High-End Servers

What are Sun's High-End Servers? - Enterprise class servers that provide 24/7 mission critical services

Ideal for - Large or medium-sized companies needing complex, multi-tiered environments, virtualization and consolidation, back office, OLTP and BIDW databases, high floating point applications, compute-intensive scientific/engineering application serving, and more

Advantages - Advanced built-in virtualization, diagonal scaling, domain partitioning granularity down to one processor chip with Solaris containers, guaranteed binary compatibility prevents IT obsolescence

x64 Servers

What are Sun's x64 Servers? - AMD or Intel based servers, also known as x86-64 bit based systems running a choice of operating system, Solaris, Windows, Linux and more

Ideal for - Large, small or medium-sized companies needing grid computing, web infrastructure, security and network services, application development, virtualization and consolidation, Security, DNS, caching, firewall and more

Advantages - combination of performance, density, scalability and energy efficiency while lowering costs and complexity.

Mid-Range Servers

What are Sun's Mid-Range Servers? - Enterprise class servers that provide 24/7 mission critical services at an affordable entry point

Ideal for - Small, medium or large-sized companies needing affordable virtualization to provide the performance, flexibility, scalability, manageability and security features needed for the consolidation of mission-critical complex applications

Advantages -- Advanced built-in virtualization, Diagonal scaling, domain partitioning granularity down to one processor, designed to lower TCO. Guaranteed binary compatibility prevents IT obsolescence

SPARC Enterprise Servers

What are SPARC Enterprise Servers? - The fastest SPARC/Solaris OS servers, bringing mainframe-class availability and partitioning to the open systems market

Ideal for - Small, medium or large-sized companies needing affordable virtualization and consolidating, web tier environments, smaller databases and large-scale enterprise applications alike

Advantages - Unique, built-in, mainframe-class virtualization capabilities enable you to run up to 24 hardware partitions on a single server, with more granularity than ever before, for complete isolation and control. Diagonal scaling, designed to lower TCO. Guaranteed binary compatibility prevents IT obsolescence

Netra Carrier-Grade Systems

What are Sun's Netra Carrier Grade Systems? - Ruggedized, NEBS-certified servers platforms designed for the Network Equipment Providers (NEPs) and Service Providers (SPs)

Ideal for - Telcos and government needing telecommunications Services, VoIP, IPTV and multimedia streaming, defense/military intelligence, security processing

Advantages - Mix and match processors, UltraSPARC, AMD Opteron, Intel Xeon and operating systems, Solaris 10 OS, carrier-grade Linux, or Windows. Extreme Reliability designed for six nines reliability, ruggedized design and enclosure deliver near-continuous system operation in rough environmental conditions

Blade Servers

What are Sun's Blade Servers? - Self-contained infrastructures, designed to save time, power and money..

Ideal for - Medium or large-sized companies, needing eco solutions, virtualization and consolidation, web infrastructure, high performance, computing, back office (CRM, ERP, DIDW)

Advantages - Radically efficient in terms of space, power and cooling. Operationally efficient and productive. Highly serviceable and upgradeable. Multi-processor and OS support. An industry first, UltraSPARC, AMD Opteron, Intel Xeon processors running together in a single chassis

Transparent Data Encryption in SQL Server 2008

As a Database Administrator, security is one of the most important areas to consider when it comes to protecting the databases that you support. We use various mechanisms and technologies to secure our data and databases such as firewalls, certificates, and data encryption. Having said that although we have secured our environment, questions will always be raisesd regarding database security. Although we have protected our databases, what would happen if someone steals the mdf file or if someone steals the backup file. Although there are few ways to control this senario using third-party solutions up until SQL Server 2008 there has been no native way to handle this problem. SQL Server 2008 introduces a new feature that protects the database called Transparent Data Encryption - TDE which provides protection to the entire database. I recently tested TDE with SQL Server 2008 February CTP, and the result of the testing made me write this article. This article contains:



*What is Transparent Data Encryption?
*Implementation of TDE
*Is my database secure now, as it says?
*What needs to be considered before enabling TDE?
*What is the impact when TDE is enabled?
*What is Transparent Data Encryption?

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 introduces another level of encryption, Transparent Data Encryption. TDE is full database level encryption that is not limited to columns and rows but protects both the data files and log files. The implementation of TDE on a database is comparatively very simple and transparent to the applications that connects to the selected database. It does not requires any changes to the existing applications. The protection is applied on the data files and log files as well as the backup files. Once TDE is enabled on a database, the restoring of a backup to another SQL Server instance or attaching data files to another SQL Server instance will not be permitted until the certificate that was used to secure the database encryption key (DEK) is available.

The encryption feature of TDE is applied at the page level. Once enabled, pages are encrypted before they are written to the disk and decrypted before they are read into the memory. It is important to remember that the communication channel between SQL Server and the client application will not be secured and encrypted via TDE.

Transparent Data Encryption uses a Database Encryption Key (DEK) for encrypting the database that is stored in the database boot record. The DEK is secured by a certificate that is stored in the master database. Optionally, the DEK can be secured by an asymmetric key that resides in a Hardware Security Module (HSM) with the support of Extensible Key Management (EKM). The private key of the certificate is encrypted with the database master key that is a symmetric key, that is usually protected with a strong password. Note that although the certificate can be secured by a password, TDE requires that the certificate is secured by the database master key. The database master key is protected by the service master key that is protected by the Data Protection API.

Cluster Systems Management (CSM)

Cluster Systems Management (CSM) for AIX® and Linux® is designed for simple, low-cost management of distributed and clustered IBM System p™ and System x™ servers in technical and commercial computing environments. CSM, included with the IBM System Cluster 1600 and IBM System Cluster 1350, dramatically simplifies administration of a cluster by providing management from a single point-of-control. CSM is available for managing homogeneous clusters of IBM System x servers running Linux or IBM System p servers running AIX, or heterogeneous clusters which include both.

CSM reduces the cost and complexity of systems management

CSM is a comprehensive systems management tool designed to reduce the cost and complexity of system deployment and maintenance by enabling a small number of administrators to manage large environments efficiently:

CSM improves administrator efficiency by controlling multiple, heterogeneous machines from a single point, enabling fast responses and consistent policies, updates and monitoring by a small staff.

CSM provides monitoring with automated responses and notification to ensure problems are recognized and addressed quickly with minimal distraction.

CSM simplifies management with pre-defined functions for common tasks and pre-defined monitors for key system metrics. Complex functions and monitors can be defined for easy, single-command or point-and-click use.

Management by group eliminates both the need to address each machine individually and the risk of accidental oversight/omission. CSM can even build groups automatically based on machine characteristics.
CSM improves security and efficiency by giving administrators access to the commands they need without having to give every administrator high authorization. Security configuration is performed automatically.

In addition to providing all the key functions for administration and maintenance of typical distributed systems, CSM is designed to deliver the parallel execution required to manage clustered computing environments effectively. The managed nodes in the cluster may be IBM System p or IBM System i™ machines running AIX or Linux, IBM System x machines running Linux or a combination of these platforms and operating systems. CSM provides the following system management capabilities:
Installation and setup commands to create and configure the cluster easily.
Security configuration across the cluster is performed automatically, eliminating the need to manually distribute encryption keys etc.

Create node groups within the cluster and manage machines by group. Node groups can be defined manually or dynamically (for example, if dynamic node groups are defined for Linux nodes and AIX nodes, new nodes added to the cluster will automatically be placed in the appropriate group and configured/managed accordingly).
Remote command execution across multiple nodes (or node groups) in the cluster; CSM tracks and displays the status of each command on each machine.
A configuration file manager to distribute and synchronize files across nodes or node groups in the cluster.
Comprehensive monitoring of system parameters and status with event display and automated responses (for example, a file system filling up can send an event to the CSM console and automatically notify an administrator and trigger a script to remove all temporary files).

Software diagnostic tools minimize down time by systematically analyzing software components and servers to find the root cause of problems quickly.
Scalable, remote hardware control and console access allows administrators to manage systems from a remote location. This enables centralized management of systems in different locations, increasing administrative efficiency.
Fully scriptable command line interface supports user-defined commands to automate complex tasks.
Administrators can be authorized to perform specific tasks that exceed their overall authorization level, enabling them to do their jobs effectively without compromising security.
Web-based interface provides control and management of a CSM cluster including:

*Updating and removal of nodes from the cluster
*Creation and deletion of node groups
*Distributed command execution including user-defined commands
*Visual monitoring capabilities
*Hardware control capabilities

CSM is flexible and fully customizable to fit into and augment your existing administrative processes. Users can add their own power methods, console methods, MAC methods, post-install scripts, CFM pre/post scripts, sensors, conditions, responses and probes.

CSM is automatically installed with AIX and a 60-day trial license for CSM is included. To continue using CSM after that period, the client must purchase a full license.

Cell/B.E. technology-based software

The QS22, based on the new IBM PowerXCell™ 8i multi-core processor offers extraordinary single precision and double precision floating point computing power to accelerate key algorithms such as 3D rendering, compression, encryption, financial algorithms, and seismic processing.

To enable you to take full advantage of the Cell/B.E. architecture and the PowerXCell 8i processor, IBM has developed a software development kit designed to accelerate production-ready, multi-core programming.

The IBM Software Development Kit (SDK) for Multicore Acceleration Version 3.0 provides the libraries, tools and resources that businesses need to develop and tune applications for Cell/B.E. technology allowing you to easily:

*Port and optimize applications and algorithms quickly
*Increase ease of programming and developer productivity
*Obtain a reliable development tool kit with warranty and support
*Plug in third-party ISV libraries to integrate and build your software ecosystem

IBM BladeCenter QS22

For high performance computing (HPC) applications requiring massive amounts of computing power, the new IBM® BladeCenter® QS22 blade server provides extreme performance for accelerating compute-intensive workloads efficiently.

For years, organizations relied on performance gains from increasing clock speeds of "traditional" microprocessor architectures. However, this approach has lead to issues in power consumption, heat dissipation and memory latencies–resulting in diminishing returns on performance.

Based on the innovative multi-core IBM PowerXCell™ 8i processor, a new generation processor based on the Cell Broadband Engine (Cell/B.E.) Architecture, the QS22 blade server offers extraordinary double precision floating point processing power for high performance computing applications such as digital content creation, electronic design automation, image and signal processing, financial algorithms, scientific research and seismic processing.

Part of the BladeCenter family of products, the QS22 high-performance blade server extends and deepens the IBM HPC solution portfolio by providing a new level of parallelism and performance to targeted workloads. It allows companies to create and run applications that require extreme stream computation and bandwidth, providing information faster and helping to facilitate important business decisions to organizations in:
* Aerospace and defense
* Health care and life sciences
* Petroleum exploration
* Financial markets
* Digital media
* Electronics
* Government