CPU in FAS32xx

[mikidutzaa]

Hello,

Does anyone know what CPUs are used in the new 32xx systems and at what frequencies? I saw that for 62xx the CPUs are Intel 55xx and 56xx on TheRegister.co.uk...

[mheimberg]

brendanheading wrote:
But you can't argue that the CPU is not an important factor.

The question is, what your software / OS does with the ressources.

Even though I find FAS2020 a crap I am always amazed what they get out of that lousy Celeron CPU!

On Insight there was a interesting track where they showed how many servers you need to fill the CPUs of an 6280 - I don't have the numbers in mind, waiting for the presentation to download - but to sum up: Ontap is obviously getting much more out of the ressources than even the used Linux.

OS-software engineers at NetApp: well done!

Mark

[brendanheading]

Agreed it is very impressive. This is a benefit which flows from having a custom, purpose-built OS rather than Linux or Solaris which are fundamentally general-purpose. I imagine that ONTAP does pretty much everything in kernel space and is able to take a lot of liberties with MMU page sizes, CPU caching policies etc.

But yes, ONTAP certainly does rock.

[mikidutzaa]

NetApp rocks, that's not the point. My point is that they put a slow CPU in their midrange. Now if 6210 pricing is reasonable it's really not an issue. But if not...

For instance, in a VDI setup, most of the I/O will be served from cache, especially during boot storms, so it will be CPU/Memory bound so you have to go to 62xx series to get good performance for a few thousand users.

[michaelproact]

Slow CPU's has been the NetApp trademark for years. They probably come cheap and they can charge the customer 1000% of the original price.

-- This message will soon be deleted

[timothycook]

For sure!  That's why the previous 6000 series included an opteron 8xx series, known for being "dirt cheap" and "slow" at the time.  If you're going to make claims, perhaps try ones that aren't both trollish and completely inaccurate.

[netappgeek]

To set the record straight, I occasionally receive this question from partners.  Last I checked, the 3200 Series CPUs include:

• FAS3210 = 1-socket, 2.33GHz Intel Wolfdale, 2-core/socket
  
• FAS3240 = 1-socket, 2.33GHz Intel Harpertown, 4-core/socket
  
• FAS3270 = 2-socket, 3.0GHz   Intel Wolfdale, 2-core/socket
  

Other than the curiosity factor, there's much more to NetApp than speeds `n feeds.

Answer your question?

[marcelgjaltema]

Hi,

What I can tell you:

FAS3210 - 2 CPU 64-bit dual-core 2.3 GHz - 4 cores - 1 GB nvram - 8 GB sys. mem.
FAS3240 - 2 CPU 64-bit quad-core 2.3 GHz - 8 cores - 2 GB nvram - 16 GB sys. mem.
FAS3270 - 4 CPU 64-bit dual-core 3.0 GHz - 8 cores - 4 GB nvram - 32 GB sys. mem.

Br,

Marcel

[sandrawu]

Great discussions, folks! Here are a couple facts to further along this discussion:

Our latest FAS/V3200 systems use the Intel Xeon CPU family leveraging 64 bit multi-core processors.  The reason we do not highlight the CPU model used is because overall storage system performance, scalability, and expandability depends not only on processor type used, but the overall hardware system architecture and the tight integration and tuning of ONTAP.  Yes as noted in earlier discussions, NetApp spends tremendous amount of R&D investment in the overall storage system’s performance, function and reliability, in order to satisfy our enterprise and MSE customer’s storage requirements.  Our goal is to continuously provide our customers with the best overall storage solution that is tightly integrated with their applications.  These solutions need to be delivered at a optimized price point, while carrying forward all existing features and functionalities.

Sandra Wu

Director,

Product Marketing

NetApp

[storagedp]

Hello,
There is no quad-core in the Intel Wolfdale family (5200-serie) so I suppose the FAS3240 use Clovertown (5300-serie) or Harpertown (5400-serie) ?

Best Regards,

[netappgeek]

Typo on my part (you're correct!)  It's a Harpertown (as Tim also noted below).

Need more coffee next time!

-Brian

[timothycook]

The 3240 uses an L5410.

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=33090

[ykkim7138]

netapp filer info

cpu/memory/nvram/etc....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetApp_filer