Sun Fire 15K
| Industry | Computer hardware |
|---|---|
| Founded | February 24, 1982 in Santa Clara, California, United States |
| Founder | Vinod Khosla, Andy Bechtolsheim, Scott McNealy, Bill Joy |
| Headquarters | Santa Clara , United States |
| Products | Sun Fire 15K, Sun Fire 12K, Sun Fire E25K servers |
The Sun Fire 15K (internally known as Starcat) represented a high-end server computer designed by Sun Microsystems, built upon the SPARC V9 architecture. It was unveiled on September 25, 2001, as the successor to the Sun Enterprise 10000, and its market availability spanned from January 2002 until May 2005.
This model accommodated up to 106 UltraSPARC III processors running at speeds up to 1.2 GHz or alternatively, 72 UltraSPARC IV processors operating at up to 1.35 GHz with a total of 288 threads, distributed across 18 system boards known as "Uniboards," each containing CPU sockets and memory modules. When equipped with UltraSPARC III CPUs, Sun provided up to 17 dual-socket "MaxCPU" processor cards that replaced I/O mezzanine cards—a setup not compatible with UltraSPARC IV processors. The maximum physical memory supported was 576 GB, alongside as many as 72 PCI I/O expansion slots.
The architecture allowed segmentation into as many as 18 isolated domains, each functioning independently with separate filesystems, distinct root passwords, and individual Solaris OS versions. A notable feature of the E15k was its Dynamic Reconfiguration capability, enabling system administrators to dynamically allocate RAM and CPUs among domains in response to changing operational demands. Management was handled by two redundant system controllers—embedded SPARC-based systems running Solaris—that oversaw operations such as system startup, shutdowns, and domain configuration. Onboard storage was minimal, relying primarily on external disk arrays connected via Storage Area Networks (SAN).
Sun Fire 12K
The Sun Fire 12K (code-named Starkitty) launched in April 2002 served as a more compact variant of the 15K. Supporting a maximum of 52 processors, it occupied a mid-tier segment within Sun's server lineup, positioned between the flagship 15K and the Sun Fire 6800 models.
Sun Fire E25K
Introduced in February 2004, the Sun Fire E25K (codenamed Amazon 25, with "E" denoting Enterprise) featured a base chassis similar to that of the 15K but differed primarily in its processor boards. This server reached end-of-life status in January 2009 and was succeeded by the Sun SPARC Enterprise M9000 platform.
The E25K supported up to 72 dual-core UltraSPARC IV+ processors clocked at speeds reaching 1.95 GHz. Consistent with UltraSPARC IV-based configurations in the 15K lineup, it did not include the "MaxCPU" option. The system's total bandwidth was rated at up to 172.8 GB/s aggregate throughput with sustained I/O performance reaching as high as 35.8 GB/s. Memory capacity per board could be as much as 64 GB, allowing for a maximum of approximately 1.15 TB RAM within a single domain. The configuration included up to 72 hot-pluggable PCI-X I/O slots—54 operating at 90 MHz and an additional 18 at 33 MHz—and supported a range of network interfaces such as Ethernet (10/100 BaseT and Gigabit), UltraSCSI, ATM, FC-AL, HSI, and SCI.