server bsics

8/2/2019 Server Bsics

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A server is a high-performance computer designed to provide data to users on a network. To maintainhigh performance, servers require:

One or more processors Large amount of memory Large amount of internal or external storage

Fast input/output (I/O) subsystems

Servers typically:

Support one to thousands of clients Run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week Provide shared services to all users Run many applications simultaneously Do not require high-power graphics

Server functions

Servers provide data to users on a network. Servers areavailable in all sizes, speeds, and powers, ranging fromone to many processors. Servers are available in a varietyof form factors, from blades to rack-mountable thin servers to stand-alone towers.

Servers are designed for specific markets, needs, and applications. They can be used where:

Data, printers, and modems are shared Applications, such as email, are shared Internet connectivity is shared Network security is important Large amounts of data must be stored and processed The system must operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Most importantly, servers offer maximum uptime and reliability to ensure that customers' businessesstay up and running. Organizations are concerned with the availability of their IT resources. Availabilityis measured in terms of uptime, or by how much unplanned downtime will be tolerated as expressedin hours, minutes, or days per year. Most organizations want their systems available anytime they areneeded in order to conduct a business function.

Uptime is often expressed in terms of 'how many 9s of availability is needed.' For example, a four 9system allows for a maximum of 52.56 minutes per year of un-planned downtime. The more 9s thatare required, the higher the cost of the server and storage solution. How many organizations do youknow that could afford for their server systems to be down in the middle of a business day?Consequently, business owners have to determine how much up-time they can afford and reach abalance between availability and the costs of obtaining that level of availability. HP has been

instrumental in bringing down the costs of high availability.

Uptime % Days/year Hours/year Hoursdowntime

Minutes/year Daysdowntime

99.000% 365 8760 87.6 5256 3.65

99.900% 365 8760 8.76 525.6 0.365

99.990% 365 8760 0.876 52.56 0.0365

99.999% 365 8760 0.0876 5.256 0.00365


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Servers and desktops

Although some customers use high-end desktop computers to perform traditional server functions, adesktop computer does not provide the necessary reliability and availability to ensure businesscontinuity. To improve reliability and availability, many servers include:

Hot-plug hard drives Allow drive removal and replacement without shutting down the server. Redundant and hot-plug fans Provide advanced cooling systems and allow fan removal and

replacement without shutting down the server. Redundant and hot-plug power supplies Eliminate the power supply as a single point of

failure and allow power supply removal and replacement without shutting down the server. Hot-plug PCI slots Allow PCI card replacement without shutting down the server. Management tools Enable local and remote server management.

You can differentiate servers from desktop computers based on hardware and technology.

Processors Servers support multiple processors, whereas desktop computers support onlyone processor.

Memory Servers support significantly larger amounts of memory than desktop computers.

Storage Servers are designed for more external and internal storage. Desktop computers arenot designed for large amounts of either type of storage.

System architecture Servers are designed to minimize bottlenecks that can be encounteredwhen multiple users access a server simultaneously.

Video and sound Desktop computers typically contain more advanced video and soundtechnologies than servers because they are more often used for running and viewing graphic-intensive games and programs.

Server environments

Business computing requires servers that perform a variety of functions. HP engineers work closelywith customers and software partners to design, integrate, and test servers. This collaboration enablesHP to produce a comprehensive line of servers and solutions that best address business computingneeds.

Some server functions include:

Application server Provides client access to applications Back-end server Holds at least one database to which front-end servers connect when

relaying requests from clients Bridgehead server Filters and forwards network traffic Database server Stores, retrieves, and manages data Domain Name Server (DNS) Provides resolution from hostnames to IP addresses and vice-

versa Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server Assigns IP addresses to clients on

the network Fax server Manages, sends, and receives faxes from client workstations File server Stores files for clients Firewall server Monitors incoming and outgoing network traffic and prevents unauthorized

access File transfer protocol (FTP) server Enables downloading and uploading of files Front-end server Receives requests from clients and relays them to the appropriate back-end

server Gateway server Connects dissimilar networks Mail server Manages incoming and outgoing mail


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Print server Manages print jobs from clients Proxy server Filters outgoing network requests Remote Access Server (RAS) Allows users to remotely access networks Router server Manages network traffic between networks Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server Routes email messages through an

organization or the Internet to their final destination Web server Delivers web pages Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) server Provides network name resolution

Server customers

Because one server size, price, or performance level does not fit all customer requirements, HPdesigns a full range of industry-standard servers so small-and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) andenterprise customers can choose the right server solution. This range includes ProLiant, Integrity, andNonStop servers, which offer the functionality to meet most industry requirements.

Small-business servers

Because small businesses usually do not have extensive experience using server systems, a small-business server has features that increase its ease of use and deployment. This type of serverhandles file, print, and client/server applications and includes a broad set of features designed tomanage all typical server tasks in a limited environment. Quick recovery is enabled because downtimeimmediately impacts the ability of a small office to conduct business. A small-business server canfunction as a client workstation and simultaneously perform a normal role as a server. This dual usageimposes additional requirements for power management and configuration.

Enterprise servers

The enterprise server can be used in any environment but is frequently a building block in a largegroup of servers where each server performs a specific task such as handling and routing email,storing financial data, and administering a database. Because this server is an indispensable part of

the organization, it must be highly available. Therefore, software and hardware components must bein place to eliminate unplanned downtime.

The purchasing behaviors of businesses also vary by level of sophistication.

Sophisticated customers use the latest technology and applications, or they choose the technologythey believe offers the best price:performance value. These customers might perceive that white boxservers offer greater custom configuration flexibility and nonproprietary parts and upgrades. Theyoften perform service and support tasks in-house, and they enjoy building white boxes because theyfeel it represents job security. Because these customers tend to think they can do everything on theirown, they have to be shown the performance, scalability, reliability, and availability benefits ofselecting an HP branded server.

Less sophisticated customers rely on price and reseller recommendations to make their purchasingdecisions. Because price typically has the greatest impact on their purchasing decisions, this type ofcustomer must be shown the value of a branded server.

HP server positioning

Business computing requires specific types of servers. HP works closely with customers and softwarepartners to design, integrate, and test servers, which allows HP to offer a comprehensive family of


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servers and solutions that best address business computing needs. The HP server familiesdemonstrate strong complementary positioning to fill the entire range of customer server needs.

TheProLiantfamily is theindustry leader in the x86server market.

TheIntegrityserverfamily extends the HPoffering at the high endwith higher performanceand better availability,while maintainingstandards-basedcomputing.

At the high-end, HPNonStop servers fill theneeds of the most

mission-critical computing tasks such as emergency services and financial transaction processing withunparalleled levels of availability.

ProLiant Servers

HP has defined a common set of features and components and implemented them consistently acrossthe ProLiant product line. This consistency greatly simplifies the setup, operation, and service ofProLiant servers. These common features include:

Extensive testing Consistent set of LED indicators Consistent Hood Latches Remote management A common set of configuration and diagnostic utilities

Product Line

The current ProLiant product line is divided into three major categories:

ML-Maximum internal expansion DL-Density optimized for racks BL-Blade solutions

Each of these categories contains sub-categories of servers:

100 - cost-conscious entry level series 300 - file/print, workgroup, web proxy, small databases and applications 500 complex web applications, large databases, critical f ile servers

Each ProLiant will also have Generation Identifier . First Generation or G1 servers generally haveno generation identifier.
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ProLiant models that end in a 0' support Intel processors. ProLiant models that end in a 5' supportAMD processors.

The current naming strategy is to increment the generation number based on individual productlifecycles. For example, when a product is added to the ProLiant server portfolio it was introduced as aGeneration 1 (G1) and the next time it received major updates to processor technology it was

announced as a Generation 2 (G2).

As of September 2007, HP will align both the ProLiant Intel Xeon and AMD Opteron productgeneration numbers to articulate a family of technologies instead of individual product lifecycle steps.That means, any new product or generation update will become a Gx instead of G1, G2, G3, toalign to the latest generation in the ProLiant portfolio.

For example, G5 is currently the highest generation in the ProLiant server portfolio. The majority of G5servers are associated with a family of technologies such as Small Form Factor SAS and SATA, iLO2/ LO 100, Multi-function NICs, power regulator, power meter, power capping and PCI-E. Examples ofproducts expected to inherit this new generation alignment include:

Current generation After launch

DL580 G4 DL580 G5

New product BL680 G5

DL365 G1 DL365 G5

DL385 G2 DL385 G5

DL585 G2 DL585 G5

BL465c G1 BL465 G5

BL685c G1 BL685 G5

ML110 G4 ML110 G5

ML115 G1 ML115 G5

ML310 G4 ML310 G5

New product DL16x G5

New product DL18x G5

DL320 G5 DL320 G5p*

*The ProLiant DL320 is already a G5 so an additional letter designator will be used for the nextgeneration DL320 G5p until the entire portfolio moves to G6 in 2008.


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Close

Integrity Servers

The HP Integrity family makes mission-critical virtualization a reality for enterprises of all sizes. Thisincludes three ranges of products:

Entry-class Integrity servers offer the price/performance a growing business and technicalcomputing demand. They are flexible and fit easily into diverse environments that include multipleserver types and operating systems.

Mid-range Integrity servers offer high-end functionality at a mid-range price. They are ideal formulti-OS consolidation projects and for rapidly scaling environments. They also provide highavailability as well as processing power for your compute-intensive tasks.

High-end Integrity servers offer superior scalability, performance and availability for the mostdemanding environments. For largescale consolidation projects, they provide very strongvirtualisation capabilities combined with long-term investment protection.

Product Line

The High-end servers are the HP Integrity Superdome servers:

SX1000 series SX2000 series

The Mid-range servers include the HP Integrity series:

rx7600 series rx8600 series rx9600 series

The Entry-class servers include the HP Integrity series below:

rx1600 series rx2600 series rx3600 series rx4600 series rx5670 series rx6600 series

Close

Subsystems

Servers have three main subsystems:

Processor Performs work, such as solving mathematical equations Input/output (I/O) subsystem Enables communication between the server, people, and

clients and consists of components like the keyboard, monitor, printer, and networking hardware Storage Saves the work done by the processor, so it can be retrieved later by the user or

processor


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Wires

Each bus is composed of many wires. Each wire carries one bit of data.

Buses can be described by the number of wires they contain and the bus width. For instance, a 32-bitbus contains 32 wires and will transfer 32 bits (or 4 bytes) of data at one time.

System clock

Only one chunk of data can travel on a bus at a time, so a system clock synchronizes the transfer ofdata among the subsystems. The clock is a crystal that vibrates at a certain frequency when electricityis applied to it. The time between each vibration is known as a clock cycle.

One subsystem sends data to another at the beginning of a clock cycle. If another subsystem mustuse the bus, it must wait until the beginning of the next clock cycle when the bus is free.

The subsystems also use the system clock to sychronize the work they do. For instance, it takesseveral steps for a processor to process one piece of data. Each step occurs during one clock cycle.

Bottlenecks

Through the years, the goal of computer engineers has been to make computers process more datafaster. They look for areas that slow down the system and then design solutions for relieving thebottleneck.

There are three ways to relieve bottlenecks:


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Increase the speed Engineers design components to work faster. System clock speedsincrease. Components are redesigned or new components are introduced that work at fasterspeeds.

Widen the data path Engineers design buses with more wires and components that can workwith them. A wider bus can carry more information at a time than a narrower bus.

Add concurrency Engineers design systems to do more than one thing at a time.

I/O

Adding memory increased the speed of computers significantly. In fact, over 96% of all bus traffic wasbetween the processor and memory. The bottleneck was now in the I/O system. When data was sentto the I/O system, the processor and memory had to wait a long time for the I/O system to respond.

To reduce this bottleneck, engineers split the system bus into two buses. The system bus continued torun at a fast speed. The I/O bus ran at a slower speed. An I/O controller buffered the data from the I/Odevices and sent it out on the system bus.


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Chipsets

Eventually, the system bus was divided into several buses. Components of similar speed were placedon the same bus. Controllers were added to negotiate communication among the different buses.Together, these controllers are known as the chipset.

Cache

Increases in processor speeds continued to outpace increases in other components. Eventually, evenmemory could not send data to the processor fast enough. To eliminate the number of clock cyclesthat the processor had to wait for data, cache was added to the processor.

Unlike memory, cache uses a group of transistors arranged as a flip-flop circuit, or latch, to store data.A latch is an electronic circuit that alternates between two states. When current is applied, it changesto its opposite state to feed data to the processor quickly.

Cache holds data in transistors and is able to feed data to the processor very quickly.


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Non-Maskable Interrupt (NMI) switch Top

Crash dump analysis is an essential part of eliminating reliability problems such ashangs or crashes in operating systems, device drivers, and applications. Crashescan freeze a system, requiring you to do a hard reset. Resetting the system erasesany information that supports root cause analysis.

Systems running supported Microsoft operating systems experience a blue screentrap when the operating system crashes. When this happens, Microsoft recommendsthat system administrators perform a NMI event by pressing a dump switch. The NMIevent allows a hung system to become responsive.

The server is equipped with an NMI switch that, when pushed, performs a memorydump before performing a hard reset.
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Version Control Agent and Version Control Repository Manager

Overview VCRM Version 2.0 Obtaining VCRM

Overview Top

The Version Control Agent (Windows and Linux) provides version control andsystem update capabilities for a single ProLiant server. The Version Control Agentdetermines server software status by comparing each component installed on thelocal device with the set of individual components or a specified ProLiant ServicePack (PSP) listed in the Version Control Repository Manager.

The VCA is a web-enabled agent that is an integrated component of the SystemManagement Homepage, SMH. Besides providing a record of HP software andfirmware and the versions that reside on a server, the VCA allows the installation,comparison, and update of server software from a repository that is managed by aVersion Control Repository Manager.

The Version Control Repository Manager (VCRM) automatically detects servers inthe customer's environment and downloads appropriate system software updatesautomatically from the HP website. Administrators can then choose which updates todeploy to their servers.

The VCRM is designed to manage a repository containing the ProLiant SupportPacks and the individual server software and firmware components. VCRM can alsoautomatically download software components or manually upload them from any webclient. Automatic notifications about these components are provided through HPSystems Insight Manager to remote locations anywhere on the WAN from a standardweb browser.

The following diagram illustrates the relationships and interaction between theVersion Control Repository Manager, the Version Control Agent, HP Systems InsightManager, and the client to perform software updates.
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VCRM Version 2.0 Top

VCRM Version 2.0 is available with the Management CD Version 7.xx. New featuresinclude:

Improved 'look and feel' for the VCRM 2.0 and Version Control Agent 2.0. Wizards for: component configuration, software download settings, system software baseline

configuration. Simplified population of the Version Control Repository with ProLiant software and firmware

updates. Customers can automatically obtain ProLiant system software and firmware updates for Linux

systems through the VCRM. Identify and report Linux systems with out-of-date software or firmware in the same manner as

Windows systems. Deploy and manage ProLiant system software and firmware updates for Windows and Linux

systems from within HP SIM.

VCRM replaced the functions performed by the discontinued ActiveUpdate.

Legacy VCRM Version

The newer version of the Version Control Agent and VCRM continue to work with legacy versionsto correctly report version status and provide update capabilities, but some different behaviors mayoccur if upgrade is not made to the newer versions.

Customers who already have the legacy VCRM, Version Control Agent, and Insight Manager 7deployed within their environment can get the newer versions from the HP web site.
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Obtaining VCRM

Top

The VCRM is available from the following sources without charge:

Systems Insight Manager installation SmartStart Management CD ( \VCREP directory) HP.Com (standalone Softpaq)

Refer to: www.hp.com/servers/manage
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