Configuration curves

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Overview

"Configuration Curves" is a high-density, performance-focused server configuration designed to balance computational power, storage capacity, and network throughput for demanding enterprise workloads. This document provides a detailed technical overview, covering hardware specifications, performance characteristics, recommended use cases, comparisons to similar configurations, and crucial maintenance considerations. The name “Configuration Curves” refers to the configuration’s ability to efficiently handle workloads with varying demands – “curving” its resources to meet them.

1. Hardware Specifications

This section details the components chosen for the Configuration Curves server build. The goal was to optimize for both performance and density within a 2U form factor.

1.1 Processor

  • **Model:** Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8480+ (Golden Cove Architecture)
  • **Cores/Threads:** 56 Cores / 112 Threads per CPU (Total 112 Cores / 224 Threads)
  • **Base Clock Speed:** 2.0 GHz
  • **Max Turbo Frequency:** 3.8 GHz
  • **Cache:** 36MB Intel Smart Cache per CPU
  • **TDP:** 350W per CPU
  • **Socket:** LGA 4677
  • **PCIe Support:** PCIe 5.0 (x8 per CPU) – See PCI Express Standards for details.
  • **AVX-512 Support:** Full AVX-512 support for accelerated scientific computing and AI workloads – See AVX-512 Instruction Set

1.2 Memory

  • **Type:** 16 x 32GB DDR5 ECC Registered DIMMs (512GB Total)
  • **Speed:** 5600 MHz
  • **Channels:** 8 Channels per CPU (16 channels total)
  • **Capacity per DIMM:** 32GB
  • **Latency:** CL36 – See DDR5 Memory Technology for details
  • **Rank:** 2Rx8 - important for maximizing memory bandwidth.

1.3 Storage

  • **Boot Drive:** 1 x 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4 SSD (Samsung 990 Pro) – Used for the operating system and critical applications. See NVMe Storage Architecture.
  • **Primary Storage:** 8 x 8TB SAS 12Gbps 7.2K RPM Enterprise Hard Drives (72TB Total) in RAID 6 configuration. Utilizing a hardware RAID controller (see section 1.5). – See SAS Interface Technology
  • **Write Cache:** Hardware RAID controller with 4GB of NV Flash Write Cache.
  • **Optional Expansion:** 2 x U.2 NVMe slots available for additional high-performance storage (up to 32TB total).

1.4 Networking

  • **Onboard:** 2 x 25GbE SFP28 ports.
  • **Add-in Card:** Mellanox ConnectX-7 200GbE Network Interface Card (NIC) with RDMA support. – See RDMA Technology
  • **MAC Address:** Unique MAC addresses assigned to each port.
  • **VLAN Support:** 802.1Q VLAN tagging supported.

1.5 RAID Controller

  • **Model:** Broadcom MegaRAID SAS 9460-8i
  • **Interface:** PCIe 4.0 x8
  • **RAID Levels Supported:** RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60. Configured as RAID 6 for data redundancy. – See RAID Technology
  • **Cache:** 4GB NV Flash.
  • **Processor:** Tri-Core RAID Processor.

1.6 Power Supply

  • **Quantity:** 2 x 1600W 80+ Platinum Redundant Power Supplies
  • **Input Voltage:** 100-240V AC
  • **Output Voltage:** 12V, 5V, 3.3V
  • **Efficiency:** 94% at 50% load.
  • **Connectors:** Multiple PCIe power connectors, SATA power connectors, and Molex connectors. – See Server Power Supplies

1.7 Motherboard

  • **Form Factor:** 2U Rackmount
  • **Chipset:** Intel C741
  • **Expansion Slots:** 2 x PCIe 5.0 x16 (occupied by NIC), 1 x PCIe 4.0 x8 (available for expansion), 1 x PCIe 4.0 x4 (available for expansion).
  • **BMC:** Integrated Baseboard Management Controller (IPMI 2.0 compliant) for remote management. – See BMC and IPMI

1.8 Chassis

  • **Form Factor:** 2U Rackmount
  • **Material:** Steel
  • **Cooling:** Redundant hot-swappable fans with N+1 redundancy. – See Server Cooling Systems
  • **Drive Bays:** 8 x 3.5" Hot-Swappable SAS/SATA drive bays.


Component Specification
CPU Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8480+
Memory 512GB DDR5 ECC Registered 5600MHz
Boot Drive 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD
Primary Storage 72TB SAS 12Gbps RAID 6
Networking 25GbE (onboard) + 200GbE (add-in)
RAID Controller Broadcom MegaRAID SAS 9460-8i
Power Supply 2 x 1600W 80+ Platinum Redundant
Form Factor 2U Rackmount

2. Performance Characteristics

This configuration is designed for high throughput and low latency. Here's a breakdown of its performance characteristics.

2.1 CPU Performance

  • **SPECint®2017:** 280 (estimated) – A measure of integer processing performance. – See SPEC CPU Benchmarks
  • **SPECfp®2017:** 350 (estimated) – A measure of floating-point processing performance.
  • **Passmark CPU Mark:** 32,000 (estimated)

2.2 Storage Performance

  • **Boot Drive (NVMe):** Sequential Read: 7,000 MB/s, Sequential Write: 5,500 MB/s, IOPS: 800K (random read/write).
  • **SAS RAID 6 Array:** Sequential Read: 1,800 MB/s, Sequential Write: 1,200 MB/s, IOPS: 50K (random read/write). – Performance will vary based on RAID controller and workload.
  • **Latency (SAS RAID 6):** Average latency of 3-5ms.

2.3 Network Performance

  • **25GbE:** Up to 25 Gbps throughput with low latency.
  • **200GbE:** Up to 200 Gbps throughput with RDMA support, achieving sub-millisecond latency for supported applications. – See Network Performance Metrics

2.4 Real-World Performance

  • **Virtualization (VMware vSphere):** Supports up to 100 virtual machines with 8 vCPUs and 32GB RAM each, with minimal performance degradation. – See Server Virtualization
  • **Database (PostgreSQL):** Handles up to 50,000 transactions per second (TPS) with appropriate indexing and query optimization.
  • **High-Performance Computing (HPC):** Excellent performance for parallel processing workloads due to the high core count and memory bandwidth.
  • **Data Analytics (Spark):** Fast data processing and analysis due to the large memory capacity and fast storage.

2.5 Benchmarking Tools Used

  • **PassMark PerformanceTest:** For overall system performance assessment.
  • **Iometer:** For detailed storage performance analysis.
  • **iperf3:** For network throughput testing.
  • **SPEC CPU 2017:** For CPU performance benchmarking.

3. Recommended Use Cases

The Configuration Curves server is ideally suited for the following applications:

  • **Virtualization Host:** High core count, large memory capacity, and fast storage make it an excellent virtualization platform.
  • **Database Server:** Handles large databases and high transaction volumes effectively.
  • **High-Performance Computing (HPC):** Ideal for scientific simulations, financial modeling, and other computationally intensive tasks.
  • **Data Analytics:** Supports big data analytics workloads with fast data processing and analysis.
  • **Video Encoding/Transcoding:** The powerful CPUs and ample memory accelerate video processing tasks.
  • **In-Memory Computing:** The large memory capacity supports in-memory databases and caching solutions.
  • **AI/Machine Learning:** Supports training and inference workloads with AVX-512 acceleration. – See AI and Server Hardware

4. Comparison with Similar Configurations

This section compares Configuration Curves with two other common server configurations.

Feature Configuration Curves Configuration A (Balanced) Configuration B (Cost-Optimized)
CPU Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8480+ Dual Intel Xeon Gold 6338 Dual Intel Xeon Silver 4310
Memory 512GB DDR5 5600MHz 256GB DDR4 3200MHz 128GB DDR4 2666MHz
Storage 1TB NVMe + 72TB SAS RAID 6 1TB NVMe + 36TB SAS RAID 5 512GB NVMe + 24TB SAS RAID 5
Networking 25/200GbE 10/25GbE 1GbE
Power Supply 2 x 1600W Platinum 2 x 1200W Gold 2 x 800W Bronze
Price (estimated) $25,000 - $35,000 $15,000 - $20,000 $8,000 - $12,000
Ideal Use Case Demanding Workloads (HPC, AI, Large Databases) General Purpose, Virtualization, Mid-Size Databases Basic Web Hosting, Small Databases, Development/Testing
  • **Configuration A (Balanced):** Offers a good balance between performance and cost. Suitable for general-purpose server workloads. Lower CPU core count and memory capacity compared to Configuration Curves.
  • **Configuration B (Cost-Optimized):** Focuses on minimizing cost. Suitable for less demanding workloads. Significantly lower performance compared to Configuration Curves.

5. Maintenance Considerations

Proper maintenance is crucial for ensuring the long-term reliability and performance of the Configuration Curves server.

5.1 Cooling

  • **Airflow:** Ensure proper airflow within the server rack. Hot air should be exhausted from the rear of the rack, and cool air should be drawn in from the front. – See Server Rack Cooling
  • **Fan Monitoring:** Regularly monitor the status of the redundant hot-swappable fans. Replace any failed fans promptly.
  • **Dust Control:** Clean the server and rack regularly to prevent dust buildup, which can impede airflow and cause overheating.
  • **Ambient Temperature:** Maintain an ambient server room temperature between 20°C and 25°C (68°F and 77°F).

5.2 Power Requirements

  • **Power Consumption:** Maximum power consumption can exceed 700W under full load. Ensure the server rack and power distribution units (PDUs) can provide sufficient power.
  • **Redundancy:** The redundant power supplies provide failover protection in case of a power supply failure.
  • **UPS:** Consider using an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) to protect against power outages. – See UPS Systems for Servers

5.3 Storage Maintenance

  • **RAID Monitoring:** Regularly monitor the health of the SAS RAID array. Replace any failing hard drives promptly.
  • **SMART Monitoring:** Enable SMART monitoring for all hard drives to detect potential failures before they occur. – See SMART Drive Monitoring
  • **Firmware Updates:** Keep the RAID controller firmware up to date.
  • **Data Backups:** Implement a regular data backup strategy to protect against data loss.

5.4 Remote Management

  • **IPMI Access:** Utilize the Integrated Baseboard Management Controller (IPMI) for remote server management, including power control, monitoring, and firmware updates. – See BMC and IPMI
  • **Secure Access:** Secure IPMI access with strong passwords and access control lists.

5.5 Software Updates

  • **Operating System:** Keep the operating system and all installed software up to date with the latest security patches and bug fixes.
  • **Firmware:** Regularly update the firmware for all server components, including the motherboard, RAID controller, and network interface cards.

Server Hardware Rackmount Servers Server Virtualization RAID Technology PCI Express Standards DDR5 Memory Technology NVMe Storage Architecture Server Cooling Systems Server Power Supplies BMC and IPMI Network Performance Metrics SAS Interface Technology AVX-512 Instruction Set AI and Server Hardware Server Rack Cooling UPS Systems for Servers SMART Drive Monitoring SPEC CPU Benchmarks ```


Intel-Based Server Configurations

Configuration Specifications Benchmark
Core i7-6700K/7700 Server 64 GB DDR4, NVMe SSD 2 x 512 GB CPU Benchmark: 8046
Core i7-8700 Server 64 GB DDR4, NVMe SSD 2x1 TB CPU Benchmark: 13124
Core i9-9900K Server 128 GB DDR4, NVMe SSD 2 x 1 TB CPU Benchmark: 49969
Core i9-13900 Server (64GB) 64 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe SSD
Core i9-13900 Server (128GB) 128 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe SSD
Core i5-13500 Server (64GB) 64 GB RAM, 2x500 GB NVMe SSD
Core i5-13500 Server (128GB) 128 GB RAM, 2x500 GB NVMe SSD
Core i5-13500 Workstation 64 GB DDR5 RAM, 2 NVMe SSD, NVIDIA RTX 4000

AMD-Based Server Configurations

Configuration Specifications Benchmark
Ryzen 5 3600 Server 64 GB RAM, 2x480 GB NVMe CPU Benchmark: 17849
Ryzen 7 7700 Server 64 GB DDR5 RAM, 2x1 TB NVMe CPU Benchmark: 35224
Ryzen 9 5950X Server 128 GB RAM, 2x4 TB NVMe CPU Benchmark: 46045
Ryzen 9 7950X Server 128 GB DDR5 ECC, 2x2 TB NVMe CPU Benchmark: 63561
EPYC 7502P Server (128GB/1TB) 128 GB RAM, 1 TB NVMe CPU Benchmark: 48021
EPYC 7502P Server (128GB/2TB) 128 GB RAM, 2 TB NVMe CPU Benchmark: 48021
EPYC 7502P Server (128GB/4TB) 128 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe CPU Benchmark: 48021
EPYC 7502P Server (256GB/1TB) 256 GB RAM, 1 TB NVMe CPU Benchmark: 48021
EPYC 7502P Server (256GB/4TB) 256 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe CPU Benchmark: 48021
EPYC 9454P Server 256 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe

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⚠️ *Note: All benchmark scores are approximate and may vary based on configuration. Server availability subject to stock.* ⚠️

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