sparc t4 servers optimized for end-to-end data center ... · pdf filean oracle white paper...

An Oracle White Paper

October 2011

SPARC T4 Servers—Optimized for End-to-End Data Center Computing

SPARC T4 Servers—Optimized for End-to-End Datacenter Computing

Disclaimer

The following is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes

only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or

functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and

timing of any features or functionality described for Oracle’s products remains at the sole discretion of

Oracle.


Executive Overview ........................................................................... 1

Introduction ....................................................................................... 1

SPARC T4 – A New Architecture for End-to End Computing ............. 3

SPARC T4 Portfolio Overview ....................................................... 3

Scalability Across the Data Center .................................................... 4

Secure Computing Without Performance Degradation ...................... 5

Integrated Features to Reduce Cost and Complexity......................... 5

Optimized for Oracle Applications ...................................................... 5

Oracle Solaris Brings Out the Best in SPARC T4 Systems ................ 6

Conclusion ........................................................................................ 6


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Executive Overview

Customers are increasingly looking to simplify operations in their data centers by optimizing

around fewer types of systems that are versatile enough to provide performance, scalability

and value for a wide range of applications and workloads. Oracle’s increased investment in

SPARC servers with Oracle Solaris has resulted in a new processor design, the SPARC T4,

which will be at the heart of a new range of platforms that are optimized for Oracle Enterprise

applications as well as third party and custom applications. Oracle’s SPARC T4 servers deliver

new levels of end-to-end data center performance never before seen in the T-Series line of

servers.

Introduction

Today’s customers are contending with the problem of increased computing demands that

must be met with shrinking budgets. It is paramount that IT infrastructure providers offer

platforms and solutions that greatly increase performance while maintaining high levels of

reliability. In addition, customers have come to count on technologies such as virtualization,

security acceleration, and high-performance I/O and networking to provide more flexibility in

operations without a significant added cost. To that end, the ideal compute platform for next

generation data center deployment would be one that is versatile enough to handle the variety

of workloads needed to run the business without performance gaps or limitations, and

integrating key features and functionality at a minimal cost.

To address these requirements, SPARC T4 servers with Oracle Solaris offer the most

scalable, secure and integrated platforms for enterprise applications. Improving upon prior

SPARC T-Series systems, SPARC T4 platforms provide enhanced acceleration for

single-threaded workloads while preserving similar levels of throughput on concurrent,

multithreaded applications. Customers can meet their next generation data center challenges

with SPARC T4 servers as they deliver balanced and optimized performance across database,

middleware and web infrastructure implementations.


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This has been demonstrated in a number of application performance tests that show SPARC

T4 servers delivering results that are superior to the competition. For example, ERP

applications can be run at the same speed as IBM but with a 62% savings in cost and 75%

less space requirements by using no-cost Oracle server virtualization technology (details:

http://oracle.com/oos). The application performance results of SPARC T4 Servers are outlined

in this paper.

SPARC T4 servers deliver value in the following four areas:

Scalability – The ability to provide performance for all tiers of data center applications

Security – Secure, encrypted computing without added costs or performance degradation

Integration – Platforms that include key technologies such as virtualization and systems

management

Optimization – System building blocks that run Oracle applications more reliably and with

higher performance

With SPARC T4 systems, customers can now achieve their performance objectives with a

complete SPARC portfolio that addresses database, batch, middleware and multithreaded

workloads while meeting needs for high availability and simplified operation.


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SPARC T4 – A New Architecture for End-to End Computing

The SPARC T4 processor is the result of an entirely new T-Series processor design. Oracle SPARC

engineering recognized the need to take a new approach to the T-Series design in order to provide

performance for a broader set of data center applications. Early T-Series processors and servers

focused mainly on exploiting performance gains for throughput-based applications in the web,

middleware and front-end (OLTP) database areas. T-Series servers experienced broad adoption in the

marketplace based on the benefits they provided for the right applications and how they addressed the

need for customers to reduce costs for space, power, and cooling.

New SPARC T4 processors and SPARC T4 servers maintain that approach to throughput computing

while also offering dramatic acceleration of single-threaded workloads. Oracle redesigned the SPARC

core from the ground up, resulting in a 2.85GHz to 3.0GHz processor that provides anywhere from 5x

to 7x more performance for back-end databases, batch transactions, Java workloads, and application

boot times.

SPARC T4 Portfolio Overview

SPARC T4 servers are delivered in basically the same chassis and layouts as the previous SPARC T3

servers. For customers already using SPARC T3 servers, the transition to SPARC T4 servers should be

rather seamless given the similarities between the two product families. SPARC T4 processors will be

populated into four different systems for customers to deploy.

SPARC T4-1B Server – Single Socket Dense, Scalable Blade Server

The SPARC T4-1B server is a blade server designed for streaming media, virtualization/consolidation,

and other horizontally- scaled back office applications like such as Java application servers, OLTP

databases, and ERP/CRM. The SPARC T4-1B server fits into Oracle’s Sun Blade 6000 Modular

Systems where it offers an ideal platform for consolidating multiple SPARC workloads due to the ease

with which the server’s capacity can be extended as compute requirements expand.

SPARC T4-1 Server – Single Socket Server Building Block for End-to-End Deployment

The SPARC T4-1 is the entry-level platform in the SPARC T4 family. It offers significant compute

power in a space and power-efficient 2 RU form factor. The SPARC T4-1 server is ideally suited for a

broad array of horizontal application deployments, offering extreme network performance for

web-facing applications via integrated 10 Gigabit Ethernet capability. It can help customers build out

modern data centers that face the challenges of reduced space and constrained power.

SPARC T4-2 Server – Dual Socket Data center Consolidation and Back Office Server

The SPARC T4-2 server offers two sockets of SPARC T4 performance in a tightly coupled 3 RU

package. The SPARC T4-2 server is ideal for customers looking to optimize transaction and web

services, including Java application services, ERP/CRM, supply chain management, and distributed


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databases. With considerable expansion capabilities and integrated virtualization technologies, Oracle's

SPARC T4-2 server is also an ideal platform for consolidated Tier 1 and Tier 2 workloads.

SPARC T4-4 Server – Quad Socket Enterprise Server for Consolidation and Mission-Critical Applications

The SPARC T4-4 server supports up to four SPARC T4 processors running at 3.0 GHz, and up to 256

threads of computing in a power- and space-efficient 5 RU chassis. With breakthrough levels of

price/performance, this server is ideally suited to the delivery of horizontally scaled transaction and

web services as well as medium to large database applications. It also presents many opportunities as a

consolidation and virtualization server due to its large capacity. The price/performance value of

SPARC T4 servers is demonstrated in two world record benchmarks.

On the SPECjEnterprise benchmark, the SPARC T4-4 server beat IBM’s best result, delivering over

2.4x better performance. SPECjEnterprise uses a scenario based on real-world Enterprise Resource

Planning (ERP), manufacturing, and supply chain management business cases.

In the TPC-H data-warehousing benchmark, the SPARC T4-4 server delivered over 2.4 times better

performance per processor at 1/3 the price/performance compared to an eight processor IBM Power

780, and 44 percent faster performance at 2.6 times better price/performance compared to a 16

processor HP Superdome 2. The TPC-H benchmark simulates a decision support system providing

answers to critical business questions and consists of a suite of business oriented queries and data with

broad industry-wide relevance1.

Scalability Across the Data Center

The complete SPARC T4 family of servers scales to meet growing data center requirements by

supporting a full range of workloads across database, application and web tiers. The additional

performance provided by a faster single-threaded engine in SPARC T4 servers can accelerate

workloads that the previous SPARC T-Series family of servers was not designed to address.

With support up to four, 8-core SPARC T4 processors in a single chassis and binary compatibility for

Oracle Solaris applications, SPARC T4 servers can be an ideal platform for consolidating legacy

SPARC servers. Organizations can also deploy SPARC T4 servers confidently to achieve high levels of

performance and scalability for consolidation and virtualization projects and for new “greenfield”

application build-outs. With clock speeds reaching up to 3.0 GHz, performance is boosted for batch

transactions, application boot times, and especially single-threaded SPARC/Solaris applications will run

at much higher performance rates. Legacy applications that were running on previous generation T-

1 Additional details about SPARC T4 server benchmarks are available at http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/newsletter/archive/sun-sparc-enterprise-t-servers-078532.html.


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Series servers will perform at roughly the same levels on SPARC T4 servers, which include the

multithreaded capabilities that enterprises have long counted on from T-Series servers.

Secure Computing Without Performance Degradation

The advanced SPARC T4 processor includes integrated on-chip cryptographic support that provides

wire speed encryption capabilities for secure data center operation. Organizations can run applications

leveraging up to sixteen of the major crypto ciphers without paying a performance penalty or having to

acquire and manage additional hardware or add-in cards. The cryptographic framework built into

Oracle Solaris adds a standards-based API that provides a single-point of administration for

cryptographic management, making the task of managing a secure environment less complex and more

cost-effective. Organizations can also take advantage of Oracle Solaris security features, including

Oracle Solaris Trusted Extensions, which provide application isolation and control required by

governments and financial institutions. With up to 3x faster encryption than the latest generation of

x86 systems, the new SPARC T4 servers combine with the Oracle Solaris ZFS file system to keep data

safe and prevent unauthorized access. Additionally, single-thread OpenSSL security can run up to four

times faster on a SPARC T4 server compared to an IBM POWER7-based system.

Integrated Features to Reduce Cost and Complexity

SPARC T4 systems with Oracle Solaris offer tight integration of key features and functionality around

virtualization, networking performance, and systems management at no additional cost. Other vendors

offer similar functionality but usually this is provided at an added and frequently significant price on

top of the initial hardware acquisition cost. Oracle’s SPARC T4 servers are the only products in the

industry to offer two types of virtualization, on-chip cryptographic acceleration, and the operating

system at no extra cost. Oracle Solaris Containers and Oracle VM Server for SPARC virtualization

technologies are embedded in the system, offering real-time scaling and optimal resource utilization to

ensure the maximum performance and scalability of all application deployments. Further, you can

choose to employ Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center to improve the efficiency of IT operations

with integrated life-cycle management, built-in automation, and flexible provisioning capabilities. All

SPARC T4 servers come standard with Oracle Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM), including an

integrated service processor with power management and capping capability to further reduce costs of

operation.

Optimized for Oracle Applications

SPARC T4 systems feature a new brain with the same SPARC T3 body. With increased single-threaded

application performance via frequencies of 2.85 GHz and 3.0 GHz, the entire SPARC T4 server line is

now optimized for the full range of Oracle applications and data center workloads. Because of this new

performance profile, Oracle plans to leverage SPARC T4 servers as the compute building block for the

fault tolerant SPARC SuperCluster and Oracle Optimized Solutions that will enable enterprises to take


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an integrated approach to computing solutions. These infrastructure offerings based on SPARC T4

servers and Oracle Solaris can help organizations lower their total cost of ownership, mitigate risk, and

accelerate business agility for database and middleware projects, a broad range of enterprise

applications, or internal Cloud deployments. For monolithic database and middleware infrastructure,

the combined single-thread and throughput performance of the SPARC T4 server make it the optimal

platform for achieving faster business results combined with very reliable and predictable uptimes.

Specific optimizations for Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware are currently in

development.

The SPARC T4 server has demonstrated leading performance on a broad range of applications,

including Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise Payroll and HRMS Self-Service, Oracle E-Business Suite,

Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, Oracle Siebel Loyalty Management, and Oracle Communications

Billing and Management and ASAP.

On Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise Payroll (N.A.) 9.1 the SPARC T4-4 server delivered a world record

result on the extra-large volume model of this benchmark. This benchmark executes large batch

workloads typical for a large organization processing employee payroll. The application calculates gross

to net earnings, deductions and taxes, and is fully integrated with Oracle's other PeopleSoft Enterprise

products. The SPARC T4-4 server with four SPARC T4 3GHz CPUs processed the payroll for

500,000 employees, calculating 750,000 payments in 30.84 minutes, beating the earlier world record

result of Oracle's SPARC Enterprise M5000 server by 34 percent with 51 percent better throughput.

For more information on the leading application performance of SPARC T4 servers, such as Oracle

Siebel Loyalty Management, where SPARC T4-based servers deliver double the performance of the

previous generation of SPARC servers while leaving 75 percent headroom for expansion of the

database tier, see http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/497285.

Oracle Solaris and SPARC T4 Systems

Oracle Solaris is specifically designed to optimize the considerable resources of SPARC T4 servers. In

fact, Oracle Solaris 10 provides key functionality for virtualization, optimal use of high availability

features, unparalleled security, and extreme performance for both vertically and horizontally scaled

environments. Oracle Solaris 10 runs on a broad range of SPARC and x86-based systems while

guaranteeing compatibility for existing applications. One of the most attractive features of systems

based on SPARC T4 processors is that they appear as a familiar SMP system to the Oracle Solaris

operating system and the applications it supports. In addition, Oracle Solaris 10 has incorporated many

features to improve application performance on Oracle’s multicore/multithreaded architectures.

Conclusion

Oracle’s continued investment in SPARC and Oracle Solaris technologies demonstrates its

commitment to providing customers with cutting-edge solutions that deliver breakthrough

performance combined with high availability and ease of management to minimize complexity in


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operations. SPARC T4 servers are architected to service the dynamic, fast-paced and growing needs of

modern applications while simplify operations. SPARC T4 servers deliver industry-leading scalability

and security in an integrated platform that is optimized for Oracle software and offers leading

performance for third party ISV and custom applications. The improvements in SPARC T4 systems

will enable customers to realize their next generation goals with products that deliver better Total Cost

of Ownership (TCO) than their predecessors and provide the foundational building blocks for future

systems and solutions that will strive to deliver even further customer value.

SPARC T4 Servers—Optimized for End-to-End

Data Center Computing

Otober 2011]

Oracle Corporation

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oracle.com

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Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Intel and Intel Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and

are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. AMD, Opteron, the AMD logo, and the AMD Opteron logo are

trademarks or registered trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices. UNIX is a registered trademark licensed through X/Open

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