SUN’s UltraSparc T1 - the Next Generation Server CPUs
by Johan De Gelas on December 29, 2005 10:03 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Virtualization
Virtualization is an important trend in the server world. Our own experiences with it (for example, VMWare ESX server and MS Virtual Server) show that it is not completely ready for prime time. As an example, we experienced a crash of the Console OS, the linux based OS that controls the Virtual Layer. There is also no support for a 64-bit Guest OS, the OS needs to be binary translated and so on. All this will change with the introduction of hardware supported Virtualization.
The UltraSparc T1 has support for a Hypervisor, which is IBM talk for Virtual Monitor or the virtual layer that runs under the Guest OS. Solaris has excellent support for containers or zones. These are software based partitions[4] in Solaris, and the objective is similar to virtualization: high isolation. Each zone can be individually re-booted, dynamically created and errors in one zone won't affect other zones. This makes the T1 even more suited as a host for multiple tens of websites supporting different clients, as each web server can run in a separate zone on the Solaris OS.
However, when it comes to running different OS, Intel has the advantage. VMWare is going to introduce several server products that make use of Intel's VT technology, and Vmware workstation, Xen and MS Virtual Server can already use Intel's VT technology. (It must be noted that MS Virtual Server is not really a Virtual Machine Monitor as Xen and VMWare ESX server: it needs Windows 2003 or XP to run). So, Intel has the advantage in this arena, while SUN is apparently working hard to get Xen and Linux support for the T1.
Niagara 2
Right now, SUN is definitely a few steps ahead of the competition and it is not sitting still. The 65 nm Niagara 2 is due in 2007 and will feature a slightly higher clock speed (1.4 GHz and higher) and two pipelines [3] per core instead of one. Combined with 8 threads per core, this should allow the new CPU to achieve nearly twice as high IPC per core. The integration will go one step further: X8 PCI Express, a multi-port Gbit Ethernet switch, and more encryption hardware support will be integrated in Niagara-2. The integrated memory controller will also support fully buffered DIMMs.
Based on the technology in the current T1, SUN seems to be on schedule, and they are creating some very compelling designs. There are certainly many ways to tackle computing problems, and it's good to see some new approaches other than the standard "more cache" and "higher clock speeds" that are so common.
References
[1] NIAGARA: A 32-WAY MULTITHREADED SPARC PROCESSOR
- Poonacha Kongetira,Kathirgamar Aingaran, Kunle Olukotun, Sun Microsystems
[2] SUN T1 benchmarks
http://www.sun.com/servers/coolthreads/t1000/benchmarks.jsp [3] Maximizing CMP Throughput with Mediocre Cores - John D. Davis, James Laudon†, Kunle Olukotun
[4] Solaris 10 - What's coming in 2004- Chris Rijk
http://www.aceshardware.com/read_news.jsp?id=75000449 [5] Niagara, a Torrent of threads- Chris Rijk
http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=65000292 [6] APPLICATIONS ON ULTRASPARC T1 CHIP MULTITHREADING SYSTEMS
Denis Sheahan, UltraSPARC T1 Architecture Group
Virtualization is an important trend in the server world. Our own experiences with it (for example, VMWare ESX server and MS Virtual Server) show that it is not completely ready for prime time. As an example, we experienced a crash of the Console OS, the linux based OS that controls the Virtual Layer. There is also no support for a 64-bit Guest OS, the OS needs to be binary translated and so on. All this will change with the introduction of hardware supported Virtualization.
The UltraSparc T1 has support for a Hypervisor, which is IBM talk for Virtual Monitor or the virtual layer that runs under the Guest OS. Solaris has excellent support for containers or zones. These are software based partitions[4] in Solaris, and the objective is similar to virtualization: high isolation. Each zone can be individually re-booted, dynamically created and errors in one zone won't affect other zones. This makes the T1 even more suited as a host for multiple tens of websites supporting different clients, as each web server can run in a separate zone on the Solaris OS.
However, when it comes to running different OS, Intel has the advantage. VMWare is going to introduce several server products that make use of Intel's VT technology, and Vmware workstation, Xen and MS Virtual Server can already use Intel's VT technology. (It must be noted that MS Virtual Server is not really a Virtual Machine Monitor as Xen and VMWare ESX server: it needs Windows 2003 or XP to run). So, Intel has the advantage in this arena, while SUN is apparently working hard to get Xen and Linux support for the T1.
Niagara 2
Right now, SUN is definitely a few steps ahead of the competition and it is not sitting still. The 65 nm Niagara 2 is due in 2007 and will feature a slightly higher clock speed (1.4 GHz and higher) and two pipelines [3] per core instead of one. Combined with 8 threads per core, this should allow the new CPU to achieve nearly twice as high IPC per core. The integration will go one step further: X8 PCI Express, a multi-port Gbit Ethernet switch, and more encryption hardware support will be integrated in Niagara-2. The integrated memory controller will also support fully buffered DIMMs.
Based on the technology in the current T1, SUN seems to be on schedule, and they are creating some very compelling designs. There are certainly many ways to tackle computing problems, and it's good to see some new approaches other than the standard "more cache" and "higher clock speeds" that are so common.
References
[1] NIAGARA: A 32-WAY MULTITHREADED SPARC PROCESSOR
- Poonacha Kongetira,Kathirgamar Aingaran, Kunle Olukotun, Sun Microsystems
[2] SUN T1 benchmarks
http://www.sun.com/servers/coolthreads/t1000/benchmarks.jsp [3] Maximizing CMP Throughput with Mediocre Cores - John D. Davis, James Laudon†, Kunle Olukotun
[4] Solaris 10 - What's coming in 2004- Chris Rijk
http://www.aceshardware.com/read_news.jsp?id=75000449 [5] Niagara, a Torrent of threads- Chris Rijk
http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=65000292 [6] APPLICATIONS ON ULTRASPARC T1 CHIP MULTITHREADING SYSTEMS
Denis Sheahan, UltraSPARC T1 Architecture Group
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thesix - Thursday, December 29, 2005 - link
"Hypervisor" is a technology used mostly by IBM from mainframe days. Every system vendor can implement this technology in their systems.pmurphy - Thursday, December 29, 2005 - link
Actually lets start by saying you're missed on aceshardware.. and I do have to wonder how you felt about the oath of allegiance to Intel anandtech requires?Ah well, all that aside the most glaring omission with respect to the Niagara II is the fact that it has a full floating point component in each core - meaning that the current floating point limitation will largely go away.
In addition: you cite (as a lot of other people do to) this 1.2Ghz "maximum" as if it had reality - it does not. As issued, the T1 incorporates some design trade-offs that make higher cycle rates impractical, but those are the result of engineering vs. marketing (time and cost) trade-offs, not inherent consequences of the technology. Sun has faster test units running now - with very high end products in the pipeline.
defter - Thursday, December 29, 2005 - link
"Ah well, all that aside the most glaring omission with respect to the Niagara II is the fact that it has a full floating point component in each core - meaning that the current floating point limitation will largely go away."Floating point limitation won't go away, 8 FPUs@1.4GHz will just make floating point capabilities of the chip somehow useful. For the comparison dual-core Opteron has 6 FPUs@2.4GHz NOW and in 2007 there will be quad-core Opterons (12 FPUs) available.
As somebody already mentioned, performance/$ is also very important. While T1 is way faster than any other chip, I guess it will cost much more, probably more than 2 high end dual-core Opterons.
I'm not saying that T1 isn't good. It is, but only in certain tasks.
JohanAnandtech - Thursday, December 29, 2005 - link
I don't think it is a tradition at Anandtech to swear allegiance to Intel, or either they have forgotten to tell me.:-)All jokes aside, When I say Intel has the advantage on hardware VT technology and the software support needed, that is solely based on facts. Sun is actively trying to get full support of Xen (VM), and also Linux and FreeBSD OS support, but for the moment T1 is Solaris only if you want good software support.
AFAIK there is no indication that SUN can go much faster than 1.2 GHz. To let the 4 threads access a 5.7 KB register file in one cycle is probably limiting the clockspeed, and the 6 stage pipeline is another clear indication that this CPU won't clock much higher. SUN counting on 65 nm to increase the clockspeed higher (1.4 GHz and more) is another indication.
ravedave - Thursday, December 29, 2005 - link
When might we expect to see Anandtech benchmarks? 1-2 months?Puddleglum - Thursday, December 29, 2005 - link
The [2] SUN T1 benchmarks reference link is pointing to a bizarre location at intel.com. The text says sun.com, but the link points to intel.com.It should be fixed to point to: http://www.sun.com/servers/coolthreads/t1000/bench...">http://www.sun.com/servers/coolthreads/t1000/bench...
ncage - Thursday, December 29, 2005 - link
It looks like sun is back with a vengance. This thing seems perfect for the server market. I am really suprised that they were able to get their $hit back together. I dought the single threaded performance on this thing would be that great but, then again, who cares this thing is a server not a workstation made for single threaded use. This thing would be perfect for virtualization. I don't know if this is possible for solaris or maybe vmware/ms virtual server will have this feature in the future but hopefully they will allow you to allocate which core to which virtualization layer that you want. So say your running 4 OS and you have 8 cores. You allocate 2 cores to each OS. You notice that 2 of the four high really high cpu utilization. You could then dynamically add one more core to each of the virtualized OS that had high cpu usage from the ones that had low cpu usage. For those of you who think virtualization isn't a big deal...now wouldnt' this be cool.Slaimus - Thursday, December 29, 2005 - link
Are these benchmarks all running similar TCP/IP stacks? We all know solaris 10 has a new TCP/IP stack that is much faster than linux.Puddleglum - Thursday, December 29, 2005 - link
The benchmarks are from Sun's website (http://www.sun.com/servers/coolthreads/t1000/bench...">link)"SPECjAppServer2004 is the only industry-standard benchmark used for Java Enterprise Edition application servers."
So, yes, you can assume they're all using the same TCP/IP stack. But, as the article mentions: "Of course, this is an ideal benchmark for the T1 with many java threads."