ISS Technology Update, Volume 7 Number 3 - Newsletter

ISS Technology Update Volume 7, Number 3

Additional resources

For additional information on the topic discussed in this article, visit:

Resource URL

HP Virtual Connect for c-Class

BladeSystem User Guide

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00865618/c00865618.pdf

HP BladeSystem Technical

Resources (Technical papers,

manuals, tools and resources for

blades)

http://h71028.www7.hp.com/enterprise/cache/499697-0-0-0-121.html

Storage HBAs are determined by the storage array provider

Storage array vendors work with server and host bus adapter (HBA) manufacturers, such as QLogic and Emulex, to qualify their

storage arrays with particular server/HBA configurations. This means that each server/HBA combination is qualified with a

particular storage array, including software, firmware, and HBA configuration. For this reason, it is not possible to substitute an

“equivalent” HP HBA to work with a storage array if the HBA and driver have not been qualified by the array vendor.

This is true for “all” servers. HP ISS benefits from this industry practice because it allows HP servers and HBAs to be attached to

other vendors’ storage arrays. The bottom line is that if you need to find an HBA for a particular HP server connected to another

vendor’s storage array, it is always the responsibility of that vendor to designate the HBA and driver.

If an HP ISS customer uses an HP storage array, then HP can assist in determining support for the configuration. If an HP ISS

customer uses a third-party storage array, then that vendor’s support organization should be consulted to determine support and

any special configuration requirements.

ProLiant management tip of the month

Statement regarding HP Systems Insight Manager (SIM) 5.2 and HP Insight Control

Environment (ICE) 2.21 and Microsoft® Windows® host operating system compatibility

In the last several years, the makers of x86-compatible processors have added 64-bit extensions, primarily for memory

addressing. These extensions are Intel®64 (formerly known as ‘Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology) and AMD64, and are a

superset of the 32-bit Intel architecture (known as IA-32). As such, IA-32 applications run without modification on processors

with the 64-bit extensions, and run natively, that is, without the need for emulation. This results in no performance penalty. This

is in contrast with the 64-bit Intel® Itanium® processor family (IA-64) which uses the EPIC (Explicitly Parallel Instruction

Computing) architecture and must use emulation (with the associated performance degradation) to run IA-32 code.

Microsoft® Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 are available in versions for x86 and x64 (the Microsoft

nomenclature indicating support of both Intel64 and AMD64). When running the x64 version of the operating system, all

device drivers must be 64-bit in nature. HP provides 64-bit drivers for HP ProLiant servers. Applications can be either 32-bit or

64-bit, and the two types can execute concurrently. Both Intel and AMD use the term “Compatibility Mode” to indicate running

32-bit applications on a 64-bit operating system. This is implemented in Windows with what is called the “Windows on

Windows subsystem” (WoW). The WOW.DLL converts function arguments from 32-bit to 64-bit and return values from 64-bit to

32-bit. This conversion is very low overhead as most of the calculations involve adding leading zeros. Address translation is

from flat 32-bit to flat 64-bit.

Currently, according to International Data Corporation, the overwhelming installed base of servers is running x86-32 versions

of the Windows operating system. Even with new installations, many customers have chosen to install the x86-32 version of the

operating system even on 64-bit capable processors. In fact, 32-bit OS versions remain the majority for new installations until

after 2009, when 64-bit OS deployments start to become the norm.