Power Systems Newsletter
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September 2012 POWER SYSTEMS NEWSLETTER UNITED STATES - EAST Send questions or comments to [email protected] (or to subscribe) IBM PureFlex System By Doug Herman – [email protected] In April 2012, IBM announced the world’s first expert integrated systems, the IBM PureSystems product family: IBM PureFlex and IBM PureApplication Systems. These two new members of the IBM PureSystems family are unique because they combine decades of IBM expertise in development and design of servers, storage, networking and virtualization to improve efficiency of infrastructure resources. These are cloud ready and the middleware is optimized and uses patterns of expertise so that hardware and software are tuned for the workload. The IBM PureFlex System is an Infrastructure as a Service system, with compute nodes, storage, networking, physical and virtual management and entry cloud management. The compute nodes can be any combination of two and four socket POWER7 servers along with two socket Sandy Bridge Intel nodes. PowerLinux compute nodes come in two and four socket configurations that run RedHat and SUSE Linux. The storage is Storwize V7000, which provides High Performance block storage, thin provisioning and advanced replication features: Flash Copy and Metro / Global Mirroring. The Storwize V7000 uses Easy Tier with SSD and HDD storage for automated storage balancing. There are two options for networking. The first is a QLogic 8 gigabit fibre channel switch that provides 14 internal and 6 external connections in either configurable or pass-thru options. The other is a Brocade 16 gigabit fibre channel switch in 12 port combination of internal or external ports. The switches are integrated in the PureFlex chassis. The most important component of the IBM PureFlex is the management. The Flex System Manager is an appliance that provides integrated x86 & Power server, storage and network management. All basic and advanced functions preloaded Easy to use (Wizard) multi-chassis management Full POWER Node functionality (e.g. Live Partition Mobility, dual VIO Virtualization Management including resource pools Robust security (Centralized User management, Security Policy) Integrated LDAP and NTP servers for private management network Energy Monitoring and Management Active/Passive failover to redundant Management appliance Multiple Hypervisors are supported, PowerVM, VMware, KVM, and Hyper-V Why IBM PureFlex System Running IBM Software Smokes the Competition All the IBM middleware is optimized to run on POWER7. Software like DB2, WebSphere, Cognos, SPSS, Rational, Lotus and Tivoli are able to take advantage of POWER7 processor capabilities (4x threads per core, intelligent threading, cache affinity, and processor binding). This delivers the best possible performance and value when compared to x86 performance. For more information on PureSystems go to: http://www.ibm.com/ibm/puresystems/us/en/pf_overview.html In the next newsletter, we will explore the IBM PureApplication System. Capacity on Demand Licensing Implications By Rick Milton – [email protected] IBM offers several variants of Capacity on Demand (CoD) on the Power 770, Power 780, and Power 795 model systems. This is nothing new, as it was also available on POWER5 and POWER6 machines. What is also not new, but you may be unaware of, is that using CoD can affect what you pay for software – this time, in a good way. First, let’s note a subtle distinction. Capacity Upgrade on Demand (CUoD) is used to permanently activate processor cores. On/Off, Utility, and Trial CoD allows you to temporarily activate processor cores. When you permanently activate cores, all Processor Value Unit (PVU) core based licenses increase – which means you have to add additional software licenses. PVU based software includes the Operating Systems (AIX, IBM i, Linux), System Software (PowerHA, PowerVM, IBM Systems Director, PowerSC), and any IBM middleware. This is not the case when leveraging temporary activations (On/Off, Utility, or Trial CoD). In that case, Operating Systems (Linux may vary) and all IBM Systems Software are available for use at no additional cost. IBM middleware offers a daily usage charge. User based licenses are not affected by any type of CoD. Tier entitlement also never changes. Hopefully this illustrates yet another value that the higher end of the IBM Power Systems product line offers you. To learn more, please see the IBM Capacity on Demand Users Guide for POWER7 Systems available on the Capacity on Demand website: http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/power/hardware/cod/index.html PowerLinux, See For Yourself By Kevin McCombs - [email protected] Have your sales and technical specialists talked to you about IBM's PowerLinux offerings? If so, I bet you are still wondering, what is this about and how does it differ from simply running Linux on a Power 7 server. First, a little review. IBM has created PowerLinux servers to compete directly with Linux on x86, not AIX workloads. We determined that an overwhelming majority of customers purchase 1-2 socket Linux servers, so that is the market we targeted. These servers are aggressively priced to beat x86 and VMware, and are unable to run AIX In this issue workloads. Admittedly, we Power sellers do a much better job of selling AIX than we do Linux because that's what we know best. So, here are a few resources for customers to learn more IBM PureFlex about PowerLinux and how it might fit in to their data centers. System To get started, visit the PowerLinux site www.ibm.com/powerlinux. Here you will find a variety Capacity on of resources that will help you understand our value proposition including Demand Licensing Implications An Edison Group study that shows how you can realize up to 525% better performance with PowerVM over VMware. PowerLinux, What ITIC thinks of the feasibility IBM's PowerLinux strategy See for Yourself A direct pipeline to Linux developers for technical questions at "Meet the Experts" and "Join the PowerLinux Community" New RFID Tags: Why PowerLinux reliability matters for Open Source Infrastructure Services The Ultimate How you can build your own Watson-like Big Data Analytics Solution using PowerLinux and Power Systems Apache Hadoop Convenience Smarter Computing Workload Simulator AIXpert Blog Rochester Customer Solution Center New RFID Tags: The Ultimate Power Systems Convenience By - Annie Broadhurst - [email protected] Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags were established for the main purpose of protecting one’s assets. Whether that asset is a product or a pet, these tags have provided increased protection from theft, misplacement, and loss. In addition to protecting your assets, they also help with inventory tracking. In October 2009, RFID tags were introduced to the IBM Power Systems family. This system of convenient labeling would be new and revolutionary to the Power Systems brand, offering the ability to more easily track assets. Although the RFID’s did provide more ease of use for tracking assets, the location was somewhat problematic. For example, on a Power Systems 701 Blade, the RFID is located underneath a piece of black plastic which must be pulled back to view the serial number and machine type. To identify a specific piece of hardware, it became a more complex task. The July 2012 announcement regarding the new RFID tags for Power Systems servers, compute nodes, chassis, racks, and HMC’s will provide the Ultimate Power System Convenience. The RFID tags will be located on the front of all new machines, which are introduced as a hinged tag for easy access and maneuverability. The tag is transparent, making identification of the serial number and machine type much simpler. The size of the tag is also smaller providing a better design on compact servers. The new RFID tag (feature code ERF1) is available in the IBM PureFlex Systems family and newly purchased Power Systems “C” models. They meet the Financial Services Technology Consortium (FSTC) specifications for IT Data Center Asset Tracking. July Announcement Letter 2012 (112-121) IBM Power Systems Technical University Oct. 29th - Nov. 2nd, 2012, Las Vegas, NV http://www-03.ibm.com/certify/certs/ps_index.shtml Smarter Computing Workload Simulator By Dave Levites – [email protected] Quick question: What would it take to consolidate a particular IT area, say a web server farm or the back office financial systems? What would the ballpark cost benefits be? Well, it’s often a tall order to come up with those specifics…and before clients were to take on such a detailed study, perhaps it would be useful to see if it would even be worth the effort and expense. To help fill that gap, IBM has put out a publicly available tool that provides a simple, quick to execute and visually easy to digest ROI (Return on Investment) and TCA (Total Cost of Acquisition) analysis in just a few minutes time. The “Smarter Computing Workload Simulator” was developed by IBM based on over 500 actual migrations of SPARC, Itanium and x86 servers to an IBM Power virtualized environment. This tool starts with a selection of a type of business (e.g. Retail, Banking, etc) and then prompts for the general computing area involved, for example: OLTP, analytics, or back office workloads. The user then specifies how many of what size servers they have across the three competing chip platforms: x86 (2 or 4-core), SPARC or Itanium (2-64 cores). Now, simply click the “Compare to Power Systems” button and a short table will appear showing, for the existing environment and a typical Power solution, the going-forward projections in terms of IT, Operating and Strategic costs. A drill down into each of those areas will provide a graphic breakdown of the sub-component costs that make up the total. In addition, a PDF download report is available with many more details.