Technical Documentation: Security Incident Response Server Configuration (SIRP-X1)

This document details the technical specifications, performance metrics, and operational guidelines for the **SIRP-X1** server configuration, purpose-built to serve as the central hub for Security Incident Response Planning (SIRP) and forensic data acquisition within enterprise environments. This specialized platform prioritizes data integrity, high-speed I/O for volatile memory capture, and robust cryptographic acceleration.

1. Hardware Specifications

The SIRP-X1 configuration is designed around resilience and forensic readiness, utilizing enterprise-grade components with validated hardware root-of-trust features.

1.1 System Board and Chassis

The foundation is a dual-socket, 2U rackmount chassis optimized for dense storage and high-airflow cooling.

SIRP-X1 System Board and Chassis Overview
Feature	Specification
Form Factor	2U Rackmount (920mm depth)
Motherboard Model	Supermicro X13DPH-T (Custom Firmware v1.02)
CPU Sockets	2x LGA 4677 (Dual Socket)
PCIe Generation Support	PCIe 5.0 (Up to 128 GT/s per link)
Total PCIe Slots (Available)	7x PCIe 5.0 x16 slots (5 accessible for add-in cards)
Trusted Platform Module (TPM)	Infineon OPTIGA TPM 2.0 (Discrete, physically secured)
Chassis Management Controller (BMC)	ASPEED AST2600 (IPMI 2.0 Compliant, dedicated NIC)
Power Supply Redundancy	2x 2000W Platinum Rated (N+1)

1.2 Central Processing Units (CPUs)

The selection emphasizes high core counts for concurrent processing of analysis tasks (e.g., malware detonation, large dataset indexing) while maintaining strong single-thread performance for rapid parsing of incident logs.

SIRP-X1 CPU Configuration
Parameter	CPU 1 Specification	CPU 2 Specification
Processor Model	Intel Xeon Platinum 8480+ (Sapphire Rapids)
Core Count / Thread Count	56 Cores / 112 Threads
Base Clock Frequency	2.1 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency (Single Core)	3.8 GHz
Total Cores / Threads	112 Cores / 224 Threads (System Total)
L3 Cache (Total)	112 MB per CPU (224 MB Total)
Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) Extensions	AVX-512, AMX (Advanced Matrix Extensions)
Cryptographic Acceleration	Intel QuickAssist Technology (QAT) 2.0 Integrated

The integrated Advanced Matrix Extensions (AMX) are crucial for accelerating deep learning models used in advanced threat detection and anomaly scoring during incident triage.

1.3 Memory Subsystem (RAM)

Memory capacity and speed are paramount for handling large memory dumps (RAM captures) from compromised systems, which can easily exceed 1TB for modern enterprise workstations or servers. The configuration utilizes high-density, low-latency ECC Registered DDR5 modules.

SIRP-X1 Memory Configuration
Parameter	Specification
Total Installed Capacity	4096 GB (4 TB)
Module Type	DDR5 ECC RDIMM (Registered Dual In-line Memory Module)
Module Density	128 GB per DIMM
Total DIMM Slots Populated	32 of 32 slots
Memory Speed (Effective)	4800 MT/s (Running at JEDEC standard for dual-socket stability)
Memory Channels Utilized	8 Channels per CPU (16 Total)
Memory Bandwidth (Theoretical Peak)	~768 GB/s

The high channel count ensures that memory bandwidth does not become a bottleneck when performing memory forensics, such as volatility analysis or cross-referencing process lists against known indicators of compromise (IOCs). Memory Forensics is a primary workload for this system.

1.4 Storage Architecture

Forensic integrity requires write-once, high-speed storage for evidence acquisition, coupled with high-endurance NVMe drives for analysis scratch space and operating system operations.

1.4.1 Operating System and Analysis Drives (NVMe)

These drives host the SIRP environment, analysis tools (e.g., FTK Imager, Volatility Framework), and the operating system.

SIRP-X1 Primary (OS/Analysis) Storage
Drive Slot	Model / Type	Capacity	Interface / Protocol	Endurance (TBW)
OS Boot (Mirrored)	Samsung PM1743 NVMe U.2	1.92 TB (x2)	PCIe 5.0 x4	6.5K TBW
Analysis Scratch Space	Micron 6500 ION NVMe U.2	7.68 TB (x4)	PCIe 5.0 x4 (RAID 0)	100K TBW

1.4.2 Evidence Acquisition Drives (Write-Block Protected)

This critical subsystem is dedicated to capturing raw disk images and memory captures. To ensure the integrity of collected evidence, these drives are connected via a hardware Write Blocker solution integrated into the storage backplane.

SIRP-X1 Evidence Storage (Write-Protected)
Drive Slot	Model / Type	Capacity	Interface / Protocol	Write Protection Mechanism
Evidence Bay 1-8	Seagate Exos X22 SAS HDD	22 TB (x8)	SAS 12Gb/s	Hardware Write Blocker (Integrated Controller)
Total Raw Evidence Capacity	176 TB
Configuration	JBOD (Individual drive mounting via hardware write blocker)

The use of individual 22TB SAS drives facilitates easier chain-of-custody management and allows for immediate segregation of evidence sets corresponding to specific incidents. Chain of Custody protocols are strictly enforced at the hardware level via the integrated write-blocking controller.

1.5 Network Interfaces

High-speed networking is essential for rapid ingestion of network telemetry and timely extraction of data from potentially compromised network segments.

SIRP-X1 Network Interfaces
Port Type	Quantity	Speed	Purpose
Management (BMC)	1	1 GbE	Out-of-band management (IPMI)
Primary Data Ingestion (Public/Internal)	1	100 GbE (QSFP28)	Network flow capture, log ingestion, remote acquisition
Secure Analysis Network (Isolated)	1	25 GbE (SFP28)	Dedicated interface for connecting to secure forensic workstations

The 100GbE interface utilizes an NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Dx adapter, providing hardware offloads for packet processing, reducing CPU overhead during high-volume network monitoring or real-time intrusion detection system (IDS) analysis piggybacking. Network Forensics relies heavily on this throughput.

1.6 Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

While primarily a storage and compute server, a dedicated GPU is included to accelerate specific forensic tasks that benefit from massive parallelization, such as password cracking (via hash lists) or large-scale file signature analysis.

SIRP-X1 GPU Configuration
Parameter	Specification
Model	NVIDIA RTX A6000
VRAM	48 GB GDDR6 ECC
PCIe Interface	PCIe 5.0 x16 (Full Bandwidth)
Primary Function	Hash cracking (e.g., Hashcat), Neural Network-based image/video analysis

The ECC Memory on the GPU is crucial for maintaining data integrity during intensive, long-running computational tasks required in digital forensics.

2. Performance Characteristics

The SIRP-X1 configuration is benchmarked not on traditional throughput (like a web server) but on latency, I/O consistency, and the ability to handle sequential, high-volume data operations typical of evidence preservation.

2.1 Storage I/O Benchmarks (FIO)

The key performance indicator (KPI) for this system is the sustained sequential write performance to the evidence drives and the random read performance on the analysis scratch space.

Test Environment Notes:

*OS/Analysis Drives:* 4x 7.68TB NVMe in RAID 0 (PCIe 5.0).
*Evidence Drives:* 8x 22TB SAS HDDs (JBOD, write-blocked).
*Memory Utilization:* 50% utilized during testing to simulate typical operational load.

SIRP-X1 Storage Benchmarks (FIO Results)
Workload Type	Target Device	Block Size	IOPS (Reads)	Throughput (Writes)
Sequential Read (Large Block)	Analysis NVMe RAID 0	1M	N/A	~28.5 GB/s
Sequential Write (Evidence Capture)	Evidence SAS Array (Write-Blocked)	128K	N/A	~2.1 GB/s (Sustained)
Random Read (Small Block)	Analysis NVMe RAID 0	4K Q32	~1.1 Million IOPS	N/A
Random Write (Metadata Operations)	OS NVMe Mirror	4K Q16	~450,000 IOPS	~720 MB/s

The sustained sequential write speed of 2.1 GB/s to the evidence array is critical, ensuring that a full 1TB memory capture can be written in under 8 minutes, minimizing the window for volatile data loss during acquisition procedures. Data Acquisition Speed is a primary design driver.

2.2 CPU and Memory Latency

Forensic investigation often involves rapid context switching and searching across large datasets in memory. Low latency and high memory bandwidth are prioritized over absolute clock speed.

**Memory Latency (Read Latency Test):** Measured using stream_copy and stream_read tests across the dual-socket configuration.

   *   *Average Read Latency:* 65 ns (Across all channels). This low latency is critical for rapid data reconstruction. Memory Latency directly impacts tool responsiveness.

**CPU Multithreading Efficiency:** Stress testing utilizing 224 threads showed excellent scaling efficiency.

   *   *Linpack Benchmark (Double Precision):* 45.1 TFLOPS (Theoretical peak utilization ~92%). This high utilization confirms minimal inter-socket communication bottlenecks between the two Intel Xeon Platinum processors, aided by the high-speed UPI links.

**Cryptographic Performance:** Utilizing the integrated QAT engine for AES-256 encryption/decryption of analysis results.

   *   *QAT Throughput (Simulated Log Encryption):* Exceeded 45 Gbps, effectively offloading this task entirely from the main CPU cores.

2.3 Real-World Simulation Performance

A simulation involving the triage of a 500GB system image (NTFS) was executed:

1. **Image Mounting & Verification (Read-Only):** 12 minutes (Primarily bottlenecked by NVMe read speed). 2. **Keyword Indexing (Elasticsearch Instance on SIRP-X1):** 4 hours, 15 minutes (Utilizing 80 CPU cores and 1.5TB RAM). 3. **Malware Sandbox Analysis (External Connection):** The 100GbE link maintained full saturation during data transfer, with the SIRP-X1 acting as the log aggregator, showing zero dropped packets attributed to system processing lag.

3. Recommended Use Cases

The SIRP-X1 configuration is specialized and optimized for high-stakes, time-sensitive security operations where data integrity and rapid analysis throughput are non-negotiable.

3.1 Primary Use Case: Forensic Triage and Evidence Preservation

This is the core function. The system is designed to ingest, hash, and preserve evidence from compromised endpoints or network captures while maintaining a verifiable chain of custody.

**Volatile Data Acquisition Platform:** The 4TB RAM capacity allows for the capture of memory dumps from the largest enterprise servers (e.g., large database servers or hypervisors) without segmentation. The high-speed bus architecture ensures the capture process is rapid enough to minimize data alteration. Volatile Data Capture protocols rely on this speed.
**Disk Imaging Repository:** Serving as the central, write-protected repository for full disk images (E01, raw formats). The 176TB evidence storage provides sufficient capacity for multiple simultaneous investigations or large-scale ransomware recovery efforts.
**Hashing and Integrity Verification:** The system runs independent hashing algorithms (SHA-256, SHA-512) in parallel with data ingestion, immediately generating cryptographic evidence manifests stored on the protected OS drives.

3.2 Secondary Use Case: Threat Hunting and Malware Analysis

Once evidence is secured, the SIRP-X1 transitions to analysis mode, leveraging its massive computational resources.

**Sandbox Aggregation and Analysis:** Serving as the central management node for multiple isolated analysis sandboxes. The high CPU core count allows for running dozens of malware samples concurrently without performance degradation on the primary forensic tasks.
**Large-Scale Log Correlation:** Ingesting terabytes of SIEM/Firewall/Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) logs for retrospective threat hunting. The 4TB RAM facilitates loading large indexing structures directly into memory for sub-second query response times on historical data. Log Aggregation is significantly improved by this memory capacity.
**Digital Artifact Reconstruction:** Utilizing the GPU for password recovery attempts against captured credential files (e.g., SAM hive extracts) or for rapid decryption efforts where brute-force or dictionary attacks are employed against captured data.

3.3 Tertiary Use Case: Incident Response Command Center

The SIRP-X1 can function as the secure, air-gapped (or logically segmented) collaboration platform during a major incident.

**Secure Documentation Repository:** Hosting the active SIRP documentation, communication logs, and evidence metadata, protected by hardware-level encryption (TPM 2.0).
**Forensic Workstation Connectivity Hub:** The 25GbE isolated network port allows secure, high-speed connection to dedicated forensic workstations (often running specialized OSes like SIFT or REMnux) without exposing the core evidence repository to the broader internal network.

4. Comparison with Similar Configurations

To understand the value proposition of the SIRP-X1, it is compared against two common enterprise server archetypes: the General Purpose Compute Server (GPCS-M2) and a dedicated High-Performance Computing (HPC) node.

4.1 Analysis of Comparison

The SIRP-X1 sacrifices the raw floating-point performance of the HPC-A1 in favor of massive memory capacity and, critically, integrated, hardware-enforced evidence preservation subsystems. While the GPCS-M2 offers better general-purpose virtualization density, it lacks the dedicated I/O path and capacity required for large-scale, simultaneous evidence acquisition mandated by a major security incident.

The **4TB RAM** is the most significant deviation from standard configurations. A typical GPCS maxes out at 1TB or 2TB. This extra memory directly translates to the ability to perform memory analysis on multiple large targets simultaneously, a necessity during widespread compromises. Server Memory Hierarchy dictates that in-memory processing is orders of magnitude faster than disk-based processing for forensic indexing.

5. Maintenance Considerations

Due to the critical nature of the data stored and processed by the SIRP-X1, maintenance procedures must adhere to strict protocols ensuring system availability and evidence integrity.

5.1 Power Requirements and Redundancy

The system is power-intensive due to the 22 high-density drives, dual high-TDP CPUs, and the dedicated GPU.

**Power Draw (Peak Operational):** Estimated 1800W (Under full CPU/GPU load with 8 spinning SAS drives).
**Redundancy:** The dual 2000W Platinum PSUs allow for full operation even if one PSU fails or is taken offline for hot swapping. The system must be connected to an **Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)** rated for at least 30 minutes at 2.0 kVA to handle brief power fluctuations without system shutdown, which could compromise ongoing evidence acquisition. Power Redundancy is a key uptime factor.

5.2 Thermal Management and Cooling

The 2U chassis utilizes high static pressure fans optimized for dense component cooling.

**Airflow Requirements:** Requires a minimum ambient intake temperature of 20°C (68°F) and utilizes standard hot/cold aisle containment. Cooling redundancy (N+1 CRAC units) at the rack level is mandatory.
**Component Temperature Monitoring:** The BMC must continuously monitor CPU package temperatures and NVMe drive junction temperatures. Thresholds are set aggressively:

   *   *CPU TjMax Warning:* 85°C (Requires immediate investigation into cooling airflow).
   *   *NVMe Throttling Prevention:* Drives should not operate above 70°C sustained.

5.3 Storage Integrity and Media Replacement

Maintenance on the storage subsystem requires specialized procedural discipline.

**Evidence Drive Replacement:** SAS drives are replaced individually. Before any drive is removed, the corresponding slot must be confirmed inactive by the hardware write blocker controller. A Forensic Disk Imaging procedure must be run against the replacement drive *before* it is brought online to prove it is clean and unformatted.
**NVMe Drive Replacement:** The analysis scratch space NVMe drives (Micron 6500 ION) are high-endurance but have finite TBW. Replacement should occur proactively based on SMART data reporting (e.g., when remaining TBW drops below 10% of original specification), not reactively after failure.

5.4 Firmware and Software Integrity

The SIRP-X1 must operate in a hardened state where unauthorized changes are detectable.

**BIOS/UEFI Verification:** The system must utilize Secure Boot, verified against a known-good cryptographic hash stored in the TPM. Any change to the BIOS configuration or firmware requires explicit physical approval and re-sealing of the TPM measurements. Secure Boot Implementation is critical for this role.
**Software Baseline:** All analysis tools (e.g., virtualization hypervisors, forensic suites) must be installed from verified, digitally signed sources. Periodic integrity checks using tools like AIDE (Advanced Intrusion Detection Environment) against key directories (e.g., `/usr/local/forensics/`) are scheduled weekly. Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) monitoring is active on the BMC and dedicated management NIC.

5.5 Documentation and Auditing

Every action taken on the SIRP-X1, especially concerning the evidence storage, must be logged and auditable.

**BMC Logging:** IPMI logs must be automatically exported every 24 hours to an external, immutable logging server. This covers physical access (fan failures, power events) and remote configuration changes.
**Evidence Access Logging:** Software access to the write-protected storage must be logged at the kernel level, cross-referenced with physical access logs (if applicable) and personnel sign-in sheets. This ensures strict adherence to Chain of Custody documentation standards for any digital evidence handled by the platform. Server Auditing procedures must be formalized quarterly.

The SIRP-X1 represents a significant investment in security infrastructure, demanding high operational rigor to match its high technical capabilities. Its primary function is to provide an unassailable platform for digital evidence handling and rapid, high-throughput incident analysis. Enterprise Security Architecture relies on such dedicated, hardened assets.

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.* ⚠️

Security Incident Response Plan

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