Lenovo solutions for data centers. Part 2
In the previous article, we talked about trends in the hardware market, about the transformation of Lenovo, and gave examples of completed projects. We bring to your attention the second part of the story about the announcement of Lenovo systems and solutions for data centers, where we will tell you more about the Intel Purley platform, ThinkSystem and ThinkAgile products.
About Vasily Lizunov, Intel, told about the new Purley server platform. This platform has become one of the important components for both traditional Enterprise solutions and Lenovo's hyperconvergent systems. Intel sees the possibility of growth in several directions, the main ones being the cloud economy and big data processing, talking about the so-called “smart big data”. On the basis of these technologies, new business models emerge, such as smart agriculture, they force retail and other industries to change.
')
From these two areas arise 3 new ones:
Clouds
Software defined infrastructure
Analytics, supercomputers, smart data, artificial intelligence.
Intel introduced the Xeon Scalable processors in July 2017. Their productivity is on average 1.6 times higher than in E5 / E7. The development of these two lines was combined into one socket, which also presented a great flexibility in configuration. Vasily Lizunov noted that new processors and chipsets should be considered along with other new Intel technologies, including optimized software.
The performance of a single core in a crystal increased by 10-15%, if you do not take into account changes in the code. Socket performance has increased due to an increase in the number of cores on a single chip to 28 in the maximum configuration. The DDR4 memory controller now supports more channels (up to 6). Thanks to the new instructions of the AVX-512, the number of flops doubled in one measure.
Crystal, unlike competitors' solutions, remained monolithic and became universal - it can work in configurations with 2, 4 and 8 sockets. For interoperability of all cores, Intel uses a mesh infrastructure.
Within the Purley platform, all processors are divided into platinum, gold, silver and bronze series. Platinum series processors support up to 28 cores, bronze - up to 8 cores. The presence of medium and junior series allows the customer to save money and not to overpay for maximum performance when there is no need. The table with the characteristics of the new processors Intel led in her blog .
One of the main issues for the IT market is the price. A huge number of vendors offer various equipment, and when buying, customers do not always think about how conveniently they will interact with the system at all stages of its life cycle. Presenting a new product line for the data center, Lenovo emphasizes that not only the price is important, but its relation to customer experience. Read more about this told Artem Zybin, Lenovo.
Lenovo has integrated the ThinkServer and System x brands into a single ThinkSystem line. This allowed us to optimize production, simplify the process of ordering and delivering equipment, and reduce the stock of service parts. New server systems use a single set of components - DIMM modules, storage options, input / output adapters, power supplies and microcode.
Technology prediction of hardware failures, quick fault indication, proactive opening of service requests, and many others that were an integral part of System x, are also used in the new line. Their task is not only to reduce the time of unplanned downtime of equipment, but also to facilitate the life of the system administrator when working with the system.
To improve the usability of new systems, Lenovo has updated management tools. The new built-in xClarity Controller Controller supports Redfish APIs, provides up to 2x faster downloads and microcode updates 6 times faster than previous systems. To centrally manage the entire Lenovo infrastructure, customers are encouraged to use the xClarity Administrator software, which supports management of both the new ThinkSystem systems and the previous generation System x M5 and M4.
At the time of the announcement of Intel Xeon Scalable processors, Lenovo servers set 42 new world records . For example, the most productive 2-processor server for OLTP-applications, parallel computing and virtual environments, 4-processor server for processing big data and financial transactions.
New systems are secured at several levels. Among them: control of installation of the original OS, microcode authentication, restriction of access of external devices to control interfaces, selective shutdown of unsafe interfaces, access control through a mobile application and physical control system - a front panel with a key lock and a case opening sensor.
In total, within the two new brands ThinkSystem and ThinkAgile, 26 new systems were presented: 5 switches, 7 storage systems and 14 servers.
Since this is an overview article with a story about the Lenovo's updated portfolio as a whole, we will not elaborate on each new system or product in this article, but will talk about them gradually in the following publications.
The switches in the new line support speeds of 10, 40 and 100 Gbit / s and operate under the control of their own CNOS 10.4. Software is able to predict network failures. The Ethernet switch division has moved to Lenovo from IBM as part of the x86 business purchase deal. In total, this network division is over 15 years old and it originates from the Nortel division. These are time-tested solutions that are compatible with network products of other companies, competitive in price, and examples of their installations are present at customers around the world, including in Russia. For example, you might know these products under the name Blade Network Technologies (BNT) that were used in the IBM BladeCenter blade chassis.
The new primary and intermediate DS storage systems of the DS series provide high performance at low cost. For example, the DS4200's all-flash configuration showed a result of $ 0.14 per IOPS in the SPC-1 v3 test, which is currently the best indicator for entry-level systems. It should be noted that the basic configuration includes such options as real-time tiring for HDD, Thin Provisioning, read SSD cache, 128 snapshots. For an additional cost, you can add SSD licenses for SSD, asynchronous replication and increase the number of snapshots to 1024.
In the new server line, the following form factors and types of systems are available: floor standing, rack, blades, high density, multiprocessor.
Classic rack-mount dvuhsoketny servers are presented in 6 models in three categories, which have a single component base, but differ in price and characteristics - two junior, middle and senior. The presence of medium and low-end models allows you to choose the optimal solution and not overpay for unused functionality. For example, if you do not plan to use all 24 RAM slots or maximum processors when solving a problem, then you should pay attention to a younger model for a lower price. Older systems will support Intel 3DXPoint technology when using the next generation of Intel Cascade Lake processors, the announcement of which is expected in 2018.
Two blade server models are available for installation in the Flex System chassis. The chassis itself has not been updated and supports the installation of four generations of blade servers. In doing so, Lenovo continues to protect customers' investments in the existing Flex System blade infrastructure.
High-density systems are represented by the SD530 model, which consists of a 2U chassis, in which up to four 2-processor modular servers are installed. I / O in these systems is available in two options to choose from: two x8 PCIe slots or one x16 per modular server in the chassis. In addition, the high-density dual-processor models include the SD650 model with internal water cooling, which is designed for installation in the NeXtScale chassis and is used, as a rule, in HPC solutions.
The portfolio of multiprocessor servers includes two models: the SR850 and SR950. The older one, the SR950, is the densest 8-processor system in the world, occupying only 4U in a rack. In addition, it provides record-breaking performance when processing large data, financial transactions and databases, including in-memory. To replace components, it is not necessary to extend the server from the rack and open the cover; the system has a modular architecture.
Solutions for software-defined infrastructure are represented by the ThinkAgile brand. It is based on new ThinkSystem servers, on which this or that software is preinstalled, depending on the task to be solved. It is worth noting that Lenovo provides service support for all ThinkAgile solutions.
Ready, pre-configured and optimized Lenovo VX nodes based on VMware vSAN and Lenovo HX based on Nutanix are available for building hyperconvergent environments in various configurations.
Software-defined storage (Software Defined Storage, SDS), exactly like hyperconvergent solutions, is gaining more and more popularity due to lower cost of ownership and greater flexibility and efficiency compared to traditional data storage solutions. They are also another step and an important component in the construction of a software-defined data center. Lenovo's SDS solutions portfolio includes systems with file (based on IBM Spectrum Scale), unified (Nexenta or DataCore), and object (Cloudian) data access. In addition, systems are available with the ability to virtualize and consolidate existing storage systems (DataCore). SDS solutions complement Lenovo's storage product line, allow you to store large amounts of data, and offer advanced functionality to ensure data protection, availability, and integrity.
Lenovo's infrastructure for Nutanix or Microsoft Azure Stack can be purchased immediately in the rack as a single hardware and software complex. Solutions of this class are part of the ThinkAgile SX product family. In addition to servers and software, these complexes include Lenovo switches, Lenovo xClarity Administrator management software, and other hardware and software components to further integrate the entire stack with the customer’s existing architecture. Lenovo also has certified reference architectures for the OpenStack and VMware Cloud Foundation.
Despite the fact that shipments of hardware and software complexes ThinkAgile SX began in September, we already have the first success story. Thanks to the Microsoft Early Adoption Initiative (EAI) program for service providers, in October the world's first installation of the Microsoft-certified complex for Azure Stack was carried out in the world. The customer is an English ITPS service provider, and he uses the Lenovo ThinkAgile SX for MS Azure Stack solution.
Most of the announced systems are already available to order. Based on the presented ThinkSystem and ThinkAgile product portfolio, we are ready to offer a solution and provide comprehensive service support for a wide range of modern tasks: cloud infrastructure, big data and analytics, infrastructure applications, databases, supercomputers, and artificial intelligence.
In the following articles we will continue the story of new products and solutions. Now we are preparing a review of our 8-processor SR950 server.
Detailed technical information and video reviews of ThinkSystem products in English are presented here .
View the full Lenovo grocery product catalog for 3D data centers here .
Intel purley
About Vasily Lizunov, Intel, told about the new Purley server platform. This platform has become one of the important components for both traditional Enterprise solutions and Lenovo's hyperconvergent systems. Intel sees the possibility of growth in several directions, the main ones being the cloud economy and big data processing, talking about the so-called “smart big data”. On the basis of these technologies, new business models emerge, such as smart agriculture, they force retail and other industries to change.
')
From these two areas arise 3 new ones:
Clouds
Software defined infrastructure
Analytics, supercomputers, smart data, artificial intelligence.
Intel introduced the Xeon Scalable processors in July 2017. Their productivity is on average 1.6 times higher than in E5 / E7. The development of these two lines was combined into one socket, which also presented a great flexibility in configuration. Vasily Lizunov noted that new processors and chipsets should be considered along with other new Intel technologies, including optimized software.
The performance of a single core in a crystal increased by 10-15%, if you do not take into account changes in the code. Socket performance has increased due to an increase in the number of cores on a single chip to 28 in the maximum configuration. The DDR4 memory controller now supports more channels (up to 6). Thanks to the new instructions of the AVX-512, the number of flops doubled in one measure.
Crystal, unlike competitors' solutions, remained monolithic and became universal - it can work in configurations with 2, 4 and 8 sockets. For interoperability of all cores, Intel uses a mesh infrastructure.
Within the Purley platform, all processors are divided into platinum, gold, silver and bronze series. Platinum series processors support up to 28 cores, bronze - up to 8 cores. The presence of medium and junior series allows the customer to save money and not to overpay for maximum performance when there is no need. The table with the characteristics of the new processors Intel led in her blog .
Lenovo ThinkSystem
One of the main issues for the IT market is the price. A huge number of vendors offer various equipment, and when buying, customers do not always think about how conveniently they will interact with the system at all stages of its life cycle. Presenting a new product line for the data center, Lenovo emphasizes that not only the price is important, but its relation to customer experience. Read more about this told Artem Zybin, Lenovo.
Lenovo has integrated the ThinkServer and System x brands into a single ThinkSystem line. This allowed us to optimize production, simplify the process of ordering and delivering equipment, and reduce the stock of service parts. New server systems use a single set of components - DIMM modules, storage options, input / output adapters, power supplies and microcode.
Technology prediction of hardware failures, quick fault indication, proactive opening of service requests, and many others that were an integral part of System x, are also used in the new line. Their task is not only to reduce the time of unplanned downtime of equipment, but also to facilitate the life of the system administrator when working with the system.
To improve the usability of new systems, Lenovo has updated management tools. The new built-in xClarity Controller Controller supports Redfish APIs, provides up to 2x faster downloads and microcode updates 6 times faster than previous systems. To centrally manage the entire Lenovo infrastructure, customers are encouraged to use the xClarity Administrator software, which supports management of both the new ThinkSystem systems and the previous generation System x M5 and M4.
At the time of the announcement of Intel Xeon Scalable processors, Lenovo servers set 42 new world records . For example, the most productive 2-processor server for OLTP-applications, parallel computing and virtual environments, 4-processor server for processing big data and financial transactions.
New systems are secured at several levels. Among them: control of installation of the original OS, microcode authentication, restriction of access of external devices to control interfaces, selective shutdown of unsafe interfaces, access control through a mobile application and physical control system - a front panel with a key lock and a case opening sensor.
In total, within the two new brands ThinkSystem and ThinkAgile, 26 new systems were presented: 5 switches, 7 storage systems and 14 servers.
Since this is an overview article with a story about the Lenovo's updated portfolio as a whole, we will not elaborate on each new system or product in this article, but will talk about them gradually in the following publications.
The switches in the new line support speeds of 10, 40 and 100 Gbit / s and operate under the control of their own CNOS 10.4. Software is able to predict network failures. The Ethernet switch division has moved to Lenovo from IBM as part of the x86 business purchase deal. In total, this network division is over 15 years old and it originates from the Nortel division. These are time-tested solutions that are compatible with network products of other companies, competitive in price, and examples of their installations are present at customers around the world, including in Russia. For example, you might know these products under the name Blade Network Technologies (BNT) that were used in the IBM BladeCenter blade chassis.
The new primary and intermediate DS storage systems of the DS series provide high performance at low cost. For example, the DS4200's all-flash configuration showed a result of $ 0.14 per IOPS in the SPC-1 v3 test, which is currently the best indicator for entry-level systems. It should be noted that the basic configuration includes such options as real-time tiring for HDD, Thin Provisioning, read SSD cache, 128 snapshots. For an additional cost, you can add SSD licenses for SSD, asynchronous replication and increase the number of snapshots to 1024.
In the new server line, the following form factors and types of systems are available: floor standing, rack, blades, high density, multiprocessor.
Classic rack-mount dvuhsoketny servers are presented in 6 models in three categories, which have a single component base, but differ in price and characteristics - two junior, middle and senior. The presence of medium and low-end models allows you to choose the optimal solution and not overpay for unused functionality. For example, if you do not plan to use all 24 RAM slots or maximum processors when solving a problem, then you should pay attention to a younger model for a lower price. Older systems will support Intel 3DXPoint technology when using the next generation of Intel Cascade Lake processors, the announcement of which is expected in 2018.
Two blade server models are available for installation in the Flex System chassis. The chassis itself has not been updated and supports the installation of four generations of blade servers. In doing so, Lenovo continues to protect customers' investments in the existing Flex System blade infrastructure.
High-density systems are represented by the SD530 model, which consists of a 2U chassis, in which up to four 2-processor modular servers are installed. I / O in these systems is available in two options to choose from: two x8 PCIe slots or one x16 per modular server in the chassis. In addition, the high-density dual-processor models include the SD650 model with internal water cooling, which is designed for installation in the NeXtScale chassis and is used, as a rule, in HPC solutions.
The portfolio of multiprocessor servers includes two models: the SR850 and SR950. The older one, the SR950, is the densest 8-processor system in the world, occupying only 4U in a rack. In addition, it provides record-breaking performance when processing large data, financial transactions and databases, including in-memory. To replace components, it is not necessary to extend the server from the rack and open the cover; the system has a modular architecture.
Lenovo ThinkAgile
Solutions for software-defined infrastructure are represented by the ThinkAgile brand. It is based on new ThinkSystem servers, on which this or that software is preinstalled, depending on the task to be solved. It is worth noting that Lenovo provides service support for all ThinkAgile solutions.
Ready, pre-configured and optimized Lenovo VX nodes based on VMware vSAN and Lenovo HX based on Nutanix are available for building hyperconvergent environments in various configurations.
Software-defined storage (Software Defined Storage, SDS), exactly like hyperconvergent solutions, is gaining more and more popularity due to lower cost of ownership and greater flexibility and efficiency compared to traditional data storage solutions. They are also another step and an important component in the construction of a software-defined data center. Lenovo's SDS solutions portfolio includes systems with file (based on IBM Spectrum Scale), unified (Nexenta or DataCore), and object (Cloudian) data access. In addition, systems are available with the ability to virtualize and consolidate existing storage systems (DataCore). SDS solutions complement Lenovo's storage product line, allow you to store large amounts of data, and offer advanced functionality to ensure data protection, availability, and integrity.
Lenovo's infrastructure for Nutanix or Microsoft Azure Stack can be purchased immediately in the rack as a single hardware and software complex. Solutions of this class are part of the ThinkAgile SX product family. In addition to servers and software, these complexes include Lenovo switches, Lenovo xClarity Administrator management software, and other hardware and software components to further integrate the entire stack with the customer’s existing architecture. Lenovo also has certified reference architectures for the OpenStack and VMware Cloud Foundation.
Despite the fact that shipments of hardware and software complexes ThinkAgile SX began in September, we already have the first success story. Thanks to the Microsoft Early Adoption Initiative (EAI) program for service providers, in October the world's first installation of the Microsoft-certified complex for Azure Stack was carried out in the world. The customer is an English ITPS service provider, and he uses the Lenovo ThinkAgile SX for MS Azure Stack solution.
Most of the announced systems are already available to order. Based on the presented ThinkSystem and ThinkAgile product portfolio, we are ready to offer a solution and provide comprehensive service support for a wide range of modern tasks: cloud infrastructure, big data and analytics, infrastructure applications, databases, supercomputers, and artificial intelligence.
In the following articles we will continue the story of new products and solutions. Now we are preparing a review of our 8-processor SR950 server.
Detailed technical information and video reviews of ThinkSystem products in English are presented here .
View the full Lenovo grocery product catalog for 3D data centers here .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/340962/
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