Sun Fire X4500 Server

A New Server and Storage Architecture

An integrated solution for applications and data:

The Sun Fire X4500 Server combines the functions of a high-performance, four-way x64 server, network fabric and switch, and storage into a single integrated system. This new class of data server is capable of deploying applications in ways that were previously not possible or cost-effective.

Cost-effective SATA II disks for mass storage:

The Sun Fire X4500 Server uses 48 cost-effective SATA II disk drives for applications requiring access to massive data sets. Prices start as low as $1.30 per gigabyte.

Fast access to data:

10 internal PCI-X links, 2 PCI-X expansion slots, and 4 built in Gigabit Ethernet ports accelerate data transfer.

Enhanced Performance with Solaris 10 OS

Create virtual storage pools:

Solaris ZFS integrates devices, storage, and file systems structures into a single structure, simplifying file system management and providing a reliable and flexible solution that can help reduce cost, complexity, and risk. The Sun Fire X4500 Server is the industry's first system to ship with Solaris ZFS integrated, delivering the highest end-to-end data integrity and dramatically simplifying administration.

Low-overhead software RAID:

Solaris ZFS provides software RAID through RAID-Z for the Sun Fire X4500 Server. RAID-Z provides RAID 5 and 6 capabilities in addition to RAID 0, 1, and 0+1 with minimal overhead.

DTrace for performance optimization:

The Dynamic Tracing (DTrace) feature of Solaris 10 OS is a powerful tool for analyzing and diagnosing elusive problems and raising system performance. With its pervasive coverage, DTrace allows you to quickly find the root cause of intermittent system problems and perform system optimization that can result in applications running up to 30 times faster.

Networking and Security

Improved network throughtput:

A unified TCP/IP stack in Solaris 10 OS delivers a 30- to 50-percent improvement in network throughput, with a 10- to 15-percent lower CPU load than previous OS versions.

Protect against unauthorized access to data and applications:

Solaris 10 OS contains Process Rights Management, a fine-grained set of privileges for control over the resources and objects that processes can manipulate.

Secure data flaws:

The Solaris Cryptographic Framework library provides a set of programming interfaces for application-level and kernel-level cryptographic operations, allowing developers to utilize highly optimized cryptographic algorithms and providing transparent access to the same hardware encryption acceleration devices used by the operating system kernel.

Outstanding network I/O bandwidth:

The Sun Fire X4500 Server features integrated Quad Gigabit Ethernet built in and 2 PCI-X expansion slots.

High Availability

Redundant, hot-swappable, and hot-pluggable components:

Replace power supplies, fans, and hard disk drives without powering down the system. Each component has an status indicator LED.

Software partitioning with Solaris Containers:

Solaris Containers technology enables a 4x increase in system utilization by helping to efficiently and securely support thousands of applications per system. Highly configurable, Solaris Containers can dynamically adjust system resources and isolate applications from one another and from system faults, so a problem in one application will not affect the system or other applications.

Enhanced application availability with Solaris Predictive Self-Healing:

Solaris Fault Manager proactively handles system problems by removing components before a failure, so CPU, memory, and I/O problems can be diagnosed and corrected before they cause downtime. Solaris Service Manager manages software running on the system, monitoring applications and restarting entire application trees if necessary.

Cableless design:

A clean cable system allows better air flow and reduces system errors caused by incorrect cable routing.

ChipKill for memory failures:

The Sun Fire X4500 Server supports 16 GB of DDR1/400 memory with ECC and ChipKill. ECC automatically corrects single-bit errors. ChipKill enables the system to continue running even if a single DRAM chip fails.

System and Data Management

Remote management software and service processor:

Sun Integrated Lights-Out Manager (ILOM) lets you perform all management and system administration that don't require you touch the system. It provides for full remote KVMS (keyboard, video, mouse, storage) support as well as remote media functionality. Lights-Out Management (LOM) is achieved using an on-board, independently powered service processor with its own robust, security-hardened OS. ILOM provides remote administration via an intuitive browser-based GUI, DTMF CLI, remote console, SNMP V1, v2c, v3, or IPMI v2.0 protocols using the out-of-band management Ethernet or in-band communication through the server's operating system.

Optional software for cluster management:

Use N1 System Manager software for rapid discovery and OS provisioning of groups of bare-metal systems. This optional software can reduce the total cost of ownership of Sun x64 systems and lower administration overhead by enabling centralized control of groups of systems in your data center. N1 System Manager gives you the power to manage the entire lifecycle of one to a thousand Sun systems.

Available as a Sun System Pack

Sun System Pack

The Sun Fire x4500 server is available as a Sun System Pack, which combines the server with the right services as one offering, enabling customers to yield the most value from their IT assets. Sun System Packs offer significant value advantages over traditional warranty plans by delivering higher value services, such as better service coverage, automatic OS updates and trainingcredits, which enable customers to accelerate performance from day one. The predictable, transparent pricing for Sun System Packs is less than purchasing the server and services individually, and in some cases it costs less than the basic warranty.

View all products that are available as a Sun System Pack.