Oracle's SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000 Frequently

Asked Questions



Overview
With mainframe-class features, the high-end SPARC
Enterprise M8000 and M9000 servers are Oracle`s highest
performance and largest multiprocessor Enterprise servers
delivering massive scalability, up to 64 processors and 256
cores (M9000) to handle the largest workloads. Built on
advanced SPARC64 VII, SPARC64 VII+ quad-core
processors and Oracle Solaris 10 Operating System as its
foundation, the SPARC Enterprise M8000 and M9000 servers
are optimized for enterprise-class applications such as ERP,
CRM, BIDW, large databases, HPC/ scientific/ engineering
applications, and large-scale OLTP that require mission-
critical RAS features
Customer Benefits
Unmatched Long Term Investment Protection
Oracle`s SPARC Enterprise M8000 and M9000 servers
provide unmatched investment protection. These systems offer
a long term SPARC Enterprise roadmap of binary
compatibility plus the ability to mix and match different
speeds/generations of SPARC64 processors, providing levels
of investment protection not offered by IBM or HP.
Highest Levels of Reliability
Mainframe-class RAS features come standard in the SPARC
Enterprise M8000 and M9000 servers, including automatic
recovery with instruction retry, up to 4-TB (M9000) of system
memory error- correcting code (ECC) protection with extended
ECC support, guaranteed data-path integrity, total SRAM and
register protection, configurable memory mirroring, and many
more. What`s more, major system components are redundant
and hot-swappable, for increased availability and
serviceability. Advanced RAS capabilities include:
No single Iailure can prohibit reboot/recovery (M9000)
Redundant interconnect
Redundant service processor
System memory has Extended ECC and can be mirrored
Extreme System Utilization
SPARC Enterprise servers are among the industry`s best
consolidation virtualization platforms. The SPARC Enterprise
M8000 and M9000 servers support as many as 24 dynamic
domains, enabling massive server consolidation and
virtualization. Each physical domain can be further optimized
via Oracle Solaris Containers, supporting thousands of
software partitions.
Highly Configurable and Modular System Design and
Enclosures
The SPARC Enterprise M8000 and M9000 servers modular
design allows for maximum flexibility for data center
environments and adding additional resources as needed. The
key configurable components include:
Specialized system cabinets oIIering multiple power source
options and dual feed power (RAS)
Modular CPU/memory units (CMUs) containing system
processors and memory DIMMs
Modular I/O Units (IOUs) that contain PCI-E cards and
boot drives
Massive Scalability
Huge processor and memory expansion for unmatched
scalability for the largest mission critical workloads. The
SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000 servers can grow to meet
the toughest compute needs with up to 64 SPARC64 VII or
VII+ processors (256 cores), up to 4-TB memory, and I/O
expansion up to 288 PCI-E slots (with external I/O expansion
unit)
OracIe SoIaris: The WorId's most Advanced Operating
System
Oracle Solaris assures investment protection with 100% binary
compatibility for 15 years and counting. The SPARC
Enterprise servers are pre-installed with Oracle Solaris 10 OS
Oracle's SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000 Frequently
Asked Questions



which delivers revolutionary features including Dynamic
Tracing (DTrace), Oracle Solaris ZFS, crypto- graphic
infrastructures, IP filter, and User and Process Rights
Management.
Frequently Asked Questions
What customers should be considering the M-series
servers?
The SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000 servers are high-end
system solutions for the largest SPARC/Solaris workloads that
require best in class performance with mission critical
reliability. No other family of systems offers the ability to
select a system from one to 64 processors utilizing the same
system architecture and operating system. Additionally the
SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000 servers are ideal
consolidation platforms by utilizing the large workload
capacity and multiple virtualization technologies.
What are the typical customer application needs where the
M-series servers excel?
The SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000 servers are optimized
for enterprise-class applications that benefit from the high
performance SMP multiprocessor architecture and large shared
memory image:

large scale BIDW and OLTP databases
ERP, SCM, CRM deployments
HPC compute-intensive scientific/engineering applications
Oracle DW applications
What are the operating systems supported by the SPARC
Enterprise M8000 and M9000 Servers?
SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000 servers come pre-installed
with Oracle Solaris 10. Oracle Solaris 10 is the operating
system Ior today`s demanding enterprise providing
technologies such as DTrace, ZFS, Containers and Predictive
Self-Healing capabilities.

What are the system management options available for the
SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000 servers?
System management options available are the eXtended
System Control Facility (XSCF) included in SPARC
Enterprise M8000/M9000 servers which is a dedicated
processor that runs the XSCF Control Package (XCP) software
to provide remote monitoring and management capabilities.
The XSCF monitors server environmental conditions, provides
advanced warning of potential error conditions, and executes
proactive system maintenance procedures as necessary.
Additionally, Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center 11g
offers a centralized platform for complete physical and virtual
machine management and visibility in heterogeneous system
(including ILOM-based systems) environments.
What is the minimum and maximum processor/memory
configuration available for the SPARC Enterprise
M8000/M9000 servers:
The minimum configuration for both the SPARC Enterprise
M8000/M9000 servers is four processors and 64GB of system
memory (over two system boards). The maximum
configuration on the SPARC Enterprise M8000 server is 16
processors and 1-TB of system memory. The maximum
configuration on the SPARC Enterprise M9000 server is 32
processors and 2-TB system memory on the single cabinet
system and 64 processors and 4-TB system memory on the
dual cabinet system.
Can the SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000 servers support
different speed processor options?
Yes. There have have been four processor versions and
counting introduced for the SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000
servers. All versions can be supported within the same server
cabinet together and most even within the same operating
domain.
What virtualization and system consolidation technologies
are available on the SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000
servers?
Oracle's SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000 Frequently
Asked Questions



The SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000 servers have a vast
array of virtualization technologies including system
partitioning to hardware isolated domains, partitioning to a
single cpu, and Oracle Solaris Containers. The different
domain technologies and Oracle Solaris Containers provide a
high degree of granularity to maximize system utilization to
customer workload requirements.
What are examples of effective domain or virtualization use
on the SPARC Enterprise M8000/M9000 servers?
Server consolidation by conIiguring separate domains to
host workloads that would otherwise require hosting and
administration on multiple servers
SaIely host development, production and test environments
on a single server
Migrate application or soItware updates using Dynamic
Domains
Isolate and share special functions to specific domains or
departmental project teams/business functions
Tier data applications (ie. Data warehouse) within the same
system and dynamically allocate resources to individual
tiers as needed
What are the service and support options?
Oracle offers tailored mission critical services and support
options. Comprehensive product installation, configuration,
optimization and on-going monitoring and tailored support are
available from Oracle Advanced Customer Services. Oracle
service professionals deliver the technical product expertise,
tools, best practices and project management knowledge to
help ensure a smooth and highly optimized implementation.
For more information contact your Oracle representative, email
[email protected] or visit oracle.com/acs.


Where can I get more information?
Product overview, specifications, whitepapers, and datasheets:
http://www.oracle.com/us/products/servers-
storage/servers/sparc-enterprise/index.html
Product Documentation/Manuals from the Oracle
documentation website:
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/prod/servers.high#hic































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