IBM System z10 EC Reference Manual

Also see for System z10 EC: Reference guide

Contents

36Dynamic Oscillator SwitchoverThe z10 EC has two oscillator cards, a primary and abackup. For most cases, should a failure occur on the pri-mary oscillator card, the backup can detect it, switch over,and provide the clock signal to the system transparently,with no system outage. Previously, in the event of a failureof the active oscillator, a system outage would occur, thesubsequent system Power On Reset (POR) would selectthe backup, and the system would resume operation.Dynamic Oscillator Switchover is exclusive to Systemz10 EC and System z9.Transparent SparingThe z10 EC offers two PUs reserved as spares per server.In the case of processor failure, these spares are usedfor transparent sparing. On z10 EC sparing happens ona core granularity rather than chip granularity as on z990and z9 (for which “chip” equaled “2 cores”).Concurrent MaintenanceConcurrent Service for I/O features: All the features thatplug into the I/O Cage are able to be added and replacedconcurrent with system operation. This virtually eliminatesany need to schedule outage for service to upgrade theI/O subsystem on this cage.Upgrade for Coupling Links: z10 EC has concurrentmaintenance for the ISC-3 daughter card. Also, CouplingLinks can be added concurrently. This eliminates a needfor scheduled downtime in the demanding sysplex envi-ronment.Cryptographic feature: The Crypto Express2 featureplugs in the I/O cage and can be added or replaced con-currently with system operation.Redundant Cage Controllers: The Power and ServiceControl Network features redundant Cage Controllers forLogic and Power control. This design enables nondisrup-tive service to the controllers and virtually eliminates cus-tomer scheduled outage.Auto-Switchover for Support Element (SE): The z10EC has two Support Elements. In the event of failure onthe Primary SE, the switchover to the backup is handledautomatically. There is no need for any intervention by theCustomer or Service Representative.Concurrent Memory UpgradeThis function allows adding memory concurrently, up tothe maximum amount physically installed. In addition,the Enhanced Book Availability function also enables amemory upgrade to an installed z10 EC book in a multi-book server.Service Enhancementsz10 EC service enhancements designed to avoid sched-uled outages include:• Concurrent firmware fixes• Concurrent driver upgrades• Concurrent parts replacement• Concurrent hardware upgrades• DIMM FRU indicators• Single processor core checkstop• Single processor core sparing• Point-to-Point SMP Fabric (not a ring)• FCP end-to-end checking• Hot swap of ICB-4 and InfiniBand hub cards• Redundant 100 Mb Ethernet service network with VLAN