---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash A+Edition 1.0 For Solaris 2.3 Enterprise Server SunFLASH Vol 70 #3 October 1994 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Electronic Journal For Sun Users Since 1988 John J. Mclaughlin, Publisher & Editor - flash@sun.com ____________________________________________________________________________ 70.03 A+Edition 1.0 For Solaris 2.3 Enterprise Server Sun Microsystems Computer Company(SMCC), SunSoft, and Amdahl Corporation announce the immediate availability of A+Edition(TM) 1.0 for the Solaris(R) 2.3 Enterprise Server operating environment. A+Edition is an unbundled systems software product that runs on top of Solaris 2.3. o A+Edition 1.0 is an extension to Solaris 2.3 for SPARCserver 1000 and SPARCcenter 2000 customers o A+Edition provides increased performance for heavily loaded multiuser applications o A+Edition offers security and serviceability enhancements (315 lines) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- As part of the comprehensive alliance between Sun and Amdahl announced in September 1993, Amdahl has extended SunSoft's Solaris 2.3 operating environment to better meet the needs of the high end commercial server market. Designed specifically for use with SPARCserver(R) 1000 and SPARCcenter(TM) 2000 systems, A+Edition improves the performance, security, and availability of Solaris 2.3 for large scale, mission-critical, commercial applications. Highlights: * Designed and built specifically to achieve performance enhancements for the SPARCserver 1000 and SPARCcenter 2000 systems multiprocessor(MP) architectures running data intensive commercial workloads in large multiuser environments * Improved levels of throughput for increasing numbers of processors and users, without compromising performance on smaller configurations * Added security administration tools to reduce the potential for operator errors, and tightened authentication security for the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to increase the consistency of network service security * Added error logging improves serviceability and reduces system repair time by detailed logging of errors * Designed and tested to preserve standard Solaris 2.3 interfaces so that conforming applications, middleware, and device drivers run unmodified on A+Edition * Supplied on CD-ROM. The systems administrator installs A+Edition extensions in the same manner as a standard update release of Solaris AVAILABILITY ------------ A+Edition 1.0 will be orderable and begin shipping on September 12, 1994. FEATURES AND BENEFITS --------------------- Features Benefits ======== ======== o MP scaling improvements o Cost effective system growth path o Performance improvement for heavily o Increased value of current loaded multiuser applications systems investment on the SPARCserver 1000 and SPARCcenter 2000 o Security audit administration tools o Easy auditing setup o Expanded error reporting and o Reduced system repair time logging system and improved serviceability o Conformance to Solaris system o Preservation of investment interfaces and associated industry in application software standards HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE CONSIDERATIONS ------------------------------------ A+Edition can only be ordered for multiprocessor server configurations. A+Edition 1.0 requires the following: * SPARCserver 1000 or SPARCcenter 2000 server * Solaris 2.3 or any Solaris 2.3 Hardware Publication with Maintenance Supplement 1 Configurations start at 2 processors for the SPARCserver 1000 and 4 processors for the SPARCcenter 2000. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS --------------------- Q. Why did Sun partner with Amdahl to create A+Edition? A. Sun is leveraging Amdahl's expertise in the commercial market to better meet the needs of high-end commercial server customers with Solaris and A+Edition. A+Edition is part of a comprehensive partnership between Sun and Amdahl. The objective of the partnership is to bring datacenter-quality open networked computing solutions to the enterprise. Amdahl brings 20 years of experience in the datacenter, while Sun adds expertise in client/server technologies. Solaris is the industry's leading open software platform for delivering commercial and technical applications to the enterprise. It offers the power of an industry-leading multitasking, multiprocessing, multithreaded UNIX operating system and fully integrated, standard networking. Solaris is optimized to increase the throughput of database, file server, and multi-user applications. In this partnership, Amdahl is reselling Sun servers and service, and working with Sun to add additional datacenter extensions to Solaris with A+Edition and future layered products. Q. Why is SMCC pricelisting A+Edition? A. A+Edition improves the competitiveness of SPARCcenter 2000 and SPARCserver 1000 servers in commercial environments with large, multiuser, multiprocessing configurations. Q. What performance improvements can our customers expect from A+Edition? A. It is difficult to quantify actual performance improvements, since these improvements will depend on the customer's environment, configuration, and application. As a rough guideline, you can expect the overall performance of a heavily-loaded system to improve by approximately 25-30% with A+Edition. A+Edition also extends the number of supportable users from 180 with base Solaris 2.3 to approximately 250 users with A+Edition. Q. What performance claims can Sun make? What benchmarks have been run? A. A+Edition demonstrates improved multiprocessor efficiency and scalability for additional CPUs when compared to native Solaris 2.3. This efficient MP behavior allows A+Edition to provide consistent and uniform levels of throughput in the high MP, high load environments typical of large data center servers. A+Edition demonstates substantial performance improvements on the SPEC SDM SDET and KENBUS multi-user benchmarks as shown in the table below. However, A+Edition does not show significant improvements on benchmarks such as Laddis, TPC-A, TPC-B, and SPECrate. This is because these benchmarks are already highly tuned by SMCC and SunSoft. The table below summarizes the performance improvements we found when running SPEC SDM benchmarks with A+Edition installed on a SPARCcenter 2000 and Solaris 2.3. 8-way 16-way Benchmark SPARCcenter 2000 SPARCcenter 2000 -------------------------------------------------------------------- KenBus 250% ~500% SDET 35% ~250% Q. What are SDET and KENBUS benchmarks, and why are they useful to a commercial customer? A: SDET and KENBUS are part of the SDM (Software Development Multi-user) benchmark suite created by SPEC. They are useful to a commercial customer because they measure the predictability of a multi-user system under memory, process, and user stress. These tests measure how a system performs under heavily loaded conditions. SDET is a multi-user process and I/O intensive benchmark that is intended to simulate a UNIX development environment. KENBUS is a multi-user memory intensive benchmark that is intended to simulate a UNIX production environment. Q. What did Amdahl do to improve performance? A. A+Edition is built specifically to the hardware architecture of the SPARCserver 1000 and SPARCcenter 2000. Amdahl's approach to performance is complementary to SunSofts': SunSoft focuses on performance improvements that apply across all supported platforms, and Amdahl focuses on maximizing performance specifically on SPARCserver 1000 and SPARCcenter 2000 servers running heavy commercial workloads. Amdahl developed a series of kernel modifications to improve the performance of high-end systems. These modifications include improving memory management and locking mechanisms. All of these changes are completely transparent to the user except, of course, for the improved system performance. Q. What applications run on A+Edition 1.0? A. All customer applications, middleware, and third party products that run on Solaris 2.3 will run on A+Edition for Solaris 2.3. If an application makes use of the standard ABIs of Solaris, A+Edition will be 100% compatible. Amdahl has tested over 30 applications with A+Edition to ensure binary compatibility. Benchmarks and other tests have been performed using Oracle, Informix, Ingres, and Sybase. Amdahl tested A+Edition using the same tests that SunSoft uses with Solaris. Q. Will A+Edition 1.0 provide performance improvements over Solaris 2.4? A. Yes. With the release of Solaris 2.4, Sun will be releasing a corresponding version of A+Edition that performs over and above Solaris 2.4 in heavy capacity, multiprocessing environments. Customers who would benefit from A+Edition performance should purchase the product now since Solaris 2.4 is not yet available and A+Edition is easily installed to their current Solaris 2.3 environment. With Solaris 2.4 and the subsequent version of A+Edition, there will be an upgrade path that allows A+Edition 1.0 customers to move to the next version of A+Edition for no additional charge. Customers merely pay for the cost of media. Q. How do I order A+Edition? A. To order A+Edition, use the standard SMCC ordering procedures. There are two part numbers available for each server. Order the Slim Kit appropriate for the type of server A+Edition will be installed on. The Slim Kit includes CD-ROM, online documentation, and a 2 or 4 processor license, depending on which server you have. You must then order Additional Per Processor licenses for each additional processor in the server. Q. What customer documentation is available for A+Edition? A. A+Edition documentation is included on the A+Edition CD-ROM in standard Answerbook format. Q. Is the A+Edition product fully internationalized? A. Yes. A+Edition adheres to Solaris standard internationalization guidelines. A+Edition does not have local language versions, since all the enhancements are in the kernel or system administration area, where Sun typically provides only English language documentation. Q. Can A+Edition coexist with other Sun systems in the network? A. Yes. Q. What is the support strategy for A+Edition? A. SunService will provide single point of contact problem resolution for Sun customers that purchase A+Edition. Problems will be escalated to Amdahl if needed. Patch distribution will be identical to any other software product pricelisted by Sun. U.S. PRICING AND ORDERING INFORMATION ------------------------------------- THE FOLLOWING ITEMS APPEAR ON THE END USER AND RESELLER PRICE LISTS Order List Discount SunSpectrum S/W Description Number Price Category Enhancements ======================================================================= A+Edition 1.0 APL1000-1.0-S2 $3,000 B 2-processor Slim Kit for SPARCserver 1000 (includes media and 2 processor licenses) A+Edition 1.0 APL1000-1.0-L $1,500 B Additional Per Processor License for SPARCserver 1000 (no media) A+Edition 1.0 APL2000-1.0-S4 $10,000 B 4-processor Slim Kit for SPARCcenter 2000 (includes media and 4 processor licenses) A+Edition 1.0 APL2000-1.0-L $2,500 B Additional Per Processor License for SPARCcenter 2000 (no media) (c) 1994 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems Computer Company, and Solaris 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. SPARCserver and SPARCcenter are licensed exclusively to Sun Microsystems, Inc. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd. All other product or service names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.