HP N4000 (rp7400)
| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1999-2001 |
| Period | Maturity (III) |
| Series | Lettered/Integrity |
| CPU | 1-8 64-bit PA-8500 PA-8600 PA-8700 360-750 MHz |
| Caches | 1.5-2.25 MB |
| RAM | 32 GB |
| Design | Stretch |
| Drives | 2 SCSI |
| Expansion | 12 PCI |
| I/O | SCSI 3 serial Fast Ethernet Ethernet console |
N4000 were mid-range PA-RISC servers with up to eight processors, the original N-Class from the turn of the century, later renamed rp7400. They were based on HP Stretch architecture, also used in L1500 and L3000 and HP Itanium (IA64) platforms.
N4000 were released during the dot-com boom between 1999 and 2000 and sold as Server for the Internet-Age
, focused on e-commerce and web-ready features like QoS, control and security for the Web
.
HP claimed HP 9000 N-Class servers give you more of what you need to meet
for the new Internet business paradigm
which is having an enormous impact on enterprise IT systems — more applications, more users, and more traffic than ever before.
N4000 were shipped in two models with different system boards: A3639A and A3639B, the later renamed rp7400 was shipped with another mainboard, model A3639C.
- HP 9000 N4000, A3639A and A3639B, were introduced in 1999 for $40,000
- HP Integrity rp7400, A3639C were introduced in 2001 for $39,000
Later HP rp7405 and rp7410 servers were also called N4000 with similar I/O options and expandability in almost the same chassis with a different architecture (Cell). Itanium 2/IA64 processors were planned for N4000 but apparently never offered.
System architecture
Processors
rp7400 N4000 support one to eight processors, denoted by [-36, -44 … -7X] suffix. Not all earlier N4000 support the later processors and maximum number of CPUs.
| System | CPU | Speed | L1 cache | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP 9000 N4000 A3639A |
-36 -44 |
1-8 PA-8500 PA-RISC 64-bit 1-8 PA-8500 PA-RISC 64-bit |
360 MHz 440 MHz |
512/1024 KB on-chip 512/1024 KB on-chip |
| HP 9000 N4000 A3639B |
-36 -44 -5X |
1-8 PA-8500 PA-RISC 64-bit 1-8 PA-8500 PA-RISC 64-bit 1-8 PA-8600 PA-RISC 64-bit |
360 MHz 440 MHz 550 MHz |
512/1024 KB on-chip 512/1024 KB on-chip 512/1024 KB on-chip |
| HP rp7400 A3639C |
-36 -44 -5X -6X -7X |
1-8 PA-8500 PA-RISC 64-bit 1-8 PA-8500 PA-RISC 64-bit 1-8 PA-8600 PA-RISC 64-bit 1-8 PA-8700 PA-RISC 64-bit 1-8 PA-8700 PA-RISC 64-bit |
360 MHz 440 MHz 550 MHz 650 MHz 750 MHz |
512/1024 KB on-chip 512/1024 KB on-chip 512/1024 KB on-chip 768/1536 KB on-chip 768/1536 KB on-chip |
Chipset
rp7400 are based on HP Stretch chipset, which is also used in L1500 and L3000 servers. Stretch has four main components:
- HP Prelude memory controller is the main crossbar of the system
- Four HP DEW Runway converters attach the processors to the main buses
- Two HP IKE I/O controllers connect PCI bridges via I/O channels
- 14 HP Elroy PCI bridges (LBAs) convert the IKE I/O to PCI buses
The rest of the system is implemented with common parts:
- DEC 21142/43 Fast Ethernet controller
- Dual-channel Symbios Logic 53C875 16-bit Ultra-Wide SCSI-2 controllers
- Dual-channel Symbios Logic 53C896 Ultra2-Wide SCSI-3 controller
» View a system-level illustration (ASCII) of the N4000’s system/bus architecture.
System buses
The system bus architecture provides more bandwidth than could be used under practical circumstances. The designers probably counted on future IA64 CPU upgrades.
- Two Itanium system buses, 133 MHz, each 2.1 GB/s peak, 4.3 GB/s aggregate
- Eight Runway+ CPU buses, each 2.1 GB/s peak, aggregate 17.0 GB/s
- Four Memory buses, each 2.1 GB/s peak, aggregate 8.5 GB/s
- 24 I/O channels, each 133 MHz 265 MB/s, aggregate 6.4 GB/s
- 14 PCI-64/66 I/O buses for expansion slots
- Three SCSI-3 Ultra2-Wide LVD main storage I/O buses, one for each internal drive and one for external devices
Memory
- ECC SDRAM DIMMs
- 16 slots
- 256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB and 2 GB modules supported
- 32 GB maximum
Expansion slots
- Ten Twin-Turbo PCI 64-bit/66 MHz slots, each on an independent PCI bus, each connected via two I/O links/ropes (aggregate 530 MB/s), hot-plug capable
- Two Turbo PCI 64-bit/66 MHz slots, each on an independent PCI bus, each connected via one I/O link/rope (265 MB/s), hot-plug capable (one of these two Turbo slots is reserved for Core I/O LAN/SCSI)
- All slots keyed for 5.0 V (support either 5.0 V or universal PCI cards)
Storage
- Two internal Ultra SCSI LVD 3.5″ drives with SCA connector, hot-pluggable
External ports
- 68-pin VHDCI Ultra2 LVD external SCSI
- Three serial RS232C DB9 (local console, remote console, general purpose) via a
DB25
M cable
- Fibre channel
- 10/100 Mbit Ethernet TP/RJ45
- 10/100 Mbit Ethernet TP/RJ45 Web console
Operating systems
Benchmarks
| System | SPECrate95, int | SPECrate95, fp | SPEC2000 int |
SPEC2000 fp |
SPEC2000 rate int |
SPEC2000 rate fp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N4000-36 | 215 4-CPU: 830 8-CPU: 1650 |
355 4-CPU: 1055 8-CPU: 1720 |
||||
| N4000-44 | 306 4-CPU: 1209 8-CPU: 2408 |
462 4-CPU: 1495 8-CPU: 2075 |
||||
| N4000-5X | 376 4-CPU: 1479 8-CPU: 2939 |
528 4-CPU: 1682 8-CPU: 2336 |
||||
| N4000-6X rp7400 |
493 | 489 | 5.7 2-CPU: 11.3 4-CPU: 22.1 8-CPU: 42.6 |
5.7 2-CPU: 10.4 4-CPU: 19.3 8-CPU: 30.5 |
||
| N4000-7X rp7400 |
551 | 524 | 6.4 2-CPU: 12.5 4-CPU: 24.6 8-CPU: 46.7 |
6.1 2-CPU: 11.0 4-CPU: 20.5 8-CPU: 32.1 |
Documentation
- rp7400 Hardware Manual Hewlett-Packard Company (May 2002)
- hp server rp7400 system architecture and design guide, Hewlett-Packard Company (February 2002, product number 5981-0154EN) (URL gone)
- N-Class - The Server for the Internet-Age archive.org, Hewlett-Packard Company (2000: mirror accessed January 2024)