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Servers


FSTJ 2011-4 Cover Image

2011-4 (Vol.47, No.2)


This special issue on servers focuses on the latest server platform technologies that support the social activities of human-centric society, and the efforts that Fujitsu has been making in that direction. In addition, this special issue introduces enhancements to system management technologies such as virtualization and integration. These technologies go hand in hand with the progress of hardware technologies and the greater agility and convenience that Cloud computing brings to the ICT environment.


2011-4 (Vol.47, No.2) Contents

1. Preface (506 KB)
In 2010, Fujitsu established the new brand promise "shaping tomorrow with you" to commemorate the 75th anniversary of our foundation. This brand promise is a vow that the Fujitsu Group makes to all of our customers.
We at Fujitsu intend to build and grow long-term partnerships with our customers through this new brand promise.
More concretely, Fujitsu will offer innovative services and platforms to support this new age.
This special issue on servers focuses on the latest server platform technologies that support the social activities of human-centric society, and the efforts that Fujitsu has been making in that direction. In addition, this special issue introduces enhancements to system management technologies such as virtualization and integration. ---[Noriyuki Toyoki, Corporate Senior Vice President and System Products Business Group President]
2. Fujitsu's Approach to Server System Development (1,011 KB)
In 1954, Fujitsu released FACOM100, the first relay computer to go on general release in Japan. Since then, it has been developing and providing new technology, under the theme of high performance and high reliability, to meet customer requirements amid the paradigm shift in ICT. Currently, the computer paradigm is changing owing to changes in corporate needs for ICT, technological innovation (e.g. virtualization technology), and changes in social environments such as global warming. There are needs for servers, which are part of ICT and Cloud computing infrastructure, to cope with these changes. This paper introduces Fujitsu's efforts for server strategies, server development and new server platforms against the background of the new computing paradigm and developments in Cloud computing. ---[Masaharu Yoshiyama, Koji Toriyama]
3. Past, Present, and Future of SPARC64 Processors (732 KB)
SPARC64 is the name of the series of SPARC-V9 architecture processors that Fujitsu has developed. The development of the first SPARC64 started in the 1990s, and the development of the latest generation is actively ongoing as of 2011. The processor frequency of the first SPARC64 was as little as 118 MHz and it had only 20 million transistors, while the processor frequency of the latest SPARC64 VIIIfx is 2 GHz and it has more than 700 million transistors. This paper describes the history of the SPARC64 processor development, and the enhanced points of each generation. ---[Takumi Maruyama, Tsuyoshi Motokurumada, Kuniki Morita, Naozumi Aoki]
4. Clock Design Technology for High-Performance Processors (1.02 MB )
This paper introduces technology used in designing high-performance processors installed in servers so that they can distribute high-frequency clock signals among the whole chip. Clock synchronization systems must be designed so that clock signals can reach all synchronous sequential circuits in the processor at the same time. The influence of interconnect inductance cannot be ignored because clock frequencies have been getting higher, chip sizes have been getting larger, and low-resistance interconnects have appeared. Therefore, it is necessary to give sufficient consideration to inductance when designing such systems. The technology introduced in this paper uses both circuit design techniques to suppress clock skew and crosstalk noise, and CAD techniques which employ these techniques in an actual chip. The influence of inductance in clock transmission can be analyzed electrically by simulating actually designed clock circuits at the design stage, and this can help lead to higher performance processors. ---[Kinya Ishizaka, Hiroaki Komatsu]
5. High-Speed Interconnect Technology for Servers (1.66 MB )
We are developing high-speed interconnect technology for servers to meet customers' needs for transmitting huge amounts of data as quickly as possible. High-speed interconnect technology consists of high-speed I/O circuits and high-speed printed circuit boards (PCBs), and these technologies are optimized to achieve the target performance. This paper describes the architecture of I/O circuits that are part of efforts to develop high-speed transmission circuits. It also introduces the results of testing a prototype chip that was built to evaluate 20 Gb/s transmission. It goes on to describe efforts for improving PCB's simulation accuracy so that high-speed signals can be sent stably. For accurate simulations, we think it is important to accurately evaluate each part that makes up the transmission line and reflect the results in a simulation model. ---[Hiroyuki Adachi, Jun Yamada, Yasushi Mizutani]
6. Embedded SRAM Technology for High-End Processors (846 KB)
Fujitsu is the only company in Japan that develops its own processors for use in server products that support the social infrastructure. Its processor development strategy is to collaborate with the internal semiconductor group and simultaneously develop processor and semiconductor technology. This paper introduces SRAM development technology, which is a complex technology combining both semiconductor manufacturing and circuit systems. It fully meets conflicting server processor requirements such as high performance, small area and low power consumption. It is a technology that is essential for starting up new technology and having it fully operational at the same time. Primary cache SRAM speed determines the processor clock rate, while the access frequency of external memory, which is the data processing bottleneck, is determined by the RAM capacity of the high-density secondary cache SRAM. Thus SRAM is a key technology for server processors. As finer semiconductor technologies progress, various problems arise and the variability of the memory cells in SRAM gets bigger. Consequently, development of SRAM that meets the server processor requirements is getting critical. This paper describes our SRAM development methodology. ---[Hiroshi Nakadai, Gaku Ito, Toshiyuki Uetake]
7. Power Supply, Cooling and Mechanical Technologies for Green IT (1.38 MB )
There is an emerging trend for green IT on servers. This trend includes the enhanced Top Runner Program in Japan, new requirements of EuP Lot 3 in the EU, and the ENERGY STAR program for computer servers in the US. These have focused customers' attention on reducing environmental load when using servers. Fujitsu has been working to develop servers that have a lower environmental load. It is doing this by introducing green IT technologies to reduce power consumption, save resources and improve the recycling rate. This paper describes specific examples of Fujitsu's efforts in the areas of power supply, cooling and mechanical technologies for green IT on servers. ---[Yoshinori Uzuka, Kazuhiko Itakura, Nobuyoshi Yamaoka, Tomoyoshi Kitamura]
8. Quality Assurance for Stable Server Operation (814 KB)
Server products are the core elements of mission-critical systems in society and business and are required to operate stably at all times. Furthermore, as technology continues to advance rapidly and the environment surrounding server products changes, the quality that customers demand is changing. In addition to providing high functionality and high performance, servers must support virtualization and energy-saving functions and the migration to Cloud services. In the light of these changes, quality assurance for assuring stable operation in server products is also evolving by optimizing development processes and developing new evaluation techniques. This paper introduces server-product development processes and evaluation techniques based on the policy of "ensuring product quality right from the start" and quality management in pursuit of quality, cost, and delivery. ---[Masafumi Matsuo, Yuji Uchiyama, Yuichi Kurita]
9. Global Server Series Supporting Customer Asset Inheritance with High Reliability (1.20 MB )
Fujitsu mainframes from the M series to today's Global Server (GS) series have played a core role in social infrastructure systems for over 35 years while supporting the inheritance of existing customer assets. The technology cultivated with these mainframe series has served as a basis for the development of other servers, and the technology has undergone continuous development to meet a wide range of changing needs. In recent years, integration toward large-scale systems has been accelerating with the aim of speeding up business operations and reducing information technology (IT) costs; the need for high performance and high reliability for business continuity is being felt more than ever. Reducing the environmental load by utilizing green IT and preparing for the Cloud computing era have also become important issues. This paper outlines the hardware and software and supporting technologies for the GS series and describes Fujitsu's approach to achieving high performance and high reliability in this mainframe series. ---[Takashi Chiba, Kouji Toyonishi, Kouji Sano, Yoshitsugu Gotou]
10. Virtualization Technology of UNIX Server SPARC Enterprise Series for Reduced Total Cost of Ownership (1.24 MB )
Fujitsu has achieved high levels of quality and performance in its UNIX servers developed for mission-critical systems by using a variety of mainframe technologies developed over the years. It has pursued consolidation functions based on virtualization technology from an early stage to reduce both the initial investment and the total cost of ownership (TCO). With greater server processing power and functionality made possible by technical advances, these efforts have paid off in finer granularity of virtual resources and higher levels of consolidation that reduce TCO even more. Fujitsu has also worked to optimize initial investments through functions like central processing unit (CPU) mixing and to reduce management costs by unifying server management. This paper describes how Fujitsu is reducing TCO over the life cycle of an information and communications technology (ICT) platform while protecting performing assets and ensuring system stability through its SPARC Enterprise series of UNIX servers. ---[Yuuji Konno, Hiromi Fukumura, Hiroshi Murakami]
11. Server Platform Optimized for Data Centers (1.17 MB )
Fujitsu began developing its industry-standard server series in the early 1990s under the name FM server and has been marketing these servers globally since 2000 as PRIMERGY servers. Using mainly the Intel architecture in its hardware and supporting standard operating systems having a high industry share like Windows and Linux, the PRIMERGY series continues to provide an extensive lineup of servers to meet diverse customer needs. This paper outlines the features of the PRIMERGY series of servers and describes the energy-saving and cooling technologies of the PRIMERGY CX1000 platform optimized for data centers. ---[Franz-Josef Bathe, Toshio Sugimoto, Hideaki Maeda, Teruhisa Taji]
12. PRIMEQUEST 1000 Series: High-Reliability, Mission-Critical Intel Architecture Server Supporting Social Infrastructure Systems (1.76 MB )
As we enter the age of Cloud computing, server platforms must provide not only high reliability and high availability but also virtualization as a base technology for achieving effective use and efficient operation of information and communications technology (ICT) resources. In 2005, Fujitsu applied its know-how and experience accumulated over many years of mainframe development to develop the Mission-Critical Intel Architecture (IA) Server PRIMEQUEST series of servers based on open IA technology and Linux/Windows operating systems. This series is being used in a variety of social infrastructure systems that are helping to open up the market for open mission-critical systems. Now, with the aim of furthering the evolution of this series, Fujitsu has developed the PRIMEQUEST 1000 series of servers that enhances virtualization support, provides long-term support, and strengthens green ICT support while inheriting the features of the existing PRIMEQUEST series. It has been marketing this new series since March 2010. This paper describes the objectives and features of the PRIMEQUEST 1000 series and associated technologies. ---[Motoyoshi Hirose, Keiji Sato, Masahiro Kurita, Yasufumi Honda]
13. PRIMERGY 6000 Series: Business Servers Providing Strong Support for Enterprise Systems (1.07 MB )
Following on from the top-selling K series of midrange computers, the PRIMERGY 6000 series offers a range of powerful business servers that can be used as the main server for medium-sized companies or individual departments. This series was developed to provide significant benefits in terms of increased reliability, high performance, and compatibility with legacy systems while being able to adapt flexibly to changes in the business environment such as the Internet and personal computers. Consequently, the hardware and operating system of the K series—whose architecture was developed independently by Fujitsu—have continued to provide new functions while evolving and fusing with open-source technology. This paper introduces the PRIMERGY 6000's dependable technology and operating system features that we have developed over the years and describes our approach to virtualization in the Cloud computing era. ---[Toyoaki Nakamoto, Kenichi Nakano, Kouji Aratake]
14. ATCA Server Systems for Telecommunications Services (1.05 MB )
Internet protocol (IP) networks have evolved to provide higher speed and greater bandwidth more safely and economically and will provide the foundations for a wide diversity of services in the future. A key consideration in the construction of new systems is to enable these new services to be deployed rapidly while at the same time ensuring that networks expand smoothly and remain compatible with inherited assets. The PICMG3.0 Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA) is an international open standard that was primarily established to respond to the needs of telecommunications carriers. Fujitsu provides hardware and middleware products that comply with this specification as a platform for the construction of future IP network services, starting with the UB300 series of network service infrastructure products, and has already put them to use in commercial systems. This paper introduces the latest ATCA-compliant model, focusing on the hardware platform provided by Fujitsu. ---[Hiroya Kawasaki, Shoichi Matsuoka, Atsuhiro Makino, Yoshihisa Ono]
15. ETERNUS DX Series of Disk Storage Systems (977 KB)
In recent years, information and communications technology (ICT) systems have become more complex and have been handling increasing quantities of data, resulting in increased workloads for ICT system administrators. The provision of efficient administrative functions is thus becoming an important design consideration for storage devices, after the basic function of storing data reliably. Owing to the growing interest in environmental concerns, people have recently started to choose ICT products not only for the functions they offer but also depending on whether or not they include environmentally friendly features. This paper describes how these needs are addressed by the efficient administration features incorporated into the ETERNUS DX series of disk storage systems and the environmentally friendly way in which they are produced. ---[Tsuyoshi Kumano]
16. Oracle Solaris Virtualization Technologies (1.11 MB )
There is an urgent need to reduce system optimization costs in the information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, and virtualization technology is widely expected to be key to more efficient use of system resources. A standard installation of the Oracle Solaris operating system supports server virtualization with Solaris Containers and Oracle VM Server for SPARC (VM: virtual machine) and storage virtualization with Solaris ZFS (Solaris Zettabyte File System). Solaris ZFS is a highly reliable file system that uses storage pool technology and snapshot/cloning technology to increase disk usage efficiency. This paper discusses the domain management, resource management, and domain migration features of Oracle VM Server for SPARC and the zone management, resource management, and zone migration features of Solaris Containers. The ZFS storage pool and ZFS file system of Solaris ZFS are also introduced. ---[Akitoshi Ozawa, Katsuyuki Suzuki, Masami Taoda]
17. SPARC Enterprise's Approach to Virtualization and Its Contribution to ICT Society (717 KB)
In recent years, it has become common practice to implement virtualization technology across servers, storage, and networks. However, simply using virtualization technology is not enough to achieve our intended purposes, which are to optimize systems and reduce costs. The first and most important thing is how to make maximum use of virtualization technology to meet the objectives. As technology advances, it is our responsibility to improve or innovatively change the respective customers' ICT environments by leveraging advanced technology. This paper discusses our strategic approach to the virtualization of the SPARC Enterprise system, Fujitsu's UNIX server, from the point of view of the technologies used. It also describes how our efforts have contributed to the ICT society, introducing some case examples. ---[Masaru Nukada, Akio Satori]
18. Fujitsu's Activities for Improving Linux as Primary OS for PRIMEQUEST (999 KB)
Linux is open source software that has evolved rapidly owing to the development, tests, and bug fixes conducted by various volunteers in the Linux community. Fujitsu places Linux as a primary OS for IA servers that cover a range of needs from volume-related to mission-critical-related ones. Fujitsu is actively participating in the Linux community and helping to enhance Linux. This paper describes four features being developed by Fujitsu, in conjunction with the Linux community, after the release of the kernel 2.6.18 that is the base kernel of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. These are 1) the Cgroup which manages system resources, 2) tracing features to improve the visibility of system activities, 3) scheduler improvement for fairness and responsiveness, and 4) utilizing the Machine Check Architecture (MCA) Recovery, which has been introduced to the Xeon 7500 series, to minimize the effects of hardware failures and recover from failures. ---[Hironobu Ishii]
19. Integrated Management of Virtualized Infrastructure That Supports Cloud Computing: ServerView Resource Orchestrator (1.23 MB )
To meet the needs for building and operating private Clouds within enterprises, Fujitsu has globally launched ServerView Resource Orchestrator (ROR) in April 2010. As a resource pool that has virtualized the resources of servers, storage and networks, when operating a Cloud within an enterprise, this product automatically deploys a logical server (L-Server) to internal users while performing integrated management. L-Server is based on a template of the standardized L-Server. Able to handle VMware, Hyper-V, and Xen, which are widely used as virtual infrastructure, it is effective for integrated management of all Cloud environments. In addition, it supports the integrated operation of real servers that used the functions of ServerView Resource Coordinator VE. This paper describes Fujitsu's strategy for migrating enterprise systems to Cloud-based systems, and the concepts of ROR with an application that forms the foundation of the migration. ---[Yutaka Ezaki, Hitoshi Matsumoto]