- Sun4d
Sun4d is a
computer architecture introduced bySun Microsystems in 1992. It is a development of the earlierSun-4 architecture, using theXDBus system bus,
SuperSPARC processors, andSBus I/O cards. The XDBuswas the result of a collaboration between SunandXerox ; its name comes from an earlier Xeroxproject, theXerox Dragon . These were Sun's largest machines to date, andtheir first attempt at making amainframe -class server.Architecture
Sun4d computers are true SMP systems;although memory and CPUs are installed per system board, the memory ona given board is not in any way "closer" to the CPUs on that sameboard. All memory and I/O devices are equally connected to all CPUs.
All of these computers use a passive backplane into which systemboards are plugged. Each system board provides CPUs, memory, andan I/O bus. As system boards are added, these components areadded to the whole in a completely seamless fashion. It is nota cluster, but works as a single large machine.
Machines
Sun4d computers include the
SPARCcenter 2000 (1992) andSPARCserver 1000 (1993) from Sun Microsystems, and theCray CS6400 (1993) from Cray Research.The system boards in these three machines are all slightlydifferent, physically and electronically, and arenot interchangeable.All Sun4d machines provide
JTAG ports.SPARCserver 1000
The SPARCserver 1000 is a 5U rackmountable chassis with four 40 MHz XDBus slots,and space for four half-height 3.5"
SCSI drives plus two half-heightfront-accessible 5.25" SCSI drives (typically used forCD-ROM and DAT). Eachsystem board connects to one XDBus and provides two MBus slotsfor CPUs, three SBus slots for I/O boards, four banks of memory(four SIMMs apiece), and builtin SCSI-2, 10baseTEthernet , and twoserial ports . [SPARCserver 1000 System Service Manual. Sun Microsystems. 1993.]Maximum configuration: 8 CPUs and 2 GB RAM.
The SPARCserver 1000E has a slightly faster XDBus (50 MHz). The systemboards are not backwards compatible.
The SPARCserver 1000, like earlier
Sun-4 /xxx servers, has a set of LEDs on each system board that display diagnostics on POST, and CPU load while running. These allow the user to see at a glancehow busy each processor on the system is. They are informally referred toas "Cylon" displays, because the way each displays a single light bouncing back and forth resembles the scanner of the robots in the original "Battlestar Galactica" TV series. [http://www.sunhelp.org/faq/sunref3.html]SPARCcenter 2000
The SPARCcenter 2000 is a full rack system that includes a main chassiswith ten 40MHz dual-XDBus slots and several disk arrays. The systemboards connect to two XDBuses for extra bandwidth, and providetwo MBus slots, four SBus slots, four banks of memory (four
SIMM s apiece), and two serial ports apiece.Unlike the SPARCserver 1000 boards, they do not have a builtin SCSI and Ethernet port per system board. [SPARCcenter 2000 System Board Manual. Sun Microsystems. 1994.]Maximum configuration: 20 CPUs and 5 GB RAM.
The SPARCcenter 2000E has a slightly faster XDBus (50 MHz). The systemboards are not backwards compatible.
Cray Superserver 6400
The
Cray CS6400 is a 16-slot, 55 MHz quad-XDBus system. Each system boardprovides four MBus slots, four SBus slots, four banksof memory, and no builtin I/O ports.Maximum configuration: 64 CPUs and 16 GB RAM. [http://www.filibeto.org/~aduritz/supercomputing/cray/cray-cs6400.html]
When SGI purchased
Cray Research in 1996, theysold the division responsible for the CS6400 to Sun, where it wasdeveloped into the extremely successfulSun Enterprise 10000 . [http://www.filibeto.org/aduritz/truetrue/e10000/how-e10k-wasborn.html]Performance
Relative performance of Sun-4d machines, based on SPEC CINT92 Rate benchmarks: [http://performance.netlib.org/performance/html/spec.crint92.3_95.col0.html] [http://performance.netlib.org/performance/html/spec.crint92.12_95.col0.html]
References
ee also
*
Sun-4
*SPARCstation
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