Server Related Technical Details

AHCI (ADVANCED HOST CONTROLLER INTERFACE)

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:11:00 -0700

The (AHCI) specification describes the register-level interface for a Host Controller for Serial ATA 1.0a and Serial ATA II.

Scope:

AHCI encompasses a PCI device.
It contains a PCI BAR (Base Address Register)
to implement native SATA features.

AHCI specifies the following features :

o Support for 32 ports
o 64-bit addressing
o Elimination of Master / Slave Handling
o Large LBA support
o Hot Plug
o Power Management
o HW Assisted Native Command Queuing
o Staggered Spin-up
o Cold device presence detect
o Serial ATA superset registers
o Activity LED generation
o Port Multiplier

Requirements for AHCI :

Intel® Matrix Storage Technology software
Hard drive(s) that supports NCQ
Intel® chipsets using a controller hub that supports AHCI

AHCI requires Intel® Matrix Storage Manager Software and is built into chipsets with
the following controller hubs :

Intel® 82801FBM I/O Controller Hub (ICH6M) - AHCI only
Intel® 82801GHM I/O Controller Hub (ICH7MDH) - RAID only
Intel® 82801GBM I/O Controller Hub (ICH7M) - AHCI only
Intel® 82801GR I/O Controller Hub (ICH7R) - RAID and AHCI
Intel® 82801HR/HH/HO I/O Controller Hub (ICH8R) - RAID and AHCI
Intel® 82801FR I/O Controller Hub (ICH6R) - RAID and AHCI
Intel® 82801GH I/O Controller Hub (ICH7DH) - RAID and AHCI
Intel® 631xESB/632xESB I/O Controller Hub - RAID and AHCI

DHCP Relay Agent

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Tue, 1 Apr 2008 06:20:00 -0700

*A DHCP Relay Agent is a computer or router configured to listen for DHCP/Bootp broadcost from DHCP clients and then Relay those messages to DHCP servers on Different subnets

* non RFG 1542..

1. Client 1 broadcaast a DHCP Discover packets

2. Relay agent forwards the DHCP Discover message to the DHCP server

3. Server sends a DHCP Offer message to the DHCP relay agent

4.Relay agent broadcost the Disk offer packets

5.Client1 Broadcast DHCP Request Packets .

6 Relay agent Forward DHCP Request Msg to DHCP server

7. Server sends DHCP Packets and Reply to Relay agent ..

This is done for every tranmitting and receiving ..

DHCP Relay Agents Uses Hop count :

The boot thereshhold is the lenth of time in seconds

ie, no.of router jump and reach the destination

DHCP relay Agent uses Boot Thereshold :

A Boot thereshold time in second the Relays can wait till acknowledge from DHCP Server Before forwarding the request

Install DHCP:

Go Run > dhcpmgmt.msc

Bensley Platform -- The Architectural overview of the Platform:

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 22:06:00 -0700

The Architectural overview of the Platform

The MCH connects up to 16 fully buffered DIMMs (four memory channels with upto four DIMMs per channel).
This provides 8.5GB/s of write memory bandwidth and 17 GB/s of read memory bandwidth when DDR2 533MHz memory is used and when DDR2 667 MHz memory is used, the write bandwidth can be 10.7 GB/s and the read bandwidth can be 21.3GB/s.
In Fully Buffered DIMM read and the write operation can be done simultaneously, so the total memory bandwidth is 25.5GB/s for 533MHz and the 32.0GB/s for 667MHz.
The MCH can provide a maximum of six x4 PCI Express interface and one x4 ESI interface to the ESB2.
It is also possible to configure certain x4 interface pairs into a single x8 interface.
Each PCI Express port on the MCH provides 4GB/s bidirectional bandwidth when configure as an x8 port or 2GB/s bidirectional bandwidth when configured as an x4 port.
In addition to these performance features, Bensley platforms also provide a wide range of RAS features such as memory interface ECC, x4/x8 single Device Data correction, CRC, Parity protection, out of band via SMBus, memory mirroring , memory sparring and Hot plug support on PCI Express interface.

Bensley Platform -- Summary

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 22:06:00 -0700

Summary:

The Bensley platform will be a landmark product launch.
Bensley will be a competitive server and workstation offering and the first good product based on Intel's dual core MPUs.
The technical improvements to look forward in Bensley platform:
- dual front side buses and the first implementation of FB-DIMMs.
- We have seen in the paper how the dual independent Bus and FBD's pioneer Bensley platforms to have edge over all the current Intel's platforms.

Bensley Platform -- The Architectural overview of the Platform:

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:47:00 -0700

The Architectural overview of the Platform

Let's take for our Illustration, an Architecture compromising the Blackford chipset (North Bridge) with the South Bridge, ESB2.
Here the Blackford chipset is paired with the Dempsey processor and is comprised of the Blackford Memory controller Hub (MCH), the Enterprise south Bridge 2(ESB2) and the I/O system.
This MCH is configured for symmetric multiprocessing across two independent front side bus interface that connect to the Dempsey processor.
This dual Independent bus architecture gives an improved performance by allowing increased front side bus speeds and Bandwidth.
Each front side bus on the MCH can operate at 64bit wide and the maximum of 1333 FSB (In case of Woodcrest Processor and 1066 FSB in case of Dempsey Processor) data bus and capable of transferring data at 8.5GB/s for a total bandwidth of 17GB/s.
The MCH supports a 36-bit wide address bus, capable of addressing upto 64GB of memory

Bensley Platform -- Major Components of Bensley Platform

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:44:00 -0700

Processor:

This processor is intended for high performance workstation and server systems. Several architectural and micro-architectural enhancements have been added to this processor including dual processor core in the processor package, an increased L2 cache size and a new instruction cache.
This Platform supports Multi- Core Intel Xeon processor of 5000 sequence which is made up of 65nm process technology.
This is a FC- LGA 771 socket based processor.
Each processor will have 4MB of L2 cache.
This Dual Core Intel Xeon processors 5000 sequence supports the system bus speeds of 667 MHz, 1066 MHz, and 1333 MHz
There are two types of processors are available that support this platform.
One is Dempsey processor and the other one is Woodcrest processor.
Dempsey processors ( refer Fig (4)) support maximum of 1066 FSB with dedicated 2MB L2 cache for each core and Woodcrest processors (refer Fig (5)) support the maximum of 1333 FSB with a 4MB of Shared L2 cache.

Bensley Platform -- Major Components of Bensley Platform

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:14:00 -0700

Using serial communication the number of wires needed to connect the chipset to the memory module is lower and also allows the creating of more memory channels, what increases memory performance.
With FB-DIMM technology it is possible to have up to eight modules per channel and up to six memory channels.
So this technology increases both memory capacity and speed.
Each extra memory channel that is added to the system increases the memory subsystem transfer rate.
For example, if you use a single DDR2-533 channel, the memory transfer rate will be of 4,264 MB/s.
If you use two DDR2-533 channels, as it happens on dual channel configuration available today, the memory transfer rate will be of 8,528 MB/s.
With four channels, the memory transfer rate jumps to 17,056 MB/s, and so on.
FB-DIMM serial communication uses 10 pairs of wires between the chipset and the memory sockets and 12 or 14 pairs of wires between the memory sockets and the chipset (Refer Fig 3).
Each pair of wires use differential transmission, i.e. the signal is transmitted on a wire and the same signal but inverted is transmitted on the other wire from the pair, using the same idea used on twisted pair networking cables.
This is done to ensure that the receiver is getting the data correctly.
Another important aspect of FB-DIMM is that it uses different paths for data transmission and data reception.
Standard DIMM modules use the same path to both transmit and receive data.
The system used on FB-DIMM modules helps to increase the performance of the memory subsystem

Bensley Platform -- Major Components of Bensley Platform

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:14:00 -0700

Memory

Fully Buffered DIMM (FB-DIMM) technology, new memories interconnect solution for server platforms.
FB-DIMM provides significant capacity and bandwidth improvements over existing DDR, DDR2 based systems.
FB-DIMM also provides enhanced RAS capabilities, a key requirement for server platforms..
FB-DIMM (Fully Buffered DIMM) is a memory module technology targeted to servers developed recently created in order to increase the memory speed and the maximum memory capacity of a server (refer Fig 2) .
The main difference between FB-DIMM modules and regular DIMM modules is that on FB-DIMM the communication between the memory controller (chipset) and the module is serial, in the same way that occurs with PCI Express, while on standard DIMM modules this communication is parallel.

Bensley Platform --Major Components of Bensley Platform:

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:13:00 -0700

The Enterprise south bridge (ESB2)

The Enterprise south bridge (ESB2) provides widely integrated I/O functionality, including features previously provided by the Intel ICH6, Intel 6700PXH 64bit PCI hub and the Baseboard management controller components.
The ESB2 component provides the data buffering and interface arbitration required to ensure that system interfaces operate efficiently and provide the bandwidth necessary to enable the system to obtain peak performance.
The ESB2 provides extensive I/O support, It's functionality and capabilities include:

- x4 / x8 PCI express dual interface to MCH at 1GB/s in each direction at full duplex

- Four PCI express root ports can be statically configured as 4x1 or 1x4; based on Hot plug supporting these ports

- PCI Express and PCI Power management support

- ACPI power management logic support

- Low pin count interface

Firmware Hub interface support

Bensley Platform

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:13:00 -0700

Major Components of Bensley Platform:

Chipsets

Chipsets plays a major role in the Bensley platform. As of now, we have three types of north bridge chipsets, viz.

(1) Blackford – Performance based Chipset

(2) Blackford-VS – Value added Chipset

(3) Green creek – Workstation based Chipset.

While the South Bridge will be ESB2 which will be common for all the three NB's mentioned above but with the utilization of the Chipset features will be in accordance with the needs of the Platform (whether it is performance or Value added or Workstation)

Bensley Platform

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:12:00 -0700

Bensley Platform- A Comparitive Understanding

Intel's shared bus architecture has several advantages; it is simple, easy to implement, cheap, and it is quite effective for two processor systems.
However, when you have four CPUs on a single shared bus, there is not a lot of bandwidth to go around and there is an increase in cache coherency traffic to boot.
All together, this makes Intel's shared bus a suboptimal solution for four processors or more.
Fortunately, Intel has gone to great lengths to address these issues in Bensley.
Figure 1 above shows a comparison of the Lindenhurst platform to the Bensley platform.
The main focus will be on the buses and the memory subsystem.
The figure is self Illustrative and throws a comparative understanding with on going Lindenhurst platform architectures.

Bensley Platform -- Why Bensley platform?

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:10:00 -0700

Why Bensley platform?

Intel's first venture into CMP server designs is the Paxville DP, which is currently available from the major system builders.
Paxville is a shared package design that uses the Lindenhurst chipset, and to some degree it is backward compatible with existing systems.
The main weakness of Paxville is that it relies on an older system architecture that was not intended for dual core processors.
While Paxville is certainly a viable upgrade path for older systems, it is quite clear that another platform will be needed to fully take advantage of dual core MPUs.
That platform will be the Bensley platform.

Bensley Platform -- What is Bensley platform?

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:08:00 -0700

What is Bensley platform?

The Bensley platform is a combination of the new generation chipset called Blackford, the Dempsey processor and some associated software and drivers.

The key features which truly mark Bensley as a high performance platform are the independent front side buses and the FB-DIMM memory subsystem.

At the same time, Intel will also integrate many of the harder to quantify factors into the Bensley platform such as RAS and manageability features.

White Paper on Bensley Platform

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:07:00 -0700

White paper on Bensley Platform:

Intorduction :

The White paper aims to show the features and components of Intel's next generation server platforms called Bensley. The paper focus on following points;

Bensley platforms- What & Why's
Components - Chipsets, Memory & CPU.
Architectural Overview of the Platform

4. Assigning Dialing rules

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 06:47:00 -0700

For accessing the RAS through the intercom we had to change the connection properties. On the general property we enable the dialing rules and the phone no given was a intercom no to which the RAS was connected.

3.User Creation and assigning Dial-in permission

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 06:46:00 -0700

For dialing from the client machine:- Right click on the icon for dialing è Connect

Then give the user name and password. Put the no to be dialed.

3.User Creation and assigning Dial-in permission

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 06:44:00 -0700

Providing access to the user for dialing in to the machine. Right click on the user and go to the properties. Click on the tab Dial-in and check on the option and Remote Access Permission (Dial-in or VPN) to Allow access.

3.User Creation and assigning Dial-in permission

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 06:43:00 -0700

New user creation

3.User Creation and assigning Dial-in permission

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 06:42:00 -0700

3. User Creation and assigning Dial-in permission

For dial up access the user should be having an account in the RAS server with the permission for dial in access.

To make the user with the dial-in access. The path as follows

My computer è (Rt click ) ManageèLocal Users and Groups

3.Dial up configuration at the client end

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:39:00 -0700

Then assign the user who can use. We have selected anyone use.

With this the wizard finishes. Check on the option to add an icon on the desktop.

3.Dial up configuration at the client end

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:38:00 -0700

Then we have to give a connection name

3.Dial up configuration at the client end

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:38:00 -0700

Then give the phone no to dial

3.Dial up configuration at the client end

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:37:00 -0700

Then after selecting the type of connection we have to select the way to connect to the inter network. We have selected the Dial-up connection.

3.Dial up configuration at the client end

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:34:00 -0700

After clicking Next button the wizard will ask about the type of network connection.

3.Dial up configuration at the client end

noreply@blogger.com (Mohan Hits) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:32:00 -0700

Then Double clicking on the New connection Wizard will bring the New Connection wizard,