<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<opml version="2.0" xmlns:grazr="http://docs.grazr.com/script/spec/1.0">
	<head>
		<title>
			Sun Enterprise Servers and the Sun E10k
		</title>
		<ownerName>
			unixconsultant
		</ownerName>
		<dateModified>
			Fri Nov 07 2008 15:47:07 GMT+0000 (BST)
		</dateModified>
		<ownerID>
			http://www.grazr.com/files/unixconsultant
		</ownerID>
		<dateCreated>
			Fri Nov 07 2008 14:43:31 GMT+0000 (BST)		
		</dateCreated>

	</head>
	<body>
		<outline text="The Sun Enterprise 10000, or Sun E10k, was a ground-breaking multiprocessor Unix server.  Capable of dynamically allocating its sixty-four processors, memory, and I/O devices among a user-determined number of partitions each running their own operating system, it could essentially act as an entire server farm in one compact, efficient unit. <br /> <br />The Sun Enterprise was a series of multiprocessor Unix servers built by Sun Microsystems between roughly 1996 and 2001.  They used 64-bit architecture and the Solaris operating system.  They came in three general categories of varying power.  At the bottom were entry-level servers, the Enterprise 250 and 450, capable of using up to two or four Sun UltraSPARC II processors respectively.  A large midrange category consisting of the Enterprise 3000, 4000, 5000, and 6000 used anywhere from 6 to 30 processors.  Finally, at the high end of the series, was the Sun Enterprise 10000, or Sun E10k.   <br /> <br />The Sun Enterprise 10000 (also know by its development codename Starfire) was released in 1997.  It included several advanced features, but three in particular were of specific importance.  First, the Sun E10k could use up to sixty-four UltraSPARC II processors simultaneously.  Secondly, it was based around a fault-tolerant Gigaplane packet-switched processor/memory bus.  Third, its disks could be partitioned into multiple &quot;domains&quot;, and each domain could be booted up to run its own independent instance of Solaris.   <br /> <br />The final (and perhaps most impressive and useful) feature was the inclusion of two controller modules.  These modules could be connected through the internet to another external computer, called the System Service Processor computer (or SSP).  That remote “master” computer can partition the E10k’s CPUs, memory, and I/O devices among the multiple domains set up on the server—which effectively sets up each partition as a separate computer.  The down side was that the server then could not be booted without the original SSP, which contained encrypted keys. <br /> <br />In its heyday during the dot-com boom in the 1990s, the expensive Sun E10k was used by many high-profile customers such as eBay, despite the prohibitive costs which could reach as high as a million dollars for fully configured system.  It was the first server to ever break the 2000 barrier on the TPC-D 300 GB benchmark test.  Eventually, however, Sun phased out the E10k around 2001 as the Sun Fire 12/15K model line replaced the E10k as Sun’s flagship high-end server. <br /> <br />Still, the Sun Enterprise 10000 holds a place in the history of a computer technology, taking multiprocessing Unix servers to a new level.  Instead of focusing all the sixty-four processors to accomplish one task as quickly as possible, the processors and memory could be dynamically assigned to different tasks.  In essence, the Sun E10k replaced a small server farm with a single unit."/>
		<outline text="The History Of The Famous Sun SPARCstation" url="http://hubpages.com/hub/Sun-SPARCstation-History" type="link"/>
		<outline text="SPARC Enterprise Servers" type="link" url="http://www.squidoo.com/sunsparcservers"/>
		<outline text="UNIX Consulting and Expertise" type="link" url="http://www.gaeltd.com"/>
		<outline text="SiliconBunny" type="link" url="http://www.siliconbunny.com"/>
		<outline grazr:linktarget="grazrwin" text="Golden Apple Enterprises Ltd." type="rss" url="http://feeds.feedburner.com/gaeltd?format=xml"/>
		<outline grazr:linktarget="grazrwin" text="SiliconBunny" type="rss" url="http://feeds.feedburner.com/siliconbunny/QFZp"/>

	</body>

</opml>
