Windows Server Platform: Overview and Roadmap

1
Windows Server PlatformOverview and Roadmap

• Sean McGrane
• Program Manager
• Windows Server Platform Architecture
  Groupsmcgrane _at_ microsoft.com
• Microsoft Corporation

2
Session Outline

• Server Hardware Trends
• Technology and Processor Trends
• Form Factors Blade Servers
• Windows Longhorn Server Direction
• Reliability
• Hardware error handling
• Hardware partitioning
• Application Consolidation
• Virtualization
• Call to Action
• Resources

3
Server Technology Trends

• Processors
• More processing units per physical package
• In this presentation 1P means one physical
  processor
• Point-to-point bus architecture
• Direct attached memory
• Memory capacity continues to increase
• Memory technology is a feature of the processor
• Fully Buffered DIMM (FBD) by 2007/2008
• I/O moves to PCI Express
• Increased IO bandwidth and reliability
• Firmware
• Increased adoption of Extensible Firmware
  Interface (EFI)
• Platforms
• Increased adoption of blades for 1P/2P
  application loads
• Scale up moves to the commodity space
• Large number of processing units on high-end
  servers (256 or more)

4
Processor Trends
WindowsLonghorn Server
Server 2003 Compute Cluster Edition
Server 2003 SP1
Higher number of cores per processor
All new server processors are 64-bit capable
Core
Core
Core
Core
Performance
Cache
Dual Core
Dual Thread
Quad Core
Core
Core
Cache
Time
5
What will customers do with Multi-Core?

• Typical application scaling cant keep up
• 1P and 2P servers are often under utilized today
• Future 1P servers will be more compute capable
  than todays 8P
• Few customer loads fully utilize an 8P server
  today
• Application consolidation will be the volume
  solution
• Multiple application loads deployed to each
  processor
• Scale up apps can be accommodated on volume
  servers
• How will form factors be affected?
• IO memory capability must match compute
  capability
• IO expansion isn't available in today's volume
  server form factors
• Larger form factors may be required for these
  servers
• Can RAS scale with performance?
• Consolidation and scale-up apps raise RAS
  requirements
• Mid- to high-end RAS features are needed on
  volume servers

6
Typical Blade Platform Today
Chassis midplane
Compute Blades
Network switches
FC switches
Chassis Management Module (CMM)

• Current models are typically 6U to 7U chassis
  with 10 to 14 1P/2P x64 blades
• Each blade is like a server motherboard
• IDE/SCSI attached disks, network and IO Daughter
  card on the blade
• Midplane is passive routing is very complex IO
  switches provided in the chassis
• SAN attached rate is high, 40
• Initial problems with adoption
• Costs were too high
• Limited vendor network switches available
• Data center infrastructure not ready, cabling,
  management, power, etc
• Aggregated server management potential not
  achieved
• Proprietary interfaces to the management module
• Static blade configuration
• OS state on the blade complicates repurposing

7
Future Blade Platform
Compute Blades
Chassis midplane
Network IO/switches
FC IO/switches
Switch
Chassis Management Module (CMM)

• Similar chassis configuration, e.g. 6U to 7U
  chassis with 10 to 14 1P/2P x64 blades
• The compute blade becomes stateless
• All IO and direct attached disks are removed
• Consolidated storage on FC or iSCSI SAN
• More reliable storage solution, reduces cost and
  simplifies management
• Simplifies blade failover and repurposing
• The chassis contains a set of configurable
  components
• The midplane is PCIe only and contains a
  programmable PCIe switch
• All IO devices and switches are at the far end of
  the midplane
• The CMM programs the PCIe switch to assign IO to
  compute blades, i.e. configure servers
• Aggregated server management potential is
  realized
• Standardized management interfaces implemented in
  the CMM
• Flexible and dynamic configuration of blade
  servers
• Simplified server repurposing on error Failed
  components can be configured out

8
Blade Support - Remote Boot

• Microsoft supports remote boot with Server 2003
• Supported for both FC and iSCSI SAN
• SAN boot requires a Host Bus Adapter (HBA)
• Windows install processes work with this
  configuration
• iSCSI creates a new low end SAN market
• Software initiated install and boot is complex
• A low-cost HBA is a simpler approach
• Enables faster time to market solution
• Provides a solution for exiting OSs, e.g. Server
  2003
• SAN management is too complex
• Must be simplified to create a volume solution
• Simple SAN program addresses this simplification
• Packaged SAN solutions with a single point of
  management
• Initial focus is simplifying SAN deployment
• SAN boot simplification is a longer term goal

9
Power and Cooling

• Processor power ratings and server density
  continue to rise
• High-end processors will have 130W footprint
• Blade servers can populate up to 168 procs per
  rack
• Existing data center infrastructure cant cope
• At 65-95W per sq foot, can supply about 6-7KW per
  rack
• A single fully loaded blade chassis can be rated
  at gt5KW
• Power management can help
• Processor p-states supported in Server 2003 SP1
• Balances power consumption to real time
  utilization
• Transparent to the user and applications
• Can lower processor power consumption up to 30
• More is needed, new power initiatives are
  emerging
• More efficient power supplies with monitoring
  capability
• Silicon advances to reduce processor power
  leakage
• Tools to accurately rate server power
• Power and cooling are a huge customer problem
• Power management alone can't solve the problem
• Upgrades to legacy data center infrastructure
  will be required

10
Longhorn Server Platform Direction

• Move the industry to 64-bit (x64) Windows
• Compatibility for 32-bit apps on x64
• Broad coverage for 64-bit drivers
• Enable Windows on Itanium for scale up solutions
• Consolidate multiple applications per server
• Homogeneous consolidation for file, print, web,
  email, etc
• Virtualization for heterogeneous low to mid-scale
  application loads
• Hardware partitions for heterogeneous scale up
  application loads
• Improve Reliability, Availability, and
  Serviceability
• Hardware error handling infrastructure
• Enhanced error prediction and redundant hardware
  features
• Continue progress on Windows performance
• Improved support for Windows operation on an
  iSCSI or FC SAN

11
Windows Hardware Error Architecture (WHEA)

• Motivation - Improve reliability of the server
• Consolidation raises server RAS requirements
• Server 2003 bugcheck analysis
• 10 are diagnosed as hardware errors
• Others exhibit corruption that could be hardware
  related
• Hardware errors are a substantial problem on
  server
• Silent hardware errors are a big concern
• OS participation in error handling is
  inconsistent
• Improved OS integration can raise server RAS
  level
• Goals
• Provide information for all hardware error events
• Make the information available to management
  software
• Reduce mean time to recovery for fatal errors
• Enable preventative maintenance using health
  monitoring
• Reduce crashes using error prediction and
  recovery
• Utilize standards based hardware, e.g. PCIe AER

12
WHEA The Problem

• Lack of coordinated hardware error handling
• Disparate error sources with distinct mechanisms
• Error signaling and processing is architecture
  specific
• Poor I/O error handling capability improved with
  PCIe AER
• Lack of OS integration lowers server RAS
• Lack of a common data format restricts OS
  participation
• No mechanism to discover error sources
• Some hardware errors are not reported to the OS
• No way to effectively utilize platform-specific
  capabilities
• WHEA is a common hardware error handling
  infrastructure for Windows
• Error source identification, configuration and
  management
• Common hardware error flow in Windows
• Platform driver model to provide
  hardware/firmware abstraction
• Common hardware error record format for all
  platforms
• Standard interface to persist error records
• Hardware error events provided to management
  software

13
Dynamic Hardware Partitioning (DHP)
Longhorn dynamic hardware partitioning features
are focused on improving server RAS
Memory
Memory
Memory
Memory
Service Processor
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
Partition Manager
PCI Express
Future Hardware Partitionable Server
1. Partition Manager provides the UI for
partition creation and management 2. Service
Processor controls the inter processor and IO
connections
3. Hardware partitioning to the socket level.
Virtualization for sub socket partitioning 4.
Support for dynamic hardware addition and
replacement in Longhorn Server
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DHP Hot Addition

• Addition of hardware to a running partition with
  no downtime
• Processors, memory and IO subsystems may be added
• Scenarios supported by Hot Addition
• Expansion of server compute resources
• Addition of I/O extension units
• Enable unused capacity in the server
• Hot Addition sequence
• Hardware is physically plugged into the server
• Administrator or management software initiates a
  Hot Addition
• The firmware initiates an ACPI Hot Add notify to
  the OS in the partition
• The OS reads the ACPI tables and utilizes the
  unit described by the notify
• Operations are not transparent to applications or
  device drivers
• A notification API will be made available for
  both user and kernel mode
• Drivers cannot assume hardware resources are
  static
• Units are added permanently
• To subsequently remove the unit requires a reboot
  of the partition

15
DHP Hot Replace

• A processor/memory unit is replaced with a
  redundant spare
• Implemented with no OS downtime
• The details of the Hot Replace sequence are being
  defined
• System requirements
• One or more spare units in the server
• Hardware assistance can improve efficiency of the
  swap process
• Scenarios supported with no downtime
• Replacement of a unit initiated by hardware
  failure prediction
• Replacement of a unit by service engineers during
  maintenance
• Hot Replace sequence
• Administrator or management software initiates a
  Hot Replace
• A spare unit is brought online and mapped into
  the partition view
• FW initiates an ACPI replace notify to the OS
  which identifies the unit
• The context of the unit to be replaced is
  migrated to the spare unit
• The OS provides notification once the operation
  is completed
• Firmware maps out the replaced hardware without
  interruption to the OS
• The OS completes the initialization of the new
  processors and continues
• The operation is transparent to applications and
  device drivers

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Microsoft View on Partitioning

• Used for server consolidation
• Server consolidation hosting multiple
  application loads on a single server
• Microsoft offers homogeneous consolidation
  programs for
• File, print, email, web, database, etc
• Heterogeneous side by side application execution
  is problematic
• Applications tend to collide with each other
• Testing is required to validate different
  application combinations
• Partitioning offers out of the box server
  consolidation solutions
• Hardware Partitions
• High levels of isolation and reliability with low
  perf overhead
• Ideal for scale up application consolidation
• Granularity of hardware is large Removal of
  hardware is very complex
• Software Partitions (Virtualization)
• Preferred direction for application consolidation
• Flexible partition configuration granular
  dynamic Resource Management
• Ideal solution for consolidation of volume
  Windows applications
• Future Direction
• Provide a hypervisor based virtualization
  solution
• Expand the application environments supported
  under virtualization

17
Virtualization and Hardware Partitions
Software Partitions using Virtual Server (VS) 2005
Hardware Partitions
App
App
App
App
App
App
NT4
Win2K
Win2K3
Win2K3
NT4
Win2K
Virtual Server
Virtual Server
App
Windows Host OS
Windows Host OS
Win2K3
Windows compliant partitionable server
Windows compliant server

• Volume 32-bit application solution
• Out of the box consolidation
• Heterogeneous OS/App consolidation
• Supported on standard servers
• Highly flexible and configurable solution
• 64-bit Host support with VS 2005 SP1
• Host OS model not preferred forproduction
  deployment

• Hardware partitioning provides physical isolation
• Software partitions may be used within a hardware
  partition
• Enables software partitions and scale up
  application consolidation on a single server
• Requires partitionable hardware

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Virtualization Futures

• OS virtualization layer replaced by a thinner
  hypervisor layer
• Significant reduction in performance overhead and
  maintenance
• Mutli-processor support in the guest environment
• 64-bit hypervisor to enable scaling
• Devices can be assigned to a partition
• Requires isolation protection support in the
  hardware (IO Virtualization)
• Partitions can share assigned device resource
  with other partitions
• Higher levels of reliability and availability
• Snapshot of guest environment with no downtime
  enables high availability solutions
• WHEA provides hardware health monitoring and
  higher levels of RAS
• Guests can be moved between physical servers with
  no downtime
• Granular and dynamic management of hardware
  resources
• Management becomes a key differentiator in this
  environment
• Enables heterogeneous high-availability and
  legacy production application consolidation on a
  non-hardware partitioned server

App
App
App
App
App
App
Win2K
Win2K3
Win2K3
Longhorn
Win2K3
Win2K
Hypervisor
Windows compliant server
Storage
Storage
Network
Storage
Storage
Network
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Call to Action

• Server vendors
• Consider the effect of multi core on volume
  servers
• Consider hardware partitions on mid range servers
• Provide management flexibility in blade chassis
• Implement power saving technologies
• Provide WHEA extensions to improve server RAS
• Implement dynamic hardware partitioning features
  to improve RAS
• Implement emerging virtualization hardware
  assists
• Device vendors
• Provide 64-bit drivers for all devices
• Validate compatibility in a dynamic hardware
  environment
• ISVs hardware management
• Implement to emerging standards based management
  interfaces
• Provide flexible blade chassis management
• Utilize emerging power management standards
• Provide enhanced RAS features based on WHEA
  information

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Community Resources

• Windows Hardware Driver Central (WHDC)
• www.microsoft.com/whdc/default.mspx
• Technical Communities
• www.microsoft.com/communities/products/default.msp
  x
• Non-Microsoft Community Sites
• www.microsoft.com/communities/related/default.mspx
  
• Microsoft Public Newsgroups
• www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups
• Technical Chats and Webcasts
• www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/default.mspx
• www.microsoft.com/webcasts
• Microsoft Blogs
• www.microsoft.com/communities/blogs

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Resources

• Blades and SAN
• Storage track - Storage Platform leadership
• Storage track Simplifying SAN deployments on
  Windows
• Networking track - Implementing convergent
  networking
• Networking track - Network IO Architectures
• http//www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/stora
  ge/simplesan.mspx
• Reliability - Fundamentals track
• Windows Error Hardware Architecture (WHEA)
• Error management solutions synergy with WHEA
• Dynamic Hardware Partitioning
• Virtualization
• Server track Virtual Server Overview and
  Roadmap
• Fundamentals track Windows Virtualization
  Architecture
• Fundamentals track Virtualization Technology
  for AMD Architecture
• Fundamentals track Virtualization Technology
  for Intel Architecture
• http//www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtu
  alserver/default.mspx