W
HITE
P
APER
1
Doc Number
TC000602WP
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June 2000
Compaq Computer
Corporation
Prepared by
ISSD Technology
Communications
C
O N T E N T S
Executive Summary .........1
Introduction .....................3
Traditional
Networks versus
System Area
Networks ..........................3
ServerNet II SAN Technology
Improves the Response
of Clusters............................. 5
Compaq ServerNet
II Technology ...................5
ServerNet II Hardware
Components .......................... 6
Low Latency Techniques
Improve Performance ............. 7
ServerNet II Performance
Summary ............................... 7
ServerNet II Leverages VI
Architecture Features to
Improve Scalability................. 8
Fault Tolerance at All Levels .. 8
Operating System Vendor and
Independent Software
Vendor Support ..................... 8
The Future with
InfiniBand ........................9
Summary ..........................9
Compaq ServerNet II SAN Interconnect for
Scalable Computing Clusters
E
X E C U T I V E
S
U M M A R Y
This paper introduces Compaq's ServerNet II system area network (SAN) interconnect
for use in scalable business computing clusters. Clusters generate intense server-to-
server messaging that can overwhelm traditional network technologies. The software
protocol overhead generated by traditional network technologies impedes server-to
server communication and limits the scalability, availability, and flexibility of clusters.
In contrast, the ServerNet II SAN interconnect is a high-bandwidth, low-latency network
technology that is proven to handle intense messaging in server clusters. A ServerNet II
SAN allows applications to be distributed over multiple servers, which increases cluster
scalability through greater parallelism and higher availability. The reader should be
familiar with the
Virtual Interface Architecture
.
Please direct comments regarding this communication to the ISSD Technology Communications Group at this Internet
address:
