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With IBM BladeCenter and i, 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 4 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, 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 and BladeCenter H 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, 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.
  • The BladeCenter JS23 is a 4-core, 4.2 GHz POWER6 processor-based blade with L3 cache. The blade supports from 4 GB to 64 GB of memory, has two 1 Gb Ethernet ports, supports two expansion cards, and has one disk drive. The JS23 supports: IBM i 6.1, AIX 5.3 or later, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 for POWER SP2 or later, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux for POWER Version 5.2 or later. For IBM i 6.1, the JS23 is supported in the BladeCenter S and BladeCenter H chassis.
  • The BladeCenter JS43 is a 8-core, 4.2 GHz POWER6 processor-based double wide blade with L3 cache. The blade supports from 8 GB to 128 GB of memory, has four 1 Gb Ethernet ports, supports four expansion cards, and has two disk drives. The JS43 supports: IBM i 6.1, AIX 5.3 or later, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 for POWER SP2 or later, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux for POWER Version 5.2 or later. For IBM i 6.1, the JS43 is supported in the BladeCenter S and BladeCenter H chassis.
  • Compare Power Systems to Sun and HP.

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, JS22, JS23, or JS43, 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, four on the JS22 and JS23, and eight on the JS43. 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, JS22, JS23, and JS43 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, JS22, JS23, and JS43 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, JS22, JS23, and JS43 implementations, IBM i does not provide storage virtualization for other partitions on the blade or to iSCSI attached System x or BladeCenter servers.
  • An IBM i processor entitlement is required for each processor core running IBM i. If the BladeCenter blade is partitioned with one processor core for VIOS and one processor core for IBM i, then one IBM processor entitlement is required.
  • For backup of the IBM i 6.1 partition, virtual tape support enables IBM i partitions to directly backup to PowerVM VIOS attached tape simplifying backup and restore processing with BladeCenter implementations. With virtual tape support IBM i 6.1 partitions on BladeCenter JS12, JS22, JS23, JS43 can use native IBM i save/restore commands & BRMS for backup and restore processing. Virtual tape is supported with the IBM Systems Storage SAS LTO-4 drive –TS2240. Virtual tape support can also simplify the migration to blades from tower/rack servers since the LTO-4 drive can read backup tapes from LTO-2, 3, 4 drives.

    In addition the Virtual Media Library capability in the VIOS partition can be used for backup. 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 saved to the Virtual Media Library can then saved by VIOS to an external SAS tape drive TS2240 H4S or TS2230 H3S connected 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, JS22, JS23, or JS43 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. Technical experts will join your team and get you started on the road to success with your new operating environment. The service voucher is not available with i Edition Express for BladeCenter S configurations.

IBM i, JS12, and BladeCenter S

  • The two embedded 1 Gb Ethernet ports on the JS12 blade are connected to the Ethernet switch module in bay 1 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) or the SAS RAID Controller Switch Module (#3734) in the BladeCenter S chassis.
  • The SAS Connectivity Module (#3267) provides access to the 12 drives in the BladeCenter S chassis, to the DS3200, and to the external SAS tape drive TS2230-H3S (LTO3) or TS2240 H4S (LTO4). For redundant storage connections to the 12 drives in the BladeCenter S chassis, a second non-RAID SAS switch module is supported. The BladeCenter S supports up to twelve 450 GB drives.
  • The SAS RAID Controller Switch Module (#3734) for BladeCenter S provides access to the 12 drives in the BladeCenter S chassis and to the external SAS tape drive TS2240 H4S (LTO4). Two Switch Modules are required with BladeCenter S configurations, providing redundant storage connections to the 12 drives in the BladeCenter S chassis. The BladeCenter S supports up to twelve 450 GB drives. The SAS RAID Controller Switch Module does not support the attachment of a DS3200.
  • 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.
  • VIOS and IBM i can be pre-installed by IBM on BladeCenter S with BladeCenter JS12 configurations. IBM i can be pre-installed onto drives on the BladeCenter S. IBM i can be pre-installed on configurations with the SAS Connectivity Module (#3267).

IBM i, JS12, and BladeCenter H

  • The QLogic Ethernet and 4 Gb Fiber Channel Expansion Card (CFFh) (#8252) on the JS12 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 DS3400, DS4700, DS4800, DS5100, DS5300, DS8100, DS8300, XIV, and SAN Volume Controller (SVC) products connected via the VIOS partition are supported.
  • The two embedded 1 Gb Ethernet ports on the JS12 blade are connected to the Ethernet switch modules in bay 1 and 2 in the BladeCenter H chassis.
  • The optional SAS Expansion Card (CFFv) for IBM BladeCenter (#8250) installed on the JS12 blade, owned by the VIOS partition, connects to the SAS switch module in the BladeCenter H chassis for connection to an external SAS tape drive TS2230 H3S (LTO3) or TS2240 H4S (LTO4) or to a DS3200.
  • One or two 73 or 146 GB SAS disk drives on the JS12 blade are optionally supported for installation of VIOS. With two drives, the VIOS installation can be mirrored. VIOS can also be installed on the attached IBM System Storage solution.

IBM i, JS22 and BladeCenter S

  • The two 1 Gb Ethernet ports on the JS22 are connected to the Ethernet switch module in bay 1 in the 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 S chassis, the SAS Expansion Card (#8250) connects to the non-RAID SAS switch module (#3267 BladeCenter SAS Connectivity Module) or the SAS RAID Controller Switch Module (#3734) in the BladeCenter S chassis.
  • The SAS Connectivity Module (#3267) provides access to the 12 drives in the BladeCenter S chassis, to the DS3200, and to the external SAS tape drive TS2230-H3S (LTO3) or TS2240 H4S (LTO4). For redundant storage connections to the 12 drives in the BladeCenter S chassis, a second non-RAID SAS switch module is supported. The BladeCenter S supports up to twelve 450GB drives.
  • The SAS RAID Controller Switch Module (#3734) provides access to the 12 drives in the BladeCenter S chassis and to the external SAS tape drive TS2240 H4S (LTO4). Two Switch Modules are required with BladeCenter S configurations, providing redundant storage connections to the 12 drives in the BladeCenter S chassis. The BladeCenter S supports up to twelve 450 GB drives. The SAS RAID Controller Switch Module does not support the attachment of a DS3200.
  • The 73 GB or 146 GB disk drive on the JS22 blade is used for the installation of VIOS. You can also install VIOS on the disk drives in the BladeCenter S chassis.
  • VIOS and IBM i can be pre-installed by IBM on BladeCenter S with BladeCenter JS22 configurations. IBM i can be pre-installed onto drives on the BladeCenter S. IBM i can be pre-installed on configurations with the SAS Connectivity Module (#3267).

IBM i, JS22 and BladeCenter H

  • With the BladeCenter H chassis the QLogic Ethernet and 4 Gb Fiber Channel Expansion Card (CFFh) (#8252) 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 DS3400, DS4700, DS4800, DS5100, DS5300, DS8100, DS8300, XIV and SAN Volume Controller (SVC) 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 bay 1 and 2 in the BladeCenter H.
  • 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 (LTO3) or TS2240 H4S (LTO4) or to a DS3200.
  • The 73 GB or 146 GB 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.

IBM i, JS23/JS43 and BladeCenter S

  • The 1 Gb Ethernet ports on the JS22 are connected to the Ethernet switch module in bay 1 in the BladeCenter S chassis.
  • The 3Gb SAS Passthrough Expansion Card (CIOv) for IBM BladeCenter (#8246) installed on the JS23/JS43 blade is owned by the VIOS partition. For the BladeCenter S chassis, the SAS Passthrough Expansion Card (#8246) connects to the non-RAID SAS switch module (#3267 BladeCenter SAS Connectivity Module) or the SAS RAID Controller Switch Module (#3734) in the BladeCenter S chassis.
  • The SAS Connectivity Module (#3267) provides access to the 12 drives in the BladeCenter S chassis, to the DS3200, and to the external SAS tape drive TS2230-H3S (LTO3) or TS2240 H4S (LTO4). For redundant storage connections to the 12 drives in the BladeCenter S chassis, a second non-RAID SAS switch module is supported. The BladeCenter S supports up to twelve 450GB drives.
  • The SAS RAID Controller Switch Module (#3734) provides access to the 12 drives in the BladeCenter S chassis and to the external SAS tape drive TS2240 H4S (LTO4). Two Switch Modules are required with BladeCenter S configurations, providing redundant storage connections to the 12 drives in the BladeCenter S chassis. The BladeCenter S supports up to twelve 450 GB drives. The SAS RAID Controller Switch Module does not support the attachment of a DS3200.
  • The 73 GB, 146 GB, 300 GB disk drive or 69 GB Solid State Device (SSD) on the JS23/JS43 blade is used for the installation of VIOS. You can also install VIOS on the disk drives in the BladeCenter S chassis.
  • VIOS and IBM i can be pre-installed by IBM on BladeCenter S with BladeCenter JS23/JS43 configurations. IBM i can be pre-installed onto drives on the BladeCenter S. IBM i can be pre-installed on configurations with the SAS Connectivity Module (#3267).

IBM i, JS23/JS43 and BladeCenter H

  • With the BladeCenter H chassis the QLogic Ethernet and 4 Gb Fiber Channel Expansion Card (CFFh) (#8252), QLogic 8 Gb Fibre Channel Expansion Card (CIOv) (#8242), Emulex 8 Gb Fibre Channel Expansion Card (CIOv) (#8240), or the QLogic 4 Gb Fibre Channel Expansion Card (CIOv) (#8241) on the JS23/JS43 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 DS3400, DS4700, DS4800, DS5100, DS5300, DS8100, DS8300, XIV and SAN Volume Controller (SVC) products connected via the VIOS partition are supported.
  • The 1 Gb Ethernet ports on the JS23/JS43 are connected to the Ethernet switch modules in bay 1 and 2 in the BladeCenter H.
  • The 3Gb SAS Passthrough Expansion Card (CIOv) for IBM BladeCenter (#8246) installed on the JS23/JS43 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 (LTO3) or TS2240 H4S (LTO4) ) or to a DS3200.
  • The 73 GB, 146 GB, 300 GB disk drive or 69 GB Solid State Device (SSD) on the JS23/JS43 blade is used for the installation of VIOS. VIOS can be installed on the SAN with a BladeCenter H configuration.

IBM i, BladeCenter and System Storage

  • IBM i supports the following System Storage disk solutions with BladeCenter Configurations:
    • BladeCenter S: DS3200 with used with SAS Connectivity Module (#3267).
    • BladeCenter H: DS3400, DS4700, DS4800, DS5020, DS5100, DS5300, DS8100, DS8300, XIV, and SAN Volume Controller (SVC).

Capacity Backup (CBU)

  • The CBU designation can help meet your requirements for a second system to use for backup, high availability, and disaster recovery. It enables you to temporarily transfer IBM i processor entitlements and IBM i user entitlements purchased for a primary machine to a secondary CBU system. Temporarily transferring these resources, instead of purchasing them for a secondary system, may result in significant savings.
  • The CBU specify feature #4898 for the BladeCenter JS12, JS22, JS23 and JS43 are available as part of a new blade purchase. These CBU features cannot be added to an existing blade server.
  • Certain system prerequisites must be met and system registration and approval is required before the CBU specify feature can be applied on a new server.
  • Standard IBM i terms and conditions do not allow either IBM i processor entitlements or IBM i user entitlements to be transferred permanently or temporarily. These entitlements remain with the machine they were ordered for. When you register the association between a primary and on-order CBU system, the customer must agree to certain terms and conditions regarding the temporary transfer.
  • After a CBU system designation is approved and the system is installed, you can temporarily move your optional IBM i processor entitlement and user entitlements from the primary system to the CBU system for any purpose provided the corresponding primary system processors are not being used concurrently for production purposes. The CBU system can therefore better support failover and role swapping for a full range of test, disaster recovery, and high availability scenarios. Temporary entitlement transfer means that the entitlement is a property transferred from the primary system to the CBU system and may remain in use on the CBU as long as the registered primary and CBU systems are in deployment for the high availability or disaster recovery operation.

   Primary System (Tier)

   JS22 (P10)

   JS22 (P10)

   JS12 (P05)

   JS23/JS43 (P10)

   JS23/JS43 (P10)

   JS22 (P10)

   JS23/JS43 (P10)

   JS23/JS43 (P10)

Capacity Backup System (Tier)

JS22 (P10)

JS12 (P05)

JS12 (P05)

JS23/JS43 (P10)

JS22 (P10)

JS23/JS43 (P10)

JS12 (P05)

JS23/JS43 (P10)

  • These systems have IBM i software licenses with an IBM i P05 or P10 software tier. The primary machine must be in the same enterprise and country as the CBU system.
  • Before you can temporarily transfer IBM i processor entitlements from the registered primary system, you must have more than one IBM i processor entitlement on the primary machine and at least one IBM i processor entitlement on the CBU server. You can then transfer any IBM i processor entitlements above the minimum one, assuming the total IBM i workload on the primary system does not require the IBM i entitlement that you want to transfer during the time of the transfer. During this temporary transfer, the CBU system's internal records of its total number of IBM i processor entitlements are not updated, and you may see IBM i license noncompliance warning messages from the CBU system. These warning messages in this situation do not mean you are not in compliance. The BladeCenter high availability options include PowerHA with Geographic Mirroring, iCluster and iClusterSMB. You may also use Metro Mirror or Global Mirror replication solutions provided by the storage subsystem as well as other 3rd party software replication packages.
  • Before you can temporarily transfer IBM i user entitlements, you must have more than 10 IBM i user entitlements on the JS12, JS22, JS23 and JS43 primary server and at least 10 IBM i user entitlements on the CBU server. You can then transfer any IBM i user entitlements above the minimum 10, assuming the total IBM i users on the primary system do not require the IBM i user entitlement you want to transfer during the time of the transfer.
  • For example, if you have a JS12 as your primary system with two IBM i processor entitlements (one above the minimum) and 50 IBM i user entitlements (40 above the minimum), you can temporarily transfer up to one IBM i processor entitlement and up to 40 user entitlements. During this temporary transfer, the CBU system's internal records of its total number of IBM i processor and user entitlements is not updated, and you may see IBM i license noncompliance warning messages from the CBU system.
  • If your primary or CBU machine is sold or discontinued from use, any temporary entitlement transfers must be returned to the machine on which they were originally acquired.
  • For CBU registration and further details, visit www.ibm.com/systems/power/hardware/cbu.

 

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