Best Practices When Deploying Linux on the HP ProLiant DL980 (updated December 2012)

3
Introduction
The purpose of this white paper is to facilitate the successful deployment and configuration of Linux operating systems
on HP ProLiant DL980 servers. It includes a description of additional recommended HP software components for the
DL980, and best practices you can use when deploying Linux on the DL980. Topics include:
 Hardware best practices
 Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) overview
 Operating System (OS) support matrix
 Additional recommended software components
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5/5.8 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP3/SP4 best practices
 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.X and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SPX best practices
 Oracle Database best practices
The HP ProLiant DL980 server is HP’s latest 8-socket, x86-based, 64-bit scale up platform. Available in 4-, 6-, 8-, and
10-core configurations, the HP ProLiant DL980 can support up to 160 logical processors (8 Intel® Xeon® E-7 series
processors, 10 cores per processor, and 2 threads per core with Intel® Hyper-Threading enabled), 4 TB of physical
memory (RAM), and up to 16 PCIe/PCI-X I/O cards. In addition, the DL980 is based on a Non-Uniform Memory
Architecture (NUMA) and the Intel QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) technology. Figure 1 shows the front view of a DL980
server.
For a general overview of the technical specifications for this server, see the HP ProLiant DL980 Server Data Sheet :
h20195.www2.hp.com/V2/GetPDF.aspx/4AA1-5671ENW.pdf
For detailed technical specifications, see the server QuickSpecs:
h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13708_div/13708_div.pdf
Figure 1: Front view of the DL980 server
The HP ProLiant DL980 uses the HP PREMA architecture, which incorporate a new node controller design with Smart CPU
caching and redundant system fabric. Combined with the Linux Operating System, these features provide a solution fully
capable of supporting the most demanding, data-intensive workloads, with the reliability, availability, and efficiency
needed to run all of your business-critical applications with confidence.
For a detailed discussion of the HP PREMA architecture, see the technical overview:
h20195.www2.hp.com/V2/GetPDF.aspx/4AA3-0643ENW.pdf