sx2000

• Dual-core Intel Itanium series 9100 1.6-GHz processor (Montvale)
• Dual core Intel Itanium series 9000 1.6-GHz processor (Montecito)^{1, 2}
• Intel Itanium 1.6 GHz processor (Madison 9M)

sx1000

• Intel Itanium 1.6 GHz processor (Madison 9M)
• HP mx2 processor module based on two Intel Itanium processors (no longer offered)

The November 2007 release of Montvale is accompanied by the release of a new I/O chassis for Superdome. The mixed interface I/O chassis supports six slots of PCI-Express (PCIe) and six slots of PCI-X. The abbreviation PCIeX is used below to discuss this product.

HP sx1000 Integrity Superdome supports mixing the Intel Itanium 1.6-GHz/9M processor and the HP mx2 processor module in the same system, but in different partitions, as long as they have the same chipset. All cell boards to be mixed in a system must contain the same chipset, sx1000 or sx2000, but not both. HP Integrity sx1000 Superdome supports mixing the Itanium 1.6-GHz/9M processor, PA 8800 and PA 8900 processors in the same system, but in different partitions, again only with the same chipset, sx1000. HP Integrity sx2000 Superdome supports mixing the dual core Intel Itanium 1.6 GHz, Itanium 1.6 GHz processor and PA 8900 processors in the same system, but in different partitions, again only with the same chipset, sx2000.

Throughout the rest of this document, the term HP sx1000 Integrity Superdome with Itanium 2 1.6 GHz processors or mx2 processor modules will be referred to as simply "Superdome sx1000." The HP sx2000 Integrity Superdome with dual core Itanium processors or single core Itanium 2 processors will be referred to as "Superdome sx2000."

Integrity Superdome (with Itanium processors) showcases HP's commitment to delivering a 64 processor Intel Itanium server and superior investment protection. It is the dawn of a new era in high end computing with the emergence of commodity based hardware.

Superdome supports a multi OS environment. Currently, HP UX, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2003, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), and OpenVMS are shipping with Integrity Superdome sx1000. Customers can order any combination of HP UX 11i v2, Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition, Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems, RHEL 4 or 5, SLES 9 or10 or OpenVMS running in separate hard partitions.

With the release of HP Superdome sx2000 with dual core Intel Itanium processors, HP-UX, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, OpenVMS, and Linux are all supported in separate hard partitions.

Some details of each Operating Environment offered by Superdome are listed below.

¹ Unless otherwise noted, Montecito and Montvale specifications and features operate the same in Integrity Superdome. Montecito is Intel Itanium 9000 series and Montvale is Intel Itanium 9100 series.
² As of July 1, 2008 the Montecito processor is only available as an add on to existing Superdome systems. Contact your regional product marketing team for the end of sales of add on Montecito processors.

• Improved performance over PA 8700
  
• Improved performance from v2 to v3 for Superdome sx2000
  
• Investment protection through upgrades from existing Superdomes to next generation Itanium processors

• Extension of industry standard based computing with the Windows operating system further into the enterprise data center
  
• Increased performance and scalability over 32 bit implementations
  
• Lower cost of ownership versus proprietary operating system solutions
  
• Ideal for scale up database opportunities (such as SQL Server 2005 [64 bit], Enterprise Edition)
  
• Ideal for database consolidation opportunities such as consolidation of legacy 32 bit versions of SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005 (64 bit)
  

NOTE: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition is not supported with mx2 modules

• Extension of industry standard computing with Linux further into the enterprise data center
• Lower cost of ownership
• Ideal for server consolidation opportunities
• Not supported on Superdome with mx2 processor modules

• Unmatched availability and disaster tolerance
  
  • 100% application availability with clustering
    
  • Up to 800 km between cluster nodes affords maximum Disaster Tolerance
    
• Impenetrable security
  
  • Most secure commercial OS
    
  • Complies with US Federal Government C2 Standards
    
• Minimum TCO and outstanding investment protection
  
  • Allowing nodes in a cluster from a workstation to Superdome as well as mixed architecture clusters
    
  • Server consolidation
    
  • UNIX portability features allowing easy port to OpenVMS
    
• HP Superdome sx1000 configurations
  
  • Minimum version is OpenVMS V8.2-1
    
  • Mad9M processors only
    
  • Requires Firmware Version rel_6.0 (or higher). In systems with PA-RISC and Integrity partitions, firmware version rel_6.1 (or higher) is required.
    
• HP Superdome sx2000 configurations
  
• Minimum version is OpenVMS V8.3
  
• Dual core Intel Itanium processors only
  

Superdome continues to provide the same positive Total Customer Experience via industry-leading HP Services, as with existing Superdome servers. The HP Services component of Superdome is as follows:

• HP customers have consistently achieved higher levels of satisfaction when key components of their IT infrastructures are implemented using the Solution Life Cycle. The Solution Life Cycle focuses on rapid productivity and maximum availability by examining customers' specific needs at each of five distinct phases (plan, design, integrate, install, and manage) and then designing their Superdome solution around those needs. See Chapter 10 for a detailed description of the Solution Life Cycle and how multiple systems purchased by the same customer affect the cost of the services provided.
• HP offers three pre configured service solutions for Superdome that provides customers with a choice of lifecycle services to address their own individual business requirements.
  • Foundation Service Solution: This solution reduces design problems, speeds time-to-production, and lays the groundwork for long-term system reliability by combining pre-installation preparation and integration services, hands on training and reactive support. This solution includes HP Support Plus 24 to provide an integrated set of 24x7 hardware and software services as well as software updates for selected HP and third party products.
  • Proactive Service Solution: This solution builds on the Foundation Service Solution by enhancing the management phase of the Solution Life Cycle with HP Proactive 24 to complement your internal IT resources with proactive assistance and reactive support. Proactive Service Solution helps reduce design problems, speed time to production, and lay the groundwork for long term system reliability by combining pre installation preparation and integration services with hands on staff training and transition assistance. With HP Proactive 24 included in your solution, you optimize the effectiveness of your IT environment with access to an HP-certified team of experts that can help you identify potential areas of improvement in key IT processes and implement necessary changes to increase availability.
  • Critical Service Solution: Mission Critical environments are maintained by combining proactive and reactive support services to ensure maximum IT availability and performance for companies that can't tolerate downtime without serious business impact. Critical Service Solution encompasses the full spectrum of deliverables across the Solution Lifecycle and is enhanced by HP Critical Service as the core of the management phase. This total solution provides maximum system availability and reduces design problems, speeds time-to-production, and lays the groundwork for long term system reliability by combining pre-installation preparation and integration services, hands on training, transition assistance, remote monitoring, and mission critical support. As part of HP Critical Service, you get the services of a team of HP certified experts that will assist with the transition process, teach your staff how to optimize system performance, and monitor your system closely so potential problems are identified before they can affect availability.
• HP's Mission-Critical Partnership: This service offering provides customers the opportunity to create a custom agreement with Hewlett Packard to achieve the level of service that you need to meet your business requirements. This level of service can help you reduce the business risk of a complex IT infrastructure, by helping you align IT service delivery to your business objectives, enable a high rate of business change, and continuously improve service levels. HP will work with you proactively to eliminate downtime, and improve IT management processes.
• Service Solution Enhancements: HP's full portfolio of services is available to enhance your Superdome Service Solution in order to address your specific business needs. Services focused across multi-operating systems as well as other platforms such as storage and networks can be combined to compliment your total solution.

Superdome with Intel Itanium and Dual core Itanium Processors Standard Hardware Features

• Redundant Power supplies
• Redundant Fans
• Factory integration of memory and I/O cards
• Installation Guide, Operator's Guide and Architecture Manual
• HP site planning and installation
• One-year warranty with same business day on-site service response

• Redundant Power supplies
• Redundant Fans
• Factory integration of memory and I/O cards
• Installation Guide, Operator's Guide and Architecture Manual
• HP site planning and installation
• One-year warranty with same business day on-site service response

Starting with the sx1000 chip set, Superdome servers have been released with the graphite color. A Superdome system will consist of up to four different types of cabinet assemblies:

• Superdome left cabinet (required)
  
• Superdome right cabinet (only Superdome 64 processor system).
  The Superdome cabinets contain all of the processors, memory and core devices of the system. They will also house most (usually all) of the system's PCI X cards. Systems may include both left and right cabinet assemblies containing, a left or right backplane respectively.
  
• One or more HP 10K G2 Universal Rack cabinets (required). These 19 inch rack cabinets are used to hold the system peripheral devices such as disk drives.
  
• Optionally, one or more I/O expansion cabinets (HP 10K G2 Universal Rack only). An I/O expansion cabinet is required when a customer requires more I/O cards than can be accommodated in their Superdome cabinets. Superdome I/O expansion cabinets require a special I/O Expansion Power and Utilities Subsystem (A5861D).

Superdome cabinets will be serviced from the front and rear of the cabinet only. This will enable customers to arrange the cabinets of their Superdome system in the traditional row fashion found in most computer rooms. The width of the cabinet will accommodate moving it through common doorways in the U.S. and Europe. The intake air to the main (cell) card cage will be filtered. This filter is removable for cleaning/replacement while the system is fully operational.

A status display is located on the outside of the front and rear doors of each cabinet. The customer and field engineers can therefore determine basic status of each cabinet without opening any cabinet doors.

Superdome 16 processor and Superdome 32 processor systems are available in single cabinets. Superdome 64 processor systems are available in dual cabinets.

Each cabinet may contain a specific number of cell boards (consisting of processors and memory) and I/O. See the following sections for configuration rules pertaining to each cabinet.

The Superdome cell boards shipped from the factory are offered with 1, 2, 3, or 4 processors.

The Superdome cell board contains:

• sx1000: Itanium 1.6 GHz processors (up to 4 processor modules for a total of 4 cores) or mx2 dual processor modules (up to 4 modules for a total of 8 cores)
  
• sx2000: Dual core Itanium 2 1.6GHz processor modules (up to 4 processor modules for a total of 8 cores) or Itanium 2 1.6 GHz processors (up to 4 processor modules for a total of 4 cores)
  
• Cell controller ASIC (application specific integrated circuit)
  
• Main memory DIMMs (up to 32 DIMMs per board in 4 DIMM increments [sx1000 only] or 8-DIMM increments [sx2000 only], using 512 MB [sx1000 only], 1 GB, 2 GB, or 4 GB [sx2000 only] DIMMs-or some combination of both. sx2000 based systems use the 1 GB, 2 GB, or 4 GB DIMMs only).
  
• Voltage Regulator Modules (VRM)
  
• Data buses
  
• Optional link to 12 PCI X I/O slots
  

sx1000: Each crossbar backplane contains two sets of two crossbar chips that provide a non blocking connection between eight cells and the other backplane. Each backplane cabinet can support up to eight cells. A backplane supporting four cells results in a 16 processor Superdome (16 core Itanium Madison or 32 core Itanium mx2). Similarly, a backplane supporting eight cells would result in a 32 processor Superdome (32 core Itanium Madison or 64 core Itanium mx2). Two backplanes can be linked together with flex cables to produce a cabinet that can support up to 16 cells resulting in a 64 processor Superdome (64 core Itanium Madison or 128 core Itanium mx2).

Each I/O chassis provides twelve I/O slots.
SX1000: Superdome PA 8600 and Superdome PA 8700 support I/O chassis with 12 PCI 66 capable slots, eight PCI 2x, supported via single (1x) ropes (266 MB/s peak) and four PCI 4x, supported via dual (1x) ropes (533 MB/s peak). Superdome PA 8600 and PA 8700 systems support PCI I/O chassis only. Superdome PA 8800/PA 8900 supports I/O chassis with 12 PCI X 133 capable slots, eight PCI 4x, supported via single enhanced (2x) ropes (533 MB/s peak) and four PCI X supported via dual enhanced (2x) ropes (1066 MB/s peak). Superdome PA 8800/PA 8900 will be shipped with PCI X I/O chassis, but supports both PCI and PCI X I/O chassis for in field upgrades.
Sx2000: The sx2000 Superdome supports I/O chassis with two PCI-X 266 MHz slots, six PCI-X 133MHz slots and 4 PCI -X 66 MHz slots. These I/O chassis employ a PCI-X bus for each I/O slot. PCI-X mode 2 is supported.

• Each Superdome cabinet supports a maximum of four I/O chassis. The optional I/O expansion cabinet can support up to an additional six I/O chassis
• A 4 cell Superdome (16 processor) supports up to four I/O chassis for a maximum of 48 PCI X slots.
  
• An 8 cell Superdome (32 processor) supports up to eight I/O chassis for a maximum of 96 PCI X slots. Four of these I/O chassis will reside in an I/O expansion cabinet.
  
• A 16 cell Superdome (64 processor) supports up to sixteen I/O chassis for a maximum of 192 PCI X slots. Eight of these I/O chassis will reside in two I/O expansion cabinets (either six chassis in one I/O expansion cabinet and two chassis in the other, or four chassis in each).

Any I/O chassis can support a Core I/O card that is required for each independent partition. A system configured with 16 cells, each with its own I/O chassis and core I/O card could support up to 16 independent partitions. Note that cells can be configured without I/O chassis attached, but I/O chassis cannot be configured in the system unless attached to a cell.

The core I/O card's primary functions are:

• Partitions (console support) including USB and RS-232 connections
• 10/100Base-T LAN (general purpose)

The core I/O card's primary functions are:

• Partitions (console support) including USB and RS-232 connections
• 10/100Base-T LAN (general purpose)

Other common functions, such as Ultra/Ultra2 SCSI, Fibre Channel, and Gigabit Ethernet, are not included on the core I/O card. These functions are supported as normal PCI-X add-in cards.

The core I/O card's primary functions are:

• Partitions (console support) including USB and RS 232 connections
  
• 10/100Base T LAN (general purpose)

Other common functions, such as Ultra320 SCSI, Fibre Channel, and Gigabit Ethernet, are not included on the core I/O card. These functions are supported as normal PCI X add in cards.

The only field rackable I/O expansion components are the ICE and the 12-slot I/O chassis. Either component would be field installed when the customer has ordered additional I/O capability for a previously installed I/O expansion cabinet.

No I/O expansion cabinet components will be delivered to be field installed in a customer's existing rack other than a previously installed I/O expansion cabinet. The I/O expansion components were not designed to be installed in racks other than Rack System E or the new Universal 10K G2 rack. In other words, they are not designed for Rosebowl I, pre merger Compaq, Rittal, or other third party racks.

The I/O expansion cabinet is based on a modified HP Rack System E and the new Universal 10K G2 and all expansion components mount in the rack. Each component is designed to install independently in the rack. The Rack System E and the Universal 10K G2 cabinet have been modified to allow I/O interface cables to route between the ICE and cell boards in the Superdome cabinet. I/O expansion components are not designed for installation behind a rack front door. The components are designed for use with the standard Rack System E and the Universal 10K G2 perforated rear door.

To provide online addition/replacement/deletion access to PCI or PCI-X cards and hot-swap access for I/O fans, all I/O chassis are mounted on a sliding shelf inside the ICE.

Four (N+1) I/O fans mounted in the rear of the ICE provide cooling for the chassis. Air is pulled through the front as well as the I/O chassis lid (on the side of the ICE) and exhausted out the rear. The I/O fan assembly is hot swappable. An LED on each I/O fan assembly indicates that the fan is operating.

Although the individual I/O expansion cabinet components are designed for installation in an HP Universal 10K G2 rack, rack size limitations have been agreed upon. In order to allay service access concerns, the factory will not install IOX components higher than 1.6 meters from the floor. Open space in an IOX cabinet will be available for peripheral installation.

Refer to the 10K G2 Series Rack Best Practices Guide for information on rack deployment, stabilization, and transportation. Go to: http://www.hp.com/go/rackandpower for more information.

No servers except those required for Superdome system management such as Superdome Support Management Station or ISEE may be installed in an I/O expansion.

Peripherals installed in the I/O expansion cabinet cannot be powered by the XPC. Provisions for peripheral AC power must be provided by a PDU or other means.

Superdome can be configured with hardware partitions, (nPars). Superdome systems running Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition or Enterprise Edition , SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, or OpenVMS, do not support virtual partitions (vPars).

A hardware partition (nPar) consists of one or more cells that communicate coherently over a high bandwidth, low latency crossbar fabric. Individual processors on a single cell board cannot be separately partitioned. Hardware partitions are logically and electrically isolated from each other such that transactions in one partition are not visible to the other hardware partitions within the same complex.

Each nPar runs its own independent operating system. Different nPars may be executing the same or different revisions of an operating system, or they may be executing different operating systems altogether. Superdome supports HP UX 11i version 2 and 3, Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems, and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition or Enterprise Edition, SUSE SLES 9 and 10, Red Hat RHEL AS 3 and 4, and OpenVMS operating systems. The diagram below shows a multi OS environment within Superdome.

NOTE: The sx2000 Superdome with Mad9M processors only supports HP UX 11i version2 and 3 , and Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems, Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition or Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (does not support any version of Linux or OpenVMS)

NOTE: It is possible for PA 8800 and PA 8900 nPars to co exist with Itanium 1.6 GHz nPars in the same Superdome system, but on different partitions. Customers can configure an Itanium 1.6 GHz nPar in an HP 9000 Superdome running PA 8800 or PA 8900 (and vice versa) in the field only. Factory orders for mixed Itanium and PA RISC nPars are not allowed.

Each nPar has its own independent processors, memory and I/O resources consisting of the resources of the cells that make up the partition. Resources (cell boards and/or I/O chassis) may be removed from one nPar and added to another without having to physically manipulate the hardware, but rather by using commands that are part of the System Management interface. The table below shows the maximum size of nPars per operating system:

For information on type of I/O cards for networking and mass storage for each operating environment, please refer to the Technical Specifications section of this document. For licensing information for each operating system, please refer to the Ordering Guide.

Superdome,supports static hard partitions (nPars) on all operating environments. Static partitions imply that any nPar configuration change requires a reboot of the nPar.
Superdome running HP-UX 11i Version 3 supports dynamic hard partitions. Dynamic nPars imply that nPar configuration changes do not require a reboot of the nPar. Using the related capabilities of dynamic reconfiguration (i.e. on line addition, on line removal), new resources may be added to an nPar and failed modules may be removed and replaced while the nPar continues to operate.
Adding new nPars to a Superdome system does not require a reboot of the system.

Product Number T8704A
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems-Per processor with virtualization rights for unlimited guest OS instances (all physical processors require a license) Also includes one Client Access licenses.

Options:

• 0D1 - factory integration
• B01 - on site installation at customer's location (must contact HP Services for a quote to install on-site!)
• ABA - English localization only (other languages, Ger, Fre, Ita available only as a special with extra lead time)
• ABJ - Japanese localization
• 001 - 1 processor LTU
• 004 - 4 processor LTU
• 008 - 8 processor LTU
• 016 - 16 processor LTU
• 032 - 32 processor LTU
• 064 - 64 processor LTU

Product Number T8768A
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (64-bit) -- 1 to 8 processors only with virtualization rights for 4 guest OS instances (also includes 25 Client Access Licenses).

Options:

• 0D1 - factory integration
• B01 - Ship with system (not factory integrated)
• ABA - English localization only (other languages, Ger, Fre, Ita available only as a special with extra lead time)

NOTE: See Windows 2003 and/pr Windows Server 2008 Ordering Section for further information. Not available/supported in Japan. Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition is not supported with mx2 modules.

1) Which processors can be mixed in a Superdome?

The first step in determining which processors can be mixed within a Superdome is to look at the chipset. A Superdome can only support one type of chipset (legacy chipset, sx1000, or sx2000 chipset) at a time.

The legacy chipset only supports the PA RISC architecture. The PA 8600, PA 8700, and PA 8700+ processors were supported with this chipset. As a result, they can be mixed within the Superdome but they cannot be mixed with processors supported by other chipsets (i.e., Itanium 9M with the sx1000 chipset).

With the sx1000 chipset, processors of like architectures (PA RISC and Itanium architectures) that are supported by the sx1000 chipset can be mixed in separate hard partitions. For example, the HP 9000 Superdome supports mixing the PA 8800 and PA 8900 processors in separate hard partitions. The HP Integrity Superdome supports mixing the Itanium 9M processors as well as the mx2 dual processor module in separate hard partitions. In addition, a subset of the PA RISC and Itanium processors (PA 8800, PA 8900 and Itanium 9M processors) can be supported at the same time in different hard partitions within a Superdome.

With the sx2000 chipset, dual core Itanium (Montecito and Montvale) and Itanium 1.6 GHz (Mad9M) processors, and PA-8900 are the supported processors and like above, all of these types of processors can be mixed in separate hard partitions.

The table below highlights which processors can co-exist on a Superdome in separate hard partitions.

2) In order to run an Itanium-based partition in an Integrity server, what changes are required?

In order to add a new partition with Itanium 9M processors on an HP 9000 Superdome, the following steps are required:

Step #1: Upgrade firmware on PA-RISC based partitions

Step #2: Create a new hard partition in the Superdome for Itanium based cell (s)

Step #3: Plug in cell boards for Itanium based cells

Step #4: Some I/O cards may need to be added for that specific hard partition (Windows does not support the identical set of I/O cards that HP-UX 11i supports)

Step #5: Load operating system for Itanium based partition

Upgrading a PA-RISC partition to support Itanium processors would require similar steps:

Step #1: Upgrade firmware on PA-RISC based partitions

Step #2: Pull out existing PA-RISC cell boards

Step #3: Swap existing memory into cell boards for Intel Itanium processor (protects investment in current memory)

Step #4: Plug in cell boards for Itanium based cell boards

Step #5: Some I/O cards may need to be added for that specific hard partition (Windows does not support the identical set of I/O cards that HP-UX 11i supports)

Step #6: Load operating system for Itanium based partition

The in-box addition of Itanium processors can be done with no additional hardware, no new chassis and no change to backplane.

3) Is mixing of PA-RISC and Itanium processors factory configurable?

No. HP supports PA RISC systems that shipped from the factory adding Itanium partitions later on in the field. In addition, HP offers the ability to enable Itanium based systems that shipped from the factory to add PA RISC partitions later on in the field (this will happen less frequently)

HP does not allow PA RISC partitions to be added to Intel Itanium-based Integrity systems that shipped from the factory. Mixing of sx1000 and sx2000 chipsets in the same system is NOT supported.

4) How long does it take to add an Itanium-based partition in an HP 9000 customers?

The effort required to add an Itanium-based partition to an HP 9000 Superdome is slightly more than what is required to add a new PA-RISC-based partition. In both cases you have to create a new hard partition in the Superdome, plug in cell boards for the new processors and load the operating system. There are no hardware changes required to support mixing of processor types. The only known difference at this time is that a customer would need to upgrade the firmware to support the Itanium arch