IBM E850C, Технический обзор и введение

Страница: 116 / 160

102
IBM Power System E850C: Technical Overview and Introduction
4.1 Introduction
The POWER8 processor-based servers are available in two different classes:
򐂰
Scale-out systems: For environments that consist of multiple systems that work in concert.
In such environments, application availability is enhanced by the superior availability
characteristics of each system.
򐂰 Enterprise systems: For environments that require systems with increased availability. In
such environments, mission-critical applications can take full advantage of the scale-up
characteristics, increased performance, flexibility to upgrade, and enterprise availability
characteristics.
One key differentiator of the IBM POWER8 processor-based servers running PowerVM is that
they use all the advanced RAS characteristics of the POWER8 processor design through the
whole portfolio, offering reliability and availability features that are often not seen in other
servers. Some of these features are improvements for POWER8 or features that were found
previously only in higher-end Power Systems, which are now available across the entire
range.
The POWER8 processor modules support an enterprise level of reliability and availability. The
processor design has extensive error detection and fault isolation (ED/FI) capabilities to allow
for a precise analysis of faults, whether they are hard faults or soft faults. They use advanced
technology, including stacked latches and Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) technology, to reduce
susceptibility to soft errors. They also have advanced design features within the processor for
correction or try again after soft error events. In addition, the design incorporates spare
capacity that is integrated into many elements to tolerate certain faults without requiring an
outage or parts replacement. Advanced availability techniques are used to mitigate the
impact of other faults that are not directly correctable in the hardware.
Features within the processor and throughout systems are incorporated to support design
verification. During the design and development process, subsystems go through rigorous
verification and integration testing processes by using these features. During system
manufacturing, systems go through a thorough testing process to help ensure high product
quality levels, again taking advantage of the designed ED/FI capabilities.
Fault isolation and recovery of the POWER8 processor and memory subsystems are
designed to use a dedicated service processor. They are meant to be largely independent of
any operating system or application deployed.
The Power E850C server has processor and memory upgrade capabilities characteristic of
enterprise systems, and is designed to support higher levels of RAS than scale-out systems.
4.1.1 RAS enhancements of POWER8 processor-based servers
Several features were included in the whole portfolio of the POWER8 processor-based
servers. Some of these features are improvements for POWER8 or features that were found
previously only in higher-end Power Systems, leveraging a higher RAS even for scale-out
equipment.
The following is a brief summary of these features:
򐂰
Processor enhancements
POWER8 processor chips are implemented by using 22 nm technology and integrated
onto SOI modules.