Verari Systems Financial Papers

ApplicAtion Server right-Sizing USe cASeS And deSign Are your applications making money or burning it?

infrAStrUctUre ASSeSSment gUide verAri SyStemS Verari Systems®, Inc. is the premier developer of energy efficient data center and desktop consolidation platforms utilizing independent blade-based compute and storage solutions that are defining a new era in the green data center. Verari Systems is a market leader in blade storage and energy efficient platforms. Organizations such as Virgin America, Morgan Stanley, Wachovia, Akamai, Microsoft, Qualcomm, CGGVeritas, Petrobras, Harris, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Sony Imageworks, as well as top universities and research institutions worldwide, are among the customers who have chosen Verari Systems’ line of award-winning high density blade storage and servers, rack-optimized platforms and software solutions.

ApplicAtion Server Many characteristics necessary in today’s application server farms would benefit from Verari’s dense, ultra-efficient computing solutions. fArm chArActeriSticS • Those that experience significant fluctuations in demand between peak and average operating conditions. thAt reqUire verAri • Application server farms that face challenges scaling to meet growth demands.

SyStemS BlAderAck® 2 • And those that struggle to add additional resources to data centers constrained by space, power, and cooling capabilities.

X-SerieS technology

document focus—Application Server Right-Sizing is a wide-ranging discipline and cannot be completely covered in this overview.

This document focuses instead on the unique operating characteristics faced by IT infrastructure executives tasked with managing large numbers of disparate application servers in a common environment. Verari Systems technology, when coupled with basic dynamic application service management, can provide unrivalled performance, efficiency, and flexibility.

ApplicAtion Server Denser hardware environments that are more cooling and power efficient are needed in today’s massive and geographically dispersed right-Sizing Specific application server farms. Server farms have to meet the dynamic needs of the applications they host, and hardware use tends to proBlem domAin fluctuate depending on many factors, including peak demands based on time of day or even season.

Application server farms would greatly benefit from having a commodity solution in place that can easily be scaled up or down at a relatively inexpensive cost and lower TCO. Because of the myriad challenges facing application server farms today, the following basic requirements emerge.

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optimized Utilization—Allow application servers to be scaled appropriately to their use cases.

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reduce hardware cost—Appropriately match hardware to the task at hand and scale if required.

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close proximity to data Storage—Allow application servers to rapidly access information on nearby storage.

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ease of Scale—Allow application server farms to expand or reduce server count and footprint in rapid fashion.

trAditionAl ApproAcheS Application server farms are in existence today to serve the needs of many different types of applications ranging from customer-facing And their drAwBAckS e-commerce applications to internal high throughput or high compute systems.

The two traditional approaches to building application server farms are to overprovision in order to have room for future expansion, or to cover immediate needs and purchase more as the need to expand arises. Each of these solutions is encumbered by numerous problems.

Overprovisioning immediately makes a lot of hardware available to an application server farm but includes many drawbacks.

© 2008 Verari Systems, Inc. M447 A 12 09 08

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Server Sprawl: The large number of new systems required creates additional server sprawl in the data center, with all the associated footprint, power, and system administration overhead issues that they raise.

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decreased reliability: The more dispersed physical systems are in implementing a business process, the more likely it is that partial failures will occur and have to be recovered from.

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high cost: The large number of new systems required not only creates server sprawl, it also tends to be very expensive. The alternative to buying large quantities of servers is to buy more powerful servers, which often require premium prices.

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Underutilization: One of the biggest problems in most data centers is underutilization of resources. A system may never expand to the predicted growth due to changing requirements or use conditions. Thus, vast amounts of resources, both spacial and compute are idle.

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covering immediate need is the more cost effective short-term approach to building application server farms, but this solution also presents a number of undesirable issues.

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expansions: Expanding an existing server farm typically creates new problems within a data center. Most of the time, one would prefer to collocate all of the servers belonging to the same server farm, which oftentimes is not feasible since space is already used by other resources. In addition, server farm equipment is ideally connected to the same switch and resides near the same storage in order to assure a good load-balancing strategy and quick data access.

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Upgrades: Upgrading equipment instead of expanding implies that systems residing on the current hardware have to be shut down in order to be migrated. Migration processes tend to be very complex due to the interdependency of many applications with other systems, as well as configuration changes at the operating system layer.

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meeting qUAlity of Quality of ExperienceSM (QoE) requires that application server farms have predictable, satisfying response times while balancing cost eXperienceSm (qoe) and efficiency. When viewed in the context of large application server farms, QoE minimizes processing and data access times, and eXpectAtionS maximizes throughput. The aforementioned requirements must be met while preventing unnecessary processor sprawl and power/ cooling waste due to resource overprovisioning to meet peak demands.

Traditional scale-up approaches to application server farms fail QoE because they meet response time expectations but do so at the expense of the inefficient use of power and space. To meet the requirements of a Fit-for-PurposeSM solution, Verari BladeRack 2 X-Series technology needs to be put into place that meets QoE expectations while solving the technical problem.

verAri SyStemS Verari Systems accommodates the processing and storage needs of an application server farm in a manner that provides high density BlAderAck 2 X-SerieS commodity hardware with innovative cooling and power distribution solutions to conserve cost and fit into today’s data centers. technology meetS the • high density: Verari Systems provides the customer with a customized hardware solution for processing and storage that can house up to 96 blades or 672 Terabytes of data storage in the space of two standard compute racks. needS of ApplicAtion Server right-Sizing • cost effectiveness: Large quantities of smaller commodity compute devices drive down costs while allowing a scale-out

approach to be more cost effective. In addition, Verari Systems’ cooling and power distribution solutions allow for the racks to be placed in standard data centers without a need for hot and cold aisles, saving space as well as cost in terms of cooling and power.

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increased Storage performance: The ability of storage blades to be housed in the same chassis as compute blades greatly increases the data access performance on Verari Systems’ BladeRack 2 X-Series platforms. The ability to connect the storage to the blades via high-speed switching devices makes for a very effective rapid data access and storage solution.

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ease of Scale: Deploying a BladeRack 2 X-Series blade in conjunction with provisioning tools such as DataSynapse FabricServerTM leads to a technology combination that makes application server farms very easy to scale by merely making configuration changes—the application automatically gets deployed to additional nodes. In the same manner, shrinking the footprint is as simple as removing a node from the farm.

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increased redundancy: Deploying applications to multiple smaller pieces of hardware as opposed to fewer larger pieces of hardware enables an application to be more resilient due to increased redundancy. In case of a hardware failure, more nodes are available to pick up the workload while the failed component is serviced or replaced.

proBlem ASSeSSment AnAlySiS The use of application server farms is a prevalent tactic for deploying many different types of applications and is a staple in any data center. These farm deployments host a wide range of applications— anything from customer facing 24/7 e-commerce applications to nightly batch processing jobs.

As a core component of any IT infrastructure Application Server Farms host many revenue generating applications. Typically such farms are viewed as critical components of the business and have several mandatory design considerations.

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Uptime – Keeping the environment functional during its required operation window

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density – Compacting the environment to consume as little datacenter space as possible

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resiliency – Ensuring the application remains intact even if one or more of the farm servers fail

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performance – Ensuring the application can handle loads efficiently even during peak hours

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data Access – Ensuring the application has rapid data access

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cost – Designing server farms in the most cost effective manner possible

Verari Systems’ right-sizing design, in conjunction with DataSynapse FabricServer, addresses all of the above design concerns very effectively. The commodity design of Verari blades as well as Verari’s cooling and power distribution technologies makes it more cost effective than its competitors. In addition, the design of the chassis provides near data storage, and through the use of FabricServer technology, architects can address resiliency as well as performance due to the ease of scaling environments.

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ApplicAtion Server right-Sizing operAtionAl qUAlitieS ASSeSSment gUide plAtform ASSeSSment • In order to determine how to optimally deploy Verari’s BladeRack 2 X-Series technology in an application server farm, in a real-time infrastructure, it is important to determine the specific behaviors (operational qualities) and constraints of that engine. Aspects of performance, modularity, granularity of tasks, and the degree of concurrent processing possible are all design factors that must be considered before attempting to redeploy this application using Verari BladeRack 2 X-Series technology. The table below provides this comparison in discrete sections, so that an architectural tradeoff analysis can be performed. definition of termS And their relevAnce to the ASSeSSment • performance: In the context of this work product, performance is defined as the ability to meet or exceed desired service characteristics. These characteristics include throughput or responsiveness for a sustained period of time.

While the precise definition of throughput and response times will vary based on the application and deployment, the characteristics can generally be defined as the number of computations and/or calculations the system can perform using a set period of time as a unit of measure, and return the result to the user or system which requested it.

Additionally, throughput is associated with the amount of data that can be moved to and from the hardware during peak operating times within a unit of measure.

• efficiency: In the context of this work product, efficiency is defined as the reduction of utilized resources (time, power, cooling) to perform a set quantity of tasks. Ultimately, efficiency has a direct impact in the Total Cost of Ownership for a device, which is a significant factor to take into account prior to deploying new hardware.

• flexibility: In the context of this work product, flexibility is most often defined as the quality of being responsive to change without breaking. For the IT operating environment the quality of flexibility is a combination of responsiveness, versatility, scalability, and dynamism. Subsequently responsiveness is defined as the measure of how quickly an environment can be changed, versatility as the ability to adapt or reconfigure existing resources to provide new capabilities, scalability as a measure of how easily the environment can expand and contract, and dynamism as the measure of the environment’s ability to make the changes relative to the other three attributes without disrupting current functionality.

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Aerial Density

Power

Efficiency

Efficiency

Data Proximity

Performance

Cooling

Processor

Performance

Efficiency

AttriBUte

operAtionAl qUAlity

Compute and storage capacity per square foot of data center space.

The infrastructure necessary to maintain optimal operating temperatures,

The amount of power consumed to meet demand without constraints.

Placement of data repositories in relation to processing devices.

Ability of processor to perform at peak capacity for a sustained period.

ApplicAtion eXecUtion

Application server farms are frequently located in close proximity to the revenue-generating user population to minimize network latency. This generally translates to urban data center locations with relatively high cost per square foot of data center space. It is critical to pack as many resources as possible into that space.

Dense application server farms can cause ‘hot spots’ in the data center, requiring special cooling accommodations or artificial segregation of related resources that may result in additional latency.

Efficient leverage of power resources enables a larger application server farm in less space. Space and power savings translate directly to the bottom line.

Most application servers are designed for the fastest end-user response time possible. Latency related to network transmission to/from data stores must be minimized.

Individual application servers typically exhibit spikes of demand throughout the day. f application servers are shared, leveraging dynamic execution management capabilities such as DataSynapse FabricServer, the compute infrastructure will be shared, causing prolonged periods where the servers must perform at 100% of capacity.

typicAl ApplicAtion qUAlity reqUirement

Verari’s BladeRack 2 X-Series is an innovative cluster concept with very dense architecture, virtualization capabilities, and Vertical Cooling Technology, which allows for the most processing performance and storage per square foot per watt, can realize an increase of usable floor tile space by up to 32%.

Verari‘s BladeRack 2 X-Series significantly reduces the amount of data center floor space required per processing platform. The ability to remove the traditional design issues with front-to-back cooling eliminates the need for hot and cold air aisles, thus increasing the aerial density of how many racks can be installed within a data center.

Vertical Cooling Technology, a patented Verari innovation, takes advantage of the most basic principle of thermodynamics: heat rises.

By drawing air from the floor and blowing it vertically through the chassis Verari eliminates the need for space-wasting hot/cold aisle data center configurations. In addition, by forcibly directing the hot air towards the chiller return ducts airflow is dramatically improved, minimizing “dead zones” and the power load for the cooling infrastructure.

The efficiency of the Verari platform equates to less power loss a heat generating power conversions as voltage is stepped up and down at various positions in the data center. This drives power savings on the order of 35%–40% over competing systems.

The BladeRack 2 X-Series’ has the ability to accept native 480V power, thus eliminating the need for step-down conversions, and provides 98% power efficiency while driving down KW per rack consumption.

Verari’s BladeRack 2 X-Series is built on Vertical Cooling Technology that creates a high velocity stream of cool air driving away hot air created by high performance components and power supplies from bottom to top. Fan speeds are constantly adjusted based on ambient temperature, providing further efficiency gains.

Very High

The combination of Verari’s server and disk blades within BladeRack 2 X-Series delivers exceptional processing power via its high performance processor architecture and dense storage platform capacity, enabling a single BladeRack 2 X-Series platform to house up to 672TB of storage capacity and 864 processor cores. This capability reduces network traffic between compute nodes and data repositories, thereby enabling extremely low latency and reducing network traffic in the data center.

Verari DataServer and BladeRack 2 X-Series enables a converged infrastructure (physical rack) to house both dense compute and storage devices.

Very High

High

Medium to High

High

The combination of the BladeRack 2 X-Series dense architecture and Vertical Cooling Technology leads to less heat, enabling processing capacity at 100% system utilization. Competing solutions are incapable of powering and cooling at a sustained peak, and therefore constrain the processor to 75% utilization or less during those periods.

The Verari solution thus has the net effect of requiring fewer servers in the data center to maintain performance during peak periods.

Verari BladeRack 2 X-Series’ design enables processors to run at 100% capacity for as long as demand warrants.

importAnce

tActicAl implicAtion

verAri cApABility

ArchitectUrAl conSiderAtionS for deployment

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Innovation Responsiveness

Deployment

Flexibility

Acquisition

Efficiency

Flexibility

Operational

Efficiency

Configuration Agility

Data Center Containment

Efficiency

Flexibility

AttriBUte

operAtionAl qUAlity

Versatility of physical footprint configurations to optimally utilize space.

Ability to leverage technology innovations for third parties (Intel, AMD, etc.).

Ability to leverage optimal server configurations for specific demand types.

Total cost of ownership over expected lifespan.

Anticipated cost to maintain operational integrity

The ability to compartmentalize sections of a data center to increase efficiency.

ApplicAtion eXecUtion

With the necessity of urban proximity of application server farms to minimize network latency it is important that every cubic foot of traditional data center space is maximized. In addition, the ability to leverage non-traditional environments will yield significant competitive advantage.

When managing large application server farms, the smallest improvement in processing performance and efficiency may yield significant savings and competitive advantage when multiplied across hundreds or thousands of servers.

Mass customization of servers with specialized performance-enhancing components (i.e. large amounts of memory, FPGA’s) at a low cost may provide significant competitive advantages.

Along with operational complexity, SMP servers carry a very high initial price tag and corresponding TCO over their depreciated lifespan. In contrast, application server rightsizing leverages horizontal scaling and can provide the same or better performance for a fraction of the TCO.

Large symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) servers frequently used to address application server demand tend to have low admin to server ratios (10-20:1). Leveraging a horizontal scaling approach with dynamic execution management capabilities can permit ratios as high as 80-100:1.

Application server farms are frequently located in close proximity to the revenue-generating user population to minimize network latency. This generally translates to urban data center locations with relatively high-cost per square foot of data center space. Non-traditional means of fulfilling application server resource demand can dramatically reduce cost per square foot.

typicAl ApplicAtion qUAlity reqUirement

Verari also offers its FOREST container for the ultimate in deployment flexibility.

Verari offers multiple rack height configurations to accommodate various data center configurations.

Verari can offer the latest Intel or AMD chipset in a production blade as soon as it is released to the market.

Verari’s modular server and storage blade line is built on a non-dedicated architecture that allows for configuration right-sizing to provide for a true Fit-for-PurposeSM platform design and implementation.

FOREST containers can be stacked three high and located outdoors or inside facilities such as old warehouses. This capability allows an enterprise to create massive portable data center capacity in months at a fraction of traditional data center costs.

I In older facilities where ceiling height may be a constraint, Verari offers racks at 2/3 their standard height. Conversely, in facilities with very high ceilings Verari’s power and cooling efficiency enable it to offer racks at greater than normal height (ceiling and floor loading become barriers before power and cooling).

When contrasted with competing solutions that typically offer perhaps three chipsets per year (skipping mid-year releases) for all blade types, Verari can offer significant performance and efficiency advantages.

Verari’s manufacturing excellence and configuration agility enable it to provide the latest technology innovations in a mass-producible form factor as soon as it is released.

Utilizing best-of-breed components, standard interconnects and networking technologies from industry leading server component manufacturers enables Verari Systems to deliver purpose-built blade configurations at a competitive price for relatively low manufacturing volumes.

Verari’s ultra-dense, ultra-efficient technology places more capacity in less space, consuming less capacity than any blade solution available on the market today. In addition, BladeRack 2 X-Series technology can support multiple generations of blades, further reducing the cost of ownership.

High

Medium

Medium to High

High

High

VCC was designed for “hands-off” remote management and is the centerpiece of Verari’s data center management strategy. VCC provides a robust set of management services that can be accessed via a web services API and comes with a native management console that fully leverages this API to deliver comprehensive system management for your data center.

Verari Command Center (VCC) is an integrated serverbased solution for deploying, configuring, monitoring, and managing the servers, workstation blades, and storage and related chassis components found in Verari’s BladeRack 2 X-Series platforms.

Verari BladeRack 2 X-Series’ total cost of ownership is as much as 50% of competing blade solutions.

High

The Verari FOREST container allows for ultimate flexibility in deployment of data center capacity. This container is up to 110% more efficient than a traditional data center and can be deployed outdoors or inside buildings. This ultra-high density compute and storage capability can be delivered in 90 days, fully configured and ready to plug in. This allows for the addition of massive capacity in less time than most enterprises take to ‘rack & stack’ similar capacity.

Verari FOREST container, allows over 2,000 servers or 13 petabytes of storage in an industry standard shipping container (40’x8’x9.5’).

importAnce

tActicAl implicAtion

verAri cApABility

trAditionAl dAtA center deployment

20 x 8 x SMPs = 160 CPUs 32 x 4 x WINTEL = 128 CPUs 288 CPUs

ApplicAtion right Sizing

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Verari Systems 9449 Carroll Park Drive San Diego, CA 92121 USA Phone 858-874-3800 or 888-942-3800 Web www.verari.com

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Š 2008, Verari Systems, Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Verari Systems, BladeRack and the Verari Systems logo are registered trademarks of Verari Systems Incorporated.

All other names or marks are property of their respective owners. No part of this document may be reproduced without consent from Verari Systems Incorporated.

Technical specifications subject to change without notice.