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IBM eServer i5 is the newest member of the iSeries and AS/400 family. It's built on the latest POWER5 and advanced Virtualization technologies from IBM. Like its older siblings, IBM eServer i5 delivers outstanding scalability as a Domino server. Certainly, this scalability comes from advanced technology and powerful processors. But it also comes from the unique architectural match between Domino and i5/OS.
By implementing Domino instances in i5/OS (OS/400) subsystems, the iSeries server leverages Domino partitioning without requiring multiple copies of the operating system or multiple copies of the Domino code. For example, for this benchmark result of 28,500 Domino Web Access users, we ran 10 Domino partitions in a single copy of i5/OS utilizing 16 POWER5 processors in a single server footprint. And we delivered an average response time for those 28,500 concurrent users of 269 milliseconds (0.269 seconds) for the required 6-hour duration of the test.
For this audit we specifically chose to run 28,500 R6iNotes users to demonstrate the extent to which the POWER5 technology has improved the processing capacity of Domino on iSeries in a short amount of time. In June of 2003, iSeries published an audit result of 28,500 R6iNotes sers on POWER4 technology using 32 x 1.30GHz POWER4 processors. And now, just 16 months later, the IBM eServer i5 delivers equivalent audit results on POWER5 technology utilizing one half the number of processors. In addition, the audited configuration used fewer disk drives and yet produced results with an even lower average response time.
Not only is IBM's POWER5 technology impressive in its capacity and scalability for Domino processing, it also achieves excellent efficiency of resource utilization. The 16-way POWER5 configuration used for this audit supports over 1,780 Domino Web Access users per processor. This is more users per processor than any other published R6iNotes audit result for a system with more than two processors. In addition to the speed of the POWER5 processors, a major factor in achieving this efficiency is that the POWER5 processors extend the latest in processor technology with a significant enhancement called Simultaneous Multi-Threading (SMT).
SMT provides optimum processor utilization by allowing the simultaneous execution of two threads on a single processor. So on a single POWER5 processor, multiple threads of execution of Domino Web Access processing are occurring simultaneously, thus making extremely efficient use of the physical processor. (For more information on IBM's SMT technology, please refer to the following white paper:
ibm.com/systems/i/advantages/perfmgmt/pdf/SMT.pdf (95KB)
With the evolution of processor technology, it is increasingly difficult to define exactly what a CPU or processor is. As a result, you have to look beyond what a vendor describes as an 8-way or 16-way processor for example. Today's processor technology includes multi-core chips and multi-threaded processors, where it is commonly accepted that a core is essentially the components that provide the processing functions of a CPU. In the case of multi-core chips (multiple cores on a single chip), some vendors may call this a single processor, while others, such as IBM, count each core as a processor. IBM's POWER5 and POWER4 technology both use a hardware topology with two physical processors on a single chip. We refer to each of these processors as a core. Thus, we describe the 16-way, POWER5 model 570 hardware used for this R6iNotes audit which has 16 cores residing on 8 chips as having 16 processors. As previously stated, some vendors have adopted practices whereby the topology of two cores on a single chip is referred to as a single processor, and may have referred to such a 16-core system as an "8-way" because the hardware resided on 8 chips. So in the paragraph above regarding the excellent efficiency of resource utilization with POWER5, eServer i5 delivers even more than what meets the eye with respect to what is being claimed about some processor architectures.
The POWER5 technology achievements are interesting -- even exciting. But what does it mean to real organizations who don't have 28,500 employees needing to run Domino Web Access? The answer comes back to the match between eServer i5 architecture and Domino architecture. Organizations of all shapes and sizes can benefit from the ability to fully leverage Domino partitioning. It translates to fewer moving parts to pay for and to manage: physical servers, operating systems, Domino code. It means you can often add a new group of users or a new Domino application simply by creating another instance of Domino in a few minutes, instead of deploying another physical server with everything that implies. It means your administrators can spend their time delivering end user support and business value instead of managing a server farm.
This benchmark result is the latest example of IBM's commitment to the continued excellence of the iSeries family as a Domino server platform. Thanks for taking the time to read about it. If you'd like to learn more, please browse the other links on this Web site.
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