alpha754293

My newest addition "to the family". Sun Fire X4200.

Here are the system specs:

Dual AMD Opteron 254 (2.8 GHz, E4 stepping)
4x Micron 2GB PC3200 ECC Reg DDR SDRAM (8 GB total)
Sun Motherboard (P/N: FAB 270-6974-07 Rev. 02)
2x Fujitsu 73 GB 10krpm SAS drives (3 Gbps)
Onboard ATi Rage XL 8MB video
2x onboard Intel Pro/1000 MT GbE 4 ports total
1 dedicated 10/100 Network management port
Five internal MD2 Low Profile 64-bit PCI-X slots
- 1 64-bit/100MHz (slot 0)
- 1 64-bit/133MHz (slot 1)
- 3 64-bit/66MHz (slots 2-4)
One EIDE ATAPI slot loading DVD-ROM
LSI1064 4-port SAS RAID HBA
2x Redudant 550W P/W
GRASP Service Processor Board


Fans. (and they're loud!!!!)


Drive bays.


Hard drives.


GRASP Service Processor Board


Guts.


Memory.


BIOS


POST


Current benchmarking/testing setup.

A couple of notes:

1) Winblows really suck. The system is so new that it doesn't recognize the SAS hard drives and requires either a PXE boot, a virtual mount (via Java RConsole (Remote Console) or an external USB floppy drive.

Usually that's not the case. Usually, it's Sun that's falling behind in drivers and such that prevents the systems from running. In this case, Solaris is actually already all set to take on the SAS (both LSI1064 4-port and LSI1068 8-port).

2) As a result, it was either screw testing it and just go straight for Solaris or figure out something. You'll note the IDE hard drive hanging on top of the system. Yes, the IDE cable is coming out from one of the PCI-X slots, attached to the secondary IDE channel, because I figured that it'd be faster doing that than trying to do a PXE install onto SAS drives.

3) Yes, there are a total of 5 power cords. (Actually one is for my craptop). 2 go to the redundant 550W P/S. (i.e. a single one can support the entire system, but it's better when they're both on). One is to power a Sparkle 460W (offscreen) that is currently jumped to power the IDE hard drive since there are no molex connectors.

4) The SAS hard drives are 2.5" and the connector looks a lot like SATA connectors. (SATA is backwards compatible with SAS, but not the other way 'round). Downside is that the largest capacity 2.5" drive is 160 GB 5.4krpm SATA.

I think that the person that sold the system to me had no idea what he was actually selling cuz I ended up buying the system at less than 95% discount. I asked him for a list of specs and he said that I probably know more about the system than he does. (After all, he listed it as a "network drive".)

The system is VERY loud. Even with one fan (out of 6), it's still has to be between 50-55 dBA.

Attached Thumbnails

     

     

     

 

THRASHER2

Is it CHRISTMAS ALREADY?

__________________

alpha754293

Here are some benchmark results:


Running on Windows Server 2003 x64 Enterprise Edition.

Not too shabby. 10-11.5 GFLOPS.

About 15.6% faster than expected (comparing my Opteron 246@2.0GHz to the 254 @ 2.8 GHz) core FPU.
About 1% faster for iSSE2.


Seems to be topping out at 11.2 GB/s on the memory bandwidth.

The downside is that installing some of the other operation systems are such a pain because the system is too new and that Windows, and even Linux doesn't have the drivers included in the distribution yet.

On the other hand, Solaris doesn't have the applications that I use; so I have no idea what it is I am going to be doing with the system.

For the time being, I'm thinking of bringing it down to Necro's and Digi's and letting them play around with it since the system can come online, but it's not being rolled into production until a task can be defined for it.

*edit*
Who knows, I might use this system to do all of the interoperability tests on. (i.e. trying to run Linux from within Solaris. I have no idea what the install for that is going to be like given that there's a "companion CD" that you gotta download to "aide in the installation".)

*edit*
Looking into why Sandra is report only 55 MB/s for one SAS drive. Creating a raid0 array and trying it again.

P.S. Yes, this does have two AMD-8131 Northbridges (for the PCI-X), and one AMD-8111 SB.

Attached Thumbnails

   

Iateronmly

What are you missing the drivers for? SAS controller?

__________________

alpha754293

Quote: Originally Posted by Iateronmly What are you missing the drivers for? SAS controller?

I have the drivers; that isn't the problem. It's when the Windows CD boots up to prepare for the installation - that's when I need the drivers and even Windows doesn't allow for adding drivers without some type of floppy drive. (Seeing as there are no floppy drive headers on the motherboard, you're pretty much stuck with USB, if you have one.)

(Linux has advanced where you can add the driver via CD or USB. Solaris I believe you can add it to the PXE boot (and has a full "how-to" guide/tutorial on getting it all set up.)

I remember seeing that there's a way to add them like you would if you were to repack SP2 into the base XP install. The only problem is, I'm not entirely certain how to add the drivers for the SAS controller such that when the DVD boots up, it'll load them too.

(Remember that I am not install XP, but only using that as an example that something similar can be done with it).

- * - * - * -


Here are the benchmark results for two 73 GB 10krpm SAS drives in a stripped array.

I think that it's the way that Sandra's testing it because it doesn't even peg the drives went I went to check on it part way through the test.

I do have other benchmarking tools specifically for storage subsystems (HDTach, Atto ExpressTools) but I'm not going to spend too much time fussing on it given that it isn't very likely that Windows is going to be staying on it for very long.

Priority 1 on that system is to take 40-50 dB out of it.

But that should give you a sense of performance in terms that hopefully most of you guys are familiar with.

I've elected to skip Aquamark, SuperPi, SPECviewperf, Cinebench, Maya render test, any of the 3DMark and PCMark because the remainder of the benchmarks just basically flog the 8 MB frame buffer which renders the test pointless (with possibly the exception of cinebench and Maya rendertest); although having performed those with the quad - my PB has already been set.

Attached Thumbnails

 

Iateronmly

Tell me the OS you want it on and I'll slip stream it in for you.

__________________

alpha754293

Quote: Originally Posted by Iateronmly Tell me the OS you want it on and I'll slip stream it in for you.

Windows Server 2003 x64 Enterprise Edition

alpha754293

I found out the specs and model number for the fans in the front fan assembly.

6x Delta Electronics FFB0812UHE
12VDC in
7500 rpm
102 CFM
62.2 dBA

Combined, the front fan assembly is putting out 600 CFM. (I wonder what Necro would be able to cook up with that.)

Interestly enough, it is designed such that the entire system would not exceed 82 dBA when running.

Currently installing Solaris on it. (ahh....such painless installation!)

*edit*

That's what the SAS interface looks like for those that are interested.

You'll note that it's almost identical to the SATA interface, I think with the exception of the extra pins at the TOP of the interface.

*edit*
Doing the filesystem testing now in Solaris. 1 drive, no RAID, ZFS
write: 62.5 MB/s
read: 61.8 MB/s

approx. host-to-interface
write: 595.5 MB/s
read: 1525.2 MB/s!!!

(tee hee tee hee tee hee)

trial #2 (on c0t0d0s7, 59 GB, ZFS, no RAID)
write: 67.77 MB/s
read: 49.4 MB/s

host-to-interface (approx.)
write: 597.85 MB/s
read: 1533.9 MB/s!!!

SAS rocks.

Attached Thumbnails

 

Gzim

Damn man, none of those pictures gave me an idea of it's size until the last one...

What brand fans are those? Damn, 6 uber thick fans, must hurt the ears...
I should read.

__________________

kipman725

very nice server, bit over speced for home use though

__________________

$SOLID$ Necro

Quote: Originally Posted by alpha754293 I found out the specs and model number for the fans in the front fan assembly. 6x Delta Electronics FFB0812UHE 12VDC in 7500 rpm 102 CFM 62.2 dBA Combined, the front fan assembly is putting out 600 CFM. (I wonder what Necro would be able to cook up with that.) Interestly enough, it is designed such that the entire system would not exceed 82 dBA when running.

They sound like the same specs as my Tornado that is in use on my Xp2500Mobile, Thermalright SP-97 heatsink, and it's quite annoying at full bore, even for me!

I recently found a good deal on a 25 watt Rheostat to control the RPM's for 2$

I would think going to something like that would still keep the system cool in the winter a half speed, and then you can still crank it up in the summer, or when you are running heavy loads for long periods of time.

__________________

lokies_mom

GEE, can it fold?

__________________

alpha754293

Quote: Originally Posted by lokies_mom GEE, can it fold?

If I can install Windows and/or Linux without an IDE drive hanging off of it, sure!

(P.S CAN doesn't necessarily imply WILL).

As mentioned before, there are no definite plans for actual official deployment of the system into production environment.

Reason: I'm running out of power. (see other threads/replies roaming around re: tripping my breaker; thus forcing me to be more power efficient with what I do)

It's the whole SWaP (Space, Watts, and Performance) metric all over again.

alpha754293

Quote: Originally Posted by $SOLID$ Necro They sound like the same specs as my Tornado that is in use on my Xp2500Mobile, Thermalright SP-97 heatsink, and it's quite annoying at full bore, even for me! I recently found a good deal on a 25 watt Rheostat to control the RPM's for 2$ I would think going to something like that would still keep the system cool in the winter a half speed, and then you can still crank it up in the summer, or when you are running heavy loads for long periods of time.

I was thinking of bringing the system down sometime (not entirely sure when yet) for you to take a look at it.

If I can get away with NOT cutting the case, that would be better because then I'd be able to stack other systems on it as I start migrating towards rackmounts.

Else, I'd be stuck.

Besides, if you're going to be getting into heavy metal stuff, you should start getting used to the space constraints that will be imposed on you.

SWaP baby....SWaP.

alpha754293

Quote: Originally Posted by Gzim Damn man, none of those pictures gave me an idea of it's size until the last one... What brand fans are those? Damn, 6 uber thick fans, must hurt the ears... I should read.

Well, whether it's one of the six fans, or all six fans, it's running between 70-80 dBA constantly. I think that the fans on the redundant power supplies has got to be at least 40-50 dBA each (they're no bigger than a $0.25 coin).

Yea, it's loud. Really really loud. I have to wear earphones (and have some music playing on my mp3 player) in order to help drown out the noise.

It's about 25" deep, so that's actually pretty standard (usually around 26", but I've seen 22" up to 30").

Shipped, it was 44 lbs. I think that it's probably closer to 35 lbs actual. About the same weight (I think) as the quad. And definitely lighter than the file server!

Quote: Originally Posted by kipman725 very nice server, bit over speced for home use though

*shrug* well, that's what I use for a home server.

I guess that's why I've been named "Apex Tech Maniac".