High performance calculations have appeared in the sphere of the Apple Company interests recently. Specialists from Virginia Tech University created a super computer cluster, based on the two processor computers-Apple Power Macintosh G5. This server has many positive sides, since it should not be used as a server due to the desktop shell design. This is the reason for producing an updated variant of the Xserve server on the base of a new processor PowerPC G5.
You can understand the main difference of the Xserve G5 from its predecessor by its name. The new Xserve server is built on the PowerPC G5 processors. The server architecture is close to standards that were proposed in the desktop computers Apple Power Macintosh G5 in 2003. Therefore, the new server inherited from the Xserver G4 only a common design of the shell with 1U height.
The Xserevr G5 can have one or two PowerPC G5 processors of a new modification. A processor bus has an efficient top speed of exchange, higher than 7.1 HB/sec. Each processor has a dedicated bus that connects it to the system controller.
An Xserver system controller has two-channel controller for DDR memory PC3200 with an errors correction (ECC). A common volume of the memory can reach up to eight HB.
An additional system chip differs from the one, used in the Power Mac G5. IBM engineers would call this device a "south bridge". Developers removed one PCI-X bus, but they added a second built-in controller, Gigabit Ethernet. Thus, the Xserver G5 has only one PCI-X bus with two cutoff points.
The new Xserver has three bins for the hard disks Apple Drive Module of Serial ATA type. This solution permits to achieve of a high density for data storage up to 750 HB per 1U.
These are three basic configurations of the Xserve G5 available: a one processor, two processors or so called a "Cluster Node" modification. The Cluster Node is a specific Macintosh solution that is optimized for the usage of the calculation clusters. In the Cluster Node mode the system supports up to ten users simultaneously. The number of users is unlimited for other variants. The testing results proved that the Xserver G5 would get a very competent usage in the high performance calculations area.
Macintosh provides all configurations with the new version of the operation system Mac OS X Server 10.3 "Panther".
The Xserver developers use a RAID disk system. The Xserver RAID passed a certification procedure for work with the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server. It is also certified for work with the most popular operation systems, such as the Windows 2003 Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux v. 2.1 and v.3 and Yellow Dog Linux 3.0. There are also certificates that are received for the compatibility with LSI Logic and ATTO technologies adapters. The system is also compatible with a disk storage management package VERITAS Volume Manager and Chapparal RAIDar Provisioning Services.
Virginia Tech started replacing of the Power Mac G5 to the Xserve G5 in their super computer. They expect that the number of Big Mac cluster nodes will grow up and it will result in the performance growth. The engineers will complete the modifications in a few months and most likely that the work of the super computer will become much more efficient.