IBM p5 550 Technical Overview And Introduction

Also see for p5 550: Technical overview and introduction

Contents

32 p5-550 Technical Overview and IntroductionFibre Channel adapter (FC 5716). Model 700 provides up to 64 bootable partitions. In mostcases, both the FAStT Storage server and the p5-550 or the 7311 Model D20 I/O drawers areconnected to a storage area network (SAN). If only space for the rootvg is needed, the FAStTModel 100 is a good solution.For support of additional features and for further information about the FAStT family, refer tothe following Web site:http://www.storage.ibm.com/hardsoft/disk/fastt/index.htmlIBM TotalStorage Enterprise Storage ServerThe IBM TotalStorage Enterprise Storage Server (ESS) is the high-end premier storagesolution for use in storage area networks. The 2105 Model 800 provides from 582 GB up to55.9 TB of usable disk capacity. An ESS system can also be used to provide disk space forbooting LPARs or Micro-partitions. An ESS is usually connected to a SAN to which thep5-550 is also connected by using Gigabit Fibre Channel adapters (FC 5716).For further information about ESS, refer to the following Web site:http://www.storage.ibm.com/hardsoft/products/ess/index.html2.9 Dynamic logical partitioningIntroduced with the POWER4 processor product line and the AIX 5L Version 5.1 operatingsystem, the logical partition (LPAR) became available. The technology offered the capabilityto divide a pSeries system into separate systems, where each LPAR runs an operatingenvironment on dedicated attached devices, such as processors, memory, and I/Ocomponents. When the customer requested system flexibility to change the system topologyon demand, it was achieved by modifying the system layout on the required HMC.Later, dynamic LPAR increased the flexibility, allowing selected system resources, such asprocessors, memory, and I/O components to be added and deleted from dedicated partitionswhile they are executing. Therefore, AIX 5L Version 5.2 with all the necessary enhancementsto enable dynamic LPAR was introduced in 2002. This requires an attached HMC, with theproper level of software, to control the system resources and an updated system firmwarelevel to electronically isolate systems resources. The ability to reconfigure dynamic LPARsencourages system administrators to dynamically redefine all available system resources toreach the optimum capacity for each defined dynamic LPAR.Dynamic logical partitioning is supported by AIX 5L for POWER V5.2, or later. Dynamiclogical partitioning is planned to be supported by SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9, or later,but with reduced functionality (changing memory attributes dynamically is not supported atthe time of writing). Dynamic logical partitioning is not supported by current version of RedHat Enterprise Linux AS for POWER Version 3.USB resources are considered a single group, as are slimline devices. Groups can only beallocated to a single partition at a time.2.10 Micro-PartitioningBased on the partitioning concepts of a stable and well-known mainframe technology andexisting LPAR/dynamic LPAR implementation on POWER4 and POWER4+ servers, The