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Technology Overview
Xserve G5
Most innovative HPC hardware
HPCwire, a leading journal of High
Performance Computing, gave Apple its
Editors Choice award for the hardware
vendor delivering the most innovative
overall HPC technology in 2003.
Xserve G5 Cluster
An Xserve G5 cluster uses a dedicated server system as the head node,
which can manage hundreds of Xserve cluster nodes. Apple’s Xserve RAID
adds high-performance, high-availability storage. Each cluster node has
these robust features:
• Computational power. Dual 2GHz PowerPC G5 processors provide high-
performance computation and superior scalability.
• Fast PCI-X. Two PCI-X slots support cluster interconnect technologies, such
as InfiniBand and Myricom’s Myrinet.
• Dual Gigabit Ethernet. Two onboard high-speed interfaces enable inde-
pendent gigabit connections to the head node for network services and
to the cluster interconnect for loosely coupled cluster environments.
• FireWire 800. Two FireWire 800 ports support small clusters using TCP/IP
over FireWire. FireWire Target Disk Mode allows easy cloning of system
configurations.
• Advanced cooling system. An array of eight fans keeps air flowing over
high-performance processing components. Intelligent management of the
fan array keeps noise and power consumption to a minimum.
• Indicator lights. Xserve G5 provides continuous, at-a-glance information
about the health and status of all the systems in the rack.
• Built-in sensors. Hardware sensors integrate with Server Monitor to provide
easy monitoring of hundreds of systems from a single, intuitive interface.
• Automatic setup. Mac OS X Server makes it easy to set up an entire rack
of systems automatically from a directory on the network or a USB or
FireWire disk.
• Startup options. Front Panel Mode allows the system identifier button
to be used for selecting startup options, such as booting from a network
server or restoring default system settings.
High-Density Cluster Node Configuration
With the compute performance of two superscalar 2GHz PowerPC G5 processors, the
Xserve G5 cluster node configuration is ideal for High Performance Computing (HPC)
in scientific and technical environments, as well as for workgroup clusters and render
farms. One dual processor node can execute over 9 billion double-precision floating-
point operations per second, or 9 gigaflops per U. That means a rack filled with Xserve
G5 systems can offer over 378 gigaflops of processing power. Single-precision floating-
point performance is also remarkable: With a dual-pipeline Velocity Engine on each
processor, the Xserve G5 cluster node can execute over 30 gigaflops. Best of all, by
eliminating the cost of unneeded components, Apple has made this high-density 1U
system extremely affordable.
For more information about Apple solutions for computational clusters, see
www.apple.com/xserve/cluster.