Servers with processors based on arm64 architecture carefully enter our lives. In this article, we will show the unpacking, installation, and small test of the new TaiShan 2280v2 server.Unpacking
The server came to us in an unremarkable box. On the sides of the box is the Huawei logo, as well as packaging and packaging signs. Above you can see instructions on how to properly remove the server from the box. Let's unpack!The server is wrapped in a layer of antistatic material and laid between the layers of foam. In general, standard packaging for the server.In a small box, you can find the slide, two bolts and two Schuko-C13 power cables. The slide looks simple enough, but we'll talk about them later.On top of the server there is information about this server, as well as access to the BMC module and in the BIOS. The serial number is represented by a one-dimensional bar code, and the QR code contains a link to the technical support site.Remove the server cover and look inside.What is inside?
The server cover is held by a special latch that can be locked closed when using a Phillips screwdriver. Opening the latch shifts the server cover, after which the cover is removed without any problems.The server comes in a ready-made configuration called TaiShan 2280 V2 512G Standard Configuration in the following configuration:- 2x Kunpeng 920 (ARM64 architecture, 64 cores, base frequency 2.6 GHz);
- 16x DDR4-2933 32GB (total 512 GB);
- 12x SAS HDD 1200GB;
- Avago 3508 hardware RAID controller with a backup power supply based on an ionistor;
- 2x network card with four 1GE ports;
- 2x network card with four 10GE / 25GE SFP + ports;
- 2x power supply 2000 watts;
- Rackmount 2U enclosure.
The server motherboard implements the standard PCI Express 4.0, which allows you to use the full power of 4x 25GE network cards.
In the server configuration sent to us, 16 RAM slots are empty. Physically, the Kunpeng 920 processor supports up to 2 TB of RAM, which allows you to install 32 memory sticks of 128 GB each, expanding the total amount of RAM to 4 TB in one hardware platform.The processors have removable radiators without their own fans. Contrary to expectations, the processors are soldered to the motherboard (BGA) and in case of failure can only be replaced at the service center using special equipment.And now we will assemble the server back and move on to rack mounting.Installation
First of all, the rails are mounted in the rack. The slide is a simple shelf on which the server fits. On the one hand, this solution is very simple and convenient, however, it is not possible to service the server without pulling it out of the rack.Compared to other servers, TaiShan catches your attention with a flat front panel and green-black color scheme. I would also like to note that the manufacturer is sensitive to the marking of equipment installed in the server. On each disk slide, the necessary information about the installed disk is indicated, and an icon is displayed under the VGA port indicating the numbering of the disks.A VGA port and 2 USB ports on the front panel are a nice bonus from the manufacturer in addition to the main VGA + 2 USB ports on the rear panel. On the rear panel you can also find the port for IPMI, marked as MGMT, and the COM port in RJ-45 version, marked as IOIOI.Initial setup
During the initial setup, BIOS entry settings and IPMI settings are changed. Huawei promotes security, so BIOS and IPMI are protected by passwords that are different from the usual admin / admin passwords. The first time the BIOS is entered, it warns that the default password is not strong and needs to be changed.Huawei BIOS Setup Utility is similar in interface to the Aptio Setup Utility used in SuperMicro servers. Here you will not find either a switch for Hyper-Threading technology or a Legacy mode.The web interface of the BMC module offers three input fields instead of the expected two. You can enter the interface using a local login password or authentication through a remote LDAP server.IPMI provides many options for server management:By default, the RMCP method used in ipmitool is disabled for security reasons. For KVM access, iBMC offers two solutions:- “Classic” Java applet;
- HTML5 console.
Since ARM processors are positioned as energy efficient, on the main page of the iBMC web interface you can see the Energy Efficiency block, which shows not only how much energy we saved using this server, but how many kilograms of carbon dioxide did not get into the atmosphere.Despite the impressive power of the power supplies, in idle mode, the server consumes 340 watts , and under full load only 440 watts .
Using
The next important step is installing the operating system. There are many popular Linux distributions for the arm64 architecture, but only the most modern versions are installed and work correctly on the server. Here is the list of operating systems that we managed to run:- Ubuntu 19.10;
- CentOS 8.1.
- Simply Linux 9.
During the preparation of the article, news came out that the Russian company Basalt SPO released a new version of the Simply Linux operating system. It is stated that Simply Linux supports Kunpeng 920 processors. Despite the fact that the main application of this OS is Desktop, we did not miss the opportunity to check its operation on our server and were satisfied with the result.
The processor architecture, its main feature, is not yet supported by all applications. Most software focuses on the ubiquitous x86_64 architecture, and versions ported to arm64 most often noticeably lag behind in functionality.Huawei recommends using EulerOS , a commercial Linux distribution based on CentOS, since this distribution initially fully supports the functionality of TaiShan servers. There is a free version of EulerOS - OpenEuler .
Well-known benchmarks, such as GeekBench 5 and PassMark CPU Mark, do not work with arm64 architecture yet, therefore, to compare performance, we took “everyday” tasks in the form of unpacking, compiling programs and calculating the number π.A competitor from the x86_64 world took a dual-socket server with Intel® Xeon® Gold 5218. We present the technical characteristics of the servers:All tests are performed on the Ubuntu 19.10 operating system. Before running the tests, all system components were updated with the full-upgrade command.The first test compares the performance in the "single standings": the calculation of one hundred million characters of the number π on one core. Ubuntu's APT repositories have a program that solves this problem: the pi utility.The next stage of testing is a thorough "warm-up" of the server by compiling all the programs of the LLVM project. LLVM monorepo 10.0.0 was chosen as the compiled one , and gcc and g ++ version 9.2.1 , supplied with the build-essentials package , are the compilers . Since we are testing servers, when configuring the assembly, add the -Ofast switch :cmake -G"Unix Makefiles" ../llvm/ -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS=-Ofast -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS=-Ofast -DLLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS="clang;clang-tools-extra;libcxx;libcxxabi;libunwind;lldb;compiler-rt;lld;polly;debuginfo-tests"
This will enable maximum optimization during compilation and additionally load the test servers. Compilation runs in parallel on all available threads.After compilation, you can do the transcoding of the video. The most famous command-line utility, ffmpeg, has a special benchmarking mode. Ffmpeg version 4.1.4 participated in the testing, and the Big Buck Bunny 3D cartoon in high resolution was taken as an input file .ffmpeg -i ./bbb_sunflower_2160p_30fps_normal.mp4 -f null - -benchmark
All values in the test results are the time taken to complete the task successfully.It is easy to see that the main advantage of the representative of the x86_64 architecture is the 3.9 GHz frequency achieved with Intel® Turbo Boost technology. The processor on the arm64 architecture takes the number of cores, not the frequency.As expected, when calculating the number of π in one thread, the number of cores does not help. However, when compiling large projects, the situation changes.Conclusion
From a physical point of view, the TaiShan 2280v2 server is notable for its ease of use and security. The presence of PCI Express 4.0 is a separate advantage of this configuration.When using the server, there may be problems with the software for the arm64 architecture, however, these problems are specific to each specific user.? TaiShan 2280v2 Selectel Lab.