IBM PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX

Question: What hardware and software is supported by PowerHA?

Answer: All PowerHA supported hardware and software is listed in the Sales Manual. Hardware requirements are located under the Technical Description topic.

Question: Does PowerHA SystemMirror work on different operating systems?

Answer: PowerHA SystemMirror is tightly integrated with the AIX operating system and Power Systems servers allowing for a rich set of features which are not available with any other combination of operating system and hardware.

Question: On which AIX levels is PowerHA SystemMirror supported?

Answer: PowerHA requires one of:

AIX V5.3
AIX V6.1

PowerHA will support future releases of AIX as they become available. To find the latest fixes available for PowerHA and AIX, refer to the TechSupport web site.

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Question: What applications work with PowerHA?

Answer: All popular applications work with PowerHA including DB2, Oracle, SAP, WebSphere, etc. PowerHA provides Smart Assist agents to let you quickly and easily configure PowerHA with specific applications. PowerHA includes flexible configuration parameters that let you easily set it up for just about any application there is. If you are interested in using PowerHA with a new application, you can find out more under the topic What kinds of applications are best suited for a high availability environment?

Question: Does PowerHA support dynamic LPAR, CUoD, On/Off CoD, or CBU?

Answer: PowerHA supports Dynamic Logical Partitioning, Capacity Upgrade on Demand, On/Off Capacity on Demand and Capacity Backup Upgrade. See Announcement Letters 204-298 and 105-056.

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Question: If a server has LPAR capability, can two or more LPARs be configured with unique instances of PowerHA running on them without incurring additional license charges?

Answer: Yes. PowerHA is a server product that has one charge unit: number of processors on which PowerHA will be installed or run. Regardless of how many LPARs or instances of AIX that run in the server, you are charged based on the number of active processors in the server that is running PowerHA. Note that PowerHA configurations containing multiple LPARs within a single server may represent a potential single point-of-failure. To avoid this, it is recommended that the backup for an LPAR be an LPAR on a different server or a standalone server.

Question: Does PowerHA support non-IBM hardware or operating systems?

Answer: Yes. PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX supports the hardware and operating systems as specified in the Sales Manual. For more information about non-IBM storage attachment, see EMC and Hitachi storage subsystems.

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Question: Does PowerHA support EMC or Hitachi storage subsystems when connected to Power Systems servers?

Answer: The storage subsystems supported by PowerHA are those documented in the Sales Manual. New additions are announced via Flash. Current information can be retrieved from the online Sales Manual for PowerHA on AIX. PowerHA supports those IBM devices that have passed IBM qualification efforts, and for which IBM development and service are prepared to provide support.

With the PowerHA SystemMirror Enterprise Edition, clients using EMC storage with SRDF can take advantage of the PowerHA SystemMirror capabilities for HA/DR operations. EMC clients may also deploy PowerHA SystemMirror Standard Edition for data center operations.

There is a group, associated with development, that tests non-IBM storage subsystems for attachment to AIX systems and PowerHA. There are also cooperative service agreements in place with certain non-IBM storage vendors.

If a client has an PowerHA cluster containing storage hardware other than that supported by PowerHA, and they report a problem, IBM Service will address the problem as follows:

  • If the problem is unrelated to that hardware, it will be addressed the same as any other problem.
  • If the problem is related to that hardware, and the hardware is covered by a cooperative service agreement with the storage vendor, the problem will be forwarded to the storage vendor.
  • If the problem is related to hardware for which no cooperative service agreement is in place, the client will be asked to refer the problem to the hardware manufacturer.

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Question: Where do I find out about hardware or software not listed in the Sales Manual?

Answer: Inquiries related to non-IBM products should be directed to the specific vendor. For more information on newly announced IBM hardware and software products that are not listed in the Sales Manual, see Why does PowerHA support often come out after the hardware or software announcement?

Question: Why does PowerHA support often come out after the hardware or software announce?

Answer: PowerHA tests all new hardware and software in an PowerHA environment prior to announcing support. We do this because PowerHA exercises features and interfaces in unique and stressful ways which may not be exposed outside of an PowerHA environment. We don't simply assume new hardware or software works—we bring it into our lab and run it through a qualification test. Sometimes problems are found or take time to resolve which means PowerHA cannot announce support at the same time as the hardware is announced.

Question: What is PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX? How does it differ from HACMP?

Answer: IBM PowerHA SystemMirror represents a new name for the IBM High Availability Cluster Multiprocessing (HACMP) product. The renaming is to align HACMP with the new IBM Power Systems Software initiative. PowerHA for AIX V5.5 is the follow-on release to HACMP 5.4. And PowerHA SystemMirror is the follow-on release to PowerHA for AIX 5.5.

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