Front cover IBM Power 520 and Power 550 (POWER6) System Builder Delivers IBM POWER6 scalability and energy efficiency to small and medium businesses Delivers synergy between IBM System i and IBM System p Includes IBM PowerVM virtualization technology Bart Jacob Lukasz Dyjakon Gun Woo Kim Rohit Sood ibm.com/redbooks International Technical Support Organization IBM Power 520 and Power 550 (POWER6) System Builder July 2009 SG24-7765-00 Note: Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in “Notices” on page xix. First Edition (July 2009) This edition applies to AIX Version 5.3 and Version 6.1, IBM i Version 5.4 with Licensed Machine Code V4R4M5, and IBM i Version 6.1, and Linux systems whose release levels and service levels are listed throughout this document. © Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2009. All rights reserved. Note to U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights -- Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp. Contents Figures . xi Tables . .xv Notices . xix Trademarks . .xx Preface . xxiii The team that wrote this book . xxiv Become a published author . xxvi Comments welcome. xxvii Chapter 1. Introduction to the IBM Power 520 and Power 550 servers . 1 1.1 IBM Power Systems models . 3 1.2 General POWER6 and POWER6+ technology capabilities . 5 1.2.1 POWER6 and POWER6+ Terminology . 6 1.2.2 System unit, processor enclosure, and CEC terms . 6 1.2.3 SAS and SCSI bus technology . 9 1.2.4 General I/O terminology and configuration summary . 10 1.2.5 I/O enclosures attached using 12X or RIO-2 I/O loop adapters . 15 1.2.6 Common I/O enclosures supported on Power 520 and Power 550 servers . 16 1.2.7 Common racks for Power 520 and Power 550 configurations . 19 1.3 Power 520 and Power 550 operations (control panel) . 20 1.4 IBM PowerVM naming and editions . 22 1.5 Hardware availability and energy management facilities . 23 1.5.1 Reliability, fault tolerance, and data integrity. 23 1.5.2 IBM EnergyScale technology . 30 1.6 POWER6 floating point decimal arithmetic data and calculations. 32 1.7 Operating system levels required on Power 520 and Power 550 servers. 33 1.7.1 IBM AIX 5L V5.3 (5765-G03) . 34 1.7.2 IBM AIX Standard Edition V6.1 (5765-G62) . 35 1.7.3 IBM AIX Enterprise Edition V6.1 (5765-AEZ) . 35 1.7.4 IBM i V5.4 (5722-SS1) . 36 1.7.5 IBM i V6.1 (5761-SS1) . 37 1.7.6 IBM i user license entitlements . 38 1.7.7 IBM i support of IBM System Storage Enterprise Disk products. 39 1.7.8 Linux systems summary . 39 1.7.9 Supported virtualization features with Linux . 41 1.7.10 System firmware and HMC levels. 41 1.8 POWER6 Warranty considerations. 42 1.9 Summary of IBM i Express editions among Power 520 and 550 Models . 45 1.10 Hardware withdrawal summary. 50 Chapter 2. IBM Power 520 (MTM 8203-E4A) . 51 2.1 8203-E4A overview . 52 2.2 Software requirements . 54 2.3 Physical package . 55 2.3.1 Deskside model . 55 2.3.2 Rack-mounted model . 56 © Copyright IBM Corp. 2009. All rights reserved. iii 2.3.3 Operating environment . 56 2.4 The 8203-E4A configurations overview . 58 2.4.1 Build-to-order . 58 2.4.2 IBM Power Systems Express Editions for AIX / Linux . 58 2.4.3 IBM Power Systems Solution Editions for AIX / Linux . 63 2.4.4 IBM Power Systems Express Editions for IBM i . 68 2.4.5 IBM Power Systems Solution Editions for IBM i . 75 2.5 Summary of IBM i processor and user license requirements . 77 2.6 Summary of 8203-E4A hardware specifications . 78 2.7 Memory . 82 2.7.1 Memory considerations. 82 2.7.2 Memory placement rules. 83 2.7.3 Memory throughput. 84 2.8 I/O capabilities. 84 2.8.1 I/O buses. 84 2.8.2 PCI slots and GX+ slot . 85 2.9 System ports . 86 2.9.1 IVE daughter card . 86 2.9.2 PCI adapters . 89 2.9.3 LAN adapters . 90 2.9.4 WAN adapters. 91 2.9.5 SCSI and SAS adapters . 92 2.9.6 iSCSI adapters . 93 2.9.7 Fibre Channel adapters . 93 2.10 System unit storage . 96 2.10.1 Embedded SAS disk controller . 99 2.10.2 Disk and disk controller protection rules . 100 2.10.3 Internal optical devices . 100 2.10.4 Internal tape devices. 100 2.10.5 Split backplane support. 101 2.11 Drawer and tower attachment . 102 2.12 External disk subsystems . ..