A reference for Designing Servers and Peripherals for the Microsoft® Windows nt® Server Operating System Intel Corporation and Microsoft Corporation Publication Date: October 10, 1997

Acknowledgments

Compaq Computer Corporation

Chapter 1

Overview of Server Design Issues

This chapter is an introduction to the system classes and issues related to server hardware guidelines for systems designed to work with the Microsoft Windows NT Server 5.0 operating system. This document addresses design issues for commodity servers; in general, these servers contain up to four microprocessors and use a variety of industry standard technologies.

Introduction to Design Issues

This guide represents a collection of system definitions and requirements for bus and device design. The requirements and recommendations emphasize features and attributes of a system that can perform extremely well under Windows NT Server. These guidelines emphasize the following areas:

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  Performance. The ideal way to specify performance capabilities would be to specify performance against specific benchmark tests. However, the available benchmark tests do not allow for direct comparison of systems unless used with identical client setup and software configurations, which are not currently defined. Wherever possible, requirements in this guide are defined according to the benchmark performance goals. When reliable benchmark tests are not available, specific hardware configurations are defined to achieve the performance capabilities necessary for servers that are compliant with the requirements defined in this guide.
  
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  Reliability. To fulfill its function, the server system must run all the time, with fault-tolerance capabilities and features to smoothly replace a failed drive. High availability is an extremely important feature for all servers, although this feature might be manifested differently according to how the server is used. However, certain baseline goals are desirable for each class of server, so various elements of these requirements address reliability and high-availability needs for servers.
  
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  Robustness and capacity. For many server applications, good scalability and serviceability become extremely important. This guide specifies some requirements related to components, such as RAM and processor capabilities, to address robustness issues. Additional requirements or recommendations provide for expansion capabilities in the server system.
  
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  Ease of use and ease of maintenance. Various requirements seek to address issues related to ease of use and ease of maintenance — two factors that strongly affect the TCO for servers.
  
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  Security. Some requirements ensure security of user data or access to system components.
  

When working to meet these requirements and when choosing to support additional hardware design recommendations, the designer must continually weigh cost versus performance. In defining these guidelines, extra attention has been given to this concern.

Intel and Microsoft are dedicated to strategic industry relationships that deepen and strengthen support for evolving the platform. Both companies work with industry groups to define standards for new technologies. In support of this evolution of server platforms, Microsoft has become involved in the following efforts:

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  Designing operating system support for new bus and device classes to ensure that new technologies can quickly reach a broad market.
  
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  Enhancing the Windows NT Server operating system to make it easy for both hardware and software developers to exploit operating system capabilities.
  
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  Offering the HCL and other programs to help customers identify hardware and software designs that take advantage of the Windows NT Server operating system.
  

The system design requirements defined in this guide support a synergy among server hardware, the Microsoft Windows NT Server operating system, and Win32-based software. These requirements for systems and components are based on the following goals:

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  System platforms, buses, and devices meet industry standards and specifications for each bus type and device class.
  
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  Systems and devices meet minimum performance requirements.
  
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  Systems and devices meet ease-of-use and physical design guidelines.
  
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  Systems and devices are supported by device drivers that follow guidelines defined in the Windows NT 5.0 DDK for behavior, installation, and removal.
  
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  Systems and devices support Plug and Play compatibility and OnNow power management for configuring and managing all system components under the Windows NT Server 5.0 operating system.