Altix - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Altix is a line of servers

Server (computing)

In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...

and supercomputer

Supercomputer

A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...

s produced by Silicon Graphics

Silicon Graphics

Silicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark...

(International), based on Intel processors

Central processing unit

The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...

. It succeeded the MIPS

MIPS architecture

MIPS is a reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by MIPS Technologies . The early MIPS architectures were 32-bit, and later versions were 64-bit...

/IRIX

IRIX

IRIX is a computer operating system developed by Silicon Graphics, Inc. to run natively on their 32- and 64-bit MIPS architecture workstations and servers. It was based on UNIX System V with BSD extensions. IRIX was the first operating system to include the XFS file system.The last major version...

-based Origin 3000 servers.

The line was first announced on January 7, 2003, with the Altix 3000 series, based on Intel Itanium 2 processors and SGI's NUMAlink

NUMAlink

NUMAlink is a system interconnect developed by SGI for use in its distributed shared memory ccNUMA computer systems. NUMAlink was originally developed by SGI for their Origin 2000 and Onyx2 systems...

processor interconnect. At product introduction, the system supported up to 64 processors running Linux as a single system image and shipped with a Linux distribution called SGI Advanced Linux Environment, which was compatible with Red Hat Advanced Server. By August 2003, many SGI Altix customers were running Linux on 128p and even 256p SGI Altix systems, but SGI officially announced 256-processor support within a single system image of Linux on March 10, 2004 using an 2.4-based kernel. The SGI Advanced Linux Environment was eventually dropped after support using a standard, unmodified SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is a Linux distribution supplied by SUSE and targeted at the business market. It is targeted for servers, mainframes, and workstations but can be installed on desktop computers for testing as well. New major versions are released at an interval of 3-4 years, while...

(SLES) distribution for SGI Altix was provided with SLES 8 and SLES 9. Later, SGI Altix 512-processor systems were officially supported using an unmodified, standard Linux distribution with the launch of SLES 9 SP1. Besides full support of SGI Altix on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

, a standard and unmodified Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a Linux-based operating system developed by Red Hat and targeted toward the commercial market. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for x86, x86-64, Itanium, PowerPC and IBM System z, and desktop versions for x86 and x86-64...

was also fully supported starting with SGI Altix 3700 Bx2 with RHEL 4 and RHEL 5 with system processor limits defined by Red Hat for those releases.

On 14 November 2005, SGI introduced the Altix 4000 series based on the Itanium 2. The Altix 3000 and 4000 are distributed shared memory

Distributed shared memory

Distributed Shared Memory , in Computer Architecture is a form of memory architecture where the memories can be addressed as one address space...

multiprocessor

Multiprocessing

Multiprocessing is the use of two or more central processing units within a single computer system. The term also refers to the ability of a system to support more than one processor and/or the ability to allocate tasks between them...

s. SGI later officially supported 1024-processor systems on an unmodified, standard Linux distribution with the launch of SLES 10 in July 2006. SGI Altix 4700 was also officially supported by Red Hat with RHEL 4 and RHEL 5—maximum processor limits were as defined by Red Hat for its RHEL releases.

The Altix brand has also been used for a variety of systems based on multi-core Intel Xeon

Xeon

The Xeon is a brand of multiprocessing- or multi-socket-capable x86 microprocessors from Intel Corporation targeted at the non-consumer server, workstation and embedded system markets.-Overview:...

processors. These include the Altix XE rackmount servers, Altix ICE blade server

Blade server

A blade server is a stripped down server computer with a modular design optimized to minimize the use of physical space and energy. Whereas a standard rack-mount server can function with a power cord and network cable, blade servers have many components removed to save space, minimize power...

s and Altix UV supercomputers.

NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

's Columbia

Columbia (supercomputer)

Named in honor of the crew who died in the Columbia disaster, Columbia is a supercomputer built by Silicon Graphics for NASA. Its main purpose was to simulate the violent collision and merger of spiral galaxies that lead to the formation of elliptical galaxies...

supercomputer

Supercomputer

, installed in 2004, is a 10,240-microprocessor cluster of twenty Altix 3000 systems, each with 512 microprocessors, interconnected with InfiniBand

InfiniBand

InfiniBand is a switched fabric communications link used in high-performance computing and enterprise data centers. Its features include high throughput, low latency, quality of service and failover, and it is designed to be scalable...

Altix 3000

The Altix 3000 was the first generation of Altix systems. It was succeeded by the Altix 4000 in 2004, and the last model was discontinued on 31 December 2006.

Altix 330

The Altix 330 is an entry-level server. Unlike the high-end models, the Altix 330 is not "brick" based, but is instead based on 1U-high compute modules mounted in a rack and connected with NUMAlink

NUMAlink

. A single system may contain 1 to 16 Itanium 2 processors and 2 to 128 GB of memory.

Altix 350

The Altix 350 is a mid-range model which supports up to 32 Itanium 2 processors.

Altix 1330

The Altix 1330 is a cluster

Cluster (computing)

A computer cluster is a group of linked computers, working together closely thus in many respects forming a single computer. The components of a cluster are commonly, but not always, connected to each other through fast local area networks...

of Altix 330 systems. The systems are networked with gigabit Ethernet

Gigabit Ethernet

Gigabit Ethernet is a term describing various technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second , as defined by the IEEE 802.3-2008 standard. It came into use beginning in 1999, gradually supplanting Fast Ethernet in wired local networks where it performed...

or 4X Infiniband

InfiniBand

Altix 3300

The Altix 3300 is a mid-range model supporting 4 to 12 processors and 2 to 48 GB of memory. It is packaged in a short (17U) rack.

Altix 3700

The Altix 3700 is a high-end model supporting 16 to 512 processors and 8 GB to 2 TB of memory. It requires one or multiple tall (39U) rack(s). A variant of the Altix 3000 with graphics capability is known as the Prism

SGI Prism

The SGI Prism is a series of visualization systems developed and manufactured by SGI. Released in April 2005 , the Prism's basic system architecture is based on the Altix 3000 servers, but with the notable inclusion of graphics hardware....

.

It is based on the third generation NUMAflex distributed shared memory

Distributed shared memory

Distributed Shared Memory , in Computer Architecture is a form of memory architecture where the memories can be addressed as one address space...

architecture and it uses the NUMAlink 4 interconnection fabric. The Altix 3000 supports a single system image of 64 processors. If there are more than 64 processors in a system, then the system must be partitioned.

The basic building block is the C-brick. Each C-brick contains two nodes. A C-brick is a 4U high rackmount unit. Each node contains two Intel Itanium 2

Itanium

Itanium is a family of 64-bit Intel microprocessors that implement the Intel Itanium architecture . Intel markets the processors for enterprise servers and high-performance computing systems...

processors which connects to the Super-Bedrock ASIC through a single front side bus

Front side bus

A front-side bus is a computer communication interface often used in computers during the 1990s and 2000s.It typically carries data between the central processing unit and a memory controller hub, known as the northbridge....

. The Super-Bedrock ASIC is a crossbar

Crossbar switch

In electronics, a crossbar switch is a switch connecting multiple inputs to multiple outputs in a matrix manner....

for the processors, the local RAM, the network interface and the I/O interface. The two Super-Bedrock ASICs in each brick are connected internally by a single 6.4 GB/s NUMAlink 4 channel. A processor node also contains 16 DIMM

DIMM

A DIMM or dual in-line memory module, comprises a series of dynamic random-access memory integrated circuits. These modules are mounted on a printed circuit board and designed for use in personal computers, workstations and servers...

slots that accept standard DDR1

DDR1

For the older type of computer memory, see DDR SDRAM.Discoidin domain receptor family, member 1, also known as DDR1 or CD167a , is a human gene.-Further reading:...

DIMMs with capacities of 4 to 16 GB.

Altix 3700 Bx2

The Altix 3700 Bx2 is a high-end model supporting 16 to 2,048 Itanium 2 processors and 12 GB to 24 TB of memory. It requires one or multiple tall (40U) rack(s).

Altix 4000

The Altix 4000 is Silicon Graphics' current Itanium-based product line. It is composed of two models, the Altix 450, a mid-range server, and the Altix 4700, a high-end server.

An Altix 4700 system can contain up to 2048 dual-core Itanium 2 and Itanium ("Montvale" revision) microprocessor sockets, which are connected by the NUMAlink 4

NUMAlink

interconnect in a fat tree

Fat tree

The fat tree network, invented by Charles E. Leiserson of MIT, is a universal network for provably efficient communication. Unlike an ordinary computer scientist's notion of a tree, which has "skinny" links all over, the links in a fat-tree become "fatter" as one moves up the tree towards the root...

network topology. The microprocessors are accompanied by up to 128 TB of memory (192TB with single microprocessor socket blades and 16GB DIMMs).

These systems are based on nodes contained within a blade that plugs into an enclosure, the individual rack unit (IRU). The IRU is a 10U enclosure that contains the necessary components to support the blades such as the power supplies, two router boards (one for every five blades) and a L1 controller. Each IRU can support ten single-wide blades or two double-wide blades and eight single-width blades. The IRUs are mounted in 42U-high rack, and each rack supports up to four IRUs.

There are two types of node, processor and memory, which are contained within a blade. Compute blades contain a processor node and consist of two PAC611 sockets for Itanium 2 and Itanium microprocessors, a Super-Hub (SHub) application-specific integrated circuit

Application-specific integrated circuit

An application-specific integrated circuit is an integrated circuit customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use. For example, a chip designed solely to run a cell phone is an ASIC...

(ASIC) (chipset

Chipset

A chipset, PC chipset, or chip set refers to a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that are designed to work together. They are usually marketed as a single product.- Computers :...

) and eight dual in-line memory module (DIMM) slots for memory. The number of microprocessor sockets in a compute blade is one or two. One-processor socket configurations provide more bandwidth as only one microprocessor socket is using the front side bus and local memory. Two-processor socket configurations do not support hyperthreading. Memory blades are used to expand the amount of memory without increasing the number of processors. They contain a SHub ASIC and 12 DIMM slots. Both compute and memory blades support 1, 2 4, 8, and 16 GB DIMMs. SGI support does not currently support any installations with 16GB DIMMs.

Multiple servers in configurations described above can be combined on the same Numalink fabric up to the theoretical maximum of 8,192 nodes (16,384 OS cpus).

Altix XE

The Altix XE servers are based on Intel Xeon

Xeon

The Xeon is a brand of multiprocessing- or multi-socket-capable x86 microprocessors from Intel Corporation targeted at the non-consumer server, workstation and embedded system markets.-Overview:...

x86-64

X86-64

x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...

-architecture processors. Models include the:

Altix XE210 server supported up to two Dual or Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors, 5100 Series or 5300 series, 32GB DDR2 667 MHz FBDIMM memory, 1 x PCIe x8 (low profile) and 1 x PCI-X 133 MHz (full height) PCI slots, and Three SATA/SAS drive bays.
Altix XE240 server supported up to two Dual or Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors, 5100 Series or 5300 series, 32GB DDR2 667 MHz FBDIMM memory, two PCI slots configuration options (option 1: 2 x PCIe x4 (low profile), 2 x PCIe x4 (full height), 1 x PCEe x8 (full height); or option 2: 2 x PCIe x4 (low profile), 3 x PCI-X 133 MHz (full height), 1 x PCI-X 133 MHz (full height), and Five SATA/SAS drive bays.
Altix XE250 server
Altix XE270 server is a 2U configuration with Intel Xeon processor 5500 series, Choice of up to 18 DDR3 DIMMs (2GB, 4GB, or 8GB DIMMs), 2 x PCIe x8 gen 2 (low profile), 1 x PCIe x4 gen 1 (low profile), 2 x PCI-x 133/100 (low profile) PCI slots, Eight SATA or SAS drive bays with optional hardware RAID (0, 1, 5, 6, 10),
Altix XE310 server was introduced January 8, 2007 and contained two nodes per XE310, up to four Dual or Quad-Core Intel Itanium Xeon processors, 5100 Series or 5300 series (two per node), 64GB DDR2 667 MHz FBDIMM memory (32GB per node), 2 x PCIe x8 (1 per node) PCI slots, and Four SATA/SAS drive bays (two per node).
Altix XE320 server
Altix XE340 server contains 2 compute nodes within a 1U configuration, Intel Xeon processor 5500 series, Choice of up to 12 DDR3 DIMMs per node (2GB, 4GB, or 8GB DIMMs), 2 x PCIe x16 (1 per node) - low profile PCI slot, and Four SATA drive bays (2 per node) with optional SAS and hardware RAID 0, 1.
Altix XE500 server is a 3U configuration with Intel Xeon processor 5500 series, Choice of up to 18 DDR3 DIMMs (2GB, 4GB, or 8GB DIMMs), 2 x PCIe x16 gen2 (full height) and 4 x PCIe x8 gen2 (full height) PCI slots, and Eight SATA or SAS drives with optional hardware RAID (0, 1, 5, 6, 10).
Altix XE1200 cluster
Altix XE1300 cluster

All Altix XE systems supported Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux,
and Microsoft Windows. Later, VMware support was added across the Altix XE product line.

Altix ICE

The Altix ICE blade platform is an Intel Xeon-based system featuring diskless compute blades and a Hierarchical Management Framework (HMF) for scalability, performance, and resiliency. While the earlier Itanium-based Altix systems ran a single-system image

Single-system image

In distributed computing, a single system image cluster is a cluster of machines that appears to be one single system. The concept is often considered synonymous with that of a distributed operating system, but a single image may be presented for more limited purposes, just job scheduling for...

(SSI) Linux kernel

Linux kernel

The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems. It is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software....

on 1024 processors or more using a standard SuSE Linux Enterprise Server

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

(SLES) distribution, the Altix ICE's clustering capabilities uses standard SLES or Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

distributions and scales to over 51,200 cores on NASA

NASA

's Pleiades

Pleiades (supercomputer)

Pleiades is a petascale supercomputer built by SGI at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. , it was the world's seventh fastest computer with a peak performance of more than 970 teraflops. After further extensions, Pleiades is scheduled to reach 10 petaflops in 2012.-See...

supercomputer

Supercomputer

.

The Altix ICE 8200LX blade enclosure featured two 4x DDR IB switch blade and one high performing plane, while the Altix ICE 8200EX featured four 4x DDR IB switch blades, and two high performing planes. Both configurations supported either hypercube

Hypercube

In geometry, a hypercube is an n-dimensional analogue of a square and a cube . It is a closed, compact, convex figure whose 1-skeleton consists of groups of opposite parallel line segments aligned in each of the space's dimensions, perpendicular to each other and of the same length.An...

or fat tree

Fat tree

topology, and 16 compute blades within an IRU.

The IP-83 and IP-85 compute blades supported Intel Xeon 5200 or 5400 Series processors, and the IP-95 compute blade supported Intel Xeon 5500 Series processors.

, the current product is the ICE 8400, based on either Intel Xeon 5500 or 5600 processors or the AMD Opteron 6100 series processors.

Altix UV

The Altix UV supercomputer architecture was announced in November 2009. Codenamed Ultraviolet during development, the Altix UV combines a development of the NUMAlink interconnect used in the Altix 4000 (NUMAlink 5) with quad-, six- or eight-core "Nehalem-EX" Intel Xeon 7500 processors. Altix UV systems run either SuSE Linux Enterprise Server or Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and scale from 32 to 2,048 cores with support for up to 16 Terabytes (TB) of shared memory in a single system image.

External links

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