Sun4d
| Industry | Computer hardware |
|---|---|
| Founded | February 24, 1982 |
| Headquarters | Santa Clara, California , United States |
| Products | Sun4d computer architecture, SPARCcenter 2000, SPARCserver 1000 |
| Website | www |
Sun4d represents a computer architecture launched by Sun Microsystems in 1992. It is an advancement of the preceding Sun-4 design, incorporating the XDBus system bus, SuperSPARC processors, and SBus I/O cards. The XDBus, a collaborative development between Sun and Xerox, derives its name from the Xerox Dragon initiative. These systems were Sun's most powerful at that time, marking their foray into the market of mainframe-level servers.
Architecture
The Sun4d platform is a genuine example of SMP architecture; each system board houses CPUs and memory, yet all processors experience equal memory access latency. Every processor has uniform connections to all memory and I/O components.
Its architecture employs a passive backplane design where system boards are inserted, each contributing additional CPUs, memory modules, and an I/O bus. This modular configuration allows for straightforward scalability without the need for clustering, functioning as a single unified system.
Machines
The Sun4d lineup includes the SPARCcenter 2000 (introduced in 1992) and SPARCserver 1000 (released in 1993) by Sun Microsystems, along with the Cray CS6400 (1993) produced by Cray Research. Although these machines share conceptual similarities, their system boards differ both physically and electronically, rendering them incompatible with one another.
Each model is equipped with JTAG ports primarily utilized for servicing on the SPARCcenter and SPARCserver series.
SPARCserver 1000
The SPARCserver 1000 is housed in a 5U rackmount enclosure featuring four 40 MHz XDBus slots and bays for four half-height 3.5" SCSI drives alongside two front-accessible half-height 5.25" SCSI bays, typically used for devices such as CD-ROM or DAT. Each system board interfaces with a single XDBus and offers two MBus CPU sockets, three SBus I/O slots, four memory banks (each containing four SIMMs), plus integrated SCSI-2 controllers, 10baseT Ethernet, and a pair of serial ports.
Its top configuration supports up to eight CPUs and 2 GB of RAM.
The SPARCserver 1000E variant upgrades to a 50 MHz XDBus; however, its system boards are not backward compatible with earlier versions.
Diagnostic LEDs on every system board indicate POST outcomes and CPU activity during operation. These displays are colloquially known as "Cylon" indicators due to their scanning light effect reminiscent of the robots from Battlestar Galactica.
This server can operate a patched Linux 2.4 kernel in SMP mode.
Significantly, an eight-processor SPARCserver 1000 was among over one hundred Sun workstations that contributed to rendering the groundbreaking fully computer-generated movie Toy Story.
SPARCcenter 2000
The SPARCcenter 2000 is a full-rack solution featuring a main chassis with ten dual-XDBus slots running at 40 MHz and multiple disk arrays. Its system boards connect to two XDBuses simultaneously to enhance data throughput and include two MBus CPU slots, four SBus expansion slots, four memory banks each containing four SIMMs, and two serial ports. Unlike those in the SPARCserver 1000, these boards do not have integrated SCSI or Ethernet interfaces.
Its maximum supported configuration includes twenty CPUs and up to 5 GB of RAM.
The SPARCcenter 2000E model provides a faster 50 MHz XDBus but its system boards are not compatible with previous versions.
Cray Superserver 6400
The Cray CS6400 features a 16-slot design operating at 55 MHz with a quad-XDBus architecture. Each module includes four MBus slots, four SBus slots, and four memory banks, but it does not incorporate any integrated I/O ports.
Its highest possible setup supports up to sixty-four processors and 16 GB of RAM.
Following SGI's acquisition of Cray Research in 1996, the unit responsible for the CS6400 was divested to Sun Microsystems. Sun Microsystems subsequently evolved this platform into the widely acclaimed Sun Enterprise 10000 server.
Performance
Performance comparisons among Sun-4d systems using the SPEC CINT92 Rate benchmark results:
| System | Processors | geometric mean rate_int92 | 008 espresso SPEC rate | 022 li SPEC rate | 023 eqntott SPEC rate | 026 compress SPEC rate | 072 sc SPEC rate | 085 gcc SPEC rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS6400 | 64 | 101969 | 98449 | 147287 | 139144 | 32849 | 214882 | 78932 |
| SC2000E | 20 | 53714 | 46817 | 54551 | 74541 | 28564 | 107441 | 41111 |
| SS1000E | 8 | 21758 | 19578 | 26184 | 26089 | 11680 | 45238 | 15014 |