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https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/08/supermicros_1_pb_slimster/:
Supermicro has crammed 1PB of Intel flash rulers into the slimmest possible 1U rack storage server.
The two-socket server can hold up to 32 Intel EDSFF, NVMe-connected flash drives – giving a rack density of 1PB/U, the highest we have ever come across.
EDSFF stands for Chipzilla's Enterprise and Datacenter Storage Form Factor, which measures 325.35mm long, 9.5mm wide and 38.6mm high.
These front-mounted SSD DC P4500 Series drives are hot-swappable and each has a 32TB capacity, using 64-layer TLC (3bits/cell) 3D NAND. An Intel tech brief (PDF) provides the details.
We're told the drives are thermally optimised to require less airflow than a 2.5-inch U.2 SSD.
The performance numbers are heroic. Supermicro president and CEO Charles Liang said the product provides "13 million IOPS and 52GB/sec throughput in 1U" and claimed it outperforms any previous system available.
[...] Supermicro announced a 288TB 1U storage server in January using 8TB Samsung ruler SSDs. A 256TB version using previous 8TB Intel ruler SSDs was introduced in May. That has been well and truly exceeded with these 32TB drives.
Looking at this Samsung and Intel ruler data suggested to us a 64-layer Samsung flash ruler could exceed 32TB in capacity. And, we hasten to add, 96-layer flash is being developed, along with 4bits/cell QLC technology. That means we can realistically have an expectation of 64TB EDSFF drives in the 2019/2020 timeframe, meaning a 2PB/1U Supermicro product could emerge.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by requerdanos on Wednesday August 08 2018, @10:44PM (4 children)
Breaths is a noun meaning "more than one breath". TFA says "breathes", a verb that makes sense in the context.
(Score: 2) by martyb on Wednesday August 08 2018, @10:57PM (1 child)
Yes, "Breaths" should have been "Breathes".
Yes, it WAS misspelled by The Register in the original version of the story [sylnt.us].
It has since been fixed, both at The Register, and here on SoylentNews.
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by requerdanos on Wednesday August 08 2018, @11:00PM
To be honest, their standards, for a mass media organization that pays salaries and sells advertising, are not that high. Problem is that their stories are still interesting.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday August 09 2018, @12:36AM (1 child)
Not quite a typo: the title says "Single Rack". The content says per Rack Unit. Huge difference in density.
Now, how many years at max bandwidth, complete with data overage charges, would it take to find and download 1PB of porn ?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 09 2018, @01:13AM
https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=26740&page=1&cid=711214#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
Some dude managed to siphon 1.8 petabytes of webcam footage into an AWS "unlimited" account. He made his scripts available and others took up the cause:
But if you just want to plug in numbers, you can. A continuous 100 Mbps connection could download 1 petabyte in about 2 years and 28 weeks. At 1 Gbps, it would only take a little over 13 weeks, 1 day, and 14 hours.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Wednesday August 08 2018, @11:06PM (3 children)
Why would anyone ever need more than 640K ? :)
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 08 2018, @11:40PM (2 children)
It is interesting I keep hearing this quote. But never any citation of it.
"I've said some stupid things and some wrong things, but not that. No one involved in computers would ever say that a certain amount of memory is enough for all time." -- Bill Gates
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 08 2018, @11:47PM (1 child)
- Bill Gates [uwaterloo.ca]
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Thursday August 09 2018, @08:03AM
Smart Billy thought 640/64 that's 10, and that should be 10 yrs, right?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday August 08 2018, @11:58PM (5 children)
I was going to shit on this story until I saw it was the "ruler" form factor [soylentnews.org] and not standard 2.5" drives. Are these significantly more space-efficient than 2.5" SSDs in a rack, or just easier to maintain with better cooling?
I haven't found the dimensions of the form factor yet, but if it can hold more NAND chips than a 2.5" drive then I'm not impressed with the 32 TB capacity.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday August 09 2018, @01:20AM
Both maybe?
Besides, hot swapping may be easier when in a bind [youtu.be].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Thursday August 09 2018, @03:06AM (3 children)
Read the article, it has a photo of the server and the area the "drives" or "rulers" occupy is evident. They get thirty two of the darned things lines up along the front but I don't even see a power button or indicator. And good luck drawing in enough air to keep a pair of processors cool under load. This thing is a showpiece, a "look what is possible!" item to display at trade shows and probably move a few units to select customers desperate for what this thing can offer and unconcerned about the price tag or whether it lasts long since they will be upgrading to the newest one as soon as it appears.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 09 2018, @03:29AM (2 children)
Ok, the other article says the ruler is 325.35mm long, 9.5mm wide and 38.6mm high. Compare to 2.5" drives [wikipedia.org], which are 146mm long, 101.6mm wide, and I'll pick 9.5mm for height. 141 cubic cm for the 2.5", 119 cubic cm for the ruler.
Both Intel and Samsung are supporting the ruler, so I'm not convinced it's just a showpiece (compare to some Intel-only stuff that ended up getting axed).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @05:50PM (1 child)
Except for the height, the numbers you are using are 3.5″ form factor. A 2.5″ drive at 9.5mm thickness is about 66 cm³ (including the space occupied by the enclosure).
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 09 2018, @06:03PM
Damn, thanks. Now I'm back to not being impressed with 32 TB.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Thursday August 09 2018, @02:46AM (4 children)
I will NEVER buy their stuff again.
long story short: bought a server motherboard, somewhat expensive, tried to update its bios, it went into a boot loop and I could not recover it. the mobo was less than 30 days old; but my computer store (central computers, bay area) refused to replace it and insisted we have it 'fixed' at supermicro. note, supermicro is in san jose and that's 10 miles from my area.
I gave up counting after they had the board 2 months.
fuck them and the horse they rode in on. no good warranty and SHIT for design. I should have listened to my sysadmin friend who knew better.
supermicro does not even design their own; they sub it all out.
you'd be beyond stupid to buy their stuff. please, just don't. don't ever. or you will regret it.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @03:50AM (2 children)
That's your story. I've bought probably close to $1m in Supermicro gear over the years, and besides some pretty shitty front plastic bits, they've generally provided great service for the money.
Of course, I used a vendor I trusted, and who worked with us in speccing them and servicing them (They were in the next state over). It sounds like your real problem is with your shitty vendor. And with yourself for not engaging with Supermicro, 10 miles away, to see what they were doing with your machine.
Better luck next time!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @03:52AM (1 child)
Oh, and unless it is the last thing I can do, I won't reflash a BIOS. Too easy to brick things. What made you try? Inexperience?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Knowledge Troll on Thursday August 09 2018, @07:26AM
You just told him he is holding it wrong. You are timid about firmware updates? I was timid about them 20 years ago when there wasn't dual copies of the images so the spare was updated. Things go wrong? What kind of shitty tested hardware do you have?
Just don't update? That's a little hard to do when SuperMicro has BIOS bugs that require the machines to be updated.
You just explained why not to use SuperMicro gear while trying to defend it. Good job.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @04:17AM
By the way, some days ago, in some article was explained how to disable IME using rpi and some software. The procedure were about reflashing bios with external device. Maybe it could allow you to revive your motherboard.