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With IBM BladeCenter and POWER6 processor-based blades, customers can realize innovation with proven 6th generation POWER™ technology for enhanced performance, efficiency and reliability; cut costs and consolidate workloads with leadership virtualization as a built-in feature; go green with better energy management by using EnergyScale™ technology; and manage growth, complexity and risk with the flexibility of IBM BladeCenter technology. With blade servers customers can consolidate their Power servers and Intel processor-based servers into a single chassis, leveraging the management, space, and power savings provided by IBM BladeCenter solutions.
For i customers, IBM offers the i Edition Express for BladeCenter S which is an extremely attractive offering that combines a BladeCenter Chassis, a POWER blade, and IBM i at a price that is similar to an entry Power 520 server with i. The solution also supports the consolidating of x86 servers onto x86 blades in the same chassis.
Blades
- The BladeCenter JS12 is a 2-core, 3.8 GHz POWER6 processor-based blade. The blade supports from 2 GB to 64 GB of memory, has two 1 Gb Ethernet ports, supports two expansion cards, and has two disk drives. The JS12 supports: IBM i 6.1 (IBM i5/OS V6R1), AIX 5.3 or later, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 for POWER SP1 or later, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux for POWER Version 4.6 or later. For IBM i 6.1, the JS12 is supported in the BladeCenter S chassis.
- The BladeCenter JS22 is a 4-core, 4.0 GHz POWER6 processor-based blade. The blade supports from 2 GB to 32 GB of memory, has two 1 Gb Ethernet ports, supports two expansion cards, and has one disk drive. The JS22 supports: IBM I 6.1 (IBM i 6.1), AIX 5.3 or later, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 for POWER SP1 or later, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux for POWER Version 4.6 or later. For IBM i 6.1, the JS22 is supported in the BladeCenter S and BladeCenter H chassis.
Chassis
- The BladeCenter S chassis has six blade bays for up to six POWER6 and x86 processor-based blade servers and room for up to 12 disk drives. The chassis also contains Ethernet and SAS switch modules.
- The BladeCenter H chassis has 14 blade bays for up to 14 POWER6 and x86 blade servers. The BladeCenter H contains Fibre Channel, Ethernet, and SAS switch modules.
IBM i operating system
- IBM i 6.1 is offered with per processor and per user entitlements. When IBM i is selected on an IBM BladeCenter JS12 or JS22, at least one IBM i processor entitlement must be purchased and at least 10 user entitlements. Additional processor entitlements can be purchased up to a maximum of two on the JS12 and four on the JS22. Additional IBM i user entitlements can be purchased in blocks of 10 users. The Unlimited users, External users, and Unlimited Collaboration users options can also be purchased.
- IBM i on the JS12 and JS22 uses IBM PowerVM Standard Edition which includes the POWER Hypervisor, Micro-Partitioning, Virtual I/O Server with Integrated Virtualization Manager, Lx86, and Virtual LAN features. PowerVM Standard Edition is available for no additional charge on the BladeCenter JS12 and JS22 blades. The IBM i operating system uses the Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) partition for access to BladeCenter resources and attached storage devices. The VIOS partition owns the Fiber, Ethernet and SAS adapters on the blade and virtualizes the resources to the IBM i partition. IVM is used to create and manage partitions on the blade.
- For use with the IBM i operating system, the blade can be deployed with one VIOS partition and one IBM i partition, with one VIOS partition and multiple IBM i partitions, or with one VIOS partition and a combination of IBM i, AIX, and Linux partitions. Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM), a function of VIOS, is used to set up and manage the partitions. With the JS12 and JS22 implementations, IBM i does not provide storage virtualization for other partitions on the blade or to iSCSI attached System x or BladeCenter servers.
- For backup of the IBM i 6.1 partition, the Virtual Media Library capability in the VIOS partition is used. The Virtual Media images are file-backed devices in the VIOS partition and are accessible to IBM i as standard read/write optical devices. The files can then saved by VIOS to an external SAS tape drive TS2230 H3S via the SAS adapter in the VIOS partition. Another backup option is downloading the Virtual Media image files to a different server with an attached tape drive through the browser-based Integrated Virtualization Manager interface. The files are then saved locally to the tape drive attached to that server. If a Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) Server is available, the Virtual Media image files containing the IBM i backup can also be saved with the TSM Server.
- With the purchase of IBM i on a BladeCenter JS12 or BladeCenter JS22 you are entitled to receive a service voucher at no additional charge. Services vouchers deliver the technical leadership and consulting resources that can help you more fully understand and use the latest features and capabilities of IBM i operating system. The experts will join your team and get you started on the road to success with your new operating environment.
IBM i and the JS12
- The two embedded 1 GB Ethernet ports on the JS12 blade are connected to the Ethernet switch modules in the BladeCenter S chassis.
- The SAS Expansion Card for BladeCenter (#8250) on the JS12 blade, owned by the VIOS partition, connects to the non-RAID SAS switch module (#3267 BladeCenter SAS Connectivity Module) in the BladeCenter S chassis. The SAS switch provides access to the 12 drives in the BladeCenter S chassis and to the external SAS tape drive TS2230-H3S. For redundant storage connections to the 12 drives in the BladeCenter S chassis, a second non-RAID SAS switch module is supported.
- You can use one or two 73 or 146 GB SAS disk drives on the JS12 blade to install VIOS. With two drives, the VIOS installation can be mirrored. You can also install VIOS on the drives in the BladeCenter S chassis.
IBM i and the JS22
- With the BladeCenter H chassis the QLogic Ethernet and 4 GB Fiber Channel Expansion Card (CFFh) (#8252) expansion card on the JS22 blade, owned by the VIOS partition, connects to the Fiber switch module in the BladeCenter H chassis. For IBM i storage, the IBM System Storage DS4700, DS4800, 8100, and DS8300 products connected via the VIOS partition are supported.
- The two 1 GB Ethernet ports on the JS22 are connected to the Ethernet switch modules in the BladeCenter H or BladeCenter S chassis.
- The SAS Expansion Card (CFFv) for IBM BladeCenter (#8250) installed on the JS22 blade is owned by the VIOS partition. For the BladeCenter H chassis, it connects to the SAS switch module in the BladeCenter H chassis for connection to the external SAS tape drive TS2230 H3S.
- For the BladeCenter S chassis, the SAS Expansion Card (#8250) connects to the non-RAID SAS switch module (#3267 BladeCenter SAS Connectivity Module) in the BladeCenter S chassis. The SAS switch provides access to the 12 drives in the BladeCenter S chassis and to the external SAS tape drive TS2230-H3S. For redundant storage connections to the 12 drives in the BladeCenter S chassis, a second non-RAID SAS switch module is supported.
- The 73GB or 146GB disk drive on the JS22 blade is used for the installation of VIOS. VIOS can be installed on the SAN with a BladeCenter H configuration. You can also install VIOS on the disk drives in the BladeCenter S chassis.
