IBM i integration
with BladeCenter and System x

i 5.4 enhancements

These products include the following enhancements provided with IBM i 5.4.

New iSCSI Host Bus Adapters (iSCSI HBAs) allow you to exploit IBM i virtual storage, networking, and tape resources to help simplify the operations of your Windows or Linux Server system infrastructure.

IBM i integration with BladeCenter and System x models via iSCSI is supported on IBM i 5.4 and coexists with Integrated xSeries Servers and System x models attached via Integrated xSeries Adapters. The iSCSI solution requires additional PTFs on top of the base IBM i 5.4 release. See the IBM i PTFs page for the minimum cumulative PTF package level and additional PTFs that are required.

The following web pages show the hardware required and describe the installation process:

• iSCSI host bus adapter (iSCSI HBA)
• BladeCenter and System x models supported with iSCSI
• Ethernet switches for iSCSI
• iSCSI install read me first

View the BladeCenter or System x iSCSI Installation Overview Flash animation for an overview of the iSCSI attached server installation process. These animations also provide a conceptual overview of the various hardware and software components and show how they work together in the IBM i iSCSI solution.

MPIO support (31 July 2007): Multipath I/O (MPIO) is supported on iSCSI attached BladeCenter and System x Servers running Windows Server 2003. MPIO support provides data path redundancy when multiple iSCSI HBAs are used on the initiator (System x or blade) and target (IBM i) sides of the iSCSI network. Support is delivered via IBM i PTFs. See the IBM i PTFs web page for the required PTFs. The minimum level of Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator is 2.01. See the Advanced iSCSI support topic in the Information Center for more information.

VMware® support (14 September 2007): IBM i integration with iSCSI attached BladeCenter and System x servers has been enhanced to provide virtual storage support for VMware ESX Server 3. This support enables System i customers to install ESX server on an iSCSI attached BladeCenter or System x server and use the IBM i disks for all of the storage for the ESX server, extending the value of the IBM i storage management. Support is delivered via IBM i PTFs. See the IBM i PTFs web page for the required PTFs. See the VMware ESX on integrated servers web page for more information.

Additional i 5.4 enhancements provide the following capabilities:

• Virtual Ethernet support for SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server 9 and Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 4 on System x models attached by an Integrated xSeries Adapter.
• There is a new IBM i infrastructure for Linux on integrated servers (in V5R2 and V5R3, the IBM i infrastructure for Windows was used for Linux servers). A one-time migration of Linux servers that were created on V5R2 or V5R3 is required after upgrading IBM i to i 5.4. See the Migrating Linux servers from V5R2/V5R3 to i 5.4 page for details.
• Support for extending the size of a network server storage space.
• Enhancements to integrated file level backup of Windows has been added to provide save while active functionality. The backup application has been enhanced to exploit the Windows Server 2003 Volume Shadow-copy Service to ensure objects are saved in a consistent and complete manner, which improves application availability.
• iSeries Navigator enhancements to deliver a consistent management interface for integrated BladeCenter and System x models and Linux and AIX 5L logical partitions.

For more details on the i 5.4 enhancements, visit the What's new for i 5.4 topic in the Windows Environment on iSeries section of the Information Center or the What's new for i 5.4 (English version) topic in the Linux on an integrated xSeries solution section of the Information Center.