sunflash-Distributed to mailing list sun/NC/north-carolina sunflash-Send requests, problems to owner-sunflash@suntri.east.sun.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash NVRAM-SIMM NFS Accelerator for Solaris 2.2 SunFLASH Vol 57 #11 September 1993 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 57.11 NVRAM-SIMM NFS Accelerator for Solaris 2.2 NVRAM-SIMM Prestoserve comes with a unique UNIX(R) device driver that accelerates the speed of synchronous write operations taking place. This significantly improves the performance of disk-bound applications running locally on servers. Accelerating the synchronous write performance also accelerates the rate of NFS(R) write operations. Net result is a 300% improvement in NFS writes to the server. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Improves overall NFS performance by 5% over SBus Prestoserve Provides up to eight times the NVRAM capacity while reducing the $/MB Better performance than SBus Prestoserve due to higher bus bandwidth Offers a Battery backup for power failures Provides ECC memory protection. Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC) introduces NVRAM-SIMM Prestoserve(TM) for all SPARCstation(TM) 10, SPARCserver(TM) 10, SPARCserver 1000, and SPARCcenter(TM) 2000 systems running the Solaris(R) 2.2 or higher operating environment. NVRAM-SIMM Prestoserve is a Nonvolatile Single Inline Memory Module (NVSIMM) containing 2 MB, of Cache for the SPARCstation 10 and SPARCserver 10 systems, 4 MB of Cache for the SPARCserver 1000 system and 8 MB of Cache for the SPARCcenter 2000 system. PRODUCT INFORMATION SBus and NVRAM-SIMM Prestoserve are functionally equivalent. The primary difference is the NVRAM-SIMM efficiency rate. Where as SBus Prestoserve caches the synchronous writes to an SBus card, NVRAM-SIMM caches the synchronous write directly in ECC memory. Each NVRAM-SIMM can contain up to 8 MB of memory, a battery backup and power controller circuitry, insuring that the memory is not lost when the system is shut-down or halted. NVRAM-SIMM Prestoserve comes with a unique UNIX(R) device driver that accelerates the speed of synchronous write operations taking place. This significantly improves the performance of disk-bound applications running locally on servers. Accelerating the synchronous write performance also accelerates the rate of NFS(R) write operations. Net result is a 300% improvement in NFS writes to the server. HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE CONSIDERATIONS ------------------------------------ - NVRAM-SIMM will operate on all SPARCstation 10, SPARCserver 10 and Sun-4(TM)D systems running Solaris 2.2 or higher - The 2.4.1 Prestoserve driver has been enhanced to operate with both SBus and NVRAM-SIMM Prestoserve - 2.4 Prestoserve driver will only operate under Solaris 2.1 and Solaris 2.2. All existing 2.4 Prestoserve customers migrating over to future releases of Solaris need to order SPRE-PF to receive the 2.4.1 Prestoserve driver QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS --------------------- Q. Is NVRAM-SIMM Prestoserve backwards compatible with Solaris 2.1? A. No, NVRAM-SIMM will only operate under Solaris 2.2 or higher. Q. Are 2 MB, 4 MB, and 8 MB NVRAM-SIMMs compatible across all supported SPARCserver platforms? A. No, The 2-MB NVRAM-SIMMs only runs on SPARCstation 10 and SPARCserver 10 systems, while the 4-MB and 8-MB NVRAM-SIMMs only run on the SPARCserver 1000 and SPARCcenter 2000 systems respectively. Q. What version is the new Prestoserve driver? A. The Prestoserve driver is version 2.4.1. Q. How many Mbytes of NVRAMs will be supported on each SPARCstation 10, SPARCserver 10, SPARCserver 1000, and SPARCcenter 2000 systems? A. SPARCstation 10 and SPARCserver 10 systems support 2 MB, SPARCserver 1000 systems support up to 8 MB and SPARCcenter 2000 systems supports up to 16 MB. AVAILABILITY ------------ NVRAM-SIMM Prestoserve can be ordered immediately and will begin shipping early October 1993. U.S. PRICING and ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS -------------------------------------- THESE ITEMS APPEAR ON BOTH THE END USER AND RESELLER PRICE LISTS Order List Discount SunSpectrum Description Number Price Category Silver Price =============================================================================== 2 Mbyte NVRAM Prestoserve 178A 1 $1,500 A N/C 4 Mbyte NVRAM Prestoserve 177A 1 $2,000 A N/C 8 Mbyte NVRAM Prestoserve 172A 1 $4,000 A N/C NOTE: 1. Add "X" before the order number (e.g. X178A) to order as a stand-alone option for existing systems. (c) 1993 Sun Microsystem, Inc. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation, Solaris, NFS, and Sun-4 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. All SPARC trademarks, including the SCD Compliant Logo, are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. SPARCstation, SPARCserver, and SPARCcenter are licensed exclusively to Sun Microsystems, Inc. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. Prestoserve is a registered trademark of Legato Systems, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX Systems Laboratories, Inc. All other product or service names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners. ********************************************************************** For information about SunFlash send mail to info-sunflash@Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@Sun.COM. Archives are on draco.nova.edu, ftp.uu.net, sunsite.unc.edu, src.doc.ic.ac.uk and ftp.adelaide.edu.au All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or publication by Sun Microsystems. Send brief articles (e.g. third party announcements) and include contact information (non-800#, fax #, email, etc) to: John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@Sun.COM. +1 305 351 4909