Sun Enterprise
Encyclopedia
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
server
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"...
computers produced by Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
from 1996 to 2001. The line was launched as the Sun Ultra Enterprise series; the Ultra prefix was dropped around 1998. These systems were based on the 64-bit
64-bit
64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...
UltraSPARC
SPARC
SPARC is a RISC instruction set architecture developed by Sun Microsystems and introduced in mid-1987....
microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
architecture and related to the contemporary Ultra
Sun Ultra series
The original Sun Ultra series was a series of UltraSPARC-based workstations and servers developed and sold by Sun Microsystems from 1995 to 2001...
series of computer workstations. Like the Ultra series, they ran the Solaris Operating Environment. Various models, from single-processor entry-level servers to large high-end multiprocessor
Multiprocessor
Computer system having two or more processing units each sharing main memory and peripherals, in order to simultaneously process programs.Sometimes the term Multiprocessor is confused with the term Multiprocessing....
servers were produced. The Enterprise brand was phased out in favor of the Sun Fire
Sun Fire
The Sun Fire server brand is a series of server computers introduced in 2001 by Sun Microsystems . The Sun Fire branding coincided with the introduction of the UltraSPARC III processor, superseding the UltraSPARC II-based Sun Enterprise series...
model line from 2001 onwards.
Ultra workstation-derived servers
The first UltraSPARC-I-based servers produced by Sun, launched in 1995, were the UltraServer 1 and UltraServer 2. These were server configurations of the Ultra 1 and Ultra 2 workstations respectively. These were later renamed Ultra Enterprise 1 and Ultra Enterprise 2 for consistency with other server models. Later these were joined by the Ultra Enterprise 150, which comprised an Ultra 1 motherboard in a tower-style enclosure with 12 internal disk bays.In 1998, Sun launched server configurations of the UltraSPARC-IIi-based Ultra 5 and Ultra 10 workstations, called the Enterprise Ultra 5S and Enterprise Ultra 10S (sic) respectively.
Entry-level servers
The Sun Enterprise 450 was a popular rack-mountable entry-level multiprocessor server launched in 1997, capable of up to four UltraSPARC IIUltraSPARC II
The UltraSPARC II, code-named "Blackbird", is a microprocessor implementation of the SPARC V9 instruction set architecture developed by Sun Microsystems. Marc Tremblay was the chief architect...
processors. The Sun Enterprise 250 was a two processor version launched in 1998. These were later joined by the Enterprise 220R and Enterprise 420R rack-mount servers in 1999. The 220R and 420R models were respectively based on the motherboards of the Ultra 60 and Ultra 80 workstations. The 250 was replaced by the Sun Fire
Sun Fire
The Sun Fire server brand is a series of server computers introduced in 2001 by Sun Microsystems . The Sun Fire branding coincided with the introduction of the UltraSPARC III processor, superseding the UltraSPARC II-based Sun Enterprise series...
V250, the 450 by the Sun Fire V880. The 220R was superseded by the Sun Fire 280R and the 420R by the Sun Fire V480.
Ultra Enterprise X000/Enterprise X500 mid-range servers
The 3000 model was a deskside server configurable with up to six processors and 10 internal disks, while the 4000 was a rack-mount system with up to 14 processors. The 5000 was essentially a 4000 in a rack cabinet and the 6000 was a cabinet-housed datacenter server with up to 30 processors.
In 1999, the Enterprise 3500, 4500, 5500 and 6500 models were announced. These were upgraded X000 systems, with a faster Gigaplane bus (up to 100 MHz, depending on processor clock speed, compared to 83 MHz). The 3500 also differed from the 3000 in an increased maximum of eight processors. The Enterprise X500 series were replaced by the Sun Fire
Sun Fire
The Sun Fire server brand is a series of server computers introduced in 2001 by Sun Microsystems . The Sun Fire branding coincided with the introduction of the UltraSPARC III processor, superseding the UltraSPARC II-based Sun Enterprise series...
3800/4800/6800 line.
Enterprise 10000
The Enterprise 10000, or Starfire (a development codename also used for marketing purposes) was a high-end multiprocessor datacenter server capable of being configured with up to 64 UltraSPARC II processors. This was largely designed by Cray Research's Business Systems Division as a successor to the Cray Superserver 6400, itself related to Sun's earlier Sun-4d architecture servers. After Cray was acquired by Silicon GraphicsSilicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark...
in 1996, this division was sold on to Sun, who then launched the Starfire as the Ultra Enterprise 10000 in 1997.
The Starfire was based around the fault-tolerant Gigaplane-XB processor/memory interconnect. Like the X000 and X500 series servers, the Starfire incorporated many high-availability features, including the ability to be partitioned into multiple "domains", each of which could be booted individually to run its own instance of Solaris. The Starfire was the first server from any vendor to exceed 2000 on the TPC-D 300 GB benchmark. Starfire systems were used by a number of high-profile customers during the "dot-com" boom, notably eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
, and typically sold for well over $1 million for a fully configured system.
The Starfire contains one or two controller modules which are connected via Ethernet to an external computer, the System Service Processor
System Service Processor
The System Service Processor is a SPARC-based computer that is used to control the Sun Microsystems Enterprise 10000 platform...
(SSP). The controller modules interface with the system "centerplane" via JTAG and control the partitioning of available CPUs, memory and I/O devices into one or more domains, each of which is in effect a distinct computer. The system cannot be partitioned or booted without its original SSP which contains encrypted keys issued by the manufacturer.
The Starfire was superseded by the Sun Fire 12K/15K
Sun Fire 15K
The Sun Fire 15K was an enterprise-class server computer from Sun Microsystems. It was announced on September 25, 2001 in New York City. General availability was in January 2002; the last to be shipped was in May 2005...
models.