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GPU computing - high performance computing at its best

A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a RISC processor used in video game systems and computers for calculating the graphical output for monitors. GPUs are used at manipulating and displaying computer graphics. GPUs are a part of mother board or they can come along with video cards. Graphic accelerators are a part of GPU also. High performance GPU computing involves solving advanced computational problems using supercomputers and computer clusters. GPU computing includes all tasks that a graphics processing unit can calculate.

In GPU computing the CPU calculations are replaced by Graphics Processing Units. Migrating large scale algorithms and entire kernel onto the GPU co-processors help in arriving at the answer much faster and thus decreases the processing time. GPUs are never a complete replacement for CPUs but complementary. Parallel operation of CPU and GPU has found to increase the performance. CPU’s offload the tasks which are better performed by GPU leading to high performance computing. GPU excel CPU’s in certain computational tasks.

A GPU’s processing power is mostly used while dealing with 3D scenes and video. The GPU computing for a graphics task such as rendering a 3D scene involves many stages like vertex processing, vertices grouping, fragment processing and mathematical operations. GPU computing is also known as General Purpose Computation on Graphics Processing Unit. Acceleration of video and picture editing, artificial intelligence and physics calculations come under the tasks of GPU computing.

GPU uses Advanced Graphics Port (AGP) to communicate with the mother board of a computer. Programmable shaders capable of manipulating vertices and textures are supported by latest GPUs. Very high precision color spaces, over sampling and interpolation techniques to reduce aliasing are also supported by GPU. GPU can process multiple independent vertices and fragments in parallel. Moreover a variety of computational resources are available on the GPU.

Multi-GPU’s are also available and are generally used in high-end home computers to accelerate computer games. Multi-GPU systems use more than one GPU. An example of multi-GPU system is Nvidia which can make a PC perform 250 times faster than usual. Not only that but by making use of the CUDA architecture which is made up of hundreds of processors cores data set can be easily crunched via the application. In addition to the is the Tesla product range includes personal workstations that have superior capabilities, processors which can turn regular computers in to computing machines and computing systems which can aid the most complex computing. General Purpose computing on graphics processing unit uses a GPU to perform computation in applications traditionally handled by CPUs. Additional programmable stages are included to make this happen. The general Purpose Computing on GPU(GPGPU)has cleared new ways in diverse fields like scientific image processing, oil exploration, linear algebra and 3D reconstruction.

GP GPUs are used in computer clusters, physics engines, FFT, audio signal processing, digital image processing, bioinformatics, scientific computing, DSP, neural networks and many more. GPU computing CUDA was developed by Nvidia. AMD has announced a super computer based on GPU which will be built of more than thousand GPUs. This supercomputer will have a computing power of one petaflop. The processing power of GPUshave further increased due to the advent of OpenGL API and similar functionalities in DirectX. Intel, AMD/ATI, NVIDIA and S3 Graphics are some of the players in the market who produce GPUs. Many companies are now engaged in researches to find out the further benefits of GPU computing.

 

Why use InfiniBand?

InfiniBand is an architecture designed to support input/output connectivity for the internet and it provides the backbone of many large enterprises and businesses who are reliant on the internet. It supports the internet requirement for reliability, availability and serviceability. It is a switched fabric communication link which is scalable and supports quality of service and failover. It is often used as a server in high performance computing environments, it has a serial bus and has fewer pins and other electrical connections. Hence InfiniBand improves reliability and reduces manufacturing costs, something which all businesses look towards when they are choosing their connectivity.
InfiniBand is a point to point bi-directional serial link. It supports multiple channels and multiple memory areas which makes it incredibly useful. Data is transmitted in packets with InfiniBand. The development of applications like E-commerce, business to business solutions and interactive portal sites have resulted in ever increasing volume of data and demand for reliability. This demand has led to data transfer solutions that meet the needs of the end users. This has also led to the formation of a cluster of servers operating parallel to serve an application. It simplifies the cluster connections with the help of its feature rich managed architecture. Devices can be added and multiple paths can be utilized with InfiniBand architecture so as a business or enterprise expands the architecture can support this increase.
InfiniBand provides connection for IPC systems and thereby allows multiple servers to work together. It simplifies the communication between complex storage systems or Storage Area Networks (SAN).Unlike shared bus architectures which are the common I/O interconnections, switched fabric network provides scalability. As additional InfiniBand switches are added to the network, bandwidth of the system increases. The InfiniBand’s physical layer devices require less power compared to other serial interconnect technologies. The reduced power consumption results in cost savings. In a moderately sized network it can have power savings of hundreds of watts which can then translate into actual cost savings of thousands of dollars.
Various new interconnects like HyperTransport and 3GIO technologies complement InfiniBand. It has the capability to extend the bandwidth across the fabric. It delivers data precisely wherever it is needed in the fabric. Each link in the layered protocol of InfiniBand can support multiple transport services and multiple communication channels. InfiniBand’s adapters connect them to other devices. The switch contains more than one port and forwards packets from one port to another. The switch does not consume or generate packets other than management packets. The routers forward packets from one subnet to another without consuming packets. They are capable of forwarding unicast as well as multicast messages.

InfiniBand cables are capable of providing the fastest transfer rates so data can sent and received in moments. The benefits include reliability, availability, serviceability (RAS), out of box bandwidth and scalability. It is now widely accepted as more businesses and consumers utilize the internet at higher bandwidths. The InfiniBand technology improves and simplifies the data center. InfiniBand supports Virtual Interface Architecture (VIA).

 

Why is data storage needed?

Data storage involves storing as well as retention of information or digital data. The computer components and recording media together forms a part of computer data storage. A storage device holds as well as processes information. Based on the energy used data storage is classified into chemical, photochemical, thermodynamic, mechanical, optical, magnetic and electrical. Data in any form is always precious and so the need to store the data gains high importance.

Data loss due to natural disasters are avoided to a good extend by storing the data in a physically separate location. Crisis that can occur due to a virus attack or a hard disk crash can be avoided if data has been securely stored on a backup. Organizations as well as individuals are highly dependant on vital data for their work or personal record keeping. Various methods of data storage or backups are available which include online storage and hard disk image backup. While storing the data, a best fit solution needs to found out and used. This solution will depend upon the capacity, requirements, frequency of change, data retention requirements, access requirements and retrieval needs of data. Effective data storage is essential for the success of any enterprise.

Data availability from the stored location as and when required gives the employees, partners and customers the information they need to work productively and to meet business goals. Intelligent data storage and management capabilities aid growth with limited administration resources. Proper data storage also helps in reducing management costs. Data storage through storage networking provides a networking platform to achieve lower total cost of ownership (TCO), greater agility and enhanced resilience through various data storage solutions. As the storage costs are increasing, the need for efficient and cost effective storage gains high importance.

Storage networking solution provides data storage protection, data security, consolidation and data availability. Fiber storage is a good choice for data storage because of its reliability, scalability and high throughput. Small as well as large businesses have a constant need to store large amounts of data on a central server. This is where the Network Attached Storage (NAS) comes into picture. Data storage through NAS helps in handling large file copies easily. A Storage Area Network (SAN) is a high speed subnet of storage devices. SAN allows the storage space on the hard disks to be shared amongst servers. Compressed data storage helps in minimizing memory usage. Less frequently used files when compressed and stored as a backup which are accessed only when required helps in boosting up the performance of machines.

Data storage along with encryption provides double advantages of data safety and blocking of unauthorized usage. Incremental backup where only those files which are changed are backed up helps in better management of data storage. Automatic data storage or backup which happens in the background as and when a file is edited secures the data on any unexpected system crash. Storing computer essential functionalities by creating an emergency boot disk is useful to restore them after a system crash. Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) components boost storage scalability to unprecedented levels. Various storage solutions are available and the choice of a solution depends on the size of data to be stored, the importance and frequency of retrieval. Data storage has gained immense importance due to the valuable benefits it provides. Even the paperwork as well as archives that are no longer needed in an office but need to be retained for informational use, can be stored with self storage companies and save the vital working space.

 

Why is choosing the right server so important?

Selecting the right server from the numerous ones available is a highly important task. The selected server must be the one best suited to meet all the needs. The selected server should support the current work requirement as well as those which are being anticipated tomorrow. The server should provide the required connectivity with other devices. It is always best to have a server solution which is customizable. The most important factor to be checked is that the server should maintain a level of operating security that is required by the business. A server selected considering these conditions will provide the best performance. The selection of a server is dependant on the applications expected to run on the server, budget and technical complexity involved in setting up and maintaining the server.

People who want to customize the system especially the developers generally go for Linux servers. The advantage of going for a Linux server is that the underlying code can be modified and can be used on a wide variety of platforms. Another option of selecting a server is to go for a remote server service.  The various factors that need to be considered while selecting a server are speed, large storage capacity, reliability and security. As a server is expected to provide services to many client computers at once, speed of operation is an important factor. The server should have plenty of disk space if it is to act as a central storage repository. Servers should be reliable as any breakdown can result in heavy loss. The server should be having a lockable case of physical security along with a software security against malicious hackers. It is always desirable to go for a server having warranty and service agreement. The server chosen should be of suitable form factor. Form factor refers to overall size and shape of the server.

A server operating system is designed for stability, reliability and security. The choice of operating system is determined by the use to which the server will be put. In general the choice of server operating system is dependant on familiarity with OS, total cost of ownership and compatibility with any application to be run on the server. The server processor should be capable of handling the operations. The processor varies depending on the size of business and criticality of the mission or operation of the server. If the server operation can’t be unavailable for even short period of time, then it is better to go for hardened standalone server which is fitted with extra parts like extra power supply making it more reliable. Another option is to go for a server cluster which involves two or more servers connected to a shared storage device. If the applications that need to be run on the server are of critical behavior, a fault tolerant server can be selected. The selection of the right server results in efficient operation resulting in excellent performance. So now you can see why choosing the right server is so important to a user.

 

What do servers do for a business?

Most businesses today that have computers as part of their processes will need to utlise a server. Servers provide high density computing along with incredibly powerful technology which plays a vital role in boosting up many businesses. Servers especially application servers provide an integrated environment for deploying and running custom, server based business applications. In a technology driven business, server virtualization provides many cost and maintenance advantages of running multiple applications on a single machine. Microsoft Windows Small Business servers help in building a strong foundation for small business. These all in one server is designed to keep data more secure. This provides tools to the small business to present a more professional image to the customers and the productivity of the company is increased, something which all businesses strive to attain.

Various technologies which are integrated into these servers deliver a comprehensive network at an affordable and highly competitive price. The business servers protect the vital business information from loss by automatically backing up the data in the PCs and servers in the network. Something which is crucial for any business as business data is the backbone of any successful business operation. These servers also help in recovering the files deleted by accident, something which happens all too often, regardless of how careful employees try to be. The valuable business information is protected from viruses, spam and malicious attacks by the anti-spam and antivirus technologies integrated along with the server solution. Many business servers provide secure remote connection from an interconnected PC to the desktop resources, e-mail, files, calendars and business contacts from anywhere and at anytime and thus increase the productivity by a good fold. Servers reduce the time and complexity for setting up effective electronic-commerce solutions.

 

What are the difference  between servers?

Servers differ in the services they provide to the client machines. Servers are classified based on application as wells as the physical structure and size. Application servers run certain specified software applications. It can be a software framework which hosts the services or a hardware platform on which the services are deployed. The database server provides access to the primary locations of data. The entire data is stored at a single location which then makes it easy to access them from multiple client locations that can then also run concurrently.

A communication server provides the platform for the communication network. The fax server and the file server differ in the service they provide. A common type of server is the game server which acts as a common point for online gamers. Proxy servers act as a bridge between the client machine and the server. The proxy server filters the requests from the client based on the service and server demands and connects to the required server. Proxy servers are capable of editing the client requests.

Software’s that control the access to sound devices come under sound servers. Web servers accept the client HTTP requests and provide them the HTTP responses along with some optional data. Web servers are generally rack-mount servers. A home network which contains multiple machines like fax machine, printer, media devices etc can be controlled from a single machine called the home server. Home servers run on a variety of operating systems including Windows, Linux and Solaris.

Linux servers come with fully functional media service support and hence they are widely used as home servers. A common and free Linux home server is Amahi. Blade servers and rack-mount servers differ in the physical space they occupy. Blade servers also come with a blade enclosure capable of including multiple blade servers of various functionalities. Blade servers are commonly used for web hosting and cluster computing as they are ideal for these types of uses.

Blade servers are capable of handling large workloads. Rack-mount servers are those in which servers are arranged in industrial rack. A single standard rack is capable of holding 10 to 20 servers. Rack-mount servers come with rails or slides to ease inserting and removing the components. The rack mount server which comes with locking pins helps in easy server installation and removal which helps to make it both accessible and secure.

Multiple machines in a single rack are controlled using a single keyboard or mouse through a KVM switch. AMD has launched many server systems as well as chassis for rack mount environment. The Opteron server blades from AMD offer many benefits. The rack mount communication servers from Intel are widely used for data network application because of its rugged design and long life. The Intel rack mount servers come with the latest dual core and quad core CPU technology. Intel blade servers are suitable for small-to-medium as well as large data centre customers which makes them ideal for large offices and so on.

 

Servers which provide good e-commerce infrastructure help in building an effective online business. Business servers provide decision support as well as real-time feedback to business managers and enable them to be responsive to the ever changing needs of customers and partners. Business servers offer relevant content to the site users and thus increase the number of buyers. Building effective business to customer and business to business solutions leads to an increase in profits. One to one marketing solutions supported by business server help in attracting more buyers. Certain server solutions with pre-built business components help in optimizing the business. Centralized management support provided by many server solutions are a boon to business managers.

Business servers carry solutions for secure and reliable network and thereby making financial data transmission safe. Certain business servers help to integrate processes and manage the workforce. Business servers lower costs, increase customer satisfaction and boost revenue. Multiple business applications on various business servers can be synchronized using business server solutions. Linux business servers provide excellent support for small businesses. AMD’s server virtualization solutions are an effective way to increase the revenue without compromising on security. Intel business exchange is designed to support small and medium businesses and can provide many benefits for them in terms of data storage.

 

What are Servers?

A server is a computer program that manages and provides services to other programs in the same or other computers. The various servers are application servers, database server, fax server, game server, communications server, file server etc. The computer in which the server program is running is also called as a server. This belongs to the hardware section of servers. A single machine by itself can act as a server or multiple machines can jointly act as a server depending on the workload and it is down to the user to determine which is the best method.
Servers act as a centralized gateway for resources and data. Moreover servers can be accessed remotely and across multiple platforms. Since multiple machines are controlled by the server, any global change can be easily made at this single location. Many servers are designed to operate over a long period of time and often unattended. Compared to the normal work station computers, servers have better hardware configurations which includes a faster CPU providing a better processing power, larger hard disk and faster RAM and uninterruptible power supply. Also software limits are often overcome in servers due to licensing.
In the computer world, servers are often used to represent the ability to handle multiple operations or requests. Since server provides services to multiple machines connected over a network, fast network connections are mandatory for efficient operations. It is not so common to see server machines with a graphical user interface. In most cases, the long running servers do not need a GUI and moreover this helps in avoiding unnecessary consumption of resources. Servers often contain multiple power supplies and hard disk as a security measure to provide backup.
Servers are normally rack-mounted and kept isolated in server rooms. The boot up time for servers is long compared to normal workstations as the special operating systems running on the server do extensive memory testing and verification. Many system checks are executed while boot up so as to reduce failure rate. Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris are some of the popular operating system for servers. Linux servers run on Linux operating system. The best example for client server model is the internet itself with millions of servers connected together and all accessing and sharing data at the same time 24 hours a day.
The size of a server varies from a Blade server with minimal physical space to a rack-mount server which can be quite large. Multiple blade servers with various functionalities are often clubbed together to provide operations similar to a multi-operational rack-mount server and many businesses have this kind of set up in a dedicated room. Intel server systems as well as software’s available in the market are designed to deliver high levels of performance. The rack mount Intel server systems are widely used for energy efficient applications. AMD servers with quad-core processors provide excellent performance-per-watt efficiencies which makes them the ideal choice for anyone who is wanting to keep running costs to a minimum whilst still taking advantage of an excellent server.

 

 

Outstanding graphics with a visual workstation

The term visual workstation is used for machines which are running multi threaded applications at the same time and provide outstanding performances. They provide powerful multi processor support. All visual workstations come with faster RAM and large memory configurations to boost up application performance and further enhance their output. They come with high performance computing and advanced graphic solutions that help to tackle the toughest computing problems. Since visual workstations are tuned for real world applications, they are the favorite of technical and creative professionals in markets such as MCAD, digital media, scientific visualization and simulation.

Visual workstations manipulate and visualize complex data like 3D designs, animation and rendering of images, mathematical plots and engineering simulations. High end workstations use sophisticated CPUs like Intel Xeon, AMD Opteron etc. The graphic workstations provide creative and digital artists the power and precision to overcome creative challenges. The graphic workstations find usage in detailed Photoshop imagery, multi-layered vector graphics for print, corporate web design etc. The 2D and 3D graphics software performance are enhanced by this workstation. To provide outstanding graphics, these workstations come with latest processor technologies, high speed memory, large disk storage and low noise design.

The Quadro professional graphics solutions developed by Nvidia allows users and visualization applications to take advantage of multiple Quadro GPUs from a single graphic workstation in a virtualized environment. This Quadro professional graphics solution is used for desktop and mobile workstations. The Quadro professional GPUs helps to create high quality 3D models using AutoCAD. They also deliver exceptional performance for Adobe Creative Suite solutions.

Outstanding graphics achieved through a visual workstation includes break-through animations and photorealistic techniques used in commercials, artistry expressed with a virtual stage, creating virtual studios for television broadcast, blending virtual and real worlds in movies and real time 2D and 3D broadcast graphics for television. Science uses these outstanding graphics created with a visual workstation for computational modeling and mathematical simulation to study biomechanics of surgery, air traffic systems with 3D graphics to show airplanes taking off and landing at the airport, simulating neural circuitry in the brain, geophysical data analysis, visualizing complex molecular systems, timely and effective cancer detection, photorealistic virtual reality, analytical tools used for solving global problems.

The Quadroplex visual computing system (VCS) launched by NVIDIA helps in solving the most complex, graphics intensive problems. The Quadroplex VCS uses an unconstrained dedicated visual computing system. The Quadroplex VCS find usage in offline rendering, remote graphics serving and embedded visual computing. Multiple Quadroplex VCS can be coupled to further improve quality and performance. They are available as desk side systems as well as rack mounted systems. They provide more than ten times increase in density compared to other GPU solutions. Moreover they deliver a rendering power up to 80 billions per second with a resolution up to 140 mega pixels. Silicon graphics is another leading provider of visual workstations which helps artists and technicians to create outstanding graphics solutions and there is even more scope for artists and so on.

 

Data storage solutions for large businesses

Large business enterprises have mission critical applications. The data storage solutions for large businesses need to be most extensible, resilient and controllable. These storage solutions offer maximum scalability and industry leading performances. They have fully integrated centralized management tools and provide unmatched data protection and disaster tolerant features.

The large business data storage solutions have broad selection of data protection applications. These solutions include multiple servers, adapters, switches, operating systems and software. They provide highly efficient and complete backup and restore applications. The large business data storage solutions are generally designed to provide cost-effective high performance along with high volume storage and backup. Most of them also provide innovative storage management software. They generally support encryption as well as compression features thereby enhancing security as well as efficient memory usage.

Efficient storage management strategies reduce both management as well as administrative overhead. Large businesses implement storage networking SAN solutions which deliver scalability, performance and broad interoperability which are required for critical applications and data. Another data storage method is using high performance disk array which are tuned for most popular applications. The storage solutions should be capable of expanding as the storage needs change. It should reduce labour intensive retrieval of data. Certain data storage solutions come with security manager software which reduces the risk of costly data breach.

Strong backup data privacy secures the confidential information stored. As the size of business increases, the size of data that needs to be stored also increases. So enough storage memory is the minimum feature any data storage solution should have. The failure rate while retrieving the data should be the minimum as any loss of data can affect the enterprise adversely. The various data storage solutions for large businesses available in the market are extensively tested to avoid any accidental failure. HP provides a wide range of large scale storage solutions which are designed to meet all requirements of large businesses. The viruses and spy ware attack demands more vigilant backup which requires more storage capacity. The growing demand for storing data among the large businesses results in sophisticated storage solutions.

The behind the scene success of any business is dependant on efficient storing and managing its data. Identifying and implementing the most suitable data storage solution is the first as well as the most important step in securing data. As the size of digital data increases daily at a good pace in large business enterprises, the scalability of the storage solution is a critical factor affecting the performance and efficiency. Depending on various factors like size of data, frequency of storage and retrieval, the ideal solution among Fiber storage, NAS storage, SAN storage and SAS storage is selected and implemented. As data is always one of the most valuable components of any business, secure storage of it gains high importance. So with this in mind it is clear to see why any business who values its data and wants to protect it should look towards using the right kind of data storage.

 

Get the right data storage for your needs

Data can be stored in many ways. The ideal data storage solution needs to be selected for efficient storage and retrieval. The selected solution depends on the amount of data to be stored, the frequency of storage and retrieval etc. Data storage methods vary depending on the method of storage as well as the energy used for the storage. Online data storage is helpful in those conditions where an internet connection is available. Data can be stored on frequent intervals and retrieved as and when required provided the internet connection remains active.

Hard disk image backup method is another way to backup data and makes it safe from any hard disk crashes that may occur. Backup of data is never the same for all users. The way data has been stored has changed over the time from punch stripes, removable disk to data tapes. Things have changed and many advanced and efficient data storage techniques have come up with the adoption of Internet, LAN and WAN. Offline data storage is widely accepted as it provides security in case of disasters like fire.

For organizations the type of data storage to be chosen is dependant on the scale and style of their business operations. The data storage operation suitable for a small business may not fit properly for a large business. The best cost-effective backup and restore solution needs to be identified and implemented to get best results. Network Attached Storage (NAS) provides effective data management. An example is the IBM system storage which is designed to deliver high-end enterprise storage and data management value with mid range affordability.

Data on networked computers can be backed up on a central server. A Storage Area Network (SAN) consists of a collection of SAN hardware and SAN software .SAN overcomes the problems associated with NAS. Networked data storage is done through SAN. Backup software is another option for data storage. A backup software provides various functionalities like data compression, encryption, incremental backups, scheduling, handling open files, CPU usage control, file filtering, disc spanning and disaster handling.

Software packages with high compression rate helps in better memory utilization. Encryption of data while backup secures it and avoids the chances of it falling into wrong hands. In software backups, only those files which are changed are backed up thereby saving a great deal of time. Data storage using software provides another advantage of file filtering where specific type of files can be excluded. If such files of less importance are present in the data to be stored, going for a software backup is more efficient. Some data storage software allows creation of emergency boot disc that can restore computers essential functions and as well as any data that has been saved.

Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) storage is one of the widely used business class data storage technology. Automatic data storing software solutions are encouraged in places where frequent system crashes are expected. When it comes to business data storage fiber storage is widely accepted due to its high throughput. The various storage solutions fit different working scenarios. Choosing the most matching data storage method depends on the needs which may vary between individuals and enterprises. The cost effective data storage solution which provides safe and efficient storage has to be selected to maximize positive outcomes. Identifying and implementing the right data storage method leads to the reduction in management as well as administrative expenses.