Podcast #85: Designing Servers for Ruler SSDs and Other Next-Gen Technology

We’ve been talking a lot about E1.S (ruler) SSDs lately. The last podcast covered ruler, we even transcribed key findings from that conversation in a ruler deep dive. Now, we’ve got a box of E1.S SSDs in from SK hynix, that leverage the popular 15mm z-height standard. Having the flash is fun and all, but the systems out there that can support Gen4 E.1S SSDs are pretty thin. Thankfully, the guys at Viking Enterprise Solutions have just the tool for this work.

On this podcast, I interview Odie Killen, VP of Server and Storage Engineering at Viking Enterprise Solutions. This is pretty fun for a number of reasons. First, Viking is on the front edge of emerging tech, so their servers are pretty amazing. Take the E1.S server they sent us. It’s a 2-node AMD server with 24 E1.S bays across the front, in 1U, with no cables or drive caddies. There’s a lot of debate about form factors and density, but if you like dense compute and storage, you’ll love this server.

The other great thing about Viking is they’re not afraid to talk about the future. Odie takes us through a wide variety of technical challenges and opportunities when it comes to server design. We discuss PCIe Gen5 and what that means to next-gen servers. We go deep on E1.S and how a server could accommodate E1.S and E1.L potentially. Maybe you’re wondering how the heck Viking can cool all of this, we hit that too and touch on water cooling. There might even be some 24G SAS talk.

While most of you consume our podcast in audio form, there is a little more visual reference this time around, I encourage you to check the YouTube video as well.

Video pod on YouTube

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3 years ago

Brian Beeler

Brian is located in Cincinnati, Ohio and is the chief analyst and President of StorageReview.com.