Product Description
Oracle’s SPARC S7-2 and S7-2L servers are designed to optimally address the requirements of scale-out and cloud infrastructure by removing the trade-off between security and high-performance and improving the overall efficiency of deploying mixed workloads. SPARC S7-2 and S7-2L servers are based on the SPARC S7 processor, which extends the Software in Silicon features of Oracle’s SPARC M7 processor onto scale-out form factors.
The SPARC S7-2 server is a resilient 1U system that favors compute density, and the SPARC S7-2L server is a resilient 2U system that offers versatile storage options, including a large set of extreme-performance NVMe drives. Both servers take advantage of the integrated “system-on-a-chip” design of the SPARC S7 processor, resulting in unmatched efficiency in design, together with a reduced number of components, and high reliability for enterprise applications.
The outstanding efficiency and high performance of these servers start with the SPARC S7 processor, which combines eight powerful fourth-generation cores, the same cores introduced with the SPARC M7 processor. Each SPARC S7 processor core handles up to eight threads using unique dynamic threading technology. The processor is designed to maximize efficiency by integrating most of the hardware interfaces on the processor itself, allowing the server to achieve unmatched memory bandwidth and low latency, which translate into maximum overall and per core performance for Java applications and databases.
Product Advantage
Software in Silicon features are breakthroughs in microprocessor and server design that enable databases and applications to run faster and with unprecedented security. Software in Silicon embeds features such as encryption accelerators, Silicon Secured Memory, and Data Analytics Accelerators (DAX) onto the processor silicon, offloading processor cores to execute other workloads simultaneously.
The SPARC S7-2 and S7-2L systems running Oracle Solaris offer a superior and easy-to-manage platform for developers and enterprise users. Oracle Solaris 11 is a secure, integrated, and open platform engineered for large-scale enterprise cloud environments, with unique optimization for Oracle Database, middleware, and application deployments. Built-in virtualization capabilities in Oracle’s SPARC servers include both Oracle Solaris Zones and Oracle VM Server for SPARC, which allow enterprise workloads to be run within many virtual machines with near-zero performance impact.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1
What are the main use cases for Oracle’s SPARC S7-2 and S7-2L servers?
These servers are designed for scale-out and cloud infrastructure, eliminating the trade-offs between security and high performance while improving the deployment efficiency of mixed enterprise workloads.
Q2
What is the difference between the SPARC S7-2 and SPARC S7-2L servers?
The SPARC S7-2 is a 1U system optimized for compute density. The SPARC S7-2L is a 2U system designed for versatile storage configurations, supporting a large set of high-performance NVMe drives.
Q3
How do Software in Silicon features enhance server performance and security?
By embedding acceleration features like Silicon Secured Memory, encryption accelerators, and Data Analytics Accelerators (DAX) directly onto the processor silicon, the server offloads these tasks from the primary processor cores, allowing them to execute other workloads simultaneously.
Q4
How efficient is the SPARC S7 processor compared to standard x86 systems?
The SPARC S7 processor delivers up to 1.7x better core efficiency than x86 systems for running Java applications and databases, helping to lower overall infrastructure costs.
Q5
What virtualization options are supported on these servers?
Built-in virtualization capabilities include Oracle Solaris Zones and Oracle VM Server for SPARC, both of which enable running multiple virtual machines with near-zero performance overhead.
Q6
How does hardware-accelerated encryption affect system performance?
With hardware-accelerated wide-key cryptography built into the processor, data encryption can be enabled by default without compromising the server's overall performance.
