WHITE PAPER New Fujitsu High-End Dual-Core Itanium 2-Based PRIMEQUEST Servers Offer Mission-Critical Hosting for Linux and Windows Applications

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1 WHITE PAPER New Fujitsu High-End Dual-Core Itanium 2-Based PRIMEQUEST Servers Offer Mission-Critical Hosting for Linux and Windows Applications July 2006 PREPARED FOR Fujitsu TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary... 1 Introduction... 2 Which Operating Systems Are Accommodated?... 3 Still More Operating System Capability... 4 Fujitsu s Linux Work with the Open Source Community... 4 Red Hat s diskdump and More... 4 Enhancements in Red Hat and Novell SUSE... 5 The IDEAS Bottom Line... 7 Endnotes... 8 TO DIG DEEPER This white paper prepared by Ideas International (IDEAS) offers an in-depth examination of the operating system offerings available on Fujitsu s recently introduced PRIMEQUEST servers based on the Dual-Core Intel Itanium 2 processor. Three companion white papers provide similar detail on: high availability, system architecture, and system management. An overview white paper provides a summary of the capabilities of the PRIMEQUEST offerings. For additional details, see Executive Summary In July 2006, Fujitsu announced three new, mission-critical enterprise servers based on Dual-Core Intel Itanium 2 processor (Montecito). PRIMEQUEST Models 520 (8 CPUs, 16 cores), 540 (16 CPUs, 32 cores), and 580 (32 CPUs, 64 cores) run both the Linux and Windows operating systems. Offered by Fujitsu as its mission-critical line of Intel-based servers, these high-end platforms target customers who seek a highly reliable, enterprise-class server that benefits from the economies of industry-standard hardware and software. The Models 520, 540, and 580 complement and advance Fujitsu s earlier PRIMEQUEST offerings the Itanium Madison-based Models 420, 440, and 480 (single-core CPU designs with 8, 16, and 32 microprocessors respectively). What differentiates Fujitsu s PRIMEQUEST servers from other IPF-based platforms is the careful attention paid to mission-critical design. Fujitsu has leveraged its proven mainframe and PRIMEPOWER design experience (for the Solaris operating system and the SPARC microprocessor) to create an Itanium-based family that satisfies customer needs to operate mission-critical workloads on industry-standard servers. At their general availability slated for the end of September 2006, the PRIMEQUEST Series 500 Servers (Models 520, 540, and 580) are scheduled to support: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 4 (RHEL4). Updates 4 and 5 will follow soon after, as well as RHEL5 (when Red Hat makes it available). SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Version 9 (SLES9), and SLES10 when it becomes available (depending on Novell). Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium (up to 8 CPUs/16 cores and 256 GB maximum memory) with SP2 when it becomes available in early 2007 (depending on Microsoft). Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition for Itanium (up to 32 CPUs/64 cores and 2 TB maximum memory) with SP2 when it becomes available in early 2007 (depending on Microsoft). Future operating system upgrades and Service Pack versions might contain specific enhancements to optimize PRIMEQUEST server operation, but they would ultimately be part of the generic operating system distribution. In general, This document is copyrighted by Ideas International, Inc. (IDEAS) and is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws and conventions. This document may not be copied, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form, posted on a public or private website or bulletin board, or sublicensed to a third party without the written consent of IDEAS. No copyright may be obscured or removed from the paper. All trademarks and registered marks of products and companies referred to in this paper are protected. This document was developed on the basis of information and sources believed to be reliable. This document is to be used as is. IDEAS makes no guarantees or representations regarding, and shall have no liability for the accuracy of, data, subject matter, quality, or timeliness of the content. The data contained in this document are subject to change. IDEAS accepts no responsibility to inform the reader of changes in the data. In addition, IDEAS may change its view of the products, services, and companies described in this document. IDEAS accepts no responsibility for decisions made on the basis of information contained herein, nor from the reader s attempts to duplicate performance results or other outcomes. Nor can the paper be used to predict future values or performance levels. This document may not be used to create an endorsement for products and services discussed in the paper or for other products and services offered by the vendors discussed.

2 New Fujitsu High-End Dual-Core Itanium 2-Based PRIMEQUEST Servers Offer Mission-Critical Hosting for Linux and Windows Applications July 2006 VERTICAL SECTORS AND ISVS PRIMEQUEST Series 500 Servers will be distributed worldwide. A consequence of this wide distribution is the need to identify the vertical application sectors that will be addressed on a regional basis. However, in general, finance, telecommunications, manufacturing, and government are the key, targeted vertical sectors. Fujitsu is negotiating, or has completed negotiations, with key ISVs in the application subsets of these sectors. Fujitsu is also working with ISVs that provide broadbased horizontal business application capability in ERM, CRM, and SCM (e.g., MySAP). Finally, Fujitsu is working to supply industry-standard databases, middleware, and tools for the PRIMEQUEST server environment. Key firms discussing, working on, or who have completed product porting to PRIMEQUEST include BEA, BMC, CA, EMC, HP, IBM, SAP, SAS, Symantec/ VERITAS, VMware, Microsoft, and Oracle. Fujitsu is also porting many of its products that are popular in Asia-Pacific to PRIMEQUEST servers sold in this region. These products include the Symfoware database, Interstage middleware for business consolidation, and Systemwalker system management software. It is also important to note that PRIME- QUEST servers will accommodate a wide variety of hardware components for disk, tape, networks, etc. Finally, Fujitsu belongs to, and is quite active in, the Itanium Solutions Alliance (ISA) with other major vendors in the Itanium space. ISA is dedicated to the development of the Itanium ecosystem. PRIMEQUEST Series 500 servers will host the Enterprise versions of the respective distributions at the outset, with any specific extensions (e.g., from Fujitsu) added later. Going forward, PRIMEQUEST servers will offer unique Fujitsu-originated enhancements to the Linux and Windows operating systems. Where possible, these extensions will be made available to the general community. For example, PRIMEQUEST servers will support the Microsoft Vista (formerly Longhorn) operating system when it becomes available. Vista may contain specific enhancements supporting PRIMEQUEST, but they will be part of the generic set of features of Windows Server. Similarly, Fujitsu is working with the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) on enhancements to Linux, either directly or through Red Hat and Novell, which will improve all Linux distributions in the areas of scalability; reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS); dynamic reconfiguration; virtualization; partitions (XPARs); and more. This white paper describes the operating system offerings available on PRIMEQUEST servers, as well as proposed improvements. Companion white papers focus on other PRIMEQUEST attributes, such as system architecture design, high availability features, and system management capabilities. A PRIMEQUEST Overview white paper is also available. Introduction Working in collaboration with Intel, Microsoft, Red Hat, and Novell, Fujitsu developed, and now offers, its PRIMEQUEST Model 520 (8 CPUs, 16 cores), 540 (16 CPUS, 32 cores), and 580 (32 CPUs, 64 cores) servers based on the Dual-Core Intel Itanium 2 processor (Montecito). These servers not only run the latest Itanium 2 version, but they will also run the Itanium Montvale microprocessor when it becomes available sometime in In addition, they are capable of SMP or scale-out operation with multiple partitions and domains. PRIMEQUEST servers are able to run high-end applications on the two operating systems (Windows and Linux) that, according to most industry analysts, will dominate in the coming years with over 60% of the operating system market. PRIMEQUEST servers currently operate with RHEL4 (with support for Updates 4 and 5 when they become available later in 2006 or 2007), and will support RHEL5 once it becomes available in They also operate with SLES9, and will run SLES10 when it becomes available later in Finally, the new PRIMEQUEST servers run Windows Enterprise Edition 2003 as well as Windows 2003 Datacenter Edition. They will operate under the Vista (formerly Longhorn) operating system when it becomes available in Upgrades and service packs for all the Linux and Windows systems will be incorporated as they become available. Completing the Fujitsu server product line, the PRIMEQUEST servers sit alongside the PRIMEPOWER and PRIMERGY offerings. PRIMEPOWER accommodates UNIX (Solaris on SPARC microprocessors) while PRIMERGY accommodates industrystandard 32-bit/64-bit (EM64T) Intel processors and Windows/Linux. PRIMEQUEST servers, built with the benefit of Fujitsu s long mainframe, vector processor, and UNIX heritage, will directly compete in the worldwide marketplace 2 White Paper 2006 Ideas International, Inc.

3 July 2006 New Fujitsu High-End Dual-Core Itanium 2-Based PRIMEQUEST Servers Offer Mission-Critical Hosting for Linux and Windows Applications with machines from Bull, HP, IBM, SGI, NEC, Sun, and Unisys. Applications targeted include OLTP, decision support/data warehouse, legacy modernization, and server/database consolidation. Both SMP and cluster configurations can be used as appropriate. Which Operating Systems Are Accommodated? At their general availability slated for the end of September 2006, the PRIMEQUEST Series 500 Servers (Models 520, 540, and 580) are scheduled to support: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 4 (RHEL4). Updates 4 and 5 will follow soon after, as well as RHEL5 (when Red Hat makes it available). SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Version 9 (SLES9), as well as SLES10 when it becomes available (depending on Novell). Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium (up to 8 CPUs/16 cores and 256 GB maximum memory), with SP2 when it becomes available in early 2007 (depending on Microsoft). Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition for Itanium (up to 32 CPUs/64 cores and 2 TB maximum memory), with SP2 when it becomes available in early 2007 (depending on Microsoft). Support for Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition and Web Edition is not available, as Microsoft does not offer these Windows versions for Itanium. Future Linux upgrades and Windows Service Pack versions may contain specific enhancements to optimize PRIMEQUEST server operation, but they will ultimately be part of the generic Linux or Windows Server distribution. PRIMEQUEST servers will host the Enterprise versions of the respective operating system distributions at the outset. Specific extensions may be added later. Going forward, PRIMEQUEST Series 500 computers will offer unique Fujitsuoriginated enhancements to the Linux and Windows operating systems. Where possible, these extensions will be made available to the general community. For example, PRIMEQUEST servers will support the Microsoft Vista (formerly Longhorn) operating system when it becomes available. Vista may contain specific enhancements supporting PRIMEQUEST systems, but these enhancements which are under study by both Microsoft and Fujitsu will be part of the generic Windows feature set. Similarly, Fujitsu is working with the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) on enhancements to Linux, either directly, or through Red Hat and Novell, which will improve all Linux distributions. The IA-32 Emulation Layer in Itanium (no longer in Itanium hardware) is now supported in software on Windows 2003, as well as on RHEL4 and SLES9. As a result, IA-32 applications will run on PRIMEQUEST servers without modification.however, the Emulation Layer will typically cause performance degradations, so this capability is not expected to be widely used. PRIMEQUEST Series 500 systems will be Microsoft-certified for both standalone and cluster configurations of Windows Server 2003 Datacenter and Enterprise White Paper 2006 Ideas International, Inc. 3

4 New Fujitsu High-End Dual-Core Itanium 2-Based PRIMEQUEST Servers Offer Mission-Critical Hosting for Linux and Windows Applications July 2006 Editions. In fact, Microsoft is in the process of changing its certification system and PRIMEQUEST will have a unified Microsoft certification for both the Datacenter and Enterprise configurations. Fujitsu s PRIMECLUSTER cluster software will also function on PRIMEQUEST systems for Linux, with future support planned for Windows. Of course, to make the PRIMEQUEST platform attractive to customers, operating system capability is a necessary but not sufficient condition. ISV and IHV support is critical. The sidebar Vertical Sectors and ISVs provides an overview of Fujitsu s continuing efforts in this area. Still More Operating System Capability Another PRIMEQUEST operating system capability that will be attractive to customers is the server s ability to mix and match operating systems in different partitions. For example, Linux can run on a logical partition that crosses two system boards while Windows can run on a separate system board in another partition. Moreover, different Linux versions can run in different partitions for production and testing purposes. However, these Linux versions must be capable of providing the features and functions that PRIMEQUEST servers require. In fact, PRIMEQUEST servers need the Linux 2.6 kernel (or higher) to do their job. This kernel level possesses the necessary scalability enhancements for large multiprocessor servers. The Linux 2.4 kernel will not be sufficient for a machine as powerful as PRIMEQUEST. For example, respectively (2.6 kernel compared to 2.4 kernel) 32 CPUs can be handled compared to 8, 2 TB of real memory can be used compared to 64 GB maximum, 16 TB of virtual address space is possible compared to 4 GB, and tens of thousands of devices can be accommodated compared to 256. Moreover, kernel 2.6 also has a logical volume manager, larger file system capabilities, and better file I/O. Fujitsu s Linux Work with the Open Source Community Fujitsu is working with Red Hat, Novell, and the OSDL to improve Linux s reliability, resilience, dynamic reconfiguration capabilities, virtualization capabilities, and scalability. Hence, future Linux distributions and associated Linux software might ultimately include Fujitsu contributions that will enhance the PRIMEQUEST server environment and its capabilities in the areas listed. Red Hat s diskdump and More Consider, for example, the issue of system dump functions. Upon a failure, system hang, or kernel panic, a system dump can provide useful information from PRIMEQUEST memory to determine the failure cause and ensure that it does not recur. For Red Hat Linux, diskdump is the standard function to accomplish this dump and transfer the dump information to a hard drive. Red Hat also offers the standard netdump function, which dumps errors during operation into a dump server by means of a network connection. netdump is often found in Linux high-performance computing applications. 4 White Paper 2006 Ideas International, Inc.

5 July 2006 New Fujitsu High-End Dual-Core Itanium 2-Based PRIMEQUEST Servers Offer Mission-Critical Hosting for Linux and Windows Applications Fujitsu has developed the sadump function to further enhance the diskdump capabilities. sadump collects errors that diskdump does not address and is derived from Fujitsu s mainframe experience. These errors include failures in diskdump collecting and boot-up errors. In short, sadump collects all the errors starting from when the operating system begins to boot. Fujitsu currently delivers sadump for PRIMEQUEST systems on a CD-ROM separate from the Linux distribution. Enhancements in Red Hat and Novell SUSE Fujitsu and other vendors provide advice and counsel to the open source community. In addition, they provide software developers and engineers that work with the community to develop Linux enhancements and related open source software. Fujitsu puts forth a well-organized, extensive effort in this area with hundreds of Fujitsu software developers contributing to improving Linux reliability, performance, and robustness. Because of these community efforts, a number of new features are included in both the RHEL4 and SLES9 Linux operating systems (both of which are based on the Linux 2.6 kernel). Current expectations have it that RHEL5 will be available in the first quarter of 2007 while SLES10 will appear in late RHEL4 and SLES9 have certain differences as far as new features are concerned and the features may or may not be available for PRIMEQUEST servers depending on which Linux distribution or update version is used. Some new features highlights in the Linux 2.6 kernel, used by PRIMEQUEST Series 500 servers, include: Dump Capabilities for Troubleshooting. diskdump (discussed above) in RHEL4, and LKCD (Linux Kernel Core Dump), its SLES9 counterpart, are available. As noted above, Fujitsu is also making its mainframe-like sadump facility available for PRIMEQUEST servers as it has more extensive dump capabilities. Fujitsu is also offering sadump to the Linux community. In addition, the open source Flight Recorder facility is available in SLES9. This facility allows continuous logging to a cyclic buffer so that dumps may be more easily analyzed. Quick High Availability Cluster Failover. New capabilities for quick cluster failover are available in both RHEL4 and SLES9. These capabilities include quick failover triggering when there is a netdump (although as noted above, SLES9 does not implement netdump) to alert the clustering software that a node failure has occurred. This capability results in faster transfer of functions to another cluster node. Two more capabilities (in both distributions) are notification of a node failure just before the panic process, and notification of an application failure. These capabilities are accomplished via a hook much as they are done in the Fujitsu PRIMEPOWER servers for Solaris. Both distributions also have the ability to halt a failing node by way of notification from a living node. This capability was developed for the PRIMEQUEST architecture to improve cluster integrity and has been contributed to the Linux community. White Paper 2006 Ideas International, Inc. 5

6 New Fujitsu High-End Dual-Core Itanium 2-Based PRIMEQUEST Servers Offer Mission-Critical Hosting for Linux and Windows Applications July 2006 Scalability. There are several new capabilities in both Linux distributions that enable increased system scalability. For example, libraries have been added to the Linux 2.6 kernel that allow large numbers of system devices to be accommodated. PRIMEQUEST servers and other large Linux systems can use hundreds of system devices. In addition, the Linux glibc function now allows thread-safe operation. glibc is the industry-standard open software implementation of the standard C library for Linux. System scalability benefits since a program can now safely dispatch multiple threads without being concerned about resource interaction/contention between threads. Furthermore, the system enjoys improved stability and will not fail under heavy thread operations. Moreover, there is now device name consistency in both Linux distributions. Such consistency is required in an environment such as PRIMEQUEST that will allow device addition, removal, and hot swapping. Now, instead of obscure major/minor device mapping that can change from boot to boot, devices can be identified by a consistent name for consistent reference. Other Enhancements. Other enhancements include those in the area of manageability such as detailed resource accounting for permanently running system processes. For further manageability, RHEL4 and SLES9 include sar and xxstat for reporting kernel statistics. Future enhancements will further improve kernel-based resource management so that long-running applications services and system resources are accounted for in commercial business environments. Important Future Enhancements. Currently, Linux lacks dynamic reconfiguration capabilities. This is a difficult and contentious issue in the open source community with many different viewpoints as to how it is best addressed. Fujitsu and other vendors are working together to address dynamic reconfiguration in Linux, which is most important for hot swap, concurrent maintenance, and partition adjustment without interrupting customer application services. Dynamic reconfiguration is also discussed in the companion High Availability and System Architecture white papers. 1 Dynamic reconfiguration is expected to be available in the Windows Vista edition. Fujitsu provides inputs to Microsoft on this subject. Best Case Dynamic Reconfiguration Developments. Current expectations (which are highly subject to change based on the delivery schedules of the operating system vendors and are presented here only as a best case consideration) would have the following future dynamic reconfiguration capabilities for PRIMEQUEST Series 500 servers: PCI-X Device Hot Add/Remove PCI-EX Device Hot Add/Remove System Board Hot Add 6 White Paper 2006 Ideas International, Inc.

7 July 2006 New Fujitsu High-End Dual-Core Itanium 2-Based PRIMEQUEST Servers Offer Mission-Critical Hosting for Linux and Windows Applications Windows and Linux run well on PRIMEQUEST Series 500 servers, and even more operating system capability is on the way that leverages PRIMEQUEST s mainframelike features. System Board Hot Remove I/O Unit Hot Add/Remove Best Case Virtualization Developments. Current expectations (which are highly subject to change based on the delivery schedules of the operating system vendors and are presented here only as a best case consideration) would have the following future virtualization capabilities for PRIMEQUEST Series 500 servers. PRIMEQUEST virtualization for Linux will be based on open source Xen software included in SLES10 and RHEL5. Fujitsu will develop certain additional features needed for PRIMEQUEST. Those features developed for mission-critical operations will be turned over to the Xen/open source community, as will features developed for performance. Fujitsu-developed management features and PRIMEQUEST-specific code will not be turned over to the Xen/open source community. Hypervisor-based, the PRIMEQUEST Series 500 server virtualization capability will require the use of Intel Virtual Machine Assist hardware for Itanium. The host operating system will be either RHEL5 or SLES10. The guest operating systems can be RHEL4 or RHEL5, SLES9 or SLES10, and either the Windows 2003 Enterprise or Datacenter Editions. All of these are forthcoming year 2007 capabilities. The IDEAS Bottom Line PRIMEQUEST is a high-end, mission-critical server line based on the Intel 64-bit, Itanium 2 processor family (first Madison, now Montecito, and Montvale when it becomes available) dedicated solely to Windows (including future versions such as Vista) and the two major Linux distributions (including future versions such as RHEL5 and beyond, and SLES10 and beyond). The PRIMEQUEST server offering allows a diverse number of vertical industries and applications to enjoy the services of industry-standard hardware (Intel) and operating system (Windows and Linux) software running on mission-critical hardware. These industries will also benefit from the complete PRIMEQUEST ecosystem that Fujitsu is developing. Windows and Linux can be used, unmodified, in PRIMEQUEST servers. However, Fujitsu is working closely with both Microsoft and the open source community to create additional features that will make these operating systems even more functional for PRIMEQUEST servers and other computer systems. On the Windows side, for example, Fujitsu is working with Microsoft to help incorporate dynamic reconfiguration capabilities into Vista, which will run on PRIMEQUEST servers. As for Linux, Fujitsu is working with the OSDL, Red Hat, and Novell SUSE to add features to their respective Linux distributions and the Linux community at large. These features will address dump capabilities, high availability clusters, scalability, RAS, resource management, dynamic reconfiguration, and virtualization. Some features in these areas are now available in RHEL4 and SLES9 (with Linux kernel 2.6). Others will be available in RHEL5 and SLES10. White Paper 2006 Ideas International, Inc. 7

8 New Fujitsu High-End Dual-Core Itanium 2-Based PRIMEQUEST Servers Offer Mission-Critical Hosting for Linux and Windows Applications July 2006 PRIMEQUEST servers stand out in the high-end, mission-critical server environment. Its mainframe-like features and functions (e.g., for high availability and system management), its high level of performance, its dedication to run Windows and Linux on Itanium, its unique architecture, its robust mechanical design and small footprint, its partitioning capabilities, and more, provide PRIMEQUEST servers with a distinctive position and value proposition for users. Fujitsu expects PRIMEQUEST servers to provide superior cost-of-ownership and return-on-investment figures compared to other vendor s Itanium 2-based offerings. Such figures, combined with the PRIMEQUEST server features and functions discussed in this white paper series, will ensure interest in PRIMEQUEST servers from customers worldwide. Endnotes 1 See the following companion white papers: Americas Ideas International, Inc. 800 Westchester Avenue Suite S620 Rye Brook, NY USA Tel Fax New Fujitsu High-End Dual-Core Intel Itanium 2-Based PRIMEQUEST Servers Offer the Utmost in High Availability, Ideas International, July 2006 PRIMEQUEST System Architecture, Ideas International, July 2006 Asia/Pacific and Worldwide Headquarters Ideas International Limited Level 3 20 George Street Hornsby, NSW, 2077 Australia Tel Fax Europe, Middle East, Africa Ideas International Europe 1 Deanes Close Steventon Oxon OX13 6SZ United Kingdom Tel +44 (0) Fax +44 (0) White Paper 2006 Ideas International, Inc.