HP Superdome

The HP Superdome is a high-end model of computer developed and produced by Hewlett-Packard. Presently, it scales up to 128 RISC processor cores, such as PA-8900, and 2 TB of memory.

As originally introduced in 2000, Superdome used PA-RISC processors. Since 2002, [cite web
title=HP Showcasing Itanium-based Superdome Server
publisher=HP
date=Dec. 9, 2002
accessdate=2008-03-29
url=http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2002/021209b.html] there is another version of the machine based on Itanium 2 processors, marketed in parallel as HP Integrity Superdome. The classic PA-RISC Superdome has been subsequently rebranded to HP 9000 Superdome.

Superdome usually runs HP-UX operating system, although Itanium 2 version is also compatible with many other systems, for example with Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from Novell, Red Hat Enterprise Linux [Certification – Integrity Superdomehttps://hardware.redhat.com/show.cgi?id=166854] , and HP OpenVMS V8.2-1 and later. [cite press release
title = HP Showcasing Itanium-based Superdome Server Running HP-UX, Windows and Linux Concurrently
publisher = The Hewlett-Packard Company
date = 2005-01-17
url = http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2005/050117c.html
accessdate = 2008-10-02
archiveurl = http://www.webcitation.org/5bGrC0lBy
archivedate = 2008-10-02
quote = The full line of HP Integrity servers featuring the new Intel Itanium 2 processors is now available with support for HP-UX 11i v2, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, OpenVMS and Linux operating systems. ] [cite book
title=HP OpenVMS Version 8.2–1 for Integrity Servers New Features and Release Notes
format=pdf
origyear=2005
origmonth=September
url=http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/82FINAL/6676/ba322-90033.pdf
archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5bGqrvpsD
archivedate=2008-10-2
accessdate=2008-10-02
publisher=Hewlett-Packard
location=Palo Alto, CA, USA
id=HP Order Number BA322-90033
pages=1-1
chapter=1
quote=Major new features include:• Support for the following Integrity server platforms:— HP Integrity rx7620 server— HP Integrity rx8620 server— HP Integrity Superdome server]

Cell architecture (sx1000 version)

A building block is a "cell", a card holding 4 processors and memory. Superdome has a ccNUMA architecture, which means that processors have shorter access times for their cell's memory, and longer access times for other cell's memories. Cache coherency between processors is handled via directory memory. [cite web
title=Overview of Recent Supercomputers
edition=14
first = Aad J.
last = van der Steen
coauthors = Jack J. Dongarra
accessdate=2008-03-29
url=http://www.netlib.org/utk/papers/advanced-computers/superdome.html]

A center of each cell is an ASIC called "cell controller" (CC), that connects to four processor sockets (providing an average of 1.6 GB/s of bandwidth per socket), to four local memory subsystems, and to the backplane. The CC itself contains a crossbar, and four CCs interconnect via a second-level crossbar. In maximum machine's configuration four second-level crossbars interconnect with each other, supporting in total 64 processor sockets.

One socket may hold either a single-core PA-RISC processor (PA-8600 or PA-8700), a dual-core PA-RISC processor (PA-8800 or PA-8900), a single-core Itanium 2 processor, two Itanium 2 processors (using the mx2 module), or one dual-core Itanium 2 processor. There are almost no architectural differencies between PA-RISC and Itanium versions of Superdome.

Input/output

Each CC connects to one local I/O controller (an SBA), which in turn may connect to a single "I/O card cage" (also called "I/O chassis") with 12 PCI slots. It is not possible to expand the number of I/O slots for a cell.

Superdome does not contain any internal hard disks, it relies exclusively on external disk enclosures.

Physical layout

Superdome is not mounted on a standard rack, it is instead shipped as either one or two dedicated cabinets. One cabinet scales up to 8 cells.

Partitioning

Superdome supports nPars (node partitions), that are granular on the level of a whole cell (and its I/O card cage).Only the HP9000 Superdome supports vPars (virtual partitions), granular on a single processor level and a single PCI slot level.cite book
last = Asghar
first = Ghori
title = HP Certified Systems Administrator (2nd Edition)
date = 2007
pages = 132-136
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=Ni3G00IKHh4C&printsec=frontcover#PPA132,M1
isbn = 1424342317 ]

References