ClearPath MCP Software Series Compatibility Guide

Transcription

1 ClearPath Software Series Compatibility Guide Overview The ClearPath Software Series is designed to deliver new cost and performance competitive attributes and to continue to advance environment attributes by enabling fast implementation of client application modernization initiatives. By packaging the operating environment as a software only solution, clients are able to deploy onto platforms of their own choosing. This Compatibility Guide describes the system requirements for ClearPath Software Series products and provides guidelines for their use. Product Specific Information This section describes the currently supported configurations for each product in the ClearPath Software Series. As new products are added to the series their characteristics will be included in this document. ClearPath Developer Studio System Type: DE1000 or GE1000 When the ClearPath Forward fabric version of Developer Studio is ordered and installed over s-par on a PEPP (Partitionable Enterprise Partition Platform), the system identifies itself as a DE1000. When a hardware-independent version of Developer Studio is ordered and installed on Bare Metal or over a qualified non-unisys hypervisor, the system identifies itself as a GE1000. The following table defines the attributes of a Developer Studio partition. s-par 1 or 2 VMware 1 or 2 Bare Metal 1 or 2 Disk or VSS1/VSS2 Tape DVD or VSS1/VSS2 Here are recommendations for various size attributes for Developer Studio for the minimum allowable configuration and one which comfortably supports larger configurations. # of Intel Logical Minimum 2 (1 CPM) (2 CPM) Unisys Corporation Page 1 June 2016

2 ClearPath Developer Studio Personal Edition System Type: DE1000 ClearPath Developer Studio Personal Edition is a single user development environment qualified for use on a client provided Reference Architecture computer. The following table defines the attributes of the Developer Studio Personal Edition partition. Bare Metal 1 or 2 Disk or VSS1/VSS2 Tape DVD Windows 7 SP1 Windows 8.1 Here are recommendations for various size attributes for Developer Studio Personal Edition for the minimum allowable configuration and one which comfortably supports larger configurations. # of Intel Logical Minimum 2 (1 CPM) (2 CPM) ClearPath Bronze System Type: GE0500 ClearPath Bronze is a production level environment qualified for use on a client provided Reference Architecture computer utilizing either Bare Metal or a hypervisor. ClearPath Bronze is a general purpose offering for environments having modest capacity requirements. The following table defines the attributes of these products. Bare Metal 1 VMware 1 Disk or VSS1/VSS2 Tape DVD Here are recommendations for various size attributes for ClearPath Bronze for the minimum allowable configuration and one which comfortably supports larger configurations. # of Intel Logical Minimum 2 (1 CPM) (1 CPM) Unisys Corporation Page 2 June 2016

3 ClearPath Silver System Type: GE1000 ClearPath Silver is a production level environment qualified for use on a client provided Reference Architecture computer utilizing either Bare Metal or a hypervisor. ClearPath Silver is a general purpose offering for environments having higher capacity requirements than can be provided by the ClearPath Bronze. The following table defines the attributes of these products. Bare Metal 1 or 2 VMware 1 or 2 Disk or VSS1/VSS2 Tape DVD Here are recommendations for various size attributes for ClearPath Silver for the minimum allowable configuration and one which comfortably supports larger configurations. # of Intel Logical Minimum 2 (1 CPM) (2 CPM) ClearPath Financial Server System Type: FS1000 ClearPath Financial Server is a production level environment qualified for use on a client provided Reference Architecture computer utilizing either Bare Metal or a hypervisor. ClearPath Financial Server is available to the Financial Series market only. The following table defines the attributes of this product. Bare Metal 1 to 4 VMware 1 to 4 Disk or VSS1/VSS2 Tape DVD Here are recommendations for various size attributes for ClearPath Financial Server for the minimum allowable configuration and one which comfortably supports larger configurations. # of Intel Logical Minimum 2 (1 CPM) (4 CPM) Unisys Corporation Page 3 June 2016

4 Required Software The following software components are required to be installed in Windows prior to installation and use of ClearPath Software Series. Microsoft.Net Framework Included in Windows 8.1 and - Separately downloadable for Windows 7 SP1 from Microsoft Windows Management Framework 4.0 (or greater) - Included in Windows 8.1 and - Separately downloadable for Windows 7 SP1 from Hardware Compatibility List ClearPath Software Series products have been tested on various Unisys ES3000 and Dell PowerEdge servers. These product lines conform to the ClearPath Software Series Reference Architecture, along with the other system attributes described in this document. Other servers are likely to work as well, but have not been tested. For information regarding supported disks, tapes and HBAs may see the Storage section later in this document. Software Compatibility List The third party software components listed below have been used with ClearPath Software Series products and were found to work reliably, although Unisys does not support them. Other non-os software packages may work as well, but have not been tested. Software Component EMC PowerPath ( only) Elaborate Bytes Virtual CloneDrive Symantec Endpoint Protection Emulex OC Manager Primary Use Allows multiple paths to a Read-only CD/DVD capability in environment Anti-virus software Centralized management tool for Emulex HBAs ClearPath Software Series is designed to work with Intel CPUs which support the x64 instruction set. Due to the way in which time is maintained in the, the processor(s) should support an Invariant Time Stamp Counter, which means they should be based on the Intel Nehalem microarchitecture and beyond. Nehalem processors from Intel were released in vember older than this may likely have an erratic ability to keep the correct time in the. In addition, if the Disk Encryption feature is desired, only the Intel Ivy Bridge microarchitecture and beyond supports this. More specifically, these are Intel CPUs which support Intel Data Protection Technology with AES-NI and Secure Key. The utilizes virtual processors called, which efficiently translate the s instruction set into equivalent Intel instructions and then execute them. Each of these can consume an Intel Logical Processor when under load. Additionally, the s I/O Processor (IOP) utilizes execution threads in the Windows environment for I/O activity. In order to handle the processor workload (CPM and IOP) with optimal performance, and also leave sufficient Intel performance to handle normal Windows operations, it is desirable to have more Intel Logical available than the number of Unisys Corporation Page 4 June 2016

5 The following table represents the Unisys minimum recommendations for Intel Logical. Logical Processor count may include actual cores or threads (also called hyper-threads). The use of more Logical than recommended may be advised for heavier Windows workloads or larger I/O configurations Intel Cores Selecting an Intel Processor When selecting a hardware platform for deploying a ClearPath Software Series system, one of the key choices is the Intel processor that the system uses. As described above, there are certain minimum requirements for the Intel processor used. The three key components of an Intel processor are its cores, its frequency (clock rate), and its cache size. Typically, the faster the Intel processor, the fewer cores there are, and the more expensive it will be. The choice should be based on the balance of your performance needs and your desired system configuration. Cache size can be a factor in the processor decision but, generally speaking, recent Intel processors have had sufficient cache for the CPM process to operate efficiently. When selecting a processor, consider the following: 1. The number of cores/logical needed for the environment (described in this document). 2. Whether or not the environment will be virtualized or partitioned. 3. The criticality of performance. When looking at performance, there is more to consider than a processor s frequency (clock-rate), specifically: 1. Base Frequency: The minimum clock rate if the BIOS settings are set as recommended in this document. 2. Maximum Frequency / Turbo Mode: Enabling Turbo typically provides the best performance, depending on other things happening in the system. 3. Generation of the Intel Processor: An older generation Intel processor will perform slower, sometimes significantly slower, than a newer processor having the same clock rate. It is often difficult to compare processors of different generations. Industry benchmarks provide a rough estimate of performance differences. However, no one benchmark reflects the performance difference seen for all workloads. The SPEC CINT2006 Base (Baseline) SPECint_base2006 benchmark most closely matches the typical workload. Visit the website for more information. The larger the Base/Baseline result the faster the processor. te that because this benchmark allows the processor to go into Turbo mode, it may be overstating the actual performance. However, it can be used as a very rough guide for comparison purposes. Processor Performance Settings While the above information regarding processors is useful, it does not tell the whole story with regards to achieving optimal performance. Given a particular processor, performance is best achieved by setting the system BIOS to optimal settings. The recommended BIOS settings for optimal performance are outlined in the following table. BIOS Setting Description CPU Power Management Frequency C1E Monitor/Mwait C-States Turbo Boost Logical Processor (threading) Optimal Performance Value Maximum Performance Maximum Performance Disabled Disabled Disabled Enabled Disabled 2016 Unisys Corporation Page 5 June 2016

6 It is recommended that you disable Logical Processor threading (hyper-threading) to reduce its overall impact on performance. While enabling threading makes more Logical available, each thread shares physical execution resources with another thread, causing the performance of each Logical Processor to be somewhat reduced. Enabling Logical Processor threading might be appropriate if individual CPM performance is not critical and more (or overall larger system capacity) are desirable. It is important to note that while these settings may produce the better performance, they are not necessarily recommended for situations where power consumption, heat dissipation, and other environmental factors are important. Many of these settings are best deployed in a datacenter, rather than a desktop. te that this list may not be exhaustive. Other settings may impact system performance as well. Firmware (the Windows software component of ClearPath Software Series) utilizes standard Windows memory management routines to acquire a contiguous block of memory for use by the. Depending upon the physical memory available in the system, the Firmware will allow the user to set a desired memory size ranging from a minimum of a maximum of. te that memory is generally described in words where one word is actually 8 bytes of physical memory. For example, 1GW of memory is equivalent to 8GB of physical memory. The minimum memory size for a ClearPath Software Series hosting environment is 2GB, whether it s a Bare Metal platform, an s-par partition, or a Virtual Machine. In addition to the memory needed for the environment, the system also needs memory for Windows and other platform functionality. A good rule of thumb is that Windows should have a minimum of about 2GB of memory for itself. Having said that, ClearPath Software Series products can function with less Windows memory where less memory is configured, and require more Windows memory where more memory is configured. In addition, the memory requirements of any other Windows-based applications running in the underlying Windows environment must be considered as well. The following table provides specific guidelines of how much physical memory the hosting environment requires for various memory sizes. 64MW 128MW 192MW 256MW 512MW 1GW 2GW 3GW Required (minimum) 2GB 2GB 3GB 4GB 8GB 16GB 24GB 32GB 40GB Some additional points should also be noted. Depending upon how much memory is available in the system at the time the Firmware attempts to acquire the memory, it will potentially reduce the memory size down to less than what is desired. Also, the longer Windows has been running prior to starting the Firmware memory service, the more likely that Windows memory has become fragmented, thus making it more difficult to obtain the desired contiguous memory. Additional memory beyond what s recommended may also help with performance. For example, if logical disks are in use, cache for these will be allocated from host system memory, not memory. If large numbers of IO devices are configured or if a significant amount of encryption is being performed, additional memory may also be beneficial. Storage ClearPath Software Series needs storage for several purposes. First, and most obvious, is the need to have storage for the underlying Windows environment. This includes the, application software, Firmware, and potential space for diagnostics if they need to be collected. In addition to that, there needs to be storage available for disks, which can take the form of either s (standard Windows files in the Windows file system) or VSS Disks (a unique file system native to but foreign to Windows). s can reside on any fixed media (non-removable) drive which has been formatted with the Windows NTFS file system. The drive can be either internal or external to the server chassis. Multiple drives in a RAID array are also 2016 Unisys Corporation Page 6 June 2016

7 permitted. The path to the cannot be encrypted or compressed using the standard Windows file system attributes. Encryption which happens outside of the OS, such as Bitlocker, is permitted. VSS Disks must reside externally, outboard of the server chassis using Fibre Channel, on either a Storage Area Network (SAN) or Direct Attach connection. Currently, only Emulex Fibre Channel host bus adapters have been qualified to communicate with VSS Disks. The Firmware, pre-installed Halt/Load (H/L) Unit, and Diagnostics reside on Windows storage volumes. About 30GB of disk space should be made available for Firmware and the preinstalled H/L, plus 34GB for each diagnostic dump you expect to save on the system. Then one must determine the space requirements for data packs. If internal storage is used for this purpose, what remains after accounting for Firmware, H/L Pack and Diagnostics can be used for additional Windows storage and/or s. If externally connected SAN disks are used, the remaining capacity can be used for additional Windows storage, s, or VSS Disks. A summary of the disks, tapes, HBAs and other storage products that Unisys has tested may be found in the ClearPath Software Series Peripheral Support Matrix located on the ClearPath Software Series page of the Unisys support website. ClearPath Software Series can be run in one of the following host environments: Over Bare Metal (Windows is running directly on the hardware) As a Virtual Machine running on a non-unisys Hypervisor In a Unisys ClearPath Forward fabric (over s-par) Refer to the Product Specific Information section for additional details on supported host environments. Bare Metal The Bare Metal server used to run a ClearPath Software Series product must conform to the Reference Architecture (RA) as detailed in the previous sections. Choosing a platform and associated peripherals listed in the Hardware Compatibility List is helpful to ensure conformance to the RA, although it is not required. The list of storage products which may be used as s when running on Bare Metal is determined by Microsoft s Hardware Compatibility List. Hypervisors Running ClearPath Software Series on a hypervisor is allowed for certain product models. When using a hypervisor, the sections of this document which reference memory, processor, etc. should be used to define the configuration of the Virtual Machine rather than the host platform. Regarding hardware compatibility, please refer to the Hardware Compatibility List of the vendor providing your Hypervisor rather than the HCL in this document. Unisys has done some basic testing of the following hypervisors with the ClearPath Software Series and found no issues. Others may work as well, but Unisys has not tested them. VMware ESXi 5.5 VMware ESXi 6.0 The following special considerations should be observed when using a hypervisor. tape or optical devices are supported on hypervisor based systems. Only s are supported. VSS is not supported on hypervisor-based systems. Changes to critical settings (virtual cores, memory, etc.) can be made much more dynamically with Virtual Machines. Many of these attributes are only checked by the Firmware during installation. Changing them after installation can lead to configuration issues which are not subsequently checked by the Firmware. Live Migration, which is the ability of a hypervisor to move a running VM from one host to another, while possible, might encounter performance issues for large configurations Unisys Corporation Page 7 June 2016

8 s-par Running ClearPath Software Series on Unisys Secure Partitioning (s-par) is allowed for certain product models which require a Unisys ClearPath Forward fabric. When using s-par, the sections of this document which reference memory, processor, etc. should be used to define the configuration of the logical partition rather than the host platform. Regarding platform compatibility, please ask your Unisys sales partner about the Unisys ClearPath Forward fabric product offerings. The following special considerations should be observed when using s-par. optical devices are supported on s-par based systems. Both s and VSS are supported. The minimum required Forward fabric environment for ClearPath Software Series is Fabric 3.0. Trademark and Copyright Information Unisys and other Unisys product and service names mentioned herein, as well as their respective logos, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Unisys Corporation. All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners Unisys Corporation Page 8 June 2016