[rescue] Re: SS1000

[Robert Novak]

On Sat, 7 Dec 2002, Patrick Giagnocavo +1.717.201.3366 wrote:

> On Sat, Dec 07, 2002 at 12:59:46AM -0600, Shawn Wallbridge wrote:
> > So, I am curious. How does a SS1000 work? Is each mainboard a seperate
> > machine, or are they one machine? If they are one machine, does that
> 
> They use up to 8 CPUs I believe.  There is a 64-bit XDBus which
> connects up to four CPU boards, each of which can hold 2 CPUs.  You
> max out the RAM by filling up all the RAM slots on four CPU boards.
> You can use up to 8 SM81s in it.
> OS support is at least to Solaris 8, maybe 9, not sure.
> 
> I don't know if there is any other OS support like Linux or BSD, due
> to the XDBus not being supported by any free OS.

Debian says it supports sun4d.
http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/sparc/ch-hardware-req.en.html#s-hardware-supported

     Sun SPARC            | sparc
                          |   - sun4cdm
                          |   - sun4u

I haven't tried it though. I have a 3xSM81 SS1000 here gathering dust and
fur, and it's loaded with Solaris 8 at the moment.

hostname: falcon.indyramp.net
banner:   SPARCserver 1000E
model:    Sun SPARCserver-1000
Solaris 8 4/01 s28s_u4wos_08 SPARC, 32-bit kernel, SunOS 5.8
3 TI,TMS390Z55 cpus, cpu freq: 85MHz, system freq: 50MHz
       CPU Units: Frequency Cache-Size        Memory Units: Group Size
            A: MHz MB   B: MHz MB           0: MB   1: MB   2: MB   3: MB
            ---------   ---------           -----   -----   -----   -----
Board0:        85 1.0      85 1.0             128     128     128     128
Board1:        85 1.0                         128     128     128     128
Board2:                                         0     128     128     128
Each memory unit group is comprised of 4 SIMMs
empty memory groups: Board 2 Group 0
total memory = 1408MB (1.375GB)

You can mix some processors--I had four SM81s and two SM61s in this one at
one point, but sold the SM61s while they still had value. :)

I *think* the memory and cpus are distinct, even though they may share
boards. I'm thinking I ran a board with CPUs and no RAM and a board with
RAM and no CPU, and both worked, but it's been almost two years now. So I
might be misremembering.

> As neat as they are I would recommend you buy something else.  The
> fans are LOUD and it uses a lot of power.  And if you want faster SCSI
> or 100BaseT ethernet you will have to buy the SBUS cards for it.
> 
> You would probably be happier with an SBus or PCI based UltraSparc
> with 2 CPUs.

If you have a lot of SBus stuff, they're a good way to use it. A
four-board system has four 'le' ethernets and four scsi buses and twelve
SBus slots. Could be a good low-cost router/server if power isn't a big
issue. However, they're heavy and use a lot of power and make a lot of
noise. Oh, and the memory is weird too.

A U2-2300 with 2gb should about match the compute power of a fully loaded
SS1000. There are other options worth considering too (E250/220/420/450).

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2078107611 (E250
1x300/256MB/18GB for $675BIN -- would be tempting if I weren't unemployed
and broke :) )

--Rob
-- 
Robert Novak, Indyramp Consulting * rnovak at indyramp.com * indyramp.com/~rnovak
	"I don't want to doubt you, Know everything about you
      I don't want to sit Across the table from you Wishing I could run."