HP 9000 D-Class and R-Class
| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1996-1998 |
| Period | Maturity (III) |
| Series | Lettered |
| CPU | PA-7100LC/PA-7300LC or 1-2 PA-7200/PA-8000/8200 75-240 MHz |
| Caches | 256 KB-4 MB L1 0-1 MB L2 |
| RAM | 512 MB to 3 GB |
| Design | LASI, U2 or UTurn |
| Drives | 5-8 SCSI |
| Expansion |
D2x0: 2-5 EISA, 1-4 GSC D3x0: 3-7 EISA, 1-5 GSC R3x0: 4-7 EISA, 1-4 GSC |
| I/O | Ethernet SCSI 2 serial parallel |
HP 9000 D-Class servers were flexible, upgradable and scalable PA-RISC enterprise servers for Unix applications of the late-1990s.
They were designed to bring mid-range performance for an entry-level price,
with processors from 32-bit PA-7100LC to 64-bit PA-8200 and some multi-processing SMP support, released in 1996-1998.
All D-Class servers were HP 9000 800 server series and used two different architectures: LASI for PA-7100LC and PA-7300LC models and U2/UTurn for PA-7200/PA-8000 models. They were built into a mid-tower case for use as a departmental server. Still rather big and loud machines for the late-1990s.
R-Class Ultralight
servers R380 and R390 are rack-mountable versions of their D-Class counterparts D380/D390.
They are technically almost identical, except some differences in the I/O and storage configuration.
D-Class were technically close to the larger K-Class servers.
In the 1990s, D-Class servers were part of the US Navy TAC-4 program, in which HP was a vendor supplying RISC Unix computers for uses throughout the Navy. The D-Class were part of a technology refreshment of TAC-4 in 1996.
Different models were available which could be upgraded within the series to another model with various options for each system. The servers used the following naming convention and were part of the HP 9000 800 series:
- The first digit after
D
: 2 or 3, indicates the general D-Class type — D2x0 were smaller servers, D3x0 bigger with more expansion and options. - Following digits 00, 10, … 90 indicate system features like CPU and chipset.
- R380/R390 are R-Class rack-mountable servers for 19″ racks.
| System | Model number | Introduced | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| D200, D300 | HP 9000/801 | January 1996 | |
| D210, D310 | HP 9000/811 | January 1996 | $6,900 |
| D220, D320 | HP 9000/803, HP 9000/813 | January 1997 | $8,900 |
| D230, D330 | HP 9000/823, HP 9000/833 | January 1997 | $16,700 |
| D250, D350 | HP 9000/821, HP 9000/831 | January 1996 | |
| D260, D360 | HP 9000/841, HP 9000/851 | May 1996 | |
| D270, D370 | HP 9000/861, HP 9000/871 | November 1996 | |
| D280, D380 | HP 9000/810, HP 9000/820 | September 1997 | |
| D390 | HP 9000/800 | July 1998 | $30,000 |
| R380, R390 | HP 9000/800 | September 1998 |
System architecture
Processors
HP 9000 D-Class shipped with a variety of PA-RISC processors – three types of 32-bit CPUs and two 64-bit.
| System | CPU | Speed | L1 cache |
|---|---|---|---|
| D200 D300 |
PA-7100LC PA-RISC 32-bit | 75 MHz | 1 KB on-chip and 256 KB off-chip |
| D210 D310 |
PA-7100LC PA-RISC 32-bit | 100 MHz | 1 KB on-chip and 256 KB off-chip |
| D220 D320 |
PA-7300LC PA-RISC 32-bit | 132 MHz | 64/64 KB on-chip plus 1 MB L2 off-chip optional |
| D230 D330 |
PA-7300LC PA-RISC 32-bit | 160 MHz | 64/64 KB on-chip plus 1 MB L2 off-chip optional |
| D250 D350 |
1-2 PA-7200 PA-RISC 32-bit | 100 MHz | 256/256 KB off-chip, 2 KB on-chip assist |
| D260 D360 |
1-2 PA-7200 PA-RISC 32-bit | 120 MHz | 1/1 MB off-chip, 2 KB on-chip assist |
| D270 D370 |
1-2 PA-8000 PA-RISC 64-bit | 160 MHz | 512/512 KB off-chip |
| D280 D380 R380 |
1-2 PA-8000 PA-RISC 64-bit | 180 MHz | 1/1 MB off-chip |
| D390 R390 |
1-2 PA-8200 PA-RISC 64-bit | 240 MHz | 2/2 MB off-chip |
Chipset
D-Class used different chipsets and systems architectures, depending on used processors. There were actually four different processor and system bus setups.
- PA-7200 models HP U2 chipset Runway to GSC bridge
- PA-7300LC models HP Phantom PseudoBC GSC+ port
- PA-7200/PA-8000 models HP MMC/SMC memory controllers
- PA-8000 models HP UTurn chipset Runway to GSC bridge
- HP LASI I/O chipset
- Integrated NCR 53C710 8-bit single-ended SCSI-2
- Integrated Intel 82596CA 10 Mbit Ethernet controller
- HP Harmony CD/DAT quality 16-bit audio
- HP Wax EISA bridge
- D3x0 NCR 53C720 16-bit Fast-Wide high-voltage differential (HVD) SCSI-2
- D390/R380/R390 DEC 21140 Fast Ethernet controller
- Other I/O (serial, parallel)
System buses
- PA-7200/PA-8000 Runway CPU/memory bus
- GSC+ bus for the general system level I/O
- EISA expansion bus
- D3x0 SCSI-2 Fast-Wide high-voltage differential (HVD) bus for main storage
- SCSI-2 Fast-Narrow single-ended bus for main storage I/O
Note: Fast-Wide differential bus was optional on D2x0 models.
Memory
- 72-pin ECC SIMMs
- PA-7100LC 512 MB maximum in four slots
- PA-7200/PA-8000 1.5 GB maximum in six slots
- Systems with a PA-8000/PA-8200 need 50ns RAM modules, PA-7200/PA-7300LC take up to 60ns, PA-7100LC even slower modules
Expansion slots
- D2x0
- One slot for GSC/HSC cards (EISA formfactor)
- Two slots for EISA cards
- Three slots for GSC/HSC or EISA cards
- D3x0
- One slot for GSC/HSC cards (EISA formfactor)
- Three slot for EISA cards
- Four slots for GSC/HSC or EISA cards
- R380/R390
- One slot for GSC/HSC cards (EISA formfactor)
- Four slot for EISA cards
- Three slots for GSC/HSC or EISA cards
Storage
- Up to three 5.25″ 50-pin Fast-Narrow SE SCSI half-height drives, external accessible
- D2x0/R3x0 Up to two Fast-Narrow 50-pin SCSI-2 single-ended hard drives
- D3x0 Five hot-swap trays for Fast-Wide 68-pin SCSI-2 high-voltage differential drives
- R380/R390 One 5.25″ 50-pin Fast-Narrow SE SCSI half-height drive, external accessible
External ports
- SCSI-2 50-pin single-ended
- TP/RJ45 10BaseT 10 Mbit Ethernet
- Two serial RS232C DB9, one for console, one for USV
- Parallel DB25
- Two PS/2 connectors for keyboard und mouse
Operating systems
- HP-UX, the original HP Unix shipped with it
- HP-UX 11i v1 in 32-bit or 64-bit mode, in EOE, FOE, MCOE version
- HP-UX 11.00 in 32-bit or 64-bit mode
- HP-UX 10.20 32-bit, server version
- PA-RISC Linux, main Linux port to PA-RISC, supported by HP in the 2000s
- OpenBSD, open-source Unix-like, ported to PA-RISC (D220, D230, D320, D330)
- NetBSD, open-source Unix-like, ported to PA-RISC (D200, D210, D220, D230, D300, D310, D320, D330)
Benchmarks
| System | SPEC92 int | SPEC92 fp | SPEC95 int | SPEC95 fp | SPEC95 rate int |
SPEC95 rate fp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP 9000 Dx00 | 115 | 146 | 2.18 | 2.90 | 19.2 | 25.8 |
| HP 9000 Dx10 | 152 | 194 | 3.74 | 4.08 | 33.6 | 36.7 |
| HP 9000 Dx20 | 6.57 | 6.72 | 59.2 | 60.5 | ||
| HP 9000 Dx30 | 7.87 | 7.58 | 70.8 | 68.3 | ||
| HP 9000 Dx50 | 144 | 218 | 5.01 | 6.77 | 45.1 | 61.0 |
| HP 9000 Dx60 | 114 | 143 | ||||
| HP 9000 Dx70 | 10.40 | 15.00 | 93.9 2P:184 |
135 2P:190 |
||
| HP 9000 Dx80 | 12.30 | 17.40 | 111 2P:219 |
157 2P:221 |
||
| HP 9000 D390 | 15.50 | 25.50 |
Comparison to SPEC benchmark data from other contemporary Unix workstations:
| System | CPU | SPEC95 int | SPEC95 fp |
|---|---|---|---|
| DEC Alphastation 500 | DEC Alpha 21164 500MHz | 15.0 | 20.4 |
| SGI Origin 2000 | MIPS R10000 250MHz 4MB | 14.7 | 24.5 |
| Sun Ultra 5 333 | Sun UltraSPARC IIi 333MHz | 14.1 | 18.3 |
| Siemens SCENIC 1000 | Intel Pentium II 333MHz | 13.0 | 9.43 |
| IBM RS/6000 43P 150 | PowerPC 604e 250 MHz | 11.1 | 8.78 |
| SGI O2 | MIPS R10000 196MHz | 10.1 | 8.77 |
| Intel Alder | Intel Pentium Pro 200MHz | 8.09 | 6.75 |
| Sun Ultra 2 1170 | Sun UltraSPARC 167MHz | 6.34 | 9.33 |
| DEC Alphastation 255 | DEC Alpha 21064A 233MHz | 4.27 | 5.09 |
| Siemens PCE-5S | Intel Pentium 100MHz | 4.04 | 2.35 |
| SGI Indy | MIPS R5000 150MHz | 3.97 | 4.20 |
| IBM RS/6000 43P | PowerPC 604 100 MHz | 3.59 | 3.20 |
| Sun SPARCstation 20 | Sun SuperSPARC II 75MHz | 3.11 | 3.10 |
Documentation
Manuals
- D-Class and R-Class Installation Guide (URL gone)
- D-Class and R-Class Operator’s Guide (URL gone)
- D-Class and R-Class System Upgrade Guide (URL gone)
Articles
- An Entry-Level Server with Multiple Performance Points (.pdf) Lin A. Nease et al (June 1997: Hewlett-Packard Journal) archive.org