INFOBrief

Topspin® InfiniBand Solution for the

Dell™ PowerEdge™ 1855 Blade Server

Topspin InfiniBand
Pass-Through Module
Topspin InfiniBand
HCA Daughtercard

Key Points
• Dell has partnered with Topspin, a leading supplier of InfiniBand(IB)-
The Topspin InfiniBand based server switching technology to give customers excellent
solution consists of one IB performance, scalability, and cost savings.
HCA daughtercard per 1855
blade server. Each HCA • Easily integrate InfiniBand technology, a standards-based high
daughtercard is PCI-Express throughput, low latency interconnect, into the PowerEdge 1855 blade
compliant and has two 4X IB server.
(10Gbps) ports. Each port is • Build cost-effective solutions for high performance computing clusters.
routes through the chassis
• Share and consolidate I/O across PowerEdge 1855 blade servers for
midplane to one IB Pass-
Through module. Each Pass- performance, availability, and cost savings.
Through module has 10 ports • Leverage InfiniBand to help build a compute grid and ensure high
internally and externally. utilization of servers for a truly scalable enterprise
Each PowerEdge 1855
chassis can support two
Topspin InfiniBand modules
for redundancy. The modules
connect to external Topspin
server switches, such as the
120 and 270.

Dell Enterprise Systems Group Page 1 March 2005

 Overview

Organizations are using blade servers to build powerful, cost effective

clusters for high performance computing (HPC) clusters, database
clustering, and grid computing. Many customers find that an Ethernet-
based fabric limits the ability to scale a clustered solution. The Topspin
InfiniBand solution for the Dell PowerEdge 1855 blade server provides a
high-performance InfiniBand interconnect that not only overcomes the
scaling limitations, but also provides cost-effective I/O consolidation and
server virtualization for grid deployments.

InfiniBand is a standards-based interconnect with low latency and high

throughput. The Topspin IB HCA daughtercard supports two 4X IB ports
which operate at up to 10 Gbps each, in both directions. With a PCI-
Express x8 connection to the server, the daughtercard has a theoretical
upper limit of 40 Gbps of total throughput per blade server. Low latency
between blade servers allows HPC and database clusters to scale by
transmitting small messages with minimal delay. The Topspin
daughtercard also performs network processing to free the CPU to run
applications. The Dell Topspin solution provides exceptional performance
that scales easily.

Network Architecture

The Topspin IB HCA daughtercard is installed in each blade server. One

or a recommended two Topspin IB Pass-Through modules are installed in
rear I/O bays number three and four of the PowerEdge 1855 chassis. The
ports on the Pass-Through module are then connected to one of two classes
of external Topspin server switches. The Topspin 270 and Topspin 120 are
pure IB switches, with the Topspin 270 having 96 4X IB ports and the
Topspin 120 having 24 4X IB ports.

Server Virtualization
Today’s data centers see increased demand for server processing, I/O, and
storage at a time when budgets are shrinking. The constant mandate is to
do more with less. However, legacy server architectures can get in the
way. Server resources come in fixed packages, thereby preventing sharing

Dell Enterprise Systems Group Page 2 March 2005

 of resources and limiting flexibility. To meet the demand, data center
managers are forced to dedicate servers to applications, and ultimately
underutilize processors and I/O. As new applications are deployed and
demands increase, wasted resources only increase. Server virtualization
can dramatically reduce these expenses by making resource sharing
possible across servers. Logical pools of physical server, storage, and I/O
resources can be matched to applications based on immediate business
needs. Server virtualization helps data center managers to:
• Share CPU and I/O resources
• Achieve high availability
• Reduce costs and eliminate wasted resources
• Increase application performance
Topspin can virtualize the physical server beneath the operating system
and application, creating stateless servers for reliable, flexible
deployments. Topspin technology supports most server, storage, and
networking equipment and helps seamlessly enhance third-party
provisioning and monitoring applications. Topspin’s server virtualization
solution builds on the high performance InfiniBand fabric.

High Performance Computing Clusters

High performance computing (HPC) Cluster applications require a high-
performance interconnect for blade servers to achieve fast and efficient
performance for computation-intensive applications. Topspin’s InfiniBand
solutions have been proven to deliver outstanding performance in HPC
environments. Low server-to-server latency is readily achievable using
open standard protocols, such as the popular Message Passing Interface
(MPI). MPI is a key component of many HPC applications for
communicating simulation data between many compute servers within a
cluster. Low latency is critical to these applications because less time is
spent on communication overhead, leaving more time for valuable data
processing. InfiniBand scalability reaches easily into the thousands of
nodes. Applications benefiting from IB interconnects include car crash
simulations, fluid dynamic modeling applications, and financial modeling
applications, among others.

Dell Enterprise Systems Group Page 3 March 2005

 Why Dell for HPC solutions?
Dell offers High Performance Computing clusters in bundled solutions
comprised of Dellʹs award winning PowerEdge servers, including the
SC1425, PowerEdge 1850, and PowerEdge 1855 blade servers, plus
storage, InfiniBand interconnect, network switches, and other
recommended components. Each combined solution is aimed at providing
a validated set of components in a single package, which helps simplify the
design, ordering, and deployment process for parallel computing. The
validated offerings support various scalable configurations ranging from 8,
16, 32, 64, 128 and 256 compute nodes configurations. Each configuration
contains the following hardware components:
• Master node
• External Storage
• Compute nodes
• Cluster Monitoring/Management Node
• Fold up Display
• Keyboard Video Monitor Switch
• Interconnect switch

The combination of the Dell PowerEdge 1855 blade server with Topspin
InfiniBand solutions helps ensure that HPC clusters can be used to help
solve the most challenging and rigorous engineering tasks.

Dell and PowerEdge are trademarks of Dell Inc. Other trademarks and trade names may be
used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their
products. Dell disclaims proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.

©Copyright 2005 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden. For more information
contact Dell. Dell cannot be held responsible for errors in typography or photography.

Dell Enterprise Systems Group Page 4 March 2005