IBM PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX

Question: I have a problem—how do I report it to IBM?

Answer: If you wish to report a problem with PowerHA you should contact your local support personnel or call 1-800-IBM-SERV. More answers may be found by searching the Technical help database for AIX.

Question: How do I get the latest fixes for PowerHA?

Answer: The latest service information and downloads are available from the TechSupport web site.

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Question: How do I set up Automatic Retrieval of PowerHA APARs/ifixes notifications?

Answer: IBM provides support information and automatic notification for PowerHA for AIX. This service provides technical information for IT professionals who maintain Power Systems servers. As support bulletins are released, you receive email containing links to the bulletins. Emails are available in HTML or plain text format. Clients can select one or more operating systems, topics and categories. You can choose to have new topics automatically added to your preferences. You will be notified on a daily basis of updates to your subscribed topics. Clients with System 5 servers running i5/OS may also want to subscribe to V5R3 bulletins. For more information see Subscription Service for UNIX servers.

Question: Where can I find more information on PowerHA?

Answer: The following web site provide additional information:

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Question: Where can I find the documentation for PowerHA?

Answer: Click here to View the online documentation for PowerHA.

Question: Are there any newsgroups or forums for PowerHA?

Answer: There is a news group on Yahoo (link resides outside of ibm.com).
Note that while a number of IBM employees who are knowledgeable about PowerHA follow that group and respond to questions, it, like hafeedbk@us.ibm.com, is not a substitute for the services provided by the IBM service organization. IBM does not guarantee an answer to questions posted on that newsgroup, nor does it guarantee that answers are complete and accurate.

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Question: Are there any training, education or certification courses for PowerHA?

Answer: PowerHA Product Education is provided through IBM Learning Services (ILS), which offers instructor led training courses through IBM and IBM Business Partners. An PowerHA specific list for classroom training is available. If you prefer a curriculum view of courses on AIX high availability, the following link is useful to access individual course descriptions and schedules.

Certified Systems Expert-pSeries PowerHA for AIX is a professional certification program also provided through ILS. A great program for integrators, business partners and clients with significant cluster needs to become Certified PowerHA Systems Experts.

Note: certification in one of two other programs is a prerequisite to the PowerHA Certification: AIX System Administration or pSeries System Support. The link above provides information about objectives for certification, along with a sample test and locations of test centers.

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Question: What is hafeedbk@us.ibm.com?

Answer: This is a commercial email account that is monitored and responded to by the development team. Feel free to send comments, questions and suggestions that are appropriate for the development team to address. This includes specific technical questions, comments and corrections to the documentation, suggestions for improvements or new features, and client feedback. hafeedbk should not be used for sales inquiries or PMR reporting. Information obtained through hafeedbk@us.ibm.com is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees either expressed or implied. All statements regarding IBM future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only.

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Question: What are the key features of PowerHA Version 6.1?

Answer: IBM PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX now offers a Standard and Enterprise Edition.

New features in Version 6.1 Standard Edition include:

  • IPv6 enablement: PowerHA SystemMirror now supports configurations using pure IPv6 networks as well as network environments where IPv4 and IPv6 coexist.
  • Usability and RAS enhancements: The user interface has been simplified with a more intuitive look and feel. In addition to the usability enhancements, PowerHA has integrated AIX trace commands, enabling complete end-to-end diagnostic analysis.
  • DLPAR support that enables IBM clients to dynamically expand resources by allowing PowerHA SystemMirror to exploit the dynamic logical partitioning capabilities of IBM POWER5 and POWER6 processor-based technology.

New features in Version 6.1 Enterprise Edition include:

  • PowerHA GLVM configuration wizard. The GLVM configuration wizard enables IBM clients to easily set up two-node, cross-site PowerHA SystemMirror deployments for disaster recovery operations.
  • Replication support for EMC Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF). Enables integrated High Availability and Disaster Recovery support for EMC Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF) storage replication solutions, giving clients the ability to take advantage of the PowerHA SystemMirror Enterprise Edition.

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Question: Are there any tools to help me configure PowerHA with my specific application?

Answer: Yes. PowerHA for AIX Smart Assists (now included in the PowerHA SystemMirror Standard Edition) let you quickly and easily integrate your application with PowerHA by discovering information about the application and generating a PowerHA configuration to keep it highly available. PowerHA for AIX Smart Assists include:

  • Oracle Application Server 10g
  • Oracle database 9i and 10g
  • DB2 UDB Enterprise Server
  • Websphere Application Server

All smart assists are now implemented on a common infrastructure which is easily extensible for future assists or use by OEM application vendors.

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Question: What solutions are available for extended distance and disaster recovery?

Answer: The disaster recovery solutions previously packaged as PowerHA/XD (Extended Distance) are now available as the PowerHA Enterprise Edition. Enterprise Edition offers, in one package, multiple technologies for achieving long distance data replication, failover, recovery and restoration. This feature supports automatic failover of disks that are PPRC pairs, and creates:

  • PowerHA/XD for PPRC. This feature supports automatic failover of disks that are PPRC pairs, and create a powerful disaster recovery solution for clients on ESS. PowerHA/XD automates the management of PPRC, minimizes recovery time after an outage, and monitors your clustered environment to ensure mirroring of critical data is maintained at all times.
  • PowerHA/XD for GLVM. This feature provides the same unlimited distance, IP based data replication of the former IBM HAGEO product, however, because the data replication function is moved into the AIX LVM component, configuring and maintaining GLVM is much simpler and less error prone. PowerHA/XD for GLVM works with the LVM to provide synchronization and recovery during failures and resynchronization after cluster resources are restored.

IBM continues to invest in disaster recovery technologies and additional remote site data replication technologies are planned to be included in the PowerHA Enterprise Edition in the future. Find out more at the PowerHA Enterprise Edition description in the Sales manual.

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Question: How do I access the Sales Manual for more information?

Answer: Sales Manuals for the various releases of PowerHA and related products may be found by starting with the following web site:
http://www.ibm.com/common/ssi

To go directly to the PowerHA for AIX Sales Manual:
1. Select the "HW & SW Desc (Sales Manual, RPQ)" in the "Specific information search field."
2. Enter "5765-H23 (PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX Standard Edition) or 5765-H24 (PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX Enterprise Edition)" in the "product number" field of the next screen. For earlier versions of PowerHA for AIX, use "5765-F62."
3. Select both Hardware and Software Product Descriptions via check boxes.

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