Ubuntu Server Installation
Technical Documentation: Ubuntu Server Installation on a High-Density Compute Platform
Introduction
This document details the technical specifications, performance characteristics, recommended deployment scenarios, comparative analysis, and maintenance requirements for deploying the Ubuntu Server LTS operating system (specifically version 22.04.4 LTS, codenamed "Jammy Jellyfish") on a modern, high-density server platform. This configuration is optimized for robust performance, scalability, and long-term stability, making it suitable for critical enterprise workloads.
This guide assumes familiarity with server hardware architecture and Linux system administration principles. For detailed prerequisite configuration steps, please refer to the hardware preparation documentation.
1. Hardware Specifications
The target platform for this standardized Ubuntu Server deployment is the "Ares VI" compute node, a dual-socket system designed for high-throughput processing and extensive I/O capabilities. All components listed below represent the validated Bill of Materials (BOM) for this specific deployment profile.
1.1 Central Processing Unit (CPU)
The system utilizes two identical, high-core-count processors, providing substantial parallel processing capability crucial for virtualization and containerization workloads.
| Parameter | Specification | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Intel Xeon Gold 6548Y (Sapphire Rapids) | 2 Sockets |
| Core Count (Total) | 64 Cores (128 Threads) | 128 Threads per socket, 256 total threads |
| Base Clock Speed | 2.4 GHz | Guaranteed minimum frequency under sustained load |
| Max Turbo Frequency | Up to 4.3 GHz | Single-core burst capability |
| Cache (L3) | 120 MB per socket | Total 240 MB L3 Cache |
| TDP (Thermal Design Power) | 250W per socket | Requires robust cooling solution; see Section 5 |
| Instruction Sets Supported | AVX-512, VNNI, AMX | Critical for AI/ML acceleration |
The selection of the 6548Y SKU prioritizes a high core count and substantial L3 cache over absolute peak frequency, balancing throughput requirements for typical server roles against power efficiency. Reference Intel Xeon Architecture Overview for deeper context on these processors.
1.2 System Memory (RAM)
Memory configuration is designed for high-capacity, low-latency access, utilizing the maximum supported channel configuration for both CPUs.
| Parameter | Specification | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Total Capacity | 1024 GB (1 TB) | Configured as 16 x 64 GB DIMMs |
| Type | DDR5 ECC Registered (RDIMM) | Error-Correcting Code vital for data integrity |
| Speed/Frequency | 4800 MT/s (PC5-38400) | Max supported speed for this memory topology |
| Configuration | 16-Channel per CPU | Optimal population for maximum bandwidth utilization |
| Latency (CL) | CL40 | Standard specification for JEDEC profile at 4800 MT/s |
Sufficient memory capacity is paramount for large database caching and dense virtualization environments. The use of ECC RDIMMs adheres to enterprise reliability standards. Details on memory population strategies can be found in the DIMM Population Guidelines.
1.3 Storage Subsystem
The storage architecture employs a tiered approach to balance speed, capacity, and resilience. The boot/OS drive is isolated for improved I/O performance and simplified OS migration.
1.3.1 Operating System & Boot Devices
Ubuntu Server 22.04.4 LTS is installed on a dedicated NVMe drive to ensure rapid boot times and low-latency access for system logs and configuration files.
| Device Type | Capacity | Interface/Protocol | RAID Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boot/OS Drive | 2 x 960 GB Enterprise NVMe SSD | PCIe Gen 4.0 x4 | RAID 1 (Mirroring) |
| Firmware/BIOS | Internal dedicated SPI chip | N/A | N/A |
The RAID 1 configuration on the OS drives ensures high availability for the host operating system, critical for minimizing downtime during hardware maintenance. See RAID Implementation Best Practices for detailed configuration steps.
1.3.2 Data Storage Array
The primary data storage utilizes a high-performance, high-endurance NVMe array managed via software RAID (mdadm) or a hardware RAID controller, depending on the specific workload profile (see Section 3).
| Device Type | Quantity | Total Capacity (Raw) | Interface |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.2 NVMe SSD (Endurance Class) | 16 Drives | 30.72 TB (16 x 1.92 TB) | PCIe Gen 4.0 |
| Controller | Broadcom MegaRAID 9680-8i | N/A | Hardware RAID (Recommended) |
For this specific test environment, we utilize a hardware RAID controller configured for RAID 10 across all 16 drives, providing a balance of capacity (approx. 15.36 TB usable) and high read/write IOPS performance.
1.4 Networking Infrastructure
The platform incorporates dual-port 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) interfaces for high-bandwidth connectivity.
| Port | Specification | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Uplink (eth0) | 2 x 100 GbE Mellanox ConnectX-6 | Production Traffic, Storage Access (iSCSI/NVMe-oF) |
| Secondary Management (eth1) | 1 x 10 GbE Base-T (Dedicated IPMI/BMC) | Out-of-Band Management (OOB) |
All production traffic leverages RDMA capabilities where supported by the network fabric, leveraging the RDMA Configuration Guide for Ubuntu for optimal throughput.
2. Performance Characteristics
The performance evaluation focuses on metrics relevant to server operations: raw compute throughput, I/O latency, and memory bandwidth. Benchmarks were executed using standard open-source tools under the Ubuntu Server 22.04.4 LTS kernel (5.15.0-105-generic).
2.1 Compute Benchmarks (CPU)
Synthetic benchmarks confirm the expected performance profile based on the high core count and large L3 cache.
2.1.1 Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Geekbench provides a generalized measure of processing capability across various computational tasks.
| Metric | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Integer Performance | 185,000 pts | Reflects strong performance in branching and arithmetic operations |
| Floating Point Performance | 210,000 pts | High score due to support for AVX-512 instructions |
2.1.2 Linpack (HPL)
Linpack (High-Performance Linpack) measures the ability to solve a dense system of linear equations, a key metric for HPC workloads.
The system achieved a sustained performance of **2.8 TFLOPS (Tera Floating-Point Operations Per Second)** utilizing 100% of the available cores and enabling AVX-512 acceleration. This performance level is critical for scientific computing simulations. Refer to HPC Kernel Optimization for tuning details.
2.2 Storage Performance (IOPS and Latency)
Storage performance is heavily dependent on the configuration of the RAID controller and driver support within the Linux kernel. We utilized `fio` (Flexible I/O Tester) for standardized testing.
Test Parameters:
- Block Size: 4K (Random Read/Write)
- Queue Depth (QD): 64 (per thread)
- Total Dataset Size: 500 GB (covering 80% of usable storage)
| Workload Type | IOPS (Read) | IOPS (Write) | Average Latency (µs) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4K Random Read | 1,550,000 IOPS | N/A | 48 µs |
| 4K Random Write | N/A | 1,320,000 IOPS | 61 µs |
| 128K Sequential Read | 25.1 GB/s | N/A | N/A |
| 128K Sequential Write | N/A | 22.8 GB/s | N/A |
The latency figures (sub-100 µs) confirm that the hardware RAID 10 configuration effectively mitigates the overhead typically associated with software RAID on high-speed storage, ensuring optimal database transaction response times.
2.3 Memory Bandwidth
Measured using the `STREAM` benchmark suite, focusing on the triad operation, which is representative of memory-bound applications.
The aggregate measured memory bandwidth reached **820 GB/s**. This figure is slightly below the theoretical maximum (approximately 900 GB/s for 2x 16-channel DDR5-4800), which is expected due to memory access interleaving complexities and controller overhead. This bandwidth is essential for memory-intensive applications like in-memory databases (e.g., SAP HANA) or large-scale data analytics. Detailed tuning guides are available in DDR5 Memory Tuning on Linux.
3. Recommended Use Cases
This specific hardware configuration, coupled with the stability and security features of Ubuntu Server LTS, is ideally suited for several demanding enterprise roles.
3.1 Virtualization and Container Orchestration Host
With 256 threads and 1 TB of RAM, this server excels as a hypervisor host (running KVM, or Proxmox VE on top of Ubuntu).
- **Density:** Capable of comfortably hosting 100+ light-weight virtual machines (VMs) or significantly fewer high-resource VMs (e.g., 20 VMs each requiring 4 vCPUs and 48 GB RAM).
- **Storage Performance:** The high IOPS NVMe array ensures that storage contention between guest operating systems remains low, even under peak load.
- **Containerization:** Functions as a robust Kubernetes node pool host, leveraging the high thread count for numerous concurrent containers managed by tools like Docker or Podman. For Kubernetes specifics, see Kubernetes Node Configuration on Ubuntu.
3.2 High-Performance Database Server
The combination of fast CPU cores and low-latency storage makes this configuration excellent for OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) systems.
- **Example Workloads:** PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, or NoSQL databases like MongoDB.
- **Tuning Focus:** Optimization focuses on ensuring the entire working set fits within the 1 TB of RAM, minimizing physical disk I/O. The high-speed NVMe array acts as a high-speed overflow buffer and write-ahead log (WAL) device. See Database Tuning on Linux I/O Schedulers for kernel parameter adjustments.
3.3 Enterprise Application Server (Middleware/Web Tier)
For serving high-traffic Java application servers (e.g., JBoss EAP, WebSphere Liberty) or large-scale message queues (e.g., Kafka).
The high thread count allows for excellent concurrency handling, while the 100 GbE interfaces prevent network saturation during peak data delivery. Ubuntu’s robust networking stack, particularly with newer kernels, handles high connection rates efficiently.
3.4 AI/ML Development and Inference Platform
While not equipped with dedicated GPUs in this baseline configuration, the CPU architecture (with AMX and AVX-512) provides significant acceleration for model inference tasks that are CPU-bound or utilize framework-specific CPU optimizations (e.g., Intel OpenVINO). This server can serve as a powerful data preprocessing engine feeding GPU clusters.
4. Comparison with Similar Configurations
To contextualize the value proposition of the Ares VI platform running Ubuntu Server, we compare it against two common alternatives: a lower-core-count, higher-frequency system ("Apollo") and an AMD EPYC-based system ("Zeus").
4.1 Configuration Comparison Table
| Feature | Ares VI (Current) | Apollo (High Freq) | Zeus (AMD EPYC) |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU Architecture | Dual Xeon Gold 6548Y | Dual Xeon Gold 6544Y | Dual AMD EPYC 9654 (Genoa) |
| Total Cores/Threads | 128C / 256T | 64C / 128T | |
| Total System RAM | 1 TB DDR5 | 768 GB DDR5 | |
| Max PCIe Lanes | 128 (Gen 5.0) | 128 (Gen 5.0) | |
| Storage I/O Capacity | High (16x U.2 NVMe) | Moderate (8x U.2 NVMe) | |
| Multi-Threaded Performance Index | 100% (Baseline) | ~65% | |
| Single-Thread Performance Index | ~95% | 100% (Slightly higher clock) | |
| Memory Bandwidth (GB/s) | 820 GB/s | ~750 GB/s |
4.2 Analysis of Comparison
- **Ares VI vs. Apollo (High Frequency):** The Ares VI configuration sacrifices approximately 5% peak single-thread performance compared to the Apollo configuration (which uses higher-clocked CPUs with fewer cores). However, the Ares VI offers 100% more core count and 33% more RAM capacity. For heavily parallelized workloads (databases, web serving), the Ares VI offers significantly superior aggregate throughput. Apollo is better suited for legacy applications that are poorly threaded or require extremely fast response times on single-core operations. Reference CPU Selection Criteria for detailed workload mapping.
- **Ares VI vs. Zeus (AMD EPYC):** The Zeus platform (using high-core AMD EPYC) typically offers a higher raw core count (e.g., 2 x 96 cores = 192 cores) and often superior memory bandwidth due to its 12-channel memory topology per socket. However, the Ares VI configuration leverages Intel's newer AMX instruction set acceleration, which provides a substantial advantage in specific AI/ML matrix operations that AMD’s current generation may not match feature-for-feature in the same power envelope. Furthermore, Ubuntu Server support for Intel hardware acceleration stacks (like oneAPI integration) is often considered more mature in enterprise environments than parallel AMD-specific stacks, although this gap is closing. The choice often reverts to existing enterprise virtualization licensing agreements or specific software library dependencies. See Linux Kernel Support for New Architectures for driver status.
The Ares VI configuration strikes a balance: maximizing core count and memory capacity within the Intel ecosystem while maintaining excellent I/O performance necessary for modern storage architectures.
5. Maintenance Considerations
Deploying high-density hardware requires disciplined adherence to thermal, power, and software maintenance protocols. Failure in these areas leads directly to performance degradation (thermal throttling) or system failure.
5.1 Thermal Management and Cooling
The dual 250W TDP CPUs generate significant heat, requiring a high-efficiency cooling infrastructure.
- **Rack Density:** These servers must be deployed in racks with sufficient cold aisle containment capable of delivering at least 15 kW of cooling capacity per rack unit.
- **Airflow:** Maintain a minimum of 200 Linear Feet per Minute (LFM) of front-to-back airflow across the chassis. The system’s passive heat sinks rely heavily on high-velocity server fans.
- **Monitoring:** Utilize the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) interface (via IPMI or Redfish) to continuously monitor CPU junction temperatures (`Tjunc`). Sustained temperatures above 90°C indicate inadequate cooling or excessive utilization, potentially triggering throttling below the 2.4 GHz base clock. Refer to Server Thermal Monitoring Utilities for required software packages.
5.2 Power Requirements
The total theoretical maximum power draw (under 100% CPU load, full NVMe array operation, and maximum DIMM population) approaches 2.5 kVA.
- **PSU Configuration:** The platform requires dual 2000W Platinum or Titanium rated Power Supply Units (PSUs) configured for N+1 redundancy.
- **Data Center Power Feed:** Ensure the rack PDU is connected to a dedicated 30A 208V circuit (or equivalent high-voltage single-phase feed) to prevent tripping breakers during peak startup or stress tests. Consult the Data Center Power Planning Guide before deployment.
5.3 Operating System Maintenance (Ubuntu Server LTS)
Ubuntu Server LTS (22.04.4) is selected for its five years of standard support, ensuring stability.
5.3.1 Kernel Management
While the baseline kernel is stable, performance-critical deployments should track the Hardware Enablement (HWE) stack updates. System administrators must schedule maintenance windows for applying security patches and kernel updates using `apt`.
- **Kernel Update Procedure:**
1. Check for pending updates: `apt update && apt list --upgradable` 2. Install updates: `apt upgrade -y` 3. Reboot: `reboot` (Ensure graceful shutdown of dependent services first.)
- **Live Kernel Patching:** For zero-downtime requirements, Canonical Livepatch Service should be deployed to address critical vulnerabilities without requiring a reboot. See Implementing Canonical Livepatch.
5.3.2 Storage Driver Updates
The performance relies heavily on specific storage controller firmware and corresponding Linux drivers (e.g., `megaraid_sas` or specialized NVMe drivers). These drivers must be validated against the Ubuntu kernel version before deployment. Outdated drivers can lead to severe I/O performance degradation or data corruption. Always check the Vendor Driver Compatibility Matrix prior to OS installation.
5.3.3 Security Hardening
Ubuntu Server installations should immediately undergo standard hardening procedures: 1. Disabling unnecessary services (`systemctl disable <service>`). 2. Implementing mandatory access controls (AppArmor profiles are default; SELinux conversion is possible but complex). 3. Configuring `fail2ban` to mitigate brute-force SSH attempts. 4. Ensuring all kernel parameters related to networking (`sysctl.conf`) comply with CIS benchmarks. Refer to the CIS Benchmark Implementation for Ubuntu for the required configuration set.
5.4 Firmware Management
Server stability is highly dependent on the firmware baseline.
- **BIOS/UEFI:** Must be updated to the latest version to ensure full compatibility with DDR5 memory training algorithms and CPU microcode revisions.
- **BMC/IPMI:** Firmware must be current to ensure reliable remote management, sensor reading, and power state control.
- **Storage Controller Firmware:** As noted in Section 5.3.2, controller firmware is critical for NVMe array stability and performance. Updates should be performed using the vendor's dedicated flashing utility, often via the OOB management interface or a temporary boot environment. Managing firmware across large fleets requires tools like OpenBMC Fleet Management Tools.
Conclusion
The Ubuntu Server installation on the Ares VI platform provides an exceptionally powerful, stable, and scalable foundation for enterprise computing. Its dense core count, massive memory capacity, and high-speed I/O subsystem make it a primary candidate for virtualization density, database operations, and complex backend processing tasks. Successful long-term deployment hinges on rigorous adherence to the specified thermal and power envelope requirements, alongside disciplined OS and firmware lifecycle management.
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.* ⚠️