Stratus ftServer: Features, Benefits, Models, and Applications

In today’s fast-paced business world, ensuring the continuous availability of critical applications and data integrity is essential, as recovery from failure is often not an option. With businesses increasingly relying on distributed systems in remote or edge locations, fault-tolerant solutions are more important than ever.  

Stratus ftServer offers continuous performance with minimal IT support for both data centers and remote environments, helping businesses maintain operations without downtime. This article highlights how it delivers unmatched reliability and performance for today’s demands.

What is Stratus ftServer? 

Stratus ftServer Overview Video

Stratus ftServer is a fault tolerant computing platform designed to run mission-critical applications at the data center, control room, or edge locations without downtime or data loss. The platform’s hardware-based, fully-redundant architecture delivers better than five-nines reliability, is easily serviceable by OT or IT, and is uniquely engineered for proactive health monitoring and self-healing. Using ftServer, organizations are able to rapidly modernize their IT infrastructure to maximize reliability, simplify manageability, and increase efficiency with minimal risk.

In addition, application virtualization enables the consolidation of multiple software workloads onto a single ftServer platform to run a data center, digital factory, or remote asset. This unmatched combination of performance, computing power, reliability, and serviceability allows organizations to build future-proof, edge-to-enterprise architectures necessary to connect edge operations with cloud investments and realize edge-core-cloud data strategies that turn data into actionable insight.

How Stratus ftServer works

How It Works – Stratus Platforms Engineered for Unmatched Reliability 

2. Patented “lockstep” processing

3. Stratus Automated Uptime Layer (AUL)

Proactive Health Monitoring Substantially Simplifies Manageability

Simplify IT Infrastructure with Workload Consolidation

Stratus ftServer Models and Specifications

ftServer is easy to deploy, easy to manage, and easy to service. Four different ftServer models meet most every enterprise workload, environment, and budget.

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ftServer System Specifications Processors	2920	4920	6910	6920
Processor(s)	1 x Intel® Xeon® Silver 4210R processor 2.4 Ghz	2 x Intel® Xeon® Silver 4210R processor 2.4 Ghz	2 x Intel® Xeon® Gold 5220 processor 2.2 GHz	2 x Intel® Xeon® Gold 6241C processor 2.3 GHz
Intel® Hyper-threaded Cores	10 per processor (10 per CRU)	10 per processor (20 per CRU)	18 per processor (36 per CRU)	22 per processor (44 per CRU)
Threads	20 per processor (20 per CRU)	20 per processor (40 per CRU)	36 per processor (72 per CRU)	44 per processor (88 per CRU)
Intel UPI speed	9.6 GT/s	9.6 GT/s	10.4 GT/s	10.4 GT/s
Maximum memory bandwidth	76.8 GB/s	192 GB/s	213.3 GB/s	213.3 GB/s
Memory
Min/max memory	32 GB / 256 GB DDR4	64 GB / 640 GB DDR4	64 GB / 1280 GB DDR4	64 GB / 1280 GB DDR4
DIMM slots	16 (8 per CRU)	40 (20 per CRU)	40 (20 per CRU)	40 (20 per CRU)
I/O Subsystem
Integrated PCIe® adapter slots	4 PCIe 3 x8 (2 per CRU)	4 PCIe 3 x8 (2 per CRU)	4 PCIe 3 x8 (2 per CRU)	4 PCIe 3 x8 (2 per CRU)
Additional PCIe adapter slots	N/A	4 PCIe 3 x8 (optional) (2 per CRU)	4 PCIe 3 x8 (included) (2 per CRU)	4 PCIe 3 x8 (included) (2 per CRU)
Storage Subsystem
Internal system drive bays	12 Gb SAS (8 per CRU) OR 12 Gb SAS (2 per CRU), NVMe PCIe Gen4 x 4 U.2 (4 per CRU)	12 Gb SAS (8 per CRU) OR 12 Gb SAS (2 per CRU), NVMe PCIe Gen4 x 4 U.2 (4 per CRU)	12 Gb SAS (8 per CRU) OR 12 Gb SAS (2 per CRU), NVMe PCIe Gen4 x 4 U.2 (4 per CRU)	12 Gb SAS (8 per CRU) OR 12 Gb SAS (2 per CRU), NVMe PCIe Gen4 x 4 U.2 (4 per CRU)
Internal 2.5″ drives
ftScalable Storage Subsystem
Expansion drive slots (RAID)	Up to 144	Up to 144	Up to 144	Up to 144
RAID levels	1, 5, 6, 10	1, 5, 6, 10	1, 5, 6, 10	1, 5, 6, 10
Drive types
Embedded I/O
10/100/1000 Ethernet ports	4 (2 per CRU)	4 (2 per CRU)	4 (2 per CRU)	4 (2 per CRU)
10 Gb Ethernet ports	N/A	4 (2 per CRU)	4 (2 per CRU)	4 (2 per CRU)
10/100 Management Ethernet ports	2 (1 per CRU)	2 (1 per CRU)	2 (1 per CRU)	2 (1 per CRU)
Serial (com) ports	2 (9-pin) ports per system	2 (9-pin) ports per system	2 (9-pin) ports per system	2 (9-pin) ports per system
USB ports	4 USB 2.0 (redundant), 4 USB 3.0 (non-redundant)	4 USB 2.0 (redundant), 4 USB 3.0 (non-redundant)	4 USB 2.0 (redundant), 4 USB 3.0 (non-redundant)	4 USB 2.0 (redundant), 4 USB 3.0 (non-redundant)
Manageability
Baseboard management controller	Standard	Standard	Standard	Standard
Virtual Technician Module (VTM)	Standard	Standard	Standard	Standard
Graphics adapter	1 VGA port per system	1 VGA port per system	1 VGA port per system	1 VGA port per system

Features of Stratus ftServer 

Using ftServer, organizations are able to rapidly modernize IT infrastructure to maximize reliability, simplify manageability, and increase efficiency with minimal risk. Several key features help make ftServer easy to deploy, easy to manage, and easy to service—at the enterprise data center, control room, or edge location:

• Automated Uptime Layer

Stratus’ Automated Uptime Layer (AUL) software coordinates processor synchronization, data replication, and logic needed to ensure continuous availability, even in the event of a hardware component failure. AUL monitors nearly 500 alarm points to alert users of potential issues.

• Redundant hardware CRUs

Each ftServer platform consists of two identical customer replaceable units (CRUs)—each with their own processors, memory, storage and power. All redundant components and subsystems are packaged as a single system. This approach is completely transparent to applications, therefore requiring no development overhead to deploy, greatly simplifying management, and allowing the platform to be serviced and maintained while in operation, without disruption or downtime.

• Serviceable by OT and IT teams

ftServer is designed for serviceability. The CRUs are hot swappable without requiring platform shutdown or use of special tools. When a CRU is replaced, the system automatically re-synchronizes data, making ftServer ideal for deployment in remote manufacturing locations or locations with limited IT resources.

• Proactive health monitoring

ftServer delivers automated self-monitoring, alerting, self-diagnosing, and remediation capabilities. Platform health information sent via the Stratus ActiveService™ Network (ASN) or through an organization’s existing monitoring methods alerts users of potential issues before they occur.

• Industry standard components

ftServer uses the same chipsets, DIMMs, and drives, as those found in other industry standard x86 systems. It also uses standard shrink-wrapped operating system and virtualization software for ease of management and faster time to value.

• Workload consolidation

ftServer offers the flexibility to run critical applications on bare metal – with the choice of industry-standard operating systems from Microsoft or RedHat – or to consolidate workloads with the hypervisor of your choice – whether VMware vSphere,  Microsoft Windows Server with Hyper-V, or Red Hat Enterprise Linux with KVM.

Key Benefits of Stratus ftServer 

• Eliminate application downtime: Built-in fault tolerance delivers greater than five nines availability to run critical applications.
• Avoid data loss and ensure data integrity: Redundant computing architecture protects in-flight data in the event of component failure.
• Simplify management and support: Pro-active health monitoring and self-healing saves time and enables management by OT or IT.
• Rapidly modernize computing infrastructure: Deploy virtualization to consolidate multiple software workloads onto a single platform and run advanced software.
• Reduce TCO: Platform delivers 7-10 year lifespan, twice that of traditional servers, reduces IT footprint, and requires fewer software licenses.

Use cases for Stratus ftServer 

Versatility and Reliability of ftServer for Critical Applications Across Industries 

About Stratus

For more than 40 years, Stratus has provided high-availability, fault-tolerant computing to Fortune 500 companies and small-to-medium sized businesses enabling them to securely and remotely run mission-critical applications without downtime at the data center and Edge, and turn that data into actionable intelligence. 

With Stratus, you can rest assured your essential business applications will be online, all the time. Our proactive ftServiceSM offerings focus on preventing downtime and data loss — an advantage that far outweighs the “break-fix” support offered by other vendors.

Servo Dynamics – Master Distributors of Stratus Technologies in Viet Nam

As the master distributor of Stratus Technologies in Vietnam, Servo Dynamics brings the world-class reliability of Stratus ftServer and other fault-tolerant systems to local businesses. With extensive experience and technical expertise, Servo ensures that Vietnamese companies can access the latest Stratus technologies to improve their IT infrastructure, optimize operations, and minimize downtime. 

Learn more:  Stratus Vietnam – Servo Dynamics Engineering As Authorized Distributor

Servo Services for Stratus ftServer 

Servo Dynamics offers a variety of certified options to easily extend your continuously available platform. From value added managed support plans, to modular storage—get the additional capabilities that you need, to satisfy your unique enterprise and Edge Computing requirements.

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Download Free Resources

• Stratus ft server datasheet
• Stratus ftServices for ftServer Platforms
• Stratus® ftScalable™ Storage Family