Industry-standard servers are composed of several key subsystems, and each subsystem plays a vital role in the overall performance of the server.
Part 1 of this book examines each major subsystem of an industry-standard server. This part discusses each subsystem in detail, and then the remainder of the book explains how these individual components come together in the HP ProLiant server family; this book also emphasizes the HP value-added innovations to these industry technologies.
Here is an overview of the chapters in Part 1.
Chapter 1 Introduction to Server Technologies
Chapter 1 provides a high-level overview of the key components and sub-systems that make up an industry-standard server.
Chapter 2 Server Chipsets
The chipset provides a foundation to the overall architecture of a server. To eliminate bottlenecks and increase performance, the chipset must provide an optimized and balanced architecture.
Chapter 3 Processors and Multiprocessing
To select the appropriate server for a particular task, you need to consider several factors related to the server processor, such as how processors work, what innovations make processors work faster, how processor types differ, and how multiprocessor servers differ from single-processor servers.
Chapter 4 Memory and Cache
Chapter 4 explains the differences between memory and cache, and how both work. This chapter also examines some of the technical innovations that have increased memory and cache performance and their fault-tolerant capabilities.
Chapter 5 Bus Architecture
The internal computing components of a server are connected by a collection of pathways, known as buses, that differ in width and speed. This chapter explains the types of buses, how they function, and the different bus technologies commonly found in today's industry-standard servers.
Chapter 6 Server Storage
Two popular types of hard drive technology are currently offered in the server systems industry: ATA/IDE and SCSI. This chapter explains the differences between these technologies, and how each technology is implemented in an industry standard server.
Chapter 7 Array Technologies
RAID technology is based on the theory that a group of smaller drives is more efficient than one large drive. The basic premise of fault-tolerant RAID is that an intelligent manager can handle a drive array so that it can withstand the failure of any individual drive in the array without losing data. Chapter 7 explains the various RAID levels and how drive arrays work.
Chapter 8 Introduction to Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel is an integrated set of standards developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Fibre Channel technology is an industry-standard interconnect serial data transfer architecture that delivers a high level of reliability, throughput, and distance flexibility for the server industry. Chapter 8 explains foundational Fibre Channel concepts and terms.
Each of these chapters provides a foundation for discussing HP server technologies in later chapters of this book.
