Vrrrrooooommmmm... More power,more power.
Yeeeeaaaahhhh baby,"Schwarzenegger-ish"
--
Servers -- Add Muscle to your
server
CMP Media Inc. - Saturday, March 04, 2000
Mar. 03, 2000 (InternetWeek - CMP via COMTEX) -- Not long ago, the folks at
Compaq were kind enough to outfit us with an early version of its newest server,
the ProLiant 8500. Designed for ultra-heavy serving and abominable uptime
requirements, the 8500 is the meanest monster in Compaq's Intel-based stable.
But what really sets it apart is its eight-way CPU core. Count 'em, eight Pentium
III Xeon CPUs, each equipped with 2 MB of onboard level 2 cache. Wow.
Literally, we said "Wow" when we first saw it. After the initial drooling period, we
naturally asked the boss if we could drag the 8500 into the Bunker to see what
we could see. Upon getting it there, however, we soon realized that even the
Reviews staff's CPU muscle was in no shape to give this puppy the workout it
required. Frustration set in.
We happened to mention our benchmarking blues to a buddy who develops
e-commerce software for a large Wall Street investment bank, which inexplicably
wants to remain nameless. He offered to take the 8500 off our hands and bang
on it in his IT development labs. To make it interesting, we also gave him a
Compaq ProLiant 6400R quad-CPU machine. The object was to get a handle on
each server's strengths and weaknesses individually, and then see how much of
a difference an eight-way really made against a four-way.
The ProLiant 6400R
While it looks diminutive next to the Schwarzenegger-ish 8500, don't underestimate the 6400R.
This is a serious piece of hardware. Our test unit came equipped with four 500-MHz Pentium III
Xeon CPUs, each with 2 MB of onboard level 2 cache (presently upgradable to the 550-MHz
versions). This was backed up by 512 MB of ECC RAM (expandable up to 4 GB) and a RAID array
based around four 4.3-GB Ultra Wide SCSI-2 hard disks wired to Compaq's own Smart Array Raid
3200 PCI controller.
That storage configuration was mostly just for test purposes. Typically, those disks would carry 9.1
GB of Ultra Wide SCSI-2 storage, and you can even opt for higher-capacity drives, allowing the
6400R to achieve up to 72 GB of internal 10,000-rpm storage. However, for truly deep storage
requirements, Compaq will sell this machine in conjunction with its StorageWorks Enclosure model,
which can carry up to 127 GB.
Additionally, the 6400R incorporates every feature you might be looking for in a data center-type
machine. You'll find two Fast Ethernet interfaces on the box, each with dual ports, so bonding for
faster throughput is fairly straightforward (although, you'll need to tweak this). If required, this can be
quickly upgraded to Compaq's own Gigabit Network Interface Cards (NICs). You'll also find dual
64-bit PCI buses and a push-button PCI Hot Plug, as well as all hot-pluggable drives.
The machine's redundant qualities are excellent, including hot-plug system fans and optional
redundant hot-plug power supplies. You also get the ability to configure the four-way processors to
act as redundant processors with optional CPU power modules. Finally, the network interfaces can
be configured as redundant, or even more interfaces can be added to achieve the same effect. All
of this comes in just 4 RU of rack space. Frankly, we loved it.
The ProLiant 8500
Again, let us state at the outset: Wow. Compaq loaded this machine for the proverbial rabid bear,
arriving with eight 550-MHz Pentium III Xeon CPUs, each with 2 MB of onboard Level 2 cache. The
box also carried 2 GB of ECC RAM, which can be expanded to 8 GB, but Compaq claims future
expandability will increase to 16 GB.
Compaq installed only a tester's choice of storage, centering around four 4.3-GB Ultra Wide SCSI-2
hard disks and using Compaq's motherboard-integrated Smart Array PCI controller. The system is
capable of much more. Internally, you can opt to add up to 72.8 GB of internal hot-plug drives
using 18.2-GB Ultra Wide SCSI-2 hard drives. And that can be beefed up to 35.2 TB of storage
using Compaq's external Fibre Channel-based enclosures.
You'll also find two dual-port Fast Ethernet NICs in the native configuration, which you can upgrade
to run Compaq's Gigabit NIC. Frankly, if any server can actually use a gigabit connection, it's this
one. Compaq left plenty of room for expansion by including 11 64-bit PCI hot-plug expansion slots;
only two run at 66 MHz, while the rest run at 33 MHz.
Bottom Line
This is one of the most heavily muscled servers we've seen. Making it even more valuable, however,
is the way Compaq designed it with reliability and redundancy in mind. Every system component
can be removed and replaced without really affecting other components, including the I/O bus and
motherboard.
All of these modules plug into what amounts to a central backplane, which means that server
administrators can upgrade nearly every component without requiring any onsite assistance. The
case is designed to open separately onto each of the system's core components (disk, CPU,
motherboard and expansion), so managers need only open that part, yank out the old parts and
slide in the new. Not only is this easier, it represents significant savings in server downtime.
Admittedly, the box isn't as small as the 6400R, arriving at 7 RU of rack space and more than 100
pounds when fully configured. But for a little sweat during rack installation, you get one of the
fastest and most redundant machines presently available.
Managing The Servers
Both machines shipped with two bundled applications: SmartStart and Insight Manager. SmartStart
is a staple of the ProLiant line and allows network managers to install their desired operating system
with the proper licensing key supplied by Compaq. Presently, Compaq supports Windows NT 4.0
and Windows 2000, Novell NetWare 4.1 and 5.0, SCO Unix and even Linux.
Compaq Insight Manager version 4.6 is a bundled server management tool that can also act as part
of a larger systems management scheme as long as it supports SNMP MIB-2 or DMI version 2. For
the most part, this means both Compaq servers as well as workstations; although, this includes its
Digital X86 and Alpha-based products. But Insight Manager can also integrate into other third-party
systems management frameworks, including Cabletron's Spectrum, Microsoft's SMS 2.0,
Hewlett-Packard's OpenView and Computer Associates' Unicenter TNG.
In operation, Insight Manager provides network administrators with two basic components: a
Windows 9.x or NT Workstation-based management console package to configure the software and
a management agent module that must be installed in every client to be managed.
Typically, Insight Manager monitors the physical state of the machine, including core subsystems
such as storage, CPU utilization and power. But aside from the machine's physical health, Insight
Manager also keeps track of configuration and basic performance data, including the ability to
monitor the network interface as well as its traffic statistics.
Combined with third-party asset management packages like those included with Microsoft's SMS,
Insight Manager can even share this data to help you keep track of where your resources are being
spent.
All of its subsystem monitoring can be assigned optimal thresholds by system administrators. Should
these thresholds be exceeded, the management agents will initiate alarms via e-mail or pager as
well as immediate console data representing what's going on with the server. The system also
supports remote management for configured clients, including remote boot or even remote power
cycles.
Finally, Insight Manager can be accessed via Insight Manager XE 1.1, which is much the same as
the original version in terms of functionality, but acts entirely via a Web browser, enabling it to also
manage devices that comply with Web-based Enterprise Management. It also integrates Cluster
Monitor for managing ProLiant server clusters and extends its database support to work with
Microsoft's Data Engine, which enables system administrators to export data to smaller database
structures than the SQL Server 6.5 or 7 enabled by the base version.
Testing
Both servers were tested against a cluster of five high-speed Dell workstations. These were Dell
Precision 410 machines, each using dual 550-MHz Pentium III CPUs with 512 MB of ECC RAM and
9-GB Ultra Wide SCSI-2 7200-rpm hard disks.
The test was centered around a proprietary process called "client proxy," which distributes real-time
financial data to applets running on client workstations. We pumped a sustained rate of 50 such
messages per second to all connected clients. For the cluster, performance leveled off at 250
simultaneous clients, then performance fell off and client connections were lost.
To level the playing field for the 6400R, we temporarily upgraded its memory by an additional
gigabyte, bringing it up to 1.5-GB RAM capacity. Configured this way, it handled a little more than
800 simultaneous client connections before we noticed a drop in performance. By comparison, the
8500 could handle more than 1,500.
An interesting event: While the Dell workstations' CPUs were pinned at 100 percent utilization
during peak performance, neither of the Compaq servers ever pushed beyond 70 percent.
We attempted to bond the dual Fast Ethernet NIC interfaces to improve performance, but this
actually turned out to decrease the numbers slightly-bonding both NICs together resulted in less
throughput than was available to both individually-which is still an unexplained phenomenon.
Even so, it's obvious that even under Windows NT 4.0 Server, running an eight-way CPU
architecture can have valuable benefits in high-client situations such as e-commerce.
Both these machines provide a very loud bang for your server buck. For e-commerce sites
standardized on Windows NT, we can only dub both of them InternetWeek approved.
We also can't wait to see how they do under Windows 2000.
Oliver Rist is contributing technical editor at InternetWeek and technical director at Grand Central
Networks Labs. He can be reached at orist@cmp.com.
---
win some, lose some
6400R
Hits
-Powerful hardware in a fairly small (4U) enclosure. Good redundancy
Misses
-Carries a Compaq price tag and requires external products for high-end expansion
8500
Hits
-Extremely powerful machine; tweaked to allow best use of eight-way design; excellent redundancy
design
Misses
-Massive price tag, somewhat disappointing internal storage capability
The Final Grades
ProLiant 8500
OVERALL A
Ease of use A-
Management A
Redundancy A
Performance A-
Value B+
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ProLiant 6400R
OVERALL A-
Ease of use A-
Management A-
Redundancy A-
Performance B+
Value B+
A Very good B Good C Fair D Poor
----
Compaq ProLiant 6400R
Compaq Computer
Houston, Texas
800-345-1518; www.compaq.com
Street price $39,712
internetwk.com
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