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Mainframe Servers
By Erik Rodriguez
This article goes through the basics of a mainframe server, including how they work and what they are used for.
What is a Mainframe Server?
A mainframe server is a very large and powerful server used to control a large portion of a enterprise. There are only a few companies that produce true "mainframe servers." Mainframes are sometimes called "Enterprise Servers" or "Super Computers." While the term server can refer to hardware or software, mainframe server always refers to hardware.
Chasis and Operating System
Mainframe servers often resemble a refrigerator. They are extremely large machines composed of the most technical equipment known to the networking industry. Mainframe servers include an array of CPU's, memory, and disk drives. They have hot-swapable power supplies, and uninterrupted power supplies all built in to the machine. Companies like IBM, Sun Microsystems, HP, SGI, and Cray produce some of the most powerful mainframe computers on the planet. Most of these machines run some type of proprietary Operating System. For instance, the Cray SV1 system runs an OS called UNICOS. IBM mainframes can run a variety of OSes but they commonly run OS/390, z/OS, or AIX UNIX. All mainframe OSes are some derivative of UNIX compiled to support the extremely powerful architecture of these machines. These machines do use Pentium or AMD CPU's of any type. They contain special CPU's designed for mathematical algorithms. The image below shows a picture of an IBM mainframe server. You can get an idea of its size by the CRT monitor located on the ground to the right.
Mainframe Usage
You might wonder what a mainframe server is used for? While its use is limited, a mainframe server can be used as a file server for a very large organization (this usually means the government or government contracted organizations). Large universities and research organizations also use mainframes for various projects. Mainframes can be clustered together to harness the power of multiple servers and perform a single task. Cancer researchers use clusters of IBM servers to perform linear algebra and other mathematical operations needed to complete research. On the fun side, Sun Microsystems is now leasing their enterprise servers to certain groups such as animators and graphics producers to perform rendering.
Cost
As you can imagine, these things are not cheap! While prices vary, and used mainframes are significantly cheaper, they run from around $5,000 to well in the millions. It's safe to say no civilian has their own mainframe, except maybe Bill Gates.
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