System Administrator Resources for Sun Servers With CoolThreads Technology

by Karen Perkins, last updated on 2009-08-26

We've collected lots of useful links here to help you use Sun servers with CoolThreads technology. CoolThreads servers are SPARC systems that have Chip Multithreading technology (CMT) provided by UltraSPARC T1, T2, or T2 Plus processors. These servers provide new levels of performance, scalability, and reliability. They also deliver reductions in space, power consumption, and cost, and they provide built-in, no-cost virtual-machine capabilities through Solaris Containers and Logical Domains (LDoms).

Getting Started

The Sun Chip Multithreading (CMT) Servers web page provides resources and information for CoolThreads servers, such as links to white papers, videos, what's new info, and other resources, including:

• A list of CMT rackmount servers and CMT blade servers, with links to server-specific info on features, benefits, key applications, technical specs, and more
• The Design Overview page, which provides info about built-in no-cost virtualization capabilities, increased system utilization, and the energy efficiency features of the CoolThreads servers
• The Performance page, which provides info about application server performance, performance for Java technology, and Internet application performance, plus links to world-record benchmark info
• Sun solutions for Sun SPARC systems with Chip Multithreading technology, which provide open source software to boost availability, security, and utilization with the Solaris Operating System and Logical Domains virtualization technology
• Technical resources, such as white papers, deployment guides, solution briefs, webinars, the Sun Flash Analyzer (which shows how SSDs help accelerate system performance), and more
• Resources for getting started, such as downloads, offers, and tools for calculating your data center savings

In addition, the CoolThreads - CMT Tuning and Resources page provides good info to help you install, tune, and deploy your CoolThreads server. It also provides links to no-cost development and deployment tools, product documentation, FAQs, and more.

If you monitor, analyze, and tune applications, check out the Implementation page for UltraSPARC T2 and T2 Plus Servers, which can take you through each stage of the implementation cycle, from profiling your application, to tuning and downloading optimized open source software, to self-help or assisted support.

Also see these Cool Tools resources:

• Cool Tools page
• CoolTuner No Longer Necessary blog. CoolTuner was originally created to simplify the process of tuning UltraSPARC T1 and UltraSPARC T2 platforms for optimal performance and stability, but successive releases of the Solaris 10 OS gradually incorporated the required changes. If you are running the Solaris 10 8/07 OS or later, you don't need to install CoolTuner, because all the recommendations implemented by CoolTuner are provided automatically.
• CoolThreads Selection Tool. This article on BigAdmin (2006) describes how the CoolThreads Selection Tool (cooltst) applies simple heuristics to determine whether a workload from one platform is a reasonable candidate for Sun Fire T2000/T1000 servers.

More Resources

The following sections of this web site provide additional resources:

• UltraSPARC T1, T2, and T2 Plus Processors, which provides resources for these processors
• Sun SPARC Enterprise T5140 and T5240 Servers, which provides info about product documentation, management facilities, the ILOM and ALOM CMT Command Comparison table, and more
• Other Resources, which provides links to training courses, product documentation, Sun BluePrints papers (registration required), blogs, forums, articles on BigAdmin and the Sun Developer Network (SDN), Logical Domains (LDoms) and Solaris Containers resources, and more