Front cover IBM Power System E950 Technical Overview and Introduction James Cruickshank Yongsheng Li (Victor) Armin Röll Volker Haug Redpaper International Technical Support Organization IBM Power System E950: Technical Overview and Introduction August 2018 REDP-5509-00 Note: Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in “Notices” on page vii. First Edition (August 2018) This edition applies to the IBM Power System E950 (9040-MR9) system. Important: At time of publication, this book is based on a pre-GA version of a product. For the most up-to-date information regarding this product, consult the product documentation or subsequent updates of this book. © Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2018. 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 Notices . vii Trademarks . viii Preface . ix Authors. ix Now you can become a published author, too! . .x Comments welcome. xi Stay connected to IBM Redbooks . xi Chapter 1. General description . 1 1.1 System overview . 3 1.2 Operating environment . 7 1.3 Physical package . 8 1.4 System features . 9 1.4.1 Minimum configuration . 10 1.4.2 Power supply features . 11 1.4.3 Processor module features . 11 1.4.4 Memory features . 12 1.4.5 PCIe slots . 14 1.4.6 USB. 15 1.4.7 Disk and media features . 16 1.5 I/O drawers . 20 1.5.1 PCIe Gen3 I/O Expansion Drawer . 20 1.5.2 I/O drawers and usable PCI slots . 22 1.5.3 EXP24SX and EXP12SX SAS Storage Enclosures . 23 1.6 System racks. 25 1.6.1 New racks . 26 1.6.2 IBM Enterprise 42U Slim Rack 7965-S42. 26 1.6.3 IBM 7014 Model T42 rack. 26 1.6.4 1.8 Meter Rack (#0551) . 28 1.6.5 2.0 Meter Rack (#0553) . 28 1.6.6 Rack (#ER05) . 28 1.6.7 The AC power distribution unit and rack content . 29 1.6.8 Rack-mounting rules . 33 1.6.9 Useful rack additions. 33 1.6.10 Original equipment manufacturer racks . 36 1.7 Hardware Management Console . 37 1.7.1 New features of the Hardware Management Console . 37 1.7.2 Hardware Management Console overview . 37 1.7.3 Hardware Management Console code level . 39 1.7.4 Two architectures of Hardware Management Console. 40 1.7.5 Connectivity to POWER9 processor-based systems . 41 1.7.6 High availability Hardware Management Console configuration. 42 Chapter 2. Architecture and technical overview . 45 2.1 The IBM POWER9 processor . 46 2.1.1 POWER9 processor overview. 46 2.1.2 POWER9 processor core . 48 2.1.3 Simultaneous multithreading. 49 © Copyright IBM Corp. 2018. All rights reserved. iii 2.1.4 POWER9 compatibility modes . 50 2.1.5 Processor feature codes . 50 2.1.6 Memory access. 52 2.1.7 On-chip L3 cache innovation and intelligent caching . 53 2.1.8 Hardware transactional memory . 54 2.1.9 POWER9 accelerator processor interfaces . 54 2.1.10 Power and performance management . 56 2.1.11 Comparison of the POWER9, POWER8, and POWER7+ processors . 59 2.2 Memory subsystem . 60 2.2.1 DIMM memory riser card. 61 2.2.2 Memory placement rules. 65 2.2.3 Memory activations . 66 2.2.4 Memory throughput. 67 2.2.5 Active Memory Mirroring . 70 2.2.6 Memory error correction and recovery . 71 2.2.7 Special Uncorrectable Error handling . 71 2.3 Capacity on Demand. 71 2.3.1 Capacity on Demand: New features . 73 2.3.2 Capacity Upgrade on Demand . 73 2.3.3 Processor activations . 74 2.3.4 Elastic Capacity on Demand (Temporary) . 75 2.3.5 Utility Capacity on Demand. 76 2.3.6 Trial Capacity on Demand. 77 2.3.7 Software licensing and CoD . 77 2.3.8 Solution Edition for Healthcare . 77 2.4 System buses . 78 2.4.1 PCIe Gen4 . ..