HP 100GB Important information

Brand: HP

Model: 100GB

Type: Important information

ISS Technology Update Volume 9, Number 1

ISS Technolo

y Update

Volume 9, Number 1

Keeping you informed of the latest ISS technology

Recently published industry standard server technology papers ..............................................................1

How many bytes are in a GB?.................................................................................................................2

Quick tip: Disabling AMD

processor cores in ProLiant 300 series G5 and G6 servers...............................4

Quick tip: Efficient deployments—Sun Solaris 10 for x86/x64 Systems ....................................................5

Meet the Expert—Siamak Tavallaei..........................................................................................................6

Contact us ...............................................................................................................................................7

Recently published industry standard server technology papers

Title URL

Critical factors in intra-rack power distribution planning

for high-density systems

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c019488

92/c01948892.pdf

HP Power Supply Technology http://techcomm.cca.hp.com/whitepapers/2009/TC091110TB.pdf

HP ProLiant 100-series Intel-based G6 server technology,

3rd edition

http://techcomm.cca.hp.com/WhitePapers/2009/TC091203TB.pdf

HP Smart Array Controller technology, 3rd edition http://techcomm.cca.hp.com/WhitePapers/2009/TC091204TB.pdf

Using HP ProLiant Network Teaming Software with

Microsoft® Windows® Server 2008 Hyper-V or with

Microsoft® Windows® Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V

http://techcomm.cca.hp.com/whitepapers/2009/TC091111HT.pdf

Integrating HP tools for Linux deployment (HP SIM,

SSSTK, LinuxCOE, and PSP)

http://techcomm.cca.hp.com/WhitePapers/2009/TC091201HT.pdf

Industry standard server technical papers can be found at www.hp.com/servers/technology

ISS Technology Update Volume 9, Number 1

How many bytes are in a GB?

Storage device manufacturers and operating system developers answer this question differently. This is the reason why a

number of lawsuits have sprung up around the country, typically between storage device manufacturers and disgruntled

customers. For example, the capacity of a 300,000,000,000 byte drive is reported as 300 GB by storage device

manufacturers but is often reported as 279.4 GB or 286,102 MB by the OS. The variation stems from different interpretations

of the “prefixes” G and M.

Prefixes are the set of letters that precede units such as “bit” (b) and “byte” (B). The computing industry uses prefixes like kilo

(k), mega (M), giga (G), and tera (T) to describe disk storage capacity, file size, memory size, and data transmission rates (10

Gigabit Ethernet, 6 Gb/s SAS). The prefixes k, M, G, and T are from the International System of Units (SI), and they are

defined as powers of ten: 10

, 10

, and 10

, respectively. In many instances, however, the computer industry has

erroneously used these SI decimal prefixes to quantify binary multiples, which are based on powers of two: 2

, 2

, and

(see the note “How it started”). The error, and resulting confusion, due to the incorrect use of SI decimal prefixes for binary

multiples becomes more significant for larger multiples (see Table 1-1).

Disk drive manufacturers correctly use SI prefixes and power of ten values because drive capacity is not intrinsically a power of

two. Although drive capacity is a multiple of 512 bytes (n2

), it is not restricted to being 2

bytes. Software often reports drive

and file capacity by misusing SI prefixes with power of two values. This difference has resulted in lawsuits against some storage

product manufacturers since the OS may report the capacity of a 300 GB drive as "279.4 GB". To protect against legal

action, manufacturers typically include unnecessary disclaimers such as "When referring to hard drive capacity, one gigabyte,

or GB, equals one billion bytes and one terabyte, or TB, equals one trillion bytes."

Table 1-1. The difference (error) between decimal and binary is more significant as binary multiples increase.

Correct SI usage

Incorrect binary usage

Factor Value

Name Prefix

Factor Value

Error

1,000

kilo k 2

1,024

1,000,000

mega M 2

1,048,576

1,000,000,000

giga G 2

1,073,741,824

1,000,000,000,000

tera T 2

1,099,511,627,776

10%

1,000,000,000,000,000

peta P 2

1,125,899,906,842,624

13%

1,000,000,000,000,000,000

exa E 2

1,152,921,504,606,846,976

15%

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

zetta Z 2

1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424

18%

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

yotta Y 2

1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,17

21%

How it started

The size of a byte—the smallest amount of data a computer can access at once—is hardware dependent. The

modern de facto standard of 8 bits per byte is partly due to the IBM System/360 architecture introduced in the

1960s and the 8-bit microprocessors introduced in the 1970s. The IBM System/360 team was the first to

misuse SI prefixes to describe RAM capacity. They used the value "32k" to describe 321024 bits because it

was approximately 321000.

New binary prefixes

In 1998, the standards organization International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) adopted new prefixes for binary powers

based on recommendations by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and the National Institute of

Standards and Technology (NIST). The binary prefixes are defined in the international standard IEC 60027-2:2005, third

ISS Technology Update Volume 9, Number 1

edition, Letter symbols to be used in electrical technology – Part 2: Telecommunications and electronics. Table 1-2 lists the

names and symbols for the adopted binary prefixes. Pronounce the first two letters in each symbol like the corresponding SI unit

followed by "bi" (short for binary, but pronounced "bee"). For example, one kibibyte (pronounced ki-bee-byte) is written as

1 KiB = 2

B = 1024 B.

Table 1-2. Binary prefixes adopted by the IEC

Factor Value Name Symbol

1,024

kibi Ki

1,048,576

mebi Mi

1,073,741,824

gibi Gi

1,099,511,627,776

tebi Ti

1,125,899,906,842,624

pebi Pi

1,152,921,504,606,846,976

exbi Ei

1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424

zebi Zi

1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176

yobi Yi

Reducing the confusion

To reduce confusion, vendors are pursuing one of two remedies: they are changing SI prefixes to the new binary prefixes, or

they are recalculating the numbers as powers of ten.

For disk and file capacities, the latter remedy is more popular because it is much easier to recognize that 300 GB is the same

as 300,000 MB than to recognize that 279.4 GiB is the same as 286,102 MiB. For example, in 2009, the SourceForge web

site reported file sizes using binary prefixes for several months before changing back to SI prefixes but switching the file sizes to

powers of ten.

For memory capacities, binary prefixes are more natural. For example, reporting a Smart Array controller cache size of

512 MiB is preferable to reporting it as 536.9 MB.

HP is considering modifying its storage utilities to report disk capacity with correct decimal and binary values side-by-side (for

example, "300 GB (279.4 GiB)"), and report cache sizes with binary prefixes ("1 GiB"). Let us know what you think. Provide

your comments to the HP Reality Check: Server Insights blog at http://www.communities.hp.com/online/blogs/reality-check-

server-insights/default.aspx.

Additional resources

For additional information on the topics discussed in this article, visit the following sites:

Resource URL

SI prefixes

http://www.bipm.org/en/si/si_brochure/chapter3/prefixes.html

IEC article : Prefixes for binary multiples

http://www.iec.ch/zone/si/si_bytes.htm

Binary prefixes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix

Reprinted with permission of the IEC (see Legal Notices).

ISS Technology Update Volume 9, Number 1

Quick tip: Disabling AMD

processor cores in ProLiant 300 series G5 and G6

servers

In ProLiant AMD 300-series G5 and G6 servers, RBSU options are available to disable processor cores. Operating systems and

applications can recognize the reduced core count so that fewer software licenses may be required. Reducing core count

recognition has the potential to reduce software licensing costs. Also, applications can benefit from increased memory

bandwidth and increased cache per core. The mechanisms and options to disable processor cores vary depending on the

installed AMD or Intel processor and whether the HP ProLiant server is Generation 5 or 6.

This article describes the available options to disable cores on ProLiant AMD 300 series (the option to disable cores is not

supported on ProLiant AMD 100 series servers) G5 and G6 servers using HP Core Disable technology and AMD Core Select

technology™.

HP Core Disable technology

For HP ProLiant G5 servers using earlier models of the AMD processor (2300/8300 series), the RBSU offers a core disable

option based on HP Core Disable technology. With this technology, the user can configure the server such that all cores are

enabled or half the cores are enabled (see Table 1). The option to enable only one core is not present in the currently released

BIOS updates.

HP Note

The lack of support for single-core operation is based on observations with Systems ROMPaq Firmware

Upgrade for HP ProLiant DL385 G5 (A09) Servers Version: 2009.07.11 (A) (11 Sep 2009).

AMD Core Select technology

AMD Core Select is offered on HP ProLiant G6 servers that are configured with an AMD 2400 or 8400 series processor and

the latest System ROM supporting this feature. AMD Core Select lets administrators use the RBSU to select the number of

software-visible cores per CPU. This selection range includes a minimum of one, up to the full number of supported cores as

shown in Table 1.

Table 1. HP Core Disable and AMD Core Select support in ProLiant AMD G5 and G6 servers

Server Platform Technology AMD Processor Core options

ProLiant AMD G5 HP Core Disable 2300/8300 series All cores enabled

1/2 cores enabled

ProLiant AMD G6

AMD Core Select

2400/8400 series All cores enabled

5 cores enabled

4 cores enabled

3 cores enabled

2 cores enabled

1 cores enabled

Additional resources

For additional information on the topics discussed in this article, visit the following sites:

Resource URL

Technology and architecture of HP ProLiant AMD-

based 300-series G6 (Generation 6) servers

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual

/c01889304/c01889304.pdf?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

ISS Technology Update Volume 9, Number 1

Quick tip: Efficient deployments—Sun Solaris 10 for x86/x64 Systems

To successfully deploy Sun Solaris 10 for x86/x64 on HP ProLiant Servers, thoroughly read the following documentation:

 The Deployment Guide for HP ProLiant Servers Sun Solaris 10 for x86/x64 Systems, which is available at

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportMan

ual/c01153970/c01153970.pdf?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN.

 The user guide appropriate for your HP Smart Array controller, available at

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/proliantstorage/ar

raycontrollers/documentation.html?jumpid=reg_R1002_

USEN.

IMPORTANT:

Using ProLiant technologies and applying Solaris deployment mechanisms to ProLiant servers

involves complex technologies. If questions arise during the deployment, record the questions

and research them after the deployment completes. During the deployment, carefully follow the

processes outlined in the deployment guide. To successfully configure these technologies, you

must follow the deployment guide carefully and completely.

Common issues

The following two issues commonly arise during deployment:

 Entering commands and creating configuration files—When typing long command-line strings or manually creating

configuration files, make sure to follow the syntax exactly as shown in the deployment guide. The commands and files must

be typed precisely as shown.

 Drivers not available on the Solaris media—The Smart Array driver and the Broadcom NetXtreme II network driver are not

included on the Solaris media. These drivers must be available on the system during the operating system installation as

follows:

– When installing to disks attached to a Smart Array controller, the miniroot must have the array driver so that the Solaris

software can be installed onto the disks. See the deployment guide for information on installing the Smart Array driver,

cpqary3, into the miniroot.

– For network-based deployments, the miniroot must have a driver before the network interface can be used. See the

deployment guide for information on installing the Broadcom NetXtreme II driver, bnx, into the miniroot.

Before beginning the deployment, review the “Known issues” section of the deployment guide for issues that may occur during

the deployment, particularly the following:

 Hard drives not seen after CPQary3 added to miniroot

 “No Driver bind” or “No Disks found” message seen after HP drivers are added to the miniroot

Tuning and best practices

The deployment guide does not cover ProLiant tuning for Solaris nor best practices for Solaris Zettabyte File System (ZFS) or

Fault Management Architecture (FMA). For information on tuning and best practices, see the Sun Microsystems BigAdmin

System Resources and Community website at

www.sun.com/bigadmin/home/index.jsp?baMainView=solaris&baSubView

=solaris.

ISS Technology Update Volume 9, Number 1

Meet the Expert—Siamak Tavallaei

Siamak Tavallaei, a Distinguished Technologist with HP Industry Standard Servers

(ISS) Platform Architecture and Technology, is a leading HP expert on Intel

processors and chipsets, primarily with HP ProLiant 500 series platforms. His

expertise includes processor architecture, cache coherency, memory sub-systems,

legacy components, fabric/IO interfaces to processor and peripheral components,

and storage and network controllers.

That’s not all. Siamak collaborates externally with customers, technology vendors,

suppliers, and industry partners; he also collaborates internally with product

development and marketing organizations to arrive at optimal solutions that satisfy

customer needs.

Handling such a long list of responsibilities requires exceptional skill. Gene

Freeman, his manager, lauds Siamak’s outstanding analytical ability by saying,

“He can take any subject and break it down to fine levels of detail for careful

analysis.” Gene points out that Siamak is very active in HP ISS Technology Tour

events, HP ISS Technology Exchanges, and the HP ISS Technology Advisory

Council. He also participates with HP Business Critical Systems (BCS) as a solution

architect for mission critical customers, adding his x86 expertise to the Itanium

perspective to help solve customers' difficult problems.

Early lessons pay dividends

Siamak and his wife, Linda, have a daughter (11) and a son (7). Siamak

volunteers as a den leader with his son’s Cub Scout pack, where he enjoys

teaching lifelong principles to the cub scouts. Early on, Siamak learned the

principal lessons from his parents and teachers to think, experiment, build, and teach. He observed his father’s meticulous

attention to detail and marveled at his creations. Siamak’s middle school mathematics teacher provoked him to think hard until

his brain got hot. He was fortunate to have science teachers who let him experiment in the physics and chemistry labs; and his

mother encouraged him to share his learning with others.

Name: Siamak Tavallaei

Title:

Distinguished Technologist, HP

Industry Standard Servers

Years at HP: 19

University: MS and BS Electrical

Engineering, Utah State University

BS, Applied Mathematics; BS, Electronics

Engineering Technology, Outstanding

Mathematics Graduate

Weber State University

On the forefront of InfiniBand

Siamak has developed useful innovations into a number of multi-processor ProLiant servers that has led to their successful

production. But one of his career highlights with HP occurred during two years of intense competitive collaboration with industry

leaders to develop the specification for InfiniBand. It required tremendous finesse in balancing technical prowess, company

business needs, social interactions, and leadership within a group of expert volunteers from competing companies.

Solutions driven by customer input

When asked about the role that customer input plays in product development, Siamak said, “Our solutions are mostly driven by

customers’ stated desires, but it is their unstated needs that provide a richer opportunity for innovation. To profitably meet such

requirements, I constantly look for opportunities to adapt existing technologies, to develop new ones, or to invent useful

solutions.”

Collaboration with industry partners

Siamak believes that the strength of HP comes not only from the expertise of its engineers, but also from their interaction with

industry partners. For example, HP participates internationally in over 200 standards organizations through more than 500

technical committees. HP engineers help develop specifications for memory, wired and wireless telecommunications, storage,

management software, information technology and security, ANSI, IEEE, ISO/IEC, and so forth. HP also works closely with

industry partners that develop processors, memory, storage, and networking components.

ISS Technology Update Volume 7, Number 10

Legal Notices

change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty

statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an

additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

AMD and AMD Opteron are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

Intel, Intel Xeon, and Intel Itanium are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries.

Thanks to the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) for permission to reproduce information from its

for the placement and context in which the extracts and contents are reproduced by the author, nor is IEC in any

way responsible for the other content or accuracy therein”.

Indu

stry standard server technical papers can be found at www.hp.com/servers/technology

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HP 100GB Important information

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