unit of U. 1U is 1.75 inches (44.45 cm = 1.75 x 2.45 cm). Blade server: A blade server contains multiple server blades that are inserted in a chassis. Generally, a chassis can house 10 to 20 server blades. Each server blade works as a system board. Servers can be categorized into three types: single-socket servers, dual-socket servers, and multiple-socket servers. The number of sockets indicates the number of CPUs supported by a server. The number of cores indicates the number of chips that are packaged into a CPU.

By number of CPUs

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Server Category-2
By application level
Entry-level server: is the most basic low-end server. The entry-level server uses one dual-core CPU and supports redundancy for some hardware devices. The server is set at a market price as a high-end PC. It can be connected to about 20 terminals. It applies to scenarios where file printing and simple database servers are required by users in small-size networks. Workgroup server: is a low-end server. The workgroup server uses two dual-core CPUs and allows redundancy for more hardware devices. It provides comprehensive functions and features excellent manageability and easy maintenance. The server can be connected to about 50 terminals and is set at a market price as two or three PCs. It applies to scenarios where multiple service applications in small- and medium-size networks and local application demands in large-size networks are required. Department-level server: is a medium-range server. The department-level server uses two dual-core CPUs, allows redundancy for more hardware devices, and provides better configuration. The server can be connected to 100 terminals and is set at a market price as five PCs. It serves as an enterprise IT infrastructure and applies to scenarios where rapid service expansion and timely online upgrades are required for small- and medium-size enterprise networks. Enterprise-level server: is a high-end server. The enterprise-level server uses four or more than four dual-core CPUs, provides independent dual-PCI channels, memory expansion board design, and high memory bandwidth. It supports hot swappable large-capacity hard disks and high-power PSUs. It also offers comprehensive functions for monitoring and managing circuits and excellent fault-tolerant capability and scalability. The server can be connected to hundreds of terminals. It applies to scenarios where mass of data, rapid processing speed and high reliability are required for finance, securities, transportation, communication, and large-scale enterprises.

By application scenario: file server, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) server, web server, File Transfer protocol (FTP) server, database server, mail server, video server, media server, and game server.

Communication server Internal Web system

Mail system

Database system
Office computer File/Print server

Internet

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Server Category-3
Rack Server
The rack uses standard structure of the telecommunication room, width is19 inches,
height measured unit Unit, "U" is 1.75 inches, that is 4.445cm Generally, there are 1U, 2U, 4U and 8U types, 2U and 1U support the most shipments,

4U and 8U are No.2 shipment.

Blade Server
Blade Server has higher density than rack server. It includes blade servers, blade chassis (including backplane) and a rear card. Different vendors have different height chassis. Various vendors chassis are 19 inches wide and can be installed in a standard 42U cabinet. A single chassis can be inserted varying amounts (8 to 20) "blade, Every piece of "blade" is actually a server motherboard. In the current market, blade servers mainly include HP BL460c Gen8, IBM HS23, Dell M820, Huawei BH622 V2.

Tower Server (Huawei has no such product)

Tower servers have vertical and horizontal structure type and can be placed in a regular
office environment(like traditional PC).

The tower server density is a low and single-processor system(a small part of a dualprocessor system). System power supply and fan are generally monogamous, nonredundant and low reliability

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Server Benchmark Test System

Two bench test organizations: Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC) and Standard Performance
Evaluation Corporation (SPEC)

Benchmark tests for four major applications:

(1) High-performance computing (HPC): Linpack (2)Online transaction processing (OLTP): TPC -C

(3) Web service: SPEC Web2005, TPC-W

(4)Java application server: SPECjbb2005

Dedicated benchmark testsOracle benchmark test and SAP benchmark test

Key server benchmark test specification: TPC-C

Founded in the 1990s, the TPC is a worldwide organization that establishes benchmarks for the industry. With these benchmarks, enterprises start to consider rational factors except for subjective factors when purchasing servers. TPC-C is an online transaction processing benchmark. TPC-C performance is measured in new-order transaction per minute. The primary metrics are the transaction rate (tpmC). TPC-C simulates an enterprise management information system (MIS) and ERP system environment where the online transaction processing capability of a server is tested.

Key server benchmark test specification: SPEC

The SPEC is a worldwide authorized organization that provides third-party application performance tests. It is founded to
establish, maintain and endorse a series of evaluation standards for server application performance. Currently, the SPEC

provides the following benchmark tests:

CPU performance: SEPC CPU2000 and SPEC CPU2006

Web server: SEPC Web2005

HPC: SPEC HPC2002 and SPEC MPI2006

Java application: SPEC jAppServer2004, SEPC JBB2005, and test indicators for graphics, networks, and mail servers

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General Knowledge About Servers

Chapter 1 Server Overview
Chapter 2 Components and Key Technologies

Chapter 3 Component Configuration

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Server Hardware

The server hardware includes CPUs, DIMMs, chipsets, I/O devices (such as RAID cards, NIC cards, and HBA cards), hard disks, and a chassis (including PSUs and fan modules).

Front view
1. DVD-ROM drive 3. LED panel
5. Counter-rotating fan modules

Rear view
1. PSUs (1+1 redundancy)
3. Onboard NIC card 5. Rear USB port 7. BMC management network port

2. PCIe slot
4. HDD/SSD 6. Rear DB15 VGA port 8. RJ45 RS232 port

2. DB15 VGA port 4. Front USB port

6. HDD/SSD

2 PSUs 8 memory acceleration cards, supporting up to 8 x 8 DIMMs

8 PCIe slots

6 fans 4 CPUs

Built-in RAID card slot (PCIe x8)+BBU

Top view

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Intel Mainboard

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CPU Overview
Definition: A central processing unit (CPU) is the most important part of a computer. It consists of an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), controller, and register. Multi-core CPU: A multi-core CPU contains multiple cores in a package. For example, a dual-core CPU contains two cores, and a quad-core CPU contains four cores. Using multi-core servers can improve computing efficiency and prolong the investment lifecycle for servers. Key indicators: frequency, cache, front side bus, and power consumption
1. Frequency: The dominant frequency also refers to the clock frequency, which is measured in MHz or GHz that indicating the frequency at which a CPU computes and processes data. The CPU dominant frequency is calculated by the following equation: CPU dominant frequency = External frequency x Clock multiplier factor. The external frequency indicates the CPU reference frequency and is measured in MHz. It determines the operating speed of the entire mainboard. The value of the clock multiplier factor ranges from 1.5 to the infinitely large value, with a difference of 0.5 between two consecutive values. A multiplier allows the system bus to work at a quite low frequency, which improves the CPU speed. Cache: The structure and size of a cache have great impact on the CPU speed. Because a CPU needs to read the same data block repeatedly, an increase in the size of a cache can greatly increase a CPU's reading data hit rate. Therefore, the CPU does not need to access data in the memory or hard disks, which improves system performance. Front side bus (FSB): The FSB frequency refers to the bus frequency, which affects the speed of direct data exchange between the CPU and the memory . The data bandwidth is calculated by the following equation: Data bandwidth= (Bus frequency x Data bit width)/8. For example, for the Intel Xeon Nocona 64-bit CPU, the FSB frequency is 800 MHz, and the data bit width is 64. Based on the equation, its maximum data transmission bandwidth is 6.4 GB/s.

2.

3.

CPU data sources: CPU Cache Memory first, then memory, and finally hard disk for data. CPU naming (take the Intel CPU as an example) For example, the XH310 V2 uses the E3-1230 CPU.

Hard disk; CPU accesses the cache

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Key Component CPUIntel Server Family

RISC and mainframes
Intel dual-core Itanium processor 9000 Mainframe server, providing top-level flexibility and reliability
Server Level
1-socket server

CPU Series

Number of Server Sockets

1-socket server 2-socket server 4-socket server

CPU Series

Strict data requirement

E3-1200 series E5-1400 series E5-2400 series

E3-1200 series E5-1400 series E5-2400 series E6-2600 series E7-2800 series E5-4600 series E7-4800 series

Intel Xeon E7-8800/4800/2800 series processor Intel Xeon 7500 series processor Maximizes performance, reliability, and scalability .

Entry-level 2-socket server highperformanc e 2-socket or 4-socket server high-end server

High density infrastructure

E5-2600 series E5-4600 series

Intel Xeon E5-4600series processor Uses 8-core processor to maximize high performance density . Intel Xeon E5-2600/2400series processor Offers high energy efficiency and excellent performance per watt

E7-2800 series E7-4800 series E7-8800 series

8-socket server

E7-8800 series

Basic computing
Intel Xeon E3-1200 series processor Cost-effective and reliable single-socket server

The development plan for server hardware must follow the Intel's Tick-Tock model, that is, follow the architecture and microarchitecture progress

Tick indicates the year for architecture change and Tock indicates the year for
microarchitecture change. Tick: 2011 and 2013; Tock: 2012 and 2014 Tick: Upgrade the architecture, and develop the next generation technology of the mainstream servers; Tock: Optimize features, upgrade the CPU, optimized server features, prepare patches, and provide product versions of temporary market requirements.

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Intel E5 CPU Introduction

E5-4600: Romley EP -4S E5-2600: Romley EP E5-2400: Romley EN

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CPUEN&EP platforms
Table 1 Romley-EN & EP Comparison (2-socket servers) Feature Remarks

Socket type QPI port Memory channel

Number of DIMMs supported--supported Maximum memory capacity (GB)
EP platform provides the bandwidth two times that of the EN platform

EP platform provides the memory bandwidth 33% larger than that of the EN platform--higher

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CPUSpecification List
CPU Model

Number of Cores/Threads

Cach Capacit y(MB)

QPI Rate (GT/s)

CPU Dominant Frequency (GHz)

Memory Speed (MHz)

Turbo Feature (The maximum frequency is determined by active cores. The number of active cores is in descending order from left to right.)
3.30/3.30/3.30/3.40/3.40/3.60/3.60/3.80
3.10/3.10/3.20/3.20/3.20/3.40/3.50/ 3.50 2.00/2.00/2.10/2.10/2.20/2.20/2.30/2.30

Hyper Threading(HT) Feature

Power Consumption (W)

E5-2690
E5-2680 E5-2650L

8/16
8/16 8/16

20
20 20

8
8 8

2.9
2.7 1.8

1600
1600 1600

135
130 70

E5-2670
E5-2690 E5-2665 E5-2667 E5-2640 E5-2620 E5-2660 E5-2650

8/16
8/16 8/16 6/12 6/12 6/12 8/16 8/16

20
20 20 15 15 15 20 20

8
8 8 8 7.2 7.2 8 8

2.6
2.9 2.4 2.9 2.5 2.0 2.2 2.0

1600
1600 1600 1600 1333 1333 1600 1600

3.00/3.00/3.10/3.10/3.20/3.20/3.30/3.30
3.30/3.30/3.30/3.40/3.40/3.60/3.60/3.80 2.80/2.80/2.90/2.90/3.00/3.00/3.10/3.10 3.20/3.20/3.20/3.30/3.40/3.50 2.80/2.80/2.90/2.90/3.00/3.00 2.30/2.30/2.40/2.40/2.50/2.50 2.70/2.70/2.80/2.80/2.90/2.90/3.00/3.00 2.40/2.40/2.50/2.50/2.50/2.70/2.80/2.80

115
135 115 130 95 95 95 95

E5-2630L
E5-2630 E5-2609

6/12
6/12 4/4

15
15 10

7.2
7.2 6.4

2.0
2.3 2.4

1333
1333 1067

2.30/2.30/2.40/2.40/2.50/2.50
2.60/2.60/2.70/2.70/2.80/2.80 N/A

NO

60
95 80

E5-2603
EN series E5-2470

4/4

10

6.4

1.8

1067

N/A

NO

80

8/16

20

2.3

1600

2.80/2.80/2.90/2.90/3.00/3.00/3.10/3.10

95

E5-2450L
E5-2450 E5-2440 E5-2430L E5-2430 E5-2420 E5-2407 E5-2403

8/16
8/16 6/12 6/12 6/12 6/12 4/4 4/4

20
20 15 15 15 15 10 10

8
8 7.2 7.2 7.2 7.2 6.4 6.4

1.8
2.1 2.4 2.0 2.2 1.9 2.2 1.8

1600
1600 1333 1333 1333 1333 1067 1067

2.00/2.00/2.10/2.10/2.20/2.20/2.30/2.30
2.60/2.60/2.70/2.70/2.80/2.80/2.90/2.90 2.70/2.70/2.80/2.80/2.90/2.90 2.30/2.30/2.40/2.40/2.50/2.50 2.50/2.50/2.60/2.60/2.70/2.70 2.20/2.20/2.30/2.30/2.40/2.40 N/A N/A

NO NO

70
95 95 60 95 95 80 80

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Memory-1

Definition: Memory is used to store the current running (or executing) data and processes. All running programs need to be executed by memory. If multiple programs have to be executed or the size of programs is too large, memory capacity will be consumed. DDR3 DIMM Double Data Rate 3 (DDR3) is the third generation of the DDR SDRAM technology, which provides higher bandwidth and lower power consumption compared with DDR2. Compared with DDR2 memory, DDR3 memory can increase the bandwidth by up to 66% and uses 40% less power at the same rate. Both DDR3 and DDR2 DIMMs have 240 pins, but they have different notch position. DDR3 is incompatible with DDR2.

JEDEC Name Common Name

PC3-12800 DDR3-1600

Transmission Speed Maximum Throughput

1600 MT/s 12.8 GB/s

PC3-10600 PC3-8500 PC3-6400

DDR3-1333 DDR3-1066 DDR3-800

1333 MT/s 1066 MT/s 800 MT/s

10.6 GB/s 8.5 GB/s 6.4 GB/s

Typical technologyECC: Traditional servers adopt only the error checking and correcting (ECC) technology for memory. ECC can correct 1-bit and 2-bit memory errors. The following advanced memory fault-tolerant technologies are used to provide high reliability: 1. (1)Memory sparing: Hot-backup DIMM is not used in the normal conditions. When the number of errors generated by working memory exceeds the predefined ECC limit, the system automatically transfers data from the faulty DIMMs to the hot-backup DIMMs, and the faulty DIMMs are not used any more. 2. (2)Memory mirroring: Two copies of the same data are created on the memory, which prevents data loss caused by faulty DIMMs. In addition, the working memory and mirroring memory are not in the same channel, which also prevents data loss caused by memory channel errors.

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Memory-2
DIMM type: UDIMM, RDIMM, LRDIMM
UDIMM: UDIMM is an abbreviation for unbuffered DIMM. On the UDIMM, the addresses and control signals output by controllers are directly transmitted to DRAM chips. A UDIMM has a small capacity and low frequency. Compared with

DIMMs of other types, because UDIMM has no cache, it has a lower latency at the same frequency. A single UDIMM
provides the memory capacity of 2 GB or 4 GB and dominant frequency of up to 1.33 GHz.

RDIMM: RDIMM is an abbreviation for registered DIMM. On the RDIMM, the IP addresses and control signals output
by controllers are transmitted to registers and then to DRAM chips. The RDIMM is the mainstream DIMM. A single

RDIMM provides the memory capacity of 2 to 32 GB and the dominant frequency of up to 1.6 GHz. RDIMM offers
better performance and scalability and is cost-effective. LRDIMM: LRDIMM is an abbreviation for load reduced DIMM. LRDIMM uses new technologies and lower working voltage. In this way, the server memory bus load and power consumption are reduced, and the server memory bus can work at a higher working frequency to greatly increase available memory capacity. Compared with a common

RDIMM, a dual-rank LRDIMM consumes 50% less power.

DIMM indicators:

Capacity: 4/8/16/32 GB
Frequency: 800/1066/1333/1600 MHz Latency: indicates the time waiting for memory responses before the system is ready to perform data access operation. The value is in the format of four digits separated by endashs (-) to indicate CL-TRP-TRCD-TRAS, for example, 3-4-4-8. Generally, the smaller digits indicate better memory performance. However, the memory

performance depends on the combination of these four digits.

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Chipset
Definition: A chipset is a set or multiple sets of chips used to manage data communication between the processor, memory and I/O level. The chipset is the core of motherboard circuit. if CPU is compared to human brain, the chipset is the heart. The chipset determines the motherboard. The chipset is an umbrella term for southbridge and

northbridge. As technology develops, the southbridge and northbridge are integrated on a chipset.

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Hard Disk
Currently, form factors of server hard disks are 2.5 inches and 3.5 inches. The server hard disks are categorized into the following three types: SATA hard disk: Mainstream Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) hard disks are 3.5 inches, which are hot-swappable and are not hot-swappable. The SATA hard disks that do not support hot swap have no hard disk tray. The SATA hard disks are used for low- and mid-range servers, mass storage, and nearline storage. SAS hard disk: Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) hard disks have the following two types: 3 Gb/s SAS hard disk and 6 Gb/s SAS hard disk. The SAS hard disks are used for mid- and high- range servers. SSD: SSD is an abbreviation for solid-state disk. The SSD is a high-performance disk that is made by using solid-state electrical storage chip arrays. The SSD consists of a control unit and a storage unit (DRAM or flash chip). The storage unit is used to store data, and the control unit is used to read and write data. NandFlash is the key component of the SSD, which consists of an SLC* (single-layer unit) and an MLC* (multi-layer unit). Advantages: rapid speed, high performance, excellent endurance and shockproof performance, small power consumption, no noise, and light weight Disadvantages: small capacity and high price

Backup PSUs

SSD framework
Multi-channel concurrence

SSD Hardware Structure Principle

No moving mechanical components, providing high performance and smaller power consumption Multi-channel concurrence, allowing time-division multiplexing for flash granules in a channel TCQ/NCQ, responding to multiple I/O requests in one response Typical response time of less than 0.1 ms

6 Gb/s

SAS port

SSD controller

FLASH

DDR DIMM

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PCIe
Definition: Peripheral Component Interconnect (IPCI) is a bus standard designed to support the connection between the computer motherboard and highspeed peripheral devices, such as graphic cards, audio cards, Network cards, and disk controllers. In applications that require high data transfer rate, PCI can break the low data transfer rate bottleneck of the older bus standards. PCI has evolved from Peripheral Component Interco nnect eXtended (PCI-X) to Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe). Currently, PCIe is the latest generation of the PCI technology. PCIe: The PCIe is the latest I/O bus technology. PCIe is used for the point-to-point communication between high-speed serial interfaces by using dual channels for high bandwidth transmission. PCIe allocates exclusive channel bandwidth for its connected devices. Therefore, re sources are not shared, which break the system I/O bandwidth bottleneck. The PCIe technology provides functions, such as automatic power supply management, error reporting, reliable end-to-end transmission, hot swap, and Quality of Service (QoS). PCIe 2.0: The current 16-lane PCIe 2.0 connector (x16) can support throughput up to 16 GB/s aggregate.

x1

x4

x8

x16

PCIe 3.0: The PCIe 3.0 standard provides 8 GHz/s data transfer rate. It is backward compatible with PCIE 2.x/1.x and supports 2.5 GHz and 5 GHz clock rate for signals. PCIe 3.0 x1 provides single-direction bandwidth of about 1 GB/s per lane, and PCIe 3.0 x16 provides bidirectional bandwidth of up to 32 GB/s.

PCIe Network adapter: PCIe network adapters are used to support for the connection between servers and network devices such as switches. The common PCIe network adapters are as follows:
RJ45 Ethernet network adapter

FC Ethernet network adapter

Multi-port Ethernet network adapter

PCIe HBA: The Host bus adapter (HBA) is an adapter used to provide I/O processing and physically connected circuit boards and/or integrated circuits (ICs) for the connection between servers and storage devices. Because HBA reduces the load of data

storage and retrieval for the host processor, it can improver server performance. An HBA and its connected disk subsystem are
called a disk channel.

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RAID Card
RAID card: A RAID card used to implement the RAID function consists of an I/O processor, hard disk controller, hard disk connector, and cache. RAID cards are categorized into the following levels: RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 3, RAID 4, RAID 5, and RAID 10. The RAID card allows multiple disk drives to transmit data at the same time, reaching a data transfer rate several folds or even hundred folds that of a single disk drive. In addition, RAID card provides the fault-tolerant function. ibutton supports RAID battery protection. Cache is used for exchanging data between a RAID card and external bus. A large-capacity cache can greatly increase data hit rate to improve RAID card performance.

Cache

Server

Name of RAID Cards Supported

Type of Chips Supported

Number of Supported Hard Disks RAID Level Supported

E6000 server blade

RAID 0/1/5/6/10/50/60 Enable the CacheCade function

Item
Supported RAID levels Read and write cache Hard disk type Port

Lsi2308
RAID 0, 1, 1E, 10 None SAS/SATA HDDs or SSDs Supports PCIe ports; Provides eight 6 Gbit/s SAS or SATA ports.

Lsi2208
RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60 512 MB or 1 GB SAS/SATA HDDs or SSDs Supports PCIe ports; Provides 6 Gbit/s SAS or SATA ports.

Pass through card

X6000 server node

RAID 0/1/5/6/10/50/60 Enable the CacheCade function

Pass through card

Rack server

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RAID ConceptDefinition

RAID is an abbreviation for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. RAID is a storage technology that combines multiple independent physical hard disks in various ways into a logical hard disk, which improves hard disk read/write performance and ensures data security.

RAID cards are categorized into the following levels depending on their combination schemes: RAID 0
RAID 1 RAID 3 RAID 5

Block-level stripping without parity

Mirroring without parity Byte-level stripping with parity stored on a dedicated hard disk Block-level stripping with distributed parity

RAID 6

Block-level stripping with distributed parity and double redundancy

Different RAID levels can be nested to form a new RAID level:

RAID 01 RAID 0 is made first and then RAID 1 is made, which provides block-level stripping and mirroring at the
same time. RAID 10 RAID 50 RAID 10 is similar to RAID 01. The key difference is that RAID 1 is made first and then RAID 0 is made. RAID 5 is made first and then RAID 0 is made, which efficiently improves RAID 5 performance.

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RAID ConceptData Organization and Access Mode

Data Organization Modes
Block: A partition is divided into multiple pieces with equal size and adjacent address. These pieces are called blocks. Blocks are elements of a strip. Strip: A strip is formed by blocks with the same "position" (or the same numbering) in multiple disk drives of the same disk array.

Drive 1
D6 D3 D0 Data blocks on disks

Drive 2
D7 D4 D1 Data blocks on disks

Drive 3
D8 D5 D2 Data blocks on disks Strip 2 Strip 1 Strip 0

Data Access Modes

Parallel access mode: In this mode, the spindle motor of all disk drives are accurately controlled. All disk positions are synchronized. A short I/O data transfer is performed to distribute each I/O request sent by the host to each disk drive, which maximizes performance of each disk drive in the array. This mode is used for the applications that feature sequential access to continuous large-size data for a long time.

Independent access mode: Data on each disk drive is accessed independently and randomly without the restriction of time interval. Each disk drive can receive multiple I/O requests, and the size of each data volume to be transmitted is small. This mode is used for the applications that require frequent data access and small size of access data.

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RAID ConceptHot spare and Rebuilt

Hot spare

Definition:
In a redundant RAID group, when a hard disk is faulty, another normal hard disk for hot spare automatically replaces the faulty one without affecting the normal use of the RAID, which ensures RAID redundancy.

Type:
Global hot spare: A hot spare hard disk is shared by all redundant RAID groups. Dedicated hot spare: A hot spare hard disk is dedicated to a redundant RAID group.

Rebuild

A0

XOR

XOR

Failed

A0
Replaced

A1
Data disk

A2
Data disk

P
Parity disk

Data disk

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RAID ConceptLogical Volume

One or more logical volumes are created for a RAID based on the specified capacity. The

logical volumes are identified by logic unit number (LUN).

LUN1

LUN2

LUN3
Logical volumes

Division RAID

Physical disks

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RAID LevelsRAID 0 and RAID 1

A RAID 0 is a strip set that provides no fault tolerance. In RAID 0, data is evenly distributed in strips across each hard disk.
Data

RAID 2 is also called a mirror of a set of data on two disks. In RAID 2, data is written consistently to the primary disk and mirroring disk at the same time.

Data

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RAID LevelRAID 3 and RAID 5

A RAID 3 is a parallel data transmission array with a dedicated parity. In RAID 3, data is distributed in strips in data disks, and parity data is stored on a dedicated parity disk.

A RAID 5 is similar to a RAID 3. However, In RAID 5, parity data is evenly distributed on each data disk, data and parity information are stored on RAID member disks at the same time, and data blocks and corresponding parity information are stored on different disks. RAID 5 is one of the commonly used RAID levels.
Data

XOR

XOR

Data disk

Parity disk

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RAID Level Using RAID 6 As an Example for Illustration

A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9

XOR

A1

A2

A3
A7
A11 A15

A4
A8 A12 A16

P1 P2 P3 P4

DP1
DP2 DP3 DP4

A5 A9
A13

A6 A10 A14

Data disk

Horizontal parity disk

DP5

Horizontal parity disks P1 to P4 store horizontal parity data in each data disk. For example, P1 = A1 XOR A2 XOR A3 XOR A4 Diagonal parity disks DP1 to DP4 store diagonal parity data in each data disk and horizontal parity disks. For example, DP1 = A1 XOR A6 XOR A11 XOR A16

Diagonal parity disk

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Nested RAID LevelsRAID 10 and RAID 50

RAID 10 is a nested RAID level that combines mirroring and stripping. For a RAID 10, drives are first combined into multiple level 1 RAIDs, which are treated as a single drive to be combined into a single RAID 0. RAID 10 is also one of the widely used RAID levels. RAID 50 is a combination of RAID 5 and RAID 0. The first level is RAID5 and the second level is RAID 0.

XOR

XOR

Hard Hard Hard disk 0 disk 1 disk 2

Hard Hard Hard disk 3 disk 4 disk 5

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RAID Level Comparison

RAID level
Fault tolerance Redundancy type Available space Read performance Random write performance Continuous write performance Minimum number of disks RAID 0 No No 100% High High High 2 RAID 1 Yes Mirroring redundancy RAID 3 Yes Parity redundancy (N-1)/N High Low Low 3 Large file and continuous data RAID 5 Yes RAID 10 Yes S&K

Parity redundancy
(N-1)/N High Low Low 3 High read/write rate

Mirroring redundancy

50%
Low Low Low

50%
Medium Medium Medium 4 High security

2
High security

Application Scenario

High transmission bandwidth

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Management Technology
IPMI
IPMI: The Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) is a standard interface specification used for server management system design. Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and NEC Corporation announced IPMI in 1998. Users can use the IPMI to monitor the health status of a physical server, such as temperature, voltage, and status of fan modules and PSUs. System management can be implemented for different types of server system hardware by using IPMI, which makes central management of different platforms possible. Work rule: The core component of an IPMI system is a dedicated chip or controller called the Baseboard management controller (BMC). The IPMI system operates independently of the server processor, basic input/output system (BIOS), and OS. The IPMI system can start to work with the BMC and IPMI firmware. The BMC is a microcontroller embedded independently on the motherboard of a server. Now, some server motherboards support the integration of the IPMI system. The IPMI system uses low-level hardware instead of an OS for intelligent management, which has the following advantages: This configuration allows out-of-band management. Transmission system status data is not required for the OS.

KVM over IP
KVM over IP: KVM over IP indicates that the keyboard, video, and mouse of a remote server is virtualized to a local control terminal over networks. In this way, the server can be remotely operated by the local control terminal. Advantages: (1) Low costs for implementation and upgrade, and seamless upgrade; (2) Flexible centralized management; (3) Global control and simple operations; (4) Rich management control functions provided by IP technologies

Virtual Media
Virtual media: The virtual media technology maps any media on a local terminal to USB devices of a controlled server. By using this technology, IT administrators can fully control a server in the absence of the server to perform field operations for data, such as troubleshooting faults, transferring files, and patching applications and OSs.

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General Knowledge About Servers

Chapter 1 Server Overview
Chapter 2 Components and Key Technologies

Chapter 3 Component Configuration

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Configuration Overview
Components for Configuration Quotation
Server model and PSUs Clustered CPU NAS DIMMs engines

Hard disks

RAID cards, network cards, and HBA cards

Chassis

Switch modules

Services

Commerce

Configuration Example Based on Server Model

Required by blade servers

Customers can choose computing servers or storage servers based on your service requirements:
Computing server: Computing servers have higher requirements for CPUs and generally requires external storage devices. For virtualization, you are advised to choose computing servers (such as blade servers, high-density servers, and 4-socket rack servers) Storage server: Storage severs have low requirements for CPUs and generally requires no external storage devices. (A 2socket rack server is often used as a storage server, which can be configured with multiple hard disks.)

For optimized configuration, you can consider the CPU performance, power consumption, and price when selecting CPU models. If the memory capacity and bandwidth are important for you, you are advised to choose the EP series CPUs. You can choose the EN series CPUs for common enterprise-level applications. For optimized CPU and memory configuration, pay attention to the following considerations: Maximum memory frequency supported by the CPU and memory that works at the maximum frequency

For example, if two E5-2620 CPUs are used, the optimized performance can be achieved when the memory capacity is set to 64 GB. Analysis: The memory working frequency supported by an E5-2620 is 1333 MHz. Two E5-2620 CPUs provide eight memory channels, balanced configuration can be achieved by selecting eight 8 GB DIMMs. Therefore, you can select the following:

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Thank You.