OK ... Selecting the right server is anything but simple, but the process should be.

Selecting the right server to meet your business needs is critical to meet the changing needs of your business. What is right for you, is not likely right for the next IT professional – Why? In my experience, every IT and business is unique. What applications you run, the technology you have deployed today and your business goals are most likely are different from your peers and competitors.

Choosing the wrong server could result in sub-optimal business and financial results. Oversizing your server can result in too much headroom and under utilization over the life of your server deployment. On the other hand, if you under undersize, you may need to replace your server earlier than you planned or deal with increased complaints from users or customers (if they complain) about unresponsive applications during peak work times.

This guide highlights the latest technology options available from Intel and helps walk you through three easy overview steps to select and size your next server.

Step 1: Needs

What do your applications demand of your server?

Step 2: Capabilities

Compare capabilities and benefits of different servers

Step 3: Match

Optimize value by matching needs to capabilities

About 3 months ago I delivered a 2-part viedo series on the benefits of 45nm process technology (part 1, part 2). As time has progressed, the intel roadmap has continued to evolve and deliver increased benefits. On Sept 8th 2008, we introduced four new 2-socket processors in our Xeon 5400 product line and this past Monday (Sept 15th), we introduced a whole new series of products for our 4-socket product line, the Xeon 7400 series (codename: Dunnington). All of these new products feature 45nm process technology and the enhanced Intel Core Microarchitecture.

Here are some highlights of the benefits available for IT solutions

 Better Performance: Xeon 7400 features up to 6-cores and 16MB cache per processor. It is staggering to think about what an individual server is now capable of doing.

o Over 1 million transactions per minute (8 socket TPC-C* result)
o Over 600,000 transactions per minute (4 socket TPC-C* result)
o Over 500,000 business operation per second (4 socket Java SPECjbb*2005 result)
o Learn more about performance results of the Xeon 7400 products here

 Energy Efficient: The performance of 45nm processors (including the 6core) is being delivered in the same power/thermal envelopes as previous quad-core processors making the performance per watt ratio particularly appealing and beneficial to managing data center space and minimizing cooling challenges while growing performance capability. Many customers are refreshing older servers and seeing dramatic reductions in total cost of operations and space requirements. Evaluate your potential benefits with the Xeon estimator

 Investment Protection – All 45nm intel xeon processors (xeon 7400 and xeon 5400) are platform compatible with their 65nm quad-core predecessors (xeon 7300 and xeon 5300 respectively) so adoption, certification and integration into existing IT environments requires less effort.

 Flexible Virtualization: All 45nm Intel Xeon processors contain a technology called Intel VT FlexMigration that allows newer 45nm processors to be live migration compatible with previous 65nm intel xeon processors. So with current virtualization software support, IT customers can migrate virtual machines across multiple generations of intel processors, all in one big pool of computing.

 Better Business and Science: Many of the world’s top companies are using Intel’s 45nm products coupled with their software solutions to enhance their IT infrastructure. Last week Cern opened the Large Hadron Collider focused on recreating the big bang . Read more about how 45nm intel technology is playing an integral role in gaining insights into the formation of the universe or check out how your peers are benefiting from new technology at www.intel.com/references

 Eco-Friendly: If your company or boss has a green thumb, you may be interested in knowing that the new Xeon 5400 products are now built with materials which are both lead and halogen free (halogen is a material known to contribute to global warming)

Finally, I came across this video where Nathan Brookwood (analyst from Insight 64) discusses the new Xeon 7400 product (Dunnington) and his outlook on technology roadmaps moving forward.

In the next few weeks, I will be compiling and answering the top 6 questions around 45nm … so ask away.

Chris

Working in High Tech means that most of us don't ever slow down - if we do, we risk falling behind. As a result, I usually find myself more more stressed than relaxed (just ask my peers or my wife).

So when I find good humor, I like to share. I found this video snippet about virtualization at www.talesofitutopia.com and it put a smile on my face. It is a little scarry that i can relate to more than one of the characters (the boss, the IT guy and even to some extent the JINX). Which character do you relate to?

*Virtilization anyone?*

Using some data from our own IT group, we developed a simple ROI calculator. This tool provides an estimate of performance and IT cost savings of refreshing older servers with new ones. Below is a screen shot of the calculator that is now available on our new server tools section of the Server Room. Give it a try and let us know if these assessment tools are helpful?

Join me for a discussion with industry leaders and IT professionals on this topic on the ArsTechnica webforum.

There is a lot of proof supporting both sides of this question. Maybe ... Just maybe ... new server technology can help turn today's IT burden's into tomorrow's business benefit?

Share your opinion or Tell us your experience.

Today, Intel launched 50W low power versions of the 45nm Quad-Core Xeon processors (the L5400 series).

The 2 new SKUs are listed below:

Quad-Core Xeon L5420 2.50 GHz, 12MB L2, 1333MHz

Quad-Core Xeon L5410 2.33 GHz, 12MB L2, 1333MHz

These products offer IT and business users 2 primary benefits:

• 45nm 50W quad-core brings 25% improved performance over previous generation 65nm 50W quad-core processors

• They also run 30W cooler than mainstream 80W quad-core processors delivering the same performance at the same frequency.

We have seen strong interest for these 50W quad-core products and I'd like to hear from you on where you would use low power quad-core and why?

During my blog post last week titled "[processors-cpus-cores-arent-they-all-the-same|p-10936]", I got a request to talk more about server terminology, going beyond the CPU. So here we go.

The processor does all your computational calculations. The chipset is attached to the processor and manages information and data flow from the processor to the other system components like memory and other I/O (input / output) devices. If the processor is the "brain", then the chipset is the "heart". Memory and I/O devices are like "arms" and "legs" - you need them all working together. The term chipset, memory controller, and memory controller hub (MCH) are often used interchangeably

At Intel, we refer to the platform as the combination of all of these devices that comprise a server. From a hardware perspective, I see the following terms used interchangeably: platform, solution, system, server, workstation, and there are probably others I'm missing. However, I have also seen platform refer to the software stack, as well as the complete hardware and software solution together.

Another term that you may also here is form factor. Form factor refers to the size and shape of the final system you would buy from a manufacturer. The most common server form factors are rack mount, pedestal, towers and blades.

Watt do you care about more?

the Power Consumption of your servers (watts) or the Power Efficiency of your servers (performance / watt)

... or maybe you prefer the Performance per Watt per SqFt argument

I have spent a lot of my time the last several years discussing this topic with IT professionals around the world - and there are a lot of varying opinions.

I believe that Performance per Watt is a better measure of overall value for the data center and server room.

The power consumed by a server is an important measure, but power only comparisons can be misleading.

Example: If server ‘A' consumes 50W less power than server ‘B', then it can save IT $79 per year per server in power and cooling costs (assumes $0.08 kW/hr power costs and cooling costs equal to power costs). Scale that $79 savings per server across a data center with thousands of servers and it can be a pretty impressive number.

However, if a server with 50W lower power delivers lower application performance ... is the power savings worth it? The answer of course depends ... but generally in my experience the answer is a resounding No.

Example: What if server A (the 50W lower power server) underperforms server B by 33% in performance. This means that you need to deploy more ‘A' Servers to get the same performance as ‘B' Servers. In fact, with a 33% performance advantage, you need only 3 ‘B' servers for every 4 ‘A' servers. The higher performance per Watt delivered by server B reduces acquisition costs, reduces power consumption (less servers) and minimizes space and eases manageability. This example is shown graphically above

What do you think? What power and performance metrics do you look at before purchasing servers

... Lower Power or Higher Performance per Watt?