All posts by rogerluethy

IBM Power 795 (9119-FHB) Technical Overview and Introduction

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IBM Power 795 (9119-FHB) Technical Overview and Introduction

This IBM® Redpaper™ publication is a comprehensive guide that covers the IBM Power 795 server that supports IBM AIX®, IBM i, and Linux operating systems. The goal of this paper is to introduce the innovative Power 795 offering and its major functions:

  • IBM POWER7® processor, available at frequencies of 3.7 GHz and 4.0 GHz with TurboCore options of 4.25 GHz and 4.31 GHz
  • Specialized POWER7 Level 3 cache that provides greater bandwidth, capacity, and reliability
  • IBM PowerVM® virtualization, including PowerVM Live Partition Mobility and PowerVM IBM Active Memory™ Sharing
  • TurboCore mode that delivers the highest performance per core
  • Enhanced reliability, accessibility, and serviceability (RAS) features that are designed for maximum availability
  • Active Memory Expansion that provides more usable memory than what is physically installed on the system
  • IBM EnergyScale™ technology that provides features such as power trending, power-saving, capping of power, and thermal measurement

Professionals who want to acquire a better understanding of IBM Power Systems™ products can benefit from reading this paper.

This paper complements the available set of IBM Power Systems documentation by providing a desktop reference that offers a detailed technical description of the Power 795 system.

This paper does not replace the latest marketing materials and configuration tools. It is intended as an additional source of information that, together with existing sources, can be used to enhance your knowledge of IBM server solutions.

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by rogerluethy on May 17, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by rogerluethy on May 17, 2013

http://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/ibm-power-795-9119-fhb-technical-overview-and-introduction/

Architecting & integrating flash into enterprise storage

Good post by Robin Harris (thank you)

Have you ever noticed that it is difficult to get good information about how flash works? The vendors know but they’ve never been terribly forthcoming.

Read on here

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by rogerluethy on May 17, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by rogerluethy on May 17, 2013

http://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/architecting-integrating-flash-into-enterprise-storage/

pNFS and Future NFSv4.2 Features

Good post by Alex McDonald (thank you)

In this third and final blog post on NFS (see previous blog posts Why NFSv4.1 and pNFS are Better than NFSv3 Could Ever Be and The Advantages of NFSv4.1) I’ll cover pNFS (parallel NFS), an optional feature of NFSv4.1 that improves the bandwidth available for NFS protocol access, and some of the proposed features of NFSv4.2 – some of which are already implemented in commercially available servers, but will be standardized with the ratification of NFSv4.2 (for details, see the IETF NFSv4.2 draft documents).

Finally, I’ll point out where you can get NFSv4.1 clients with support for pNFS today.

Read on here

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by rogerluethy on May 17, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by rogerluethy on May 17, 2013

http://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/pnfs-and-future-nfsv4-2-features/

Battery expiration behavior change for TotalStorage DS4000 – IBM System Storage

Information

Source

RETAIN tip: H193840

Symptom

In previous levels of microcode for the TotalStorage DS4000, the battery expiration notification was triggered at 36 months, followed by a cache disable action by the microcode at 39 months.

This microcode was purely a date-driven method for battery expiration notification (as opposed to a diagnostic).

After the cache was disabled by the microcode at 39 months, users experience degraded performance.

Affected configurations

The system may be any of the following IBM servers:

  • DS4200 Storage Server, type 1814, any model
  • DS4300 (FAStT600) Dual Controller and Turbo Storage Server, type 1722, any model
  • DS4300 (FAStT600) Single Controller Storage Server, type 1722, any model
  • DS4500 (FAStT900) Storage Server, type 1742, any model
  • DS4700 Storage Server, type 1814, any model
  • DS4700 Storage Server, type 1814 (DC power supplies), any model
  • DS4800 Storage Server, type 1815, any model

This tip is not software specific.
This tip is not option specific.

Solution

This behavior is fixed in the firmware level 6.60.02.00.

The file is available from the IBM Storage Support web site at the following URL:

http://www.ibm.com/systems/support/

Additional information

After an extensive review process, IBM found that the batteries, in general, operated well past 62 months.

In order to minimize premature replacements of a battery and to lengthen the time before the user would experience performance degradation due to a cache disable action related to the battery’s expiration, IBM changed the microcode so that the battery expiration notification would be triggered a little after 62 months followed by the cache disable action by the microcode a little after 10 years.

Note: If a battery actually does fail before the battery expiration notification is triggered, then the diagnostic package on the DS4000 will identify that battery failure and Power On Self Test (POST) an error message.

The following is an example of what users may see after installing the new code:

Battery Status Optimal:
Age: 541 day (s)
Days until Replacement: 3,148 day(s)

Once the new battery expiration notice is triggered, users should determine how much affected they would be to having the cache disabled. An appropriate response to the expiration then should be taken.

If there would be little to no impact if the cache were disabled, then there may not be an immediate need to have the battery replaced.

If the impact would be more significant, then a user should consider replacing the battery more quickly to ensure that the 10-year timer is not triggered.

Note: There have been some reports of cache being disabled at 62 months at the battery expiration notification on 6.60.xx.xx and newer controller firmware.

There is no fix for this if it occurs.

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by rogerluethy on May 17, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by rogerluethy on May 17, 2013

http://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/battery-expiration-behavior-change-for-totalstorage-ds4000-ibm-system-storage/

IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit versions 1.5.x and earlier versions will not be supported starting May 2014.

Information

Product lifecycle - Reference #:S1004333

All support for IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit versions 1.5.x and earlier versions will cease starting May 2014.

Content

All support for IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit versions 1.5.x and earlier versions will cease starting May 2014. It is recommended that customers using these old versions will upgrade at their earliest convenience. Customers can find the latest versions of IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit for their host operating systems at http://www.ibm.com/support, by selecting XIV Storage Systems -> Fixes (downloads) -> IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit.

Important: Starting with IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit version 2.0, a powerful health-state management and troubleshooting utility, the XIV Host Profiler, is included in the software package. The XIV Host Profiler is supported by XIV microcode version 11.2 or later. For more information, refer to the appropriate IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit user guide athttp://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/strhosts/ic, by selecting Host Connectivity -> IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit -> Publications.

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by rogerluethy on May 17, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by rogerluethy on May 17, 2013

http://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/ibm-xiv-host-attachment-kit-versions-1-5-x-and-earlier-versions-will-not-be-supported-starting-may-2014/

IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit version 2.0 is the highest version that supports XIV storage systems of microcode version 10.2.2 and earlier versions.

Information

Product lifecycle - Reference #:S1004335

IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit version 2.0 is the highest version that supports XIV storage systems of microcode version 10.2.2 and earlier versions. Newer versions of IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit would support XIV storage systems of microcode version 10.2.4 or later

Content

IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit version 2.0 is the highest version that supports XIV storage systems of microcode version 10.2.2 and earlier versions. Newer versions of IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit would support XIV storage systems of microcode version 10.2.4 or later. Customers using XIV storage systems of microcode version 10.2.2 or earlier can continue to use IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit version 2.0 or supported earlier versions.

Important: Starting with IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit version 2.0, a powerful health-state management and troubleshooting utility is included, the XIV Host Profiler, is included in the software package. The XIV Host Profiler is supported by XIV microcode version 11.2 or later. For more information, refer to the appropriate IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit user guide athttp://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/strhosts/ic, by selecting Host Connectivity -> IBM XIV Host Attachment Kit -> Publications.

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by rogerluethy on May 17, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by rogerluethy on May 17, 2013

http://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/ibm-xiv-host-attachment-kit-version-2-0-is-the-highest-version-that-supports-xiv-storage-systems-of-microcode-version-10-2-2-and-earlier-versions/

Software Defined – As Usual, We’re Focused On The Wrong Thing First

Very good Post from Steve Duplessie (thank you) – Steve brings it to the point here about the hype around Software Defined <younameit>

Software defined everything.  SFE.  The latest craze in marketing mayhem.

There, of course, is some legitimacy to the phrase – but doesn’t software already “define” everything in our IT world?  Doesn’t software provide the execution sets that tell our “stuff” what we want it to do?  Therefore, isn’t everything really already software defined in many ways?

Read on here

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by rogerluethy on May 16, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by rogerluethy on May 16, 2013

http://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/software-defined-as-usual-were-focused-on-the-wrong-thing-first/

Storage Management Solutions Help Manage Patient Data Availability


By using the latest technology in IBM Storage Management, Kindred Healthcare is able to manage back-up and recovery and ensure the availability of growing volumes of patient data.

Get the Analyst report here (Registration needed)

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by rogerluethy on May 16, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by rogerluethy on May 16, 2013

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Analyst warns NetApp is prepping layoffs

Post by Chris Mellor (thank you)

According to a private Piper Jaffray note to its clients, NetApp is preparing to announce a 10 per cent work force reduction, about 1,300 people, in under-performing areas of its business such as Engenio, the acquired LSI disk array business.

Read on here

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by rogerluethy on May 16, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by rogerluethy on May 16, 2013

http://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/analyst-warns-netapp-is-prepping-layoffs/

VMUGIT User Conference 2013 – Scott Lowe on SDN

Good video from the VMUGIT User Conference (thank you).Scott Lowe (follow him here) gave a very good Explanation on Software Definded Networking. You can find the Video here

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by rogerluethy on May 16, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by rogerluethy on May 16, 2013

http://rogerluethy.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/vmugit-user-conference-2013-scott-lowe-on-sdn/

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