Page 1: Front Cover
Front cover Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2 Understand the IBM System x3950 M2 and IBM x3850 M2 Learn the technical details of these high-performance servers See how to configure, install, manage multinode complexes David Watts Jens Reizel...
Page 3 International Technical Support Organization Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2 November 2008 SG24-7630-00...
Page 4 “Notices” on page ix. First Edition (November 2008) This edition applies to the following systems: IBM System x3950 M2, machine types 7141 and 7233 IBM System x3850 M2, machine types 7141 and 7233 © Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2008. All rights reserved.
Page 5: Table Of Contents
1.1 IBM eX4-based servers........
Page 6 2.2.1 Overview of scale-up, scale-out ......56 2.2.2 IBM BladeCenter and iDataPlex ......57 2.3 Comparing x3850 M2 to x3850 .
Page 7 3.2.5 Hot-add memory ........120 3.2.6 Memory configuration in BIOS .
Page 8 6.2.5 Updating firmware ........327 6.2.6 Implementing the RSA II in the operating system ....329 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 9 6.2.9 Error logs..........333 6.3 Use of IBM Director with VMware ESX ......334 6.4 Active Energy Manager .
Page 10 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 11: Notices
IBM representative for information on the products and services currently available in your area. Any reference to an IBM product, program, or service is not intended to state or imply that only that IBM product, program, or service may be used. Any functionally equivalent product, program, or service that does not infringe any IBM intellectual property right may be used instead.
Page 12: Trademarks
(® or ™), indicating US registered or common law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published. Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at http://www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml...
Page 13 UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both. Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. Notices...
Page 14 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 15: Preface
This book was produced by a team of specialists from around the world working at the International Technical Support Organization, Raleigh Center. David Watts is a Consulting IT Specialist at the IBM ITSO Center in Raleigh. He manages residencies and produces IBM Redbooks publications on hardware and software topics related to IBM System x and BladeCenter®...
Page 16 Queensland (Australia) and has worked for IBM both in the United States and Australia since 1989. He is an IBM Certified IT Specialist. Jens Reizel is a Support Specialist at IBM Germany and is responsible for the post-sales technical support teams in the EMEA region. He has been working in this function and with IBM for nine years.
Page 17: Become A Published Author
Join us for a two- to six-week residency program! Help write a book dealing with specific products or solutions, while getting hands-on experience with leading-edge technologies. You will have the opportunity to team with IBM technical professionals, Business Partners, and Clients.
Page 18: Comments Welcome
Your efforts will help increase product acceptance and customer satisfaction. As a bonus, you will develop a network of contacts in IBM development labs, and increase your productivity and marketability. Find out more about the residency program, browse the residency index, and apply online at: ibm.com/redbooks/residencies.html...
Page 19: Chapter 1. Technical Overview
Technical overview Chapter 1. The IBM System x3950 M2 and IBM System x3850 M2 are the IBM System x flagship systems. They are based on eX4 technology, which is the fourth generation of IBM X-Architecture. This technology leverages the extensive research and development by IBM in XA-64e chipset based on the scalable Intel®...
Page 20: Ibm Ex4-Based Servers
Although they have the same technical specifications and features, the x3850 M2 cannot be used to form a multinode unless you upgrade it to an IBM System x3950 M2 by adding the ScaleXpander Option Kit, as described in section 1.2, “Model numbers and scalable upgrade options”...
Page 21 DVD-ROM drive USB connectors Operator information panel Scalability LED Four hot-swap disk drive bays Figure 1-2 Front panel of x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 The front panel of the x3850 M2 and the x3950 M2, as shown in Figure 1-2, provides easy access to a maximum of four hot-swap 2.5-inch SAS drives, DVD-ROM, two USB 2.0 ports, an operator information panel with power on/off button, and LEDs indicating information such as scalability, network activity, and...
Page 22 Inside the server is an additional USB socket used exclusively for the embedded virtualization feature. This device, shown in Figure 1-4 on page 5, is standard on hypervisor models of the x3850 M2. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 23 – Xeon 7400 series (Dunnington) 6-core processors Two processors standard, with support for up to four processors One IBM eX4 “Hurricane 4” chipset with four 1066 MHz front-side buses Support for Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT), Intel 64 technology (EM64T), and Execute Disable Bit feature...
Page 24 Disk subsystem features include: Integrated LSI 1078 SAS controller with support for RAID-0 and RAID-1 External JBOD SAS storage through external SAS x4 port (if IBM ServeRAID™ MR10k SAS/SATA Controller is installed) The SAS SFF-8088 connector is located above SMP Expansion Port 2 in Figure 1-3 on page 4.
Page 25: X3950 M2: Scalable Hardware Components
Windows Hardware Error Architecture (WHEA) support in the BIOS Trusted Platform Module support. The module is a highly secure start-up process from power-on through to the startup of the operating system boot loader. Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) support is provided to allow ACPI-enabled operating systems to access the security features of this module.
Page 26 M2 to complexes of two, three, and four nodes. Figure 1-5 ScaleXpander chip (left); ScaleXpander chip installed on processor board near the front panel of the x3950 M2 (right) Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 27: Model Numbers And Scalable Upgrade Options
1.2 Model numbers and scalable upgrade options As discussed previously, the x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 servers are based on IBM eX4 technology. This section lists the available models for each server and where to find more information about models available in your country.
Page 28: Finding Country-Specific Model Information
Standard models of x3850 M2 with quad-core and six-core Xeon 7400 (Dunnington) processors 7233-4Hc Integrated hypervisor models of x3850 M2 with quad-core Xeon E7440 (Dunnington) processors. See 1.5, “Integrated virtualization: VMware ESXi” on page 19. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 29: X3950 M2 Model Information
1.2.4 Scalable upgrade option for x3850 M2 Unlike the x3850 server (based on X3 technology), the x3850 M2 can be converted to an x3950 M2 through the use of the IBM ScaleXpander Option Kit, part number 44E4249. After this kit is installed, the x3850 M2 functionally becomes an x3950 M2, and is therefore able to form part of a multinode complex comprising of up to four x3950 M2s.
Page 30 M2 bezel, which replaces the existing bezel and shows the x3850 M2 has the kit installed and is now functionally equal to an x3950 M2. See Figure 1-9 on page 13. Figure 1-7 x3950 M2 enterprise cable management arm Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 31 Route power, Ethernet, fibre Scalability expansion ports 1, cables, video, mouse and 2, and 3 from left to right keyboard through here Scalability cable brackets to guide the scalability cables from the scalability expansion ports on one node to another node Figure 1-8 x3950 M2 cable management arm mounted on server rails Figure 1-9 x3950 M2 bezel Chapter 1.
Page 32: Multinode Capabilities
Each node can be either an x3950 M2 or an x3850 M2 with the ScaleXpander Option Kit installed. All CPUs in every node must be identical. Figure 1-10 Possible multinode configurations Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 33: X3950 M2 Windows Datacenter Models
For more information about multinode complexes and partitioning, see Chapter 4, “Multinode hardware configurations” on page 195. 1.4 x3950 M2 Windows Datacenter models IBM offers Windows 2003 Datacenter Edition as part of the following two IBM offerings, which are described in this section: IBM Datacenter Unlimited Virtualization IBM Datacenter Unlimited Virtualization with High Availability Chapter 1.
Page 34: Ibm Datacenter Unlimited Virtualization Offering
Supported on all ServerProven configurations for designated System x Datacenter servers Installation can be performed by IBM, the Business Partner, or the customer. Optional System x Lab Services onsite and IBM Global Services - Remote Support Services can be provided.
Page 35: Upgrading To Datacenter Edition
All components must be both ServerProven and Microsoft cluster-logo certified. The operating system is not preloaded. Installation must be performed by IBM System x Lab Services or IBM Partners certified under the EXAct program. Standard IBM Stage 2 manufacturing integration services can be used. IBM Global Services - Remote Support Services are mandatory.
Page 36 Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition R2 x64, 1-4 CPUs 4818-PCJ (Japanese) Note: These upgrade order numbers can only be ordered from the IBM World Wide System x Brand and might not appear in IBM standard configuration tools. Upgrading to IBM Datacenter Unlimited Virtualization with...
Page 37: Datacenter Multinode Configurations
Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition R2 x64, 1-4 CPUs 4816-PCJ (Japanese) Note: These upgrade order numbers can only be ordered from the IBM World Wide System x Brand and might not appear in IBM standard configuration tools. 1.4.4 Datacenter multinode configurations...
Page 38: Key Features Of Vmware Esxi
For detailed examination of each of these components, refer to the previously mentioned white paper, The Architecture of VMware ESX Server 3i, at: http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/ESXServer3i_architecture.pdf Available from http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/ESXServer3i_architecture.pdf. This section contains material from VMware. Used with permission. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 39: Vmware Esxi On X3850 M2
IT budgets and resources. One important recommended consideration when selecting a server to run VMware ESX is to ensure you have sufficient headroom in capacity. The IBM x3850 M2 is optimized for VMware ESXi because of its vertical scalability in the key areas such as processor, memory, and I/O subsystems.
Page 40: Comparing Esxi To Other Vi3 Editions
VC Agent - Central management Update manager Consolidated backup High availability DRS - Resource management DPM - Power management VMotion - Live VM migration Storage VMotion - Live VM disk file migration Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 41 VMware is available in several editions, including: VMware Infrastructure Enterprise Edition This edition contains the entire array of virtual infrastructure capabilities for resource management, workload mobility, and high availability. It includes: – VMware ESX Server – VMware ESXi – VMware Consolidated Backup –...
Page 42 This edition has no restrictions on shared storage connectivity, memory utilization, or number of CPUs of the physical server. However, if you purchase IBM x3850 M2 with VMware ESXi integrated hypervisor and subsequently require additional functionality, you can upgrade ESXi to the VI Enterprise, Standard, or Foundation Editions.
Page 43: Vmware Esxi V3.5 Licensing
License upgrades from ESXi to VI3 Editions VMware ESXi can be upgrade to provide the additional features available in the VMware Infrastructure Enterprise, Standard or Foundation Editions, with a purchase of licenses from IBM as shown in Table 1-8 on page 26. Chapter 1. Technical overview...
Page 44: Support For Applications Running On Vmware Esx And Esxi
Virtual Infrastructure 3, [Enterprise, Standard, or Foundation], 2-socket, 1 or 3 year support For details of part numbers, refer to VMware Offerings in the IBM System x Configuration and Options Guide: http://www.ibm.com/systems/xbc/cog/vmwareesx.html For example, to upgrade an ESXi 4-socket license for x3850 M2 hypervisor...
Page 45: Ibm Fourth Generation Xa-64E Chipset
IBM software that is experiencing the problem. 1.6 IBM fourth generation XA-64e chipset The x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 use the fourth generation of the IBM XA-64e or eX4 chipset. This chipset is designed for the Xeon MP processor family from Intel. The IBM...
Page 46 PCIe bridge ports. The memory controller also has an embedded DRAM that, in the x3850 M2 and x3950 M2, holds a snoop filter lookup table. This filter ensures that snoop Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 47: Hurricane 4
10.24 GBps per port. IBM eX4 has two PCIe bridges and each are connected to a HSS-IB port of the memory controller with a maximum theoretical bidirectional data rate of 6 GBps.
Page 48: Xcel4V Dynamic Server Cache
1.6.2 XceL4v dynamic server cache The XceL4v dynamic server cache is a technology developed as part of the IBM XA-64e fourth-generation chipset. It is used in two ways: As a single four-way server, the XceL4v and its embedded DRAM (eDRAM) is used as a snoop filter to reduce traffic on the front-side bus.
Page 49: Ranks
Tuning IBM System x Servers for Performance, SG24-5287 for more details. 1.6.6 Comparing IBM eX4 to X3 technologies This section discusses the improvements in the design of IBM eX4 technology as compared to the design of previous X3 technology. A block diagram of the X3 technology is shown in Figure 1-13 on page 32.
Page 50 Ethernet Serial Figure 1-13 Block diagram of IBM X3 x3850/x366 and x3950/x460 IBM eX4 technology builds and improves upon its previous generation X3 technology. The key enhancements are: Processor interface – Quad 1066 MHz front-side bus (FSB), which has a total bandwidth of up to 34.1 GBps.
Page 51: Processors
– Eight memory channels are available in eX4, compared to four memory channels in X3. – Memory bandwidth improved 1.6x is eX4. The eX4 has 34.1 GBps read and 17.1 GBps write aggregate peak memory bandwidth versus 21.33 GBps aggregate peak memory bandwidth in X3. –...
Page 52 The processors are each packaged in the 604-pin Flip Chip Micro Pin Grid Array (FC-mPGA) package. It is inserted into surface-mount mPGA604 socket. The processors use a large heat-sink to meet thermal specifications. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 53 The Xeon E7210 and E7300 Tigerton processors have two levels of cache on the processor die: Each pair of cores in the processor has either 2, 3, or 4 MB shared L2 cache for a total of 4, 6, or 8 MB of L2 cache. The L2 cache implements the Advanced Transfer Cache technology.
Page 54 The 34.1 GBps peak throughput of the x3850 M2 and x3950 M2’s eX4 technology with four memory cards is well suited to dual-core and quad-core processors. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 55 1066 MHz front-side bus (FSB) The Tigerton and Dunnington Xeon MPs use two 266 MHz clocks, out of phase with each other by 90°, and using both edges of each clock to transmit data. This is shown in Figure 1-17. 266 MHz clock A 266 MHz clock B Figure 1-17 Quad-pumped front-side bus...
Page 56 64-bit operating system (and, of course, 64-bit drivers) but also a 64-bit application that has been recompiled to take full advantage of the various enhancements of the 64-bit addressing architecture. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 57: Memory Subsystem
For more information about the features of the Xeon processors, go to: Intel server processors: http://www.intel.com/products/server/processors/index.htm?iid=proces s+server Intel Xeon processor 7000 sequence: http://www.intel.com/products/processor/xeon7000/index.htm?iid=servp roc+body_xeon7000subtitle For more information about Intel 64 architecture, see: http://www.intel.com/technology/intel64/index.htm 1.8 Memory subsystem The standard x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 models have either 4 GB or 8 GB of RAM standard, implemented as four or eight 1 GB DIMMs.
Page 58 – If the error is not recoverable, memory scrubbing sends an error message to the light path diagnostics, which then turns on the proper lights and LEDs to guide you to the damaged DIMM. If memory mirroring is enabled, Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 59 DIMM replaced. As x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 is now capable of supporting large amounts of memory, IBM has added the Initialization Scrub Control setting to the BIOS, to let customers choose when this scrubbing is done and therefore potentially speed up the boot process.
Page 60: Sas Controller And Ports
EXP3000. This port has an SFF-8088 connector. For more information about the onboard SAS controller and the ServeRAID MR10k daughter card, see Figure 3-22 on page 131 in section 3.3.3, “ServeRAID-MR10k RAID controller” on page 128. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 61: Pci Express Subsystem
1.10 PCI Express subsystem As shown in Figure 1-18, five half-length full-height PCI Express x8 slots and two half-length full-height active PCI Express x8 slots are internal to the x3850 M2 and x3950 M2, and all are vacant in the standard models. Remote Supervisor Adapter II Internal USB ServeRAID-MR10K...
Page 62: Networking
EIDE interface for the DVD-ROM drive (some models) Serial port 1.11 Networking The IBM x3950 M2 and x3850 M2 servers have an integrated dual 10/100/1000 Ethernet controller that uses the Broadcom NetXtreme II BCM5709C controller. The controller contains two standard IEEE 802.3 Ethernet MACs which can operate in either full-duplex or half-duplex mode.
Page 63: Redundancy Features
On the back of the server, the top port is Ethernet 1 and the bottom is Ethernet 2. The LEDs for these ports are shown in Figure 1-19. LED for port 2 LED for port 1 (triangle pointing (triangle pointing up) down) Ethernet 1 Ethernet 2...
Page 64 (one in each pair is mirroring, Memory supplies (one below redundant) ProteXion, and Chipkill the other) hot-swap redundant 1440 W power supplies Figure 1-20 Redundant memory, fans, and power supplies features Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 65: Systems Management Features
This section provides an overview of the system management features such as Light Path Diagnostics, Baseboard Management Controller, Remote Supervisor Adapter II, and Active Energy Manager for the IBM x3850 M2 and x3950 M2. 1.12.1 Light path diagnostics To eliminate having to slide the server out of the rack to diagnose problems, a Light Path Diagnostics panel is located at the front of x3850 M2 and x3950 M2, as shown in Figure 1-21.
Page 66: Bmc Service Processor
System fan speed control The BMC monitors system temperatures and adjusts fan speed accordingly. We describe more about the BMC in 6.1, “BMC configuration options” on page 300. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 67: Remote Supervisor Adapter Ii
Serial over LAN (SOL) For more information about enabling and configuring these management utilities, see the x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 User’s Guide: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5073029 1.12.3 Remote Supervisor Adapter II The x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 have the Remote Supervisor Adapter II service processor as a standard component.
Page 68 Automatic notification and alerts The RSA II automatically sends different types of alerts and notifications to another server such as IBM Director and SNMP destination, or it sends e-mail directly to a user by using SMTP. Continuous health monitoring and control The RSA II continuously monitors all important system parameters such as temperature, voltage, and so on.
Page 69: Active Energy Manager
IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager™ (formerly known as IBM PowerExecutive™) is a combination of hardware and software that enables direct power monitoring through IBM Director. By using an OS that supports this feature, you can monitor the power consumption of the x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 and then modify or cap the consumption if required.
Page 70 TPM V1.2 specification. TPM can be used for the following purposes: Disk encryption (For example BitLocker™ Drive Encryption in Windows Server 2008) Digital Rights Management Software license protection and enforcement Password protection Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 71: Chapter 2. Product Positioning
Product positioning Chapter 2. The new IBM System x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 servers (collectively called the eX4 servers) enhance the IBM System x product family by providing new levels of performance and price-for-performance. These servers feature a high-density, 4U mechanical platform that supports quad-core and 6-core Xeon MP processors, PCIe architecture, and high-capacity high-speed DDR2 memory.
Page 72: Focus Market Segments And Target Applications
2.1 Focus market segments and target applications The eX4 servers from IBM are designed for the demands of the application and database serving tiers offering leadership performance and the proven reliability of the Intel Xeon MP processor architecture to power mission-critical stateful...
Page 73 This includes Web-enabling core processes to strengthen customer service operations, streamlining supply chains, and reaching existing and new clients. To achieve these goals, e-business requires a highly scalable, reliable, and secure server platform. Key software vendors are IBM (WebSphere) and BEA. Chapter 2. Product positioning...
Page 74: Positioning The Ibm X3950 M2 And X3850 M2
2.2 Positioning the IBM x3950 M2 and x3850 M2 The IBM eX4 servers are part of the broader IBM System x portfolio, which encompasses both scale-out and scale-up servers, storage, and tape products. 2.2.1 Overview of scale-up, scale-out The System x scale-out servers start from the tower range of two-way servers...
Page 75: Ibm Bladecenter And Idataplex
¥ tended Design Architecture tended Design Architecture Figure 2-1 The IBM x3950 M2 and x3850 M2 are part of the high-end scale-up portfolio 2.2.2 IBM BladeCenter and iDataPlex IBM BladeCenter and iDataPlex™ are part of the IBM System x scale-out portfolio of products;...
Page 76 Grid Serving Scale Out Figure 2-2 IBM eX4 compared to IBM BladeCenter and System x Rack and iDataPlex IBM iDataPlex iDataPlex is massive scale-out solution that is deployed in customized rack units. It is designed for applications where workloads can be divided and spread across a very large pool of servers that are configured identically from the application workload perspective.
Page 77: Comparing X3850 M2 To X3850
Ethernet and Fibre Channel I/O on BladeCenter. BladeCenter has a long life cycle and preserves system investment with compatible, proven, field-tested platforms and chassis. For more information about IBM BladeCenter, refer to the IBM Redbooks publication, IBM BladeCenter Products and Technology, SG24-7523: http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247523.html 2.3 Comparing x3850 M2 to x3850...
Page 78 6-core Intel Xeon 7400 series processors Front-side bus Two 667 MHz (two Four 1066 MHz (one processors on each bus) processor on each bus) Memory controller Hurricane 3.0 Hurricane 4.0 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 79 Feature System x3850 server System x3850 M2 server Memory Maximum of four memory Maximum of four memory cards, each with four cards, each with eight DDR2 DIMM slots running DDR2 DIMM slots running at 333 MHz supporting a at 533 MHz supporting a total of 16 DDR2 DIMMs total of 32 DDR2 DIMMs Scalability...
Page 80: Comparing X3950 M2 To X3950
ServeRAID MR10k for additional disk drive expansion (for example, using one or more EXP3000 storage enclosures) not previously possible with the x3950. Table 2-2 on page 63 compares the major differences between the x3950 M2 and the x3950. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 81 Table 2-2 Comparing the x3950 to x3950 M2 servers Feature x3950 server x3950 M2 server X-Architecture Third-generation XA-64e Fourth generation XA-64e chipset chipset Processors Dual-core Intel Xeon 7100 Dual-core Intel Xeon series E7210 and quad-core Intel Xeon 7300 series processors and quad-core and 6-core Intel Xeon 7400 series processors Front-side bus...
Page 82: System Scalability
File and print servers often only take advantage of one or two processors and popular mail systems typically only scale well to four processors. Table 2-3 on page 65 shows the suitability of multi-processor systems to application types. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 83 Table 2-3 Processor scalability by application type Processors File and E-mail Business Database Server print server collaboration logic consolidation 1 way Suitable Suitable Suitable Suitable — — 2 way Suitable Suitable Suitable Suitable Suitable Suitable 4 way — — Suitable Suitable Suitable Suitable...
Page 84: Operating System Scalability
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V Linux server operating systems In the single chassis 4-way configuration, the IBM eX4 server acts as an industry standard symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) system. Each processor has equal access to all system resources. In most industry standard SMP systems, scaling beyond 4-way configurations has inherent processor, memory, and I/O subsystem contention issues.
Page 85 To realize the full benefit of NUMA systems, such as the x3950 M2, it is very important that operating systems have NUMA support. A NUMA-aware operating system must have the ability to schedule the use of system resource pools on each NUMA node.
Page 86: Scaling Vmware Esx
2.6.1 Scaling VMware ESX This section describes the NUMA features of VMware ESX 3.0.x and 3.5 as discussed in the IBM Redbooks publication, Virtualization on the IBM System x3950 Server, SG24-7190, available from: http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247190.html...
Page 87 sufficient for systems that only run a single workload, such as a benchmarking configuration, which does not change over the course of the system’s uptime. However, initial placement is not sophisticated enough to guarantee good performance and fairness for a datacenter-class system that is expected to support changing workloads with an uptime measured in months or years.
Page 88 Transparent page sharing for VMware ESX systems has also been optimized for use on NUMA systems like the IBM x3950 M2. With VMware ESX running on a multinode IBM x3950 M2 partition, pages are shared per node, so each NUMA node has its own local copy of heavily shared pages.
Page 89 ESX Server provides two sets of controls for NUMA placement, so that administrators can control memory and processor placement of a virtual machine. Figure 2-4 Setting CPU or memory affinity on VMware ESX 3.0.x / 3.5.x in VI Client or Virtualcenter The VI Client allows you to specify: CPU affinity: A virtual machine should use only the processors on a given node.
Page 90 SATA support ESX Server 3.5 supports selected SATA devices connected to dual SAS/SATA controllers. For a list of supported dual SAS/SATA controllers see the ESX Server 3.x I/O Compatibility Guide: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_io_guide.pdf Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 91: Scaling Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Note: At the time of the writing, VMware ESX 3.5 Update 1 was not supported by IBM for multinode x3950 M2 with up to 64 processor cores. Although not currently supported, VMware ESX 3.5 Update 1 support from IBM is planned for 2-node x3950 M2 (32-cores) in 2H/2008.
Page 92 The following documents have more details about other features available on each edition of Windows Server 2003: Comparison of Windows Server 2003 editions http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/81999f39-41e9 -4388-8d7d-7430ec4cc4221033.mspx?mfr=true Virtual memory address space limits for Windows editions http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(VS.85).aspx#memory_ limits Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 93: Scaling Microsoft Windows Server 2008 And Hyper-V
2.6.3 Scaling Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V For a detailed discussion of the features of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V for use on the IBM x3850 M2 and x3950 M2, see the Microsoft white paper, Inside Windows Server 2008 Kernel Changes, available from: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc194386.aspx...
Page 94: Scaling Linux Server Operating Systems
Windows Server 2008 (32-bit) Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter Editions are not yet supported by IBM on x3850 M2, x3950 M2 (single or multinode). Windows 2008 Web Edition (32-bit) and (64-bit) are not supported on IBM x3850 M2 or x3950 M2.
Page 95 The documents describe features of the Linux 2.6 kernel and components such as the Linux task scheduler and memory allocator, which affect the scaling of the Linux operating system on the IBM x3850 M2 and x3950 M2. Factors affecting Linux performance on a multinode x3950 M2...
Page 96 The x86 Hugemem kernel is not provided in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. For more information, review these Web pages: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Version comparison chart http://www.redhat.com/rhel/compare/ IBM ServerProven NOS Support for RedHat Enterprise Linux chart http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/nos/redcha t.html Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 97: Application Scalability
Features of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Table 2-8 describes the features supported by the various Novell® SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server (SLES): Table 2-8 Features of the SUSE Enterprise Linux 10 Features SLES 10 (2.6.16.60) x86 SLES 10 (2.6.16.60) x86_64 Maximum Logical Processors 32 (up to 128 with bigsmp 32 (up to 128 on certified systems) kernel on certified systems)
Page 98: Microsoft Sql Server 2005
The combination of Windows Server 2003 for x64 and SQL Server 2005 for x64 offers directly addressable physical memory up to the memory limit of the operating system: 32 GB for Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, and Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 99 2005 will recognize and use the additional memory immediately. This could prove useful if you must increase available memory to service new business requirements without affecting database availability. This feature also requires hot-add memory support as provided in servers such as the IBM System x3850 M2 and x3950 M2. Feature comparisons Most of the features that are mentioned in the following sections are found only in the Enterprise Edition.
Page 100 CPUs in the server. CPU and I/O affinity are used for fine-tuning the allocation of server resources to where they are most required. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 101: Microsoft Sql Server 2008
Windows Server Resource Manager (WSRM) WSRM comes with Windows Server 2003 Enterprise and Datacenter Editions and can be applied to any application running on the server. Using WSRM policies, it is possible to manage CPU and memory use by process or user. WSRM helps ensure that a process or user does not use more than its allotted quantity of CPU and memory resources meaning that multiple applications can run safely together.
Page 102: Scale-Up Or Scale-Out
Scale-up systems, such as the IBM eX4 servers, are increasingly being exploited by NUMA-aware virtualization hypervisors, such as VMware ESX, and the demands of virtualized workloads.
Page 103: Scale-Out
Although many options exist for implementing a farm comprised of small low-end servers, we consider the use of the IBM BladeCenter, 1U rack servers or iDataPlex for large scale-out implementations such as the System x3550 as the most viable alternative when discussing this requirement.
Page 104 It requires more skilled DBA to maintain clusters. Management and scheduling are more complex. It depends on intelligent data partitioning. It introduces query overhead. Maintenance activities require downtime. Cluster applications can be much more expensive than stand-alone versions. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 105 The fact that the database is partitioned should not imply that the system cannot be implemented on shared storage. IBM DB2 and Microsoft SQL Server both implement a shared-nothing approach.
Page 106 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 107: Chapter 3. Hardware Configuration
3.1, “Processor subsystem” on page 90 3.2, “Memory subsystem” on page 111 3.3, “Internal drive options and RAID controllers” on page 124 3.4, “Configuring RAID volumes” on page 154 3.5, “PCI Express options” on page 188 © Copyright IBM Corp. 2008. All rights reserved.
Page 108: Processor Subsystem
“Memory subsystem” on page 111. CPU/ VRM 3, 1, 2, 4 Air baffle Memory card 1, 2, 3, 4 Figure 3-1 Top view of the x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 processor board; order of installation Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 109: Processor Options
If you require more than four processors, you can create a single scalable system by connecting up to three additional x3950 M2 systems. You may also upgrade any x3850 M2 system to a scalable x3950 M2 system as described in 1.2.4, “Scalable upgrade option for x3850 M2”...
Page 110 L2 cache, for a total of 4 MB, 6 MB, or 8 MB of L2 cache. The L2 cache implements the Advanced Transfer Cache technology. L3 cache Tigerton processors do not have L3 cache. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 111: Installation Of Processor Options
Processor cache: Dunnington The Intel Xeon 7400 series processors (Dunnington) have three levels of cache on the processor die: L1 cache The L1 execution, 32 KB instruction and 32 KB data, for data trace cache in each core is used to store micro-operations, which are decoded executable machine instructions.
Page 112 To install the processor options: 1. Turn off the server and peripheral devices. 2. Disconnect the power cords. make sure the blue LED light is off 3. Wait approximately 20 seconds, then Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 113 Important: Any installation and removal of processors or VRM can result in damage if the system is not removed from the AC power source. Check that the system is without power after removal of the power cables. The blue locator LED is located on the rear side of the server. This LED indicates whether AC power is connected to the system but the system is powered off.
Page 114 2, as shown in Figure 3-1 on page 90. 11.Lift the processor-release lever to the fully opened position, which is approximately a 135° angle. See in Figure 3-5 on page 97. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 115 Lever closed Lever fully opened Figure 3-5 Processor board showing processor release lever 12.Position the processor over the socket, as shown in Figure 3-6, and then carefully press the processor into the socket. Close the processor release lever. Processor Processor orientation indicator Processor...
Page 116 15.Ensure that the air baffle between processors is correctly installed, as shown in Figure 3-1 on page 90. 16.Install a VRM in the connector next to the processor socket. The VRM and handle are shown in Figure 3-8 on page 99. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 117: Processor (Cpu) Configuration Options
Figure 3-8 x3850 M2 and x3950 M2: voltage regulator module and handle Note: Make sure that the Front label on the VRM is facing the front of the server. 17.Close the media hood, replace the cover and the bezel if you are not installing other options.
Page 118 Active Energy Manager is part of a larger power-management implementation that includes hardware and firmware components. Use Active Energy Manager to manage the power and thermal requirements of IBM servers and BladeCenter systems. We cover AEM in more detail in 6.4, “Active Energy Manager” on page 334.
Page 119 BMC IP address through BIOS. This is described in 6.1, “BMC configuration options” on page 300. Note: The IBM performance team observed a drop in performance when power capping is used in a x3950 M2 multinode configuration. The setting is therefore disabled and hidden if a multinode configuration is started.
Page 120 2128000 1862000 1862000 1596000 The command can also show the current value of the core frequency, as indicated in Example 3-2. Example 3-2 Command to show current core frequency # cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_cur_freq 1596000 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 121 ondemand Various governors can be set to affect the power management policy: userspace powersave, performance. Depending on the configured governor, the balance between power saving and performance can be adjusted: To display the current governor, use the cat command as shown in Example 3-3.
Page 122 . They determine the range of currently available P-states that Windows may use. These values are exposed in the Advanced settings panel of the Power Options window, shown in Figure 3-11 on page 105. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 123 5.4, “Installing the operating system” on page 264. Although the IBM scalability chip can scale up to a total of eight nodes, IBM supports only up to four nodes. The Hurricane controller supports four front-side...
Page 124 Therefore, they have four processor agents per processor package. The IBM scalability chip can handle up to 128 agents in a maximum of eight x3950 M2 scaled system complexes. The following sections discuss the three available cluster technology modes:...
Page 125 Physical mode This mode is applicable to XAPIC based systems too. It allows up to 255 physical agent IDs. Although there is no definition of what has to be considered as a cluster ID in this mode, the chipset design has imposed a limitation because of clustering controllers for 16 possible cluster IDs.
Page 126 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 127 The IP prefetcher then generates a prefetch request with the predicted address and brings the resulting data to the Level 1 data cache. This setting is disabled by IBM (the opposite of the Intel default). The observations in the IBM performance lab have shown that this prefetcher is negligible in most real applications.
Page 128 The processor automatically transitions to a lower core frequency and voltage operating point before entering the Extended HALT state. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 129: Memory Subsystem
Note: The processor FSB frequency is not altered; only the internal core frequency is changed. When entering the low power state, the processor first switches to the lower bus to core frequency ratio and then transitions to the lower voltage. While in the Extended HALT state, the processor will process bus snoops.
Page 130 533 MHz x 8 bytes per memory port, for a total of 34.1 GBps with four memory cards. The server supports up to four memory cards. See Figure 3-12 on page 113. Each memory card holds up to eight DIMMs to allow thirty-two DIMMs per chassis. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 131: Memory Card
3.2.2 Memory card The memory card embeds two memory controllers Nova x4, as components of the designated IBM eX4 chipset, to address up to four DIMMs on each memory controller. The memory controller embeds Xcelerated Memory Technology™. You may order additional memory cards; use the part number in Table 3-4.
Page 132 M2 and x3950 M2 can be expanded to 256 GB. The XceL4v Dynamic Server Cache consumes 256 MB in each chassis of the main memory for use as L4 cache if a multinode system is formed, therefore Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 133 giving a reduction in overall memory that is available to the operating system of 256 MB per node. The XceL4v architecture is discussed in 1.6.2, “XceL4v dynamic server cache” on page 30. A minimum of 4 GB of memory must be installed in one node if you want to form a multinode complex.
Page 134 – Cost-effective configuration To minimize cost, install the memory DIMMs by filling each memory card before adding DIMMs to the next memory card. See Table 3-5. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 135 13-16 1/5, 2/6, 3/7, 4/8 – Performance-optimized configuration Section 1.6, “IBM fourth generation XA-64e chipset” on page 27, describes eight independent memory ports. Therefore, to optimize performance, install four memory cards and then spread the DIMMs, still installed in matched pairs, across all four memory cards before filling each card with two more DIMMs, see Table 3-6.
Page 136: Memory Mirroring
Therefore, with memory mirroring enabled in the BIOS, you can hot-swap any memory card if the hot-swap enabled LED is lit. For instructions to hot-swap a memory card, see IBM: System x3850 M2 and System x3950 M2 User’s Guide: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5073029 After memory-mirroring is enabled, the data that is written to memory is stored in two locations.
Page 137: Hot-Swap Memory
Setting Function Disabled Relies on standard memory test and run-time scrub engine good to ensure memory is Note: A standard test is still performed across all memory and a run-time scrub engine is always enabled regardless of these settings. If memory mirroring is enabled, then the mirrored copy of the data from the damaged DIMM is used until the DIMM replaced.
Page 138: Hot-Add Memory
LED next to the failed DIMMs light up. 5. Replace the failed DIMM and reinsert the memory card. For details about hot-swapping memory correctly and which sequence to follow, see IBM: System x3850 M2 and System x3950 M2 User’s Guide: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5073029 3.2.5 Hot-add memory The hot-add memory feature enables you to add DIMMs without turning off the server.
Page 139: Memory Configuration In Bios
Additionally, for 32-bit operating systems, the Physical Address Extension (PAE) mode has to be enabled to take advantage of the additional memory. For details about performing a hot-add operation, and restrictions, see IBM: System x3850 M2 and System x3950 M2 User’s Guide: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5073029 3.2.6 Memory configuration in BIOS...
Page 140 Unlike with the x3850, the x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 support Memory ProteXion with the HPMA setting, providing maximum performance, and they continue to provide the reliability of Redundant Bit Steering (RBS). Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 141 Initialization Scrub Control This setting allows you to configure the frequency of the memory initialization scrub which occurs at the beginning of POST/BIOS execution. Memory correction technologies are described in 1.8, “Memory subsystem” on page 39. In very large memory arrays, this particular memory scrub can take up to 10 minutes so you may choose to either disable this feature or only perform the scrub when power has first been applied to the system.
Page 142: Internal Drive Options And Raid Controllers
10 disks total in one volume of IS 14 disks total in two volumes 20 TB virtual disk size limit (limitation by 64-bit addressing) All physical disks are visible in the operating system Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 143 RAID level migration from IR to MR mode: – RAID 1 + RAID 1 → RAID 1 + RAID 1 Two created RAID 1 volumes in the IR (integrated) mode can be imported to the MR (MegaRAID) mode. – RAID 0 + RAID 1 → RAID 0 + RAID 1 A striped and mirrored mode created in IR mode can be imported to a RAID 0 and RAID 1 in MR mode.
Page 144 See Figure 3-19. The LSI1078 SAS onboard controller can use this port in the IR mode in configuration of up to 10 disk in RAID-0 in one volume. Note: For significant performance reasons, IBM recommends you attach an EXP3000 to the external SAS port only when you have the ServeRAID-MR10k installed.
Page 145: Sas Disk Drive Options
You may also add the ServeRAID-MR10M adapter to increase disk space with additional expansion units. Read more about this adapter, and the connection with expansion units in: Section 3.3.4, “ServeRAID-MR10M SAS/SATA II controller” on page 135 Section 3.3.5, “SAS expansion enclosure (unit)” on page 142 3.3.2 SAS disk drive options The x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 servers have four internal 2.5-inch hot-swap SAS disk drive bays.
Page 146: Serveraid-Mr10K Raid Controller
The controller supports up to 64 virtual disks, and up to 64 TB logical unit numbers (LUNs). It supports up to 120 devices on the external x4 port. IBM supports the use of up to nine cascaded and fully populated EXP3000 enclosures on the external port with up to a total of 108 disk drives.
Page 147 RAID levels After installing the ServeRAID-MR10k RAID controller, the following RAID levels may be used: RAID-0 Uses striping to provide high data throughput, especially for large files in an environment that does not require fault tolerance. RAID-1 Uses mirroring so that data written to one disk drive is simultaneously written to another disk drive.
Page 148 Transportable: The iTBBU can be used to move cached data to another system while the battery package is connected to the DIMM, if that data has Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 149 Figure 3-22 ServeRAID MR10k and iTBBU battery package The battery protects data in the cache for up to 72 hours, depending on operating environment. IBM recommends that the battery be replaced annually. Replacement part numbers are listed in Table 3-12 on page 132.
Page 150 MR10k. However, if you want to later remove the MR10k, save you must first all your data because the data in those arrays will be inaccessible by the LSI 1078 Integrated RAID controller. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 151 For more details, see Chapter 3 of the IBM: ServeRAID-MR10k User’s Guide available from: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5074104 The onboard LSI 1078 and the ServeRAID-MR10k are not supported with the ServeRAID Manager tool. Use the MegaRAID Storage Manager (MSM) instead. One or more arrays can be formed using both the four internal disks and disks in an external disk enclosure such as the EXP3000 attached to the external SAS port.
Page 152 15.Check that the ServeRAID MR10k controller is initialized correctly during POST. The text in Example 3-7 appears. Example 3-7 ServeRAID-MR10k initialization in POST LSI MegaRAID SAS-MFI BIOS Version NT16 (Build Nov 20, 2007) Copyright(c) 2007 LSI Corporation Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 153: Serveraid-Mr10M Sas/Sata Ii Controller
HA -0 (Bus 4 Dev 0) IBM ServeRAID-MR10k SAS/SATA Controller FW package: 8.0.1-0029 You have completed the installation of the ServeRAID MR10k controller. For guidance with installing an SAS expansion enclosure, see 3.3.5, “SAS expansion enclosure (unit)” on page 142. To configure your RAID controller, see 3.4, “Configuring RAID volumes”...
Page 154 64 TB LUN 120 devices on each of both external x4 SAS ports. IBM supports using up to 9 cascaded, fully-populated EXP3000 per SAS/SATA connector on each of the external ports, with up to 108 SAS/SATA II hard disk drives per channel to maximum of 216 SAS/SATA II hard disk drives on both channels.
Page 155 The backup battery protects cache up to 72 hours, depending on operating environment. IBM recommends that the battery be replaced annually. A damaged or no-recoverable battery can be replaced if you submit a service claim. Table 3-14 lists the replacement part numbers.
Page 156 LED indicates power in the system. It remains on (lit) for 20 seconds after you remove the power cables. 3. Remove the computer cover. 4. Open the blue adapter retention bracket as shown in Figure 3-26 on page 139. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 157 PCIe adapter retention brackets (blue) Rear side of Front side of the server the server Figure 3-26 x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 - PCIe slot location The PCIe slots are beyond the adapter-retention bracket on the right at the rear of the server shown in Figure 3-26 and Figure 3-27 on page 140. Chapter 3.
Page 158 That is where you add a PCIe adapter. The power LED for slot 6 and slot 7 turn off. 6. Insert the controller in a PCIe slot as shown in Figure 3-28 on page 141 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 159 Bracket Screw Press Here iBBU (Top View) Press Here 85021-06 Edge of Motherboard Edge of Motherboard Figure 3-28 ServeRAID MR10M installation 7. Secure the controller to the computer chassis with the bracket screw. Close the adapter-retention bracket, and use the retention pin as shown in Figure 3-29 on page 142 Note: Secure all adapters with the retention pin.
Page 160: Sas Expansion Enclosure (Unit)
LSI MegaRAID SAS-MFI BIOS Version NT16 (Build Nov 20, 2007) Copyright(c) 2007 LSI Corporation HA -0 (Bus 84 Dev 0) IBM ServeRAID-MR10M SAS/SATA Controller FW package: 8.0.1-0029 10.Power off the system again. You can now install the disks in the external enclosures and cable with the adapter.
Page 161 Figure 3-30 EXP3000 storage expansion unit You can attach the EXP3000 storage expansion unit to the SAS controllers described in the following sections: 3.3.3, “ServeRAID-MR10k RAID controller” on page 128, 3.3.4, “ServeRAID-MR10M SAS/SATA II controller” on page 135 Table 3-15 lists the hard disk drive options. Table 3-15 EXP3000: hard disk drive options Part number Description...
Page 162 EXP3000 can result in higher performance, but does not increase linearly up to the maximum of nine EXP3000 enclosures with up to 108 disk drives. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 163 It might be more sensible to chain, for example, two EXP3000 units to one controller and add another controller, which is linked to the second PCIe bridge chip. Figure 1-12 on page 28 shows the slot assignment to the PCIe bridge chips.
Page 164 4. Turn on the EXP3000 expansion units before or at the same time as you turn on the device that contains the RAID controller. Figure 3-33 on page 147 shows the components of the ESM. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 165 6. If you observe any abnormal behavior, review the EXP3000 user guide that is in your package. Note: The IBM Support for System x Web page contains useful technical documentation, user guides, and so on. It is located at: http://www.ibm.com/systems/support/x Enter the system Type and Model 172701X in the Quick path field to link to the information for this enclosure.
Page 166: Updating The Sas Storage Controllers
USB floppy drive or mount it in the Remote Supervisor Adapter II remote drive in the Web interface as described in 6.2.4, “Remote console and media” on page 324. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 167 2. Start the executable package and create two diskettes (the first is bootable) by selecting of Extract to Floppy as shown in Figure 3-34. Figure 3-34 LSI1078 code package extraction 3. Boot the server with disk 1 and insert disk 2 when prompted. The utility attempts to flash the onboard LSI 1078 controllers in you system.
Page 168 “Remote console and media” on page 324. 3. Start the executable package and create three diskettes (the first is bootable) by selecting Extract to Floppy (in Figure 3-37 on page 151). Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 169 Figure 3-38. These are not error messages. **************************************** SAS Firmware & BIOS Flash Disk **************************************** This program will update the firmware on all IBM ServeRAID-MR10k controllers in the system. Do you wan to continue[Y,N]?_ Figure 3-38 ServeRAID-MR10k: update process 5.
Page 170 3. Boot your server from this CD image. 4. Update the hard drive disks by clicking the Update button. The update program window is shown in Figure 3-40 on page 153. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 171 To update the EXP3000: 1. Download the bootable CD image from the following Web address: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5073877 2. Burn a CD or mount the ISO image in the Remote Supervisor Adapter II remote drive of the Web interface as described in 6.2.4, “Remote console and media”...
Page 172: Configuring Raid Volumes
The onboard LSI controller is initialized in POST, if it is enabled in the BIOS of the server. Figure 3-42 on page 155 and Figure 3-43 on page 155 shows the BIOS settings you should know about to gain access to the SAS storage subsystem. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 173 Devices and I/O Ports Serial Port A [ Port 3F8, IRQ4 Remote Console Redirection Mouse [ Installed Planar Ethernet [ Enabled Planar SAS Enabled High Precision Event Timer (HPET) [ Enabled Video IDE Configuration Menu System MAC Addresses Figure 3-42 BIOS: system devices and ports Decide which controller you want to boot the server from and select it in the PCI Device Boot Priority field in Start Options menu, Figure 3-43.
Page 174 Creating volumes To create a volume, select the LSI controller you want to configure by highlighting it, as shown in Figure 3-45, and then pressing Enter. From the submenu that Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 175 appears, select the RAID Properties. The submenu, shown in Figure 3-46, lists the RAID types. Figure 3-46 LSI1078: Array type selection You can create two volumes of the same type or a mixture of Integrated Mirroring (IM) or Integrated Striping (IS). Select the RAID level IM or IS. In the RAID creation menu, Figure 3-47, select the hard disk drives you want to add, for example, to a RAID-0 (IS).
Page 176: Starting The Serveraid-Mr10K Controller Webbios
Figure 3-49 LSI1078: Manage Array 3.4.2 Starting the ServeRAID-MR10k controller WebBIOS After correct installation of the ServeRAID card, the card is initialized in POST, as shown in Figure 3-50 on page 159. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 177: Working With Lsi Megaraid Controller Webbios
LSI MegaRAID SAS-MFI BIOS Version NT16 (Build Nov 20, 2007) Copyright(c) 2007 LSI Corporation HA -0 (Bus 4 Dev 0) IBM ServeRAID-MR10k SAS/SATA Controller FW package: 8.0.1-0029 Figure 3-50 ServeRAID-MR10k initialization in POST The following message is prompting you to start the MR10k WebBIOS: Press <CTRL><H>...
Page 178 Controller Function menu, Physical Drives panel, and Virtual Drives panel. Figure 3-52 WebBIOS main window The window also includes icons, as shown in Figure 3-53 on page 161. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 179 Click to show the application version. Click to turn off sound of onboard controller alarm. Click to exit the application. Click to move to previous window you were viewing. Click to return to the home window. Figure 3-53 WebBIOS control icons Options in the Controller Function menu are explained in Figure 3-54.
Page 180 Note: The second page allows you to change the Rebuild Rate, which can negatively affect the performance of the SAS subsystem such as by performance degradation within the operating system and its applications. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 181 Figure 3-56 Adapter properties (page 2): settings Figure 3-57 Adapter properties (page 3): settings In the second and third pages, change any of the following default settings: Battery Backup This indicates whether you installed a battery backup unit (BBU) on the selected controller.
Page 182 BGI Rate: 48 is the default This affects the amount of system resources dedicated to background initialization (BGI) of virtual disks connected to the selected adapter. The value can be 1-100%. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 183 CC Rate: 48 is the default This indicates the amount of system resources dedicated to consistency checking (CC) of virtual disks connected to the selected adapter. The value can be 1-100%. Reconstruction Rate: 48 is the default This is where you define the reconstruction rate of physical drives to the selected adapter dedicated to the amount of system resources.
Page 184 The goal is to protect data integrity by detecting physical drive failure data scrubbing before the failure can damage data. IBM calls this This option indicates the rate for patrol reads for physical drives connected to the selected adapter. The patrol...
Page 185 Schedule CC: Supported This schedules a consistency check. Click Supported. The Schedule Consistency Check window opens, shown in Figure 3-59. Figure 3-59 Adapter properties: settings to schedule a consistency check The options in this dialog are: – CC Frequency: Weekly is the default This controls the frequency of the consistency check.
Page 186 Failed The virtual disk has failed. Offline The virtual disk is not available to the RAID controller. This section discusses the features shown in Figure 3-60. Figure 3-60 Virtual disk features Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 187 First, however, access all of the features and properties: 1. Select the appropriate virtual disk (VD) from the list (shown in Figure 3-60 on page 168). 2. Select Properties. 3. Click Go. The properties, policies, and operations are displayed, as shown in Figure 3-61.
Page 188 Note: Be sure to back up the data before running a consistency check if you think the consistency data might be corrupted. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 189 Policies panel Figure 3-63 shows the panel where you change the policies of the selected virtual disk. Figure 3-63 The WebBIOS virtual disk Policies panel Use this window to specify the following policies for the virtual disk: Access: RW is the default Specify whether a virtual drive can be accessed by read/write (RW, default), read-only (R), or no access (Blocked).
Page 190 Physical drive and Migration panel Options are shown in Figure 3-64 on page 173. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 191 Figure 3-64 WebBIOS virtual disk Properties migration options panel The following list explains the properties on this panel: To set the RAID-level migration: a. Select either Migration only to change the RAID level, or Migration with addition to expand the virtual drive with further available disk space. b.
Page 192 At the time of writing, the software User’s Guide does not list this migration option. However we verified that the option is available in our tests in our lab. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 193 Figure 3-65 WebBIOS: physical drives To rebuild by using the extended properties: 1. Select the appropriate physical disk. 2. Select Properties. 3. Click Go. The extended properties about the selected disk are displayed, as shown in Figure 3-65. Figure 3-66 WebBIOS: physical properties The properties are: Revision information about the firmware Enclosure ID, slot number, device type, connected port, SAS World Wide...
Page 194 Undo Prepare for Removal: This undoes this operation. If you select undo, the firmware marks this physical disk as unconfigured good. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 195 Locate: Use this command to flash the LED on the selected disk. Unconfigured Bad This state is a physical disk on which the firmware detects an unrecoverable Unconfigured Good error, the physical disk was , or the physical disk could not be initialized.
Page 196 Unconfigured Good. A physical disk previously forced to offline can be marked as missing also. See “Offline” on page 177. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 197 Tip: A disk you marked as missing, will show as Unconfigured Good typically. To redefine this disk you have to set this disk to Global or Dedicated Hotspare. The reconstruction process starts immediately. Global or Dedicated Hotspare This shows you that the disk is assigned as Global or Dedicated Hotspare. Note: When a disk is missing that brings a defined virtual disk to the degraded state, a rebuild process (reconstruction) of the array starts immediately, if a Global or Dedicated Hotspare is enabled.
Page 198 The three configuration types, shown in the figure, are discussed in the following sections: “Clear Configuration” on page 180 “New Configuration” on page 181 “Add Configuration” on page 187 Clear Configuration Use this to clear existing configurations. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 199 Important: If you clear the configuration, all data will be lost. The following reminder appears in the window: This is a Destructive Operation! Original configuration and data will be lost. Select YES, if desired so. <YES> / <NO> New Configuration This option clears the existing configuration and guides you to add new virtual disks.
Page 200 The LSI controller implements RAID-60 that can be comprised of six drives (instead of a minimum of eight). Custom Configuration When you want to set up different or more virtual disks, use the custom setup. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 201 Click Custom Configuration. In the Physical Drives panel, shown in Figure 3-73, define the number of disks that you want to add to a virtual disk to assign to a disk group. Figure 3-73 WebBIOS: Configuration Wizard custom DG definition (on left) You can assign all available disks that have the status of Unconfigured good to different disk groups as follow: a.
Page 202 In the Array With Free Space panel, shown in Figure 3-75, select the disk group for which you want to create a virtual disk. Figure 3-75 WebBIOS: Configuration Wizard custom Span definition Note: The WebBIOS suggests all available RAID levels for disk groups. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 203 g. Click the Add to SPAN button. To span a disk group to create RAID 10, 50 or 60 you must have two disk groups with the same number of disks and capacity. The selected disk group is added to the Span panel, shown in Figure 3-76.
Page 204 • Select Size: Specify the size of the virtual disk in megabytes. By default the size is set to the maximum allowed size defined by the RAID level at this virtual disk. You can specify a smaller size if you want Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 205 to create further virtual disks on the same disk group. The space that is hole. available is called a i. After reviewing and changing all options, click Accept to confirm the changes or Reclaim to return to previous settings. j. Click Next when you are finished defining virtual disks. k.
Page 206: Pci Express Options
ServeRAID-MR10k: dedicated 128-pin DIMM socket 3.5.2 PCI device scan order The system scans the slots in the following sequence: 1. Slot internal SAS devices. 2. PCIe slot 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 207: Pci Adapter Installation Order
3. Integrated Ethernet controller 4. PCIe slot 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14; then 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and so on, in a multinode configuration You can use the Configuration Setup utility program to change the sequence and have the server scan one of the first six PCIe slots before it scans the integrated devices.
Page 208: Pci Express Device-Related Information In The Bios
BIOS PCI Express options are displayed after you press F1 during system POST and then select Advanced Setup → Advanced PCI Settings. See Figure 3-79. Figure 3-79 BIOS: Advanced PCI Settings Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 209 The options in this windows are: Hot plug PCI Express Reserved Memory Mapped I/O Size By default, 4 MB of memory mapped I/O (MMIO) space is reserved for hot-swap PCIe adapters. If an adapter exceeds the reserved resources during a hot-plug operation, the device driver does not load. The Windows operating system shows a message similar to: This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use.
Page 210 The system BIOS must initialize and configure any PCI Express native features that buses, bridges, and adapters require before they boot these operating systems. IBM provides the relevant Active PCI slot software for Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 from the following Web address: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-62127...
Page 211 In Figure 3-81 an example is shown that details the ServeRAID-MR10k device information. Scroll to the next/previous PCI device Slot/Device Information Vendor based information ROM usage in POST and Run time Figure 3-81 BIOS: ServeRAID-MR10k PCI Device Information The most important information that can be checked here is the initial ROM size and whether all resources can be assigned correctly.
Page 212: Supported Pci Express Adapter Options
3.5.5 Supported PCI Express adapter options After completing intensive tests with different operating systems and different external environments, IBM provides all the options that are supported with IBM System x systems, in table form, on the IBM ServerProven Web page: http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/...
Page 213: Chapter 4. Multinode Hardware Configurations
4.5, “Upgrading an x3850 M2 to an x3950 M2” on page 204 4.6, “Cabling of multinode configurations” on page 209 4.7, “Configuring partitions” on page 220 4.8, “Working with partitions” on page 228 4.9, “Observations with scalability configurations” on page 237 © Copyright IBM Corp. 2008. All rights reserved.
Page 214: Introduction And Terminology
During this process you have the option to cancel the merge unmerged process and boot each node individually in an state (such as for maintenance). See “Start a multinode system” on page 234. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 215 Merging timeout This is the time that the system waits for the merge process to complete. If the merge process does not complete within this time, the nodes in the partition are booted in standalone mode instead. The default value is six seconds. Multinode mode A created partition is started, merges successfully, and is running as a single image.
Page 216: Multinode Capabilities
A three-node complex comprised of three x3950 M2 servers, with six or 12 processors, and up to 768 GB RAM installed A four-node complex comprised of four x3950 M2 servers, with eight or 16 processors, and up to 1 TB RAM installed Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 217: Understanding Scalability
4.3 Understanding scalability The science behind the eX4 technology allows multiple x3950 M2 systems to form a single scalable multinode system. Building such a complex is simply a matter of connecting the nodes using scalability cables as described in 4.6, “Cabling of multinode configurations”...
Page 218: Complex Descriptor Contents
Number of chassis UUID and structure of each chassis Logical component ID (to specific which one is the primary) Partition ID (a unique partition identifier) Node power state Number of partitions Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 219: Prerequisites To Create A Multinode Complex
Partition-related information (such as merge timeout definition) Chassis information for serial and UUID checksum Scalability port information The BMC firmware discovers scalable systems automatically, to check for changes at the scalability port connections, adding new systems and any changes at any existing system in this complex. This is all done by the attached scalability cables.
Page 220 Table 4-1 Supported and required scalability option part numbers Option part number Description 44E4249 IBM ScaleXpander Option Kit, to upgrade an x3850 M2 to an x3950 M2 to enable scalability features. Kit contains: One ScaleXpander key One 3.08m (9.8ft) scalability cable...
Page 221 LAN. This ensures that you can connect to the RSA II Web interface of at least one node to manage the complex. This can be important if you require assistance by your local IBM technical support if the system experiences any hardware-related error.
Page 222: Upgrading An X3850 M2 To An X3950 M2
Review section 4.4, “Prerequisites to create a multinode complex” on page 201. 4.5.1 Installing the ScaleXpander key (chip) Figure 4-5 on page 205 shows the ScaleXpander key (chip), which must be installed in a vertical position on the processor board. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 223 Figure 4-5 ScaleXpander key (left); ScaleXpander key installed on processor board near the front of the x3950 M2 (right) To install the ScaleXpander key: 1. Unpack your ScaleXpander option kit. 2. Remove the power cables and ensure that the blue locator LED at the rear side of the server is off, indicating that the system is without power.
Page 224: Configuring For A Lan Connection
1. Plug in the power cables and power on your system. 2. When prompted, press F1 to enter the System Setup in BIOS. 3. Select Advanced Setup → RSA II Settings → RSA LAN interface. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 225 Tip: Another way to access the RSA II Web interface is by connecting your workstation directly to the RSA II using a crossover Ethernet cable, and then connecting to the RSA II with the following address and subnet: IP address: 192.168.70.125 Subnet: 255.255.255.0 You could also set up the RSA IP for each DHCP request.
Page 226: Updating The Code Levels, Firmware
Image release Build level RSA2 v1.02 A3EP26A FPGA v1.22 A3UD22A v3.40 A3BT40A BIOS v1.05 A3E145A Download the following firmware: Remote Supervisor Adapter II firmware: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5073124 Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) firmware: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5074499 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 227: Cabling Of Multinode Configurations
Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) firmware: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5073127 System BIOS update: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5073120 Important: After updating the BIOS, reset the BIOS to the default settings. Our observation has shown that using system flash utilities that are based on the following items, do not reflash any component if the version in the update source...
Page 228 The ports are named port 1, port 2, and port 3, starting from the left. Each ports has an indicator LED that shows an active connection on this port. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 229 Scalability port 1, 2, and 3 Port 1, 2, and 3 link LED Figure 4-10 x3950 M2: Rear view with scalability connectors Figure 4-11 shows the scalability cable connector. The connectors are the same on both ends of the cable. Figure 4-11 x3950 M2: Scalability cable connector Insert the cables on one server first, follow the installation guidance in the next sections to route the scalability cables through the cable management arm.
Page 230: Two-Node Configuration
Connect one end of a ScaleXpander cable to port 2 on node 2; then, connect the opposite end of the cable to port 2 of node 2. See Figure 4-13 on page 213. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 231 Node 1 Management Network Node 2 One RSA LAN connection Scalability cabling required for configuration Recommended RSA cabling (optional) Figure 4-13 Two-node x3950 M2: ScaleXpander cable port assignment 3. Route the cables through the Enterprise Cable Management Arms (CMAs) as follows (refer to Figure 4-14 on page 214), ensuring that in each case, you have enough spare length of the cable between the rear side of the server and the first hanger bracket, and on the front side of the cable management...
Page 232: Three-Node Configuration
Node 1: scalability port 1 → node 2: scalability port 1 3.0 m cable Node 1: scalability port 2 → node 3: scalability port 1 3.0 m cable Node 2: scalability port 2 →node 3: scalability port 2 3.0 m cable Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 233 Node 1 Node 2 Management Network Node 3 One RSA LAN connection Scalability cabling required for configuration Recommended RSA cabling (optional) Figure 4-15 Three-node x3950 M2: ScaleXpander cable port assignment To cable a three-node configuration: 1. Label each end of each ScaleXpander cable according to where it will be connected to each server.
Page 234: Four-Node Configuration
One 3.0 m cable is included with every the x3950 M2 or the ScaleXpander Option Kit (for upgraded x3850 M2s). The fifth longer (3.26 m) cable is included in the IBM Scalability Upgrade Option 2 Kit. These kits are described in Table 4-1 on page 202.
Page 235 Node 1 Node 2 Management Network Node 3 Node 4 One RSA LAN connection Scalability cabling required for configuration Recommended RSA cabling (optional) Figure 4-16 Four-node x3950 M2: ScaleXpander cable port assignment The scalability cables required for a four-node configuration are listed in Table 4-6 on page 218.
Page 236 1 of node 3. b. Connect one end of a short ScaleXpander cable to port 2 on node 2; then, connect the opposite end of the cable to port 2 of node 4. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 237 5. Connect the ScaleXpander cables to node 3: a. Connect one end of the long ScaleXpander cable to port 3 on node 3; then, connect the opposite end of the cable to port 3 of node 4. 6. Repeat step 3 on page 218. 7.
Page 238: Configuring Partitions
4.7.1 Understanding the Scalable Partitioning menu The Remote Supervisor Adapter II (RSA II) Web interface includes panels to configure scalable partitions, as shown in Figure 4-18. Figure 4-18 RSA II Web interface with enabled scalability features Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 239 The Manage Partition(s) option lists a variety of functions in the Scalable Complex Management panel, shown in Figure 4-18 on page 220. The following buttons enable you to configure, monitor, and manage scalability partitions: Partition Control buttons are shown in Figure 4-19. Figure 4-19 RSA II Web interface: Partition Control buttons The buttons provide the following functions: –...
Page 240 • If the system is in multinode mode already, this command is ignored. Partitions Configure buttons are shown in Figure 4-21. Figure 4-21 RSA II Web interface: Partition Configure buttons (create partitions) Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 241 The buttons provide the following functions: – Auto partition The Auto button puts all systems in the complex into a single partition. First, power off all systems. Any pre-existing partitions are deleted during power-off. Select a single primary system, then click Auto to create one partition with all systems.
Page 242 Figure 4-24 RSA II Web interface: complex health The section on the right side in Figure 4-18 on page 220 (and also shown in Figure 4-25 on page 225) indicates: System power state Partition state Scalability mode Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 243: First Steps In Configuring The Partition
System Partition Mode Stop ped Valid Mul tin ode An entire red row indicates an error with the server as due to firmware or scalability Stop ped Valid Mul tin ode System power mo de: Partition Status: Complex mode: • Started = powered on •...
Page 244: Creating Partitions
Tip: We recommend that you reorder the systems in the configuration window to match the physical installation in your rack. See Partition Reorder in 4.7.1, “Understanding the Scalable Partitioning menu” on page 220 for details. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 245 To create a partition, use one of the following methods: Automatic partitioning (autopartitioning) Autopartitioning generates a partition, without your intervention, by using all nodes in the complex. You assign a designated server as the primary system and then click Auto. The default settings are: –...
Page 246: Working With Partitions
Click Start (under Partition Control). The following events occur, as shown in Figure 4-27 on page 229: The selected partition starts immediately. The system’s state changes from Stopped to Started. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 247 The process indicates: The primary node searches for the secondary node, shown in Example 4-1. Example 4-1 x3950 M2: primary server merge process IBM BIOS - (c) Copyright IBM Cooperation 2008 Symmetric Multiprocessing System Quad-Core Intel Xeon MP ~2.93GHz...
Page 248 The white scalability LED on the front of all nodes, which merged successfully to this partition, becomes solid . This LED goes again after a system in this partition is swapped to the Standalone mode, followed by a reboot. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 249 Front view: Rear view: Scalability LED Port Link LED Figure 4-29 x3950 M2: Scalability LED and port link LED green The scalability port LED becomes solid at the ports where a scalability connection has been established. Reset a partition: To reset a partition, select the Partition ID you want to reset. Then, click Reset (under Partition Control).
Page 250: Behaviors Of Scalability Configurations
4.6, “Cabling of multinode configurations” on page 209? Are you familiar with the Scalability Manager in the Remote Supervisor Adapter II as described in 4.7, “Configuring partitions” on page 220? Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 251 Add a x3950 M2 server system to a complex After the server is installed in the rack and cabled with the scalability cables of each system, you can observe the following behavior: The system can be powered on by one of the following methods: –...
Page 252 Observe the following behaviors: You can watch the merging process after a partition is started in multinode mode on the window of each member in this partition, see “Start a partition” on page 228. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 253 In the merging process: – The primary system scans for resources of all merged nodes in the installed processor packages and memory, and then indicates how much of it is available. – The main memory is decreased by 256 MB for each merged system. After a merge is successful: –...
Page 254 Perform a shutdown in the operating system. A shutdown is generated automatically in any form of abnormal fatal conditions, such running at temperatures that are too high, specification overages, hardware malfunctions, or defects, and not recoverable errors. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 255: Observations With Scalability Configurations
4.9 Observations with scalability configurations This section highlights the experiences we gained when we tested and worked with the servers in our lab. You should regularly check the IBM Support Web page for tips, newly released documentation, and system firmware updates at: http://www.ibm.com/systems/support/x...
Page 256 RSA II Web interface. See Figure 4-30 on page 233. 2. Perform an AC power cycle and wait 30 seconds before you replug the power cables. Try a merge. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 257: Problems With Merging If Prerequisites Were Not Met
Note: Bear in mind this expects a local response if you do not have access to an uninterruptible power supply that can manage the power connections to shut off/ or turn on the power to the outlets. 3. After powering off all boxes: –...
Page 258: Known Problems
Problem 1: Resetting a node in a complex, unexpected reboot A started partition is in the multinode mode and can be changed to the stand-alone mode in the scalability management menu of the RSA II (see “Swap Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 259 2 Err SERVPROC 04/16/08, 22:02:03 Machine check asserted - SPINT, North Bridge Solution and workaround This problem is reported to IBM development. Newer RSA II firmware prevents the serial number of any node from being selectable. Do not reboot one system in stand-alone mode after the scalability mode was changed to stand-alone mode and all other systems are still running in the operating system.
Page 260 As Figure 4-34 shows, the first system in the list is Stopped, however the second system in the list is Started. The power state is shown as Off in the Server Power/Restart Activity panel, shown in Figure 4-35 on page 243. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 261 We recommend that you regularly check for newer system firmware code and updated product publications such as the Problem Determination and Support Guide and new tips on the Support for IBM System Support Web pages at: http://www.ibm.com/systems/support/x As shown in Figure 4-36 on page 244, select your product family x3850 M2 or x3950 M2, or the machine type to find the required information.
Page 262 Figure 4-36 IBM System x: technical support on the Web Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 263: Chapter 5. Installation
Chapter 5. This chapter describes the steps involved in installing and configuring supported operating systems on the IBM x3850 M2 and x3950 M2. Firmware and BIOS updates, BIOS settings and operating system support are also discussed as important preliminary tasks prior to beginning the installation of operating systems on the server.
Page 264: Updating Firmware And Bios
Even if the firmware is reported to be at the latest level by the update utility, we still recommend that you use the firmware update utility to re-apply the most recent IBM supported firmware level to your node. This ensures that all x3950 M2 nodes are optimally prepared for any stand-alone or multinode configuration operating system deployment.
Page 265: Downloading The Firmware
5.1.2 Downloading the firmware To download the latest firmware for the servers you will be installing: 1. Navigate to the “Support for IBM System x” Web page: http://www.ibm.com/systems/support/x 2. In the Product family list, select the model of your server (for example x3850 M2 or x3950 M2).
Page 266 At the completion of the FPGA update on the primary node, you will be prompted to press Enter to power off all nodes in the same partition. See Example 5-1 on Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 267 page 249. The FPGA is then reloaded on all nodes in the partition, then each node is powered off and automatically powered on again (this can be 30-second delays in this sequence). Removing any power cable to activate new updated FPGA firmware is not required.
Page 268 BMC Firmware and SDRs updated successfully!!! Do you want to clear the SEL (y or n)?y > SEL Cleared. > Flash Loader v1.30.0.54, OSR Technologies. Inc. (c)2007 firmware image IPMI Version= Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 269: System Bios
major Revision= minor Revision = manufacturer ID = product ID= build Name= A3BT31B A3BT31B Firmware and the image have the same version and build name. Start to program flash? (Y/N) Y_ Start programming… Writing to Address: 0x0007FF80……OK. Download to Flash OK. BMC initialization…OK.
Page 270 : READ CAPACITY failed. sda : status=0, message=00, host=7, driver=00 sda : sense not available. sda : Write Protect is off sda : assuming drive cache: write through sda : READ CAPACITY failed. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 271 sda : status=0, message=00, host=7, driver=00 sda : sense not available. sda : Write Protect is off sda : assuming drive cache: write through INQUIRY host_status=0x7 usb 10-6: new device found, idVendor=0483, idProduct=fada usb 10-6: new device strings: Mfr=2, Product=1, SerialNumber=0 usb 10-6: Product: ST72682 High Speed Mode usb 10-6: Manufacturer: STMicroelectronics usb 10-6: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice...
Page 272: Confirming Bios Settings
1. At System Boot up press F1 to enter the BIOS Configuration/Setup Utility window, shown in Figure 5-2. Figure 5-2 BIOS Configuration/Setup Utility window 2. Select System Summary to open the System Summary window shown in Figure 5-3. Figure 5-3 System Summary window Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 273 In the next steps, you check the system BIOS to ensure all processors, memory cards and capacity, and PCIe adapters installed on the x3850 M2, x3950 M2, or both nodes are correctly detected. 3. From the System Summary window, select Processor Summary → CPUIDs (Figure 5-4) and check that all processors on stand-alone or merged nodes are detected as expected.
Page 274 (To open the Memory Settings window, select Advanced Setup in the Configuration/Setup Utility window, shown in Figure 5-2 on page 254.) Figure 5-8 Detected memory cards in the primary node Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 275: Supported Operating Systems
BIOS” on page 190. Figure 5-10 Advanced PCI Settings 5.3 Supported operating systems Before you install your intended operating system, check the IBM ServerProven Web pages, indicated in the following list, to verify that the particular version of Chapter 5. Installation...
Page 276 .shtml IBM ServerProven compatibility for System x http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/indexsp.ht IBM ServerProven program also extends to testing and publishing the IBM System x options (for example, network adapters, storage adapters, storage expansions, storage subsystems and other common options. In addition, we also recommend that you check the particular operating system vendor’s hardware compatibility list (HCL).
Page 277: Vmware Esx Operating Systems
5.3.1 VMware ESX operating systems The ServerProven NOS support matrix for VMware is located at: http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/nos/vmware.html At the time of writing this book, the VMware operating systems are supported on x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 as indicated in Table 5-1. The shaded table cells indicate , they are supported.
Page 278 Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Web x86 Edition Windows Server 2003 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Yes, with Yes, with Planned Planned R2 x64 Datacenter Edition SP2 or SP2 or Unlimited Virtualization later later Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 279: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Operating Systems
Yes, with 2003/2003 R2 Standard x86 SP2 or Edition later Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2003 R2 Web x86 Edition 5.3.3 Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating systems See the ServerProven NOS support matrix for Red Hat Enterprise Linux at: http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/nos/redchat.html Chapter 5. Installation...
Page 280: Suse Linux Enterprise Server Operating Systems
At the time of writing this book, the SUSE Linux operating systems are supported on x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 as indicated in Table 5-4 on page 263. The shaded table cells indicate , they are supported. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 281: Solaris Operating Systems
5.3.5 Solaris operating systems The ServerProven NOS support matrix for Solaris is located at: http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/nos/suseclinux.html At the time of writing this book, only Solaris 10 was supported on x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 as indicated in Table 5-5. The shaded table cells indicate , they are supported.
Page 282: Installing The Operating System
Installation of Solaris operating systems is not described. 5.4.1 Installing (configuring) VMware ESXi 3.5 embedded VMware ESXi 3.5 boots from an IBM customized USB Flash Drive. It does not have to be installed onto a local server storage. IBM does provide ESXi 3.5 Installable Edition, which can be installed onto local storage but cannot be installed onto remote storage such as a SAN LUN or iSCSI target.
Page 283 Figure 5-11 Example of x3850 M2 BIOS Start Options with USB Disk enabled 3. In Start Options → Startup Sequence Options, set the following startup sequences to IBM Embedded Hypervisor, also shown in Figure 5-12 on page 266: – Primary Startup Sequence: Third Startup Device –...
Page 284 4. Exit the BIOS utility and save you settings when prompted. Boot ESXi hypervisor and customize settings After setting the IBM Embedded Hypervisor to boot as a startup device in the system BIOS, and after POST completes, the server starts to boot VMware ESXi...
Page 285 USB Flash Disk. The following steps are the sequence of events that take place and how you interact with the process: 1. After the server POST has completed, the server boots from the IBM USB Flash Disk and loads ESXi hypervisor, shown in Figure 5-13.
Page 286 169.254.0.1/255.255.0.0 IP address and Class B netmask. Figure 5-14 The x3850 M2 is successfully booting the IBM Customized ESXi on the USB Flash Disk, and detecting processor sockets and total memory installed Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 287 3. In the Customize System window, shown in Figure 5-15, change the default root password to a more secure password in accordance with your root/administrator password policies; select Configure Root Password. Figure 5-15 The Customize System menu when you press F2 at the DCUI ESXi interface 4.
Page 288 Figure 5-16 Configuring the management network IP address settings Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 289 5. Under Network Adapters, Figure 5-17, you can select which vmnic to assign to the ESXi host management interface for fault-tolerance and management network traffic load-balancing. Selecting VLAN (optional) allows you to set a VLAN ID (if your network policy uses VLANs for network isolation or segregation) for this ESXi host management interface.
Page 290 Client or VirtualCenter. By default, this test tries to ping your Default Gateway, DNS server IP addresses and performs DNS resolution of your ESXi host name. See Figure 5-19. Figure 5-19 Testing of the management network settings Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 291 8. Most of the other settings, typically configured for ESX 3.5, can be also configured similarly by using VI Client, as shown in Figure 5-20. Figure 5-20 Summary tab after connecting to ESXi using VI Client Chapter 5. Installation...
Page 292 10.In the Hardware panel on the left of the Configurator tab in VI Client, check that ESXi can successfully detect each processor’s sockets and cores, total memory installed, network adapters installed, and storage adapters installed. Figure 5-22 on page 275 shows the storage adapters detected. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 293 Figure 5-22 Configuration tab: Detecting Storage Adapters in a x3580 M2 with ESXi 11.ESXi should be able to detect all internal hard drives in the x3850 M2 and any external hard drives connected through the x3850 M2’s external SAS connector to EXP3000 enclosures. To confirm this: –...
Page 294 Server (this is typically configured before or during the installation of VMware VirtualCenter Server). – If you use host-based license files, configure the ESXi host’s license source to point to a license file. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 295 – If you have VI3 Enterprise, Standard, or Foundation license files, under Licensed Features, you can also enable the appropriate ESX Server Edition (such as Standard) and add-on features (HA, DRS, VCB) permitted by your license. Figure 5-24 Example of Serial Number license for ESXi 13.If you intend to use VirtualCenter to manage all your ESXi hosts, we recommend that you exit the VI Client sessions that are directly connected to the individual ESXi hosts and connect to your VirtualCenter server using...
Page 296 For example, the VMFS volume /vmfs/volumes/DatastoreName after reboot ESXi might not show DatastoreName but instead a unique volume ID. e. Check the ScratchConfig.ConfiguredSwapState check box. f. Click OK. g. Reboot the ESXi host. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 297: Installing Vmware Esxi 3.5 Installable
Note: At the time of writing, only VMware Virtual Center 2.5 Update 1 has support for ESXi in HA Clusters. The following restrictions apply when using VMware HA in conjunction with VMware ESX Server 3i hosts: Swap space must be enabled on individual ESX Server 3i hosts, Only homogeneous (non-mixed) clusters are supported at this time.
Page 298 Figure 5-27. Figure 5-27 Welcome window for ESXi Installer 6. Press Enter to continue with the Installation. 7. If you accept the End User License Agreement, press F11. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 299: Installing Vmware Esx 3.5 Update 1
8. Select the appropriate disk on which to install VMware ESXi Installable (see Figure 5-28) and press Enter to continue. Figure 5-28 Selecting the disk on which to install ESXi 9. When the installer completes the operation, the Installation Complete window opens.
Page 300 Media using the RSA II Remote Control → Mount Drive feature). See Figure 5-29. Figure 5-29 Booting from VMware ESX 3.5 Update 1 from CD or ISO file 2. Select the keyboard and mouse as indicated and click Next. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 301 3. If you accept the End User License Agreement, click Next. 4. For Partitioning Options, Figure 5-30, select the available local or remote disk (bootable SAN LUN) on which to install ESX 3.5 Update 1. If multiple disks are available, be careful to select the correct disk to install ESX 3.5 Update 1, otherwise the server might not boot correctly into ESX 3.5 Update 1 hypervisor.
Page 302 ESX 3.5 Udpate 1 system. 10.In the summary window of all the selections you have made during the installation process, confirm the selections and click Next to begin the installation. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 303: Installing Windows Server 2003
11.The installer formats the selected local or remote storage you selected earlier and transfer or load the ESX 3.5 Update 1 hypervisor image to the selected disks. 12.Upon completion of the installation, click Finish and reboot the server. The ESX 3.5 Update 1 Hypervisor will boot into the ESX 3.5 startup window with the Service Console IP Address as shown in Figure 5-32.
Page 304 Insert the disk controller driver diskette when prompted. Create the diskette from: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5073138 Tip: If you are using ServerGuide™ to install Windows, you do not have to obtain these drivers separately. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 305 If you do not have a USB diskette drive, you can mount a remote diskette drive using the RSA II remote media function. a. Select the diskette drive A. b. Select No when asked if you want to upload the diskette image to the RSA II adapter.
Page 306 Windows Server 2003 has successfully installed, log on as Administrator. Proceed to install additional drivers for any other adapters you might have installed in the x3850 M2 or x3950 M2 (single and multinode), as detailed in the next section. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 307: Installing Windows Server 2008
Download the appropriate Windows Server 2008 installation instructions: – Installing Windows Server 2008 (32-bit) on x3950 M2 and x3850 M2: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5074895 – Installing Windows Server 2008 x64 on x3950 M2 and x3850 M2: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5074896...
Page 308 Selection setting is set to Other OS, as shown in Figure 6-14 on page 320 A USB diskette drive is not required because Windows Server 2008 already includes boot drives for the IBM ServeRAID MR10k and LSI1078 disk controllers. Install Windows Server 2008 To install Windows Server 2008: 1.
Page 309 Figure 5-36 Select type of installation: Upgrade or Custom (clean installation) Chapter 5. Installation...
Page 310 Administrator and follow the instructions listed in the next section to install additional updated devices drivers for any other devices you might have installed in the x3850 M2 or x3950 M2 (single and multinode). Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 311: Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Update 1
Download the RHEL 5 Update 1 installation guide: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5074155 If you are planning to boot from the internal SAS drives or remote storage (for example SAN LUN) and will be installing using the RHEL5 Update 1...
Page 312 2. When prompted, press Enter to install in graphical mode. 3. Enter the serial number. 4. Select the partitions (drives) to use for the installation. Figure 5-38 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Update 1 select partition window Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 313: Installing Suse Linux Enterprise Server 10 Sp1
Download the following SLES 10 SP1 installation guide: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5073088 If you plan to boot from the internal SAS drives or remote storage (for example SAN LUN) and will be installing using the SLES10 Service Pack 1 installation CD/DVD-ROM, you do not have to insert a driver diskette for SAS Chapter 5.
Page 314 Figure 5-39 SUSE Enterprise Linux Server 10 installer start-up window 2. Select your language and accept the license agreement. 3. Select the type of installation you want to use: new or update. See Figure 5-40 on page 297. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 315 Figure 5-40 SUSE Enterprise Linux 10 Installation Mode window 4. Continue with the installation process. Refer to the installation instructions for additional information. Post-Installation If you are using a 32-bit version of SUSE Enterprise Linux 10, then install the kernel-PAE kernel to access more than 4 GB of memory. Chapter 5.
Page 316 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 317 6.1, “BMC configuration options” on page 300 6.2, “Remote Supervisor Adapter II” on page 316 6.3, “Use of IBM Director with VMware ESX” on page 334 6.4, “Active Energy Manager” on page 334 6.5, “IBM Director: Implementation of servers” on page 346 6.6, “System management with VMware ESXi 3.5”...
Page 318: Chapter 6. Management
The BMC protects the server and powers the server off or prevents DC power-on in any of the following circumstances: At temperature of out-of-specification Invalid or wrong component installation Power voltage faults Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 319 The server is reset if any of the following events occur: Software non-maskable interrupt (NMI) Service processor interrupt (SPINT) routine was started Internal error (IERR) Automatic boot recovery (ABR) request is received The BMC and the x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 baseboard management firmware enable the following features: Environmental monitoring for: –...
Page 320: Bmc Connectivity
1. Boot or reset the server and press F1 when prompted to enter Setup. 2. Select the Advanced Setup → Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) Settings. The BMC menu is shown in Figure 6-1 on page 303. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 321 Figure 6-1 BIOS: BMC configuration settings menu 3. Select the BMC Network Configuration to open the BMC Network Configuration menu, shown in Figure 6-2. Figure 6-2 BIOS: BMC Network Configuration settings menu 4. Enter a host name. 5. Enter the appropriate IP address, subnet mask, and gateway address, or enable DHCP control.
Page 322: Event Log
IPMI specification at Intel, and do not include time stamp information. It fills the respective bytes in the event raw data with empty values, which are interpreted by the SEL as a date in 1970. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 323: User Account Settings Menus
As shown in Figure 6-3 on page 304, the number of events reached the maximum level of 512 entries. You must clear this, freeing it for new events. To clear it, select Clear BMC SEL or use tools we mentioned previously. The BMC alerts you if the log reaches 75, 90, or 100 percent full.
Page 324: Bmc Monitoring Features
The SMBridge utility and documentation can be found at: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-62198 The IBM Redbooks technote, Enabling Serial Over LAN for a Remote Windows Text Console using OSA SMBridge, TIPS0551 also provides helpful information: http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/tips0551.html 6.1.6 BMC monitoring features The BMC settings menu (Figure 6-5) in the server BIOS allows to change the behavior of the server and how to proceed if an error occurs.
Page 325: Bmc Firmware Update
(SPINT) routine catches chipset register information of the machine check (MCK) error registers and stores it in the BMC NVRAM. Each main component of the IBM eX4 is embedded by a different machine check error register that monitors the system operability and holds the state of that condition.
Page 326: Installing The Bmc Device Drivers
6.1.8 Installing the BMC device drivers The device drivers are required to provide operating system support and in-band communication with IBM Director. This section describes how to install the IPMI device drivers on Windows and Linux platforms. The required device drivers are listed in Table 6-1.
Page 327 5. Select the links to download each component. Note: The IBM System x Web page, does not have OSA IPMI driver and layer software available for Linux, Novell, and Windows operating systems to download. For instructions, see the following sections.
Page 328 1. Ensure that the OSA IPMI device driver is installed before installing the library software. 2. Download the executable file from the link listed in “Download the BMC device drivers” on page 308, and run it. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 329 3. Follow the program’s instructions, shown in the window. 4. Reboot the server if the installation procedure prompts you to do so. Note: If the Microsoft IPMI driver is installed, you do not have to install the OSA IPMI mapping layer. OSA IPMI driver uninstall in Windows Server 2003 We added this section in case you want to uninstall the Microsoft IPMI driver.
Page 330 Figure 6-9 Windows Server 2003: adding or removing Windows components 2. Select Management and Monitoring Tools and click Details. The window shown in Figure 6-10 on page 313 opens. 3. Add a check mark to Hardware Management. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 331 4. Click OK. Windows reminds you that any third-party IPMI driver must be uninstalled. See Figure 6-11. Ensure that the OSA IBM driver is uninstalled, as described in “OSA IPMI driver uninstall in Windows Server 2003” on page 311. Figure 6-11 Microsoft hardware management notice of third-party drivers 5.
Page 332 Install the device drivers on Linux The support for OSA IPMI driver and layer software for RHEL4 and SLES9 are deprecated. In May 2008, IBM transitioned to the Open Source IPMI (OpenIPMI) software instead. See the following support document for details: IBM now supporting Linux open source IPMI driver and utility http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5069569...
Page 333 (IPMI) versions 1.5 and 2.0. The libraries for OpenIPMI are part of the most recent versions of Linux operating systems. As a result, IBM does not supply these drivers. Note: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (and later) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (and later) are shipped with the OpenIPMI driver natively.
Page 334: Ports Used By The Bmc
ATI RN50 and the networking interface; and the daughter card is the RSA II adapter that is connected by a separate internal cable to the Intelligent Platform Management Bus (IPMB) on the Serial IO/PCI-X board. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 335 Video port for the server Base card providing power, video and networking Service processor Ethernet port for daughter card management Figure 6-13 Remote Supervisor Adapter (RSA) II The RSA II communicates with the BMC and periodically polls for new events. The RSA II catches events of the BMC and translates them to more user-friendly event information.
Page 336 Automatic notification and alerts The RSA II automatically sends various types of alerts and notifications to another server, such as IBM Director, to an SNMP destination, or as e-mail directly to a user by using SMTP. Event log You can access the event logs of the server and the power-on-self-test (POST) log and export them while the server is running.
Page 337: Rsa Ii Connectivity
Scalability Management The Remote Supervisor Adapter II offers an easy-to-use Scalability Management Interface to configure, control, and manage Scalability partitions in a complex of x3950 M2 server systems. Read more about scalability, how it works, and how to manage in Chapter 4, “Multinode hardware configurations” on page 195.
Page 338 By selecting Linux OS here, it makes the RSA II appear as an OEM HID instead of generic HID, which then functions properly. 5. Select Save the Values and Reboot RSA II, and then press Enter. 6. Exit the utility. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 339: Web Interface
7. Save the settings and restart the ASM. The RSA2 adapter is restarted and the new settings are enabled. Tip: This process can take up to 20 seconds before you can ping the new IP address of the RSA II adapter. 6.2.3 Web interface Through port 80, the RSA II enables the embedded Web server daemon, which you use to access the Web interface after you assigned the correct LAN interface...
Page 340 BIOS and restoring the RSA settings to the factory defaults. After you log on, the welcome window opens. 2. Set the session time-out values as shown in Figure 6-16 on page 323. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 341 Figure 6-16 RSA II Web interface Welcome window. The home window of the Web interface opens. See Figure 6-17 on page 324. Chapter 6. Management...
Page 342: Remote Console And Media
Figure 6-17 RSA II Web interface 6.2.4 Remote console and media To manage servers from a remote location, you often use more than just keyboard-video-mouse (KVM) redirection. For example, for the remote Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 343 installation of an operating system or patches, you may require remote media to connect a CD-ROM or diskette to the server. The RSA II offers the ability to make available a local diskette, CD-ROM, or image to a remote server and have that server treat the devices as though they were a local USB-attached device.
Page 344 (that is, ensure the mouse pointer on the remote system precisely follows the local mouse pointer). The following keyboard types are supported: US 104-key keyboard Belgian 105-key keyboard Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 345: Updating Firmware
French 105-key keyboard German 105-key keyboard Italian 105-key keyboard Japanese 109-key keyboard Spanish 105-key keyboard UK 105-key keyboard The Video Speed selector, shown in Figure 6-20 is used to limit the bandwidth that is devoted to the Remote Console display on your computer. Reducing the Video Speed can improve the rate at which the Remote Console display is refreshed by limiting the video data that must be displayed.
Page 346 Restart the RSA only after applying both files. 6. Click Update to begin the process. The PKT file is transferred to the RSA II. 7. Click Continue to begin the flash writing process. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 347: Implementing The Rsa Ii In The Operating System
6.2.6 Implementing the RSA II in the operating system The device drivers provide operating support and in-band communication with IBM Director. This section describes how to install the RSA II device driver on Windows and Linux platforms. The required device drivers are listed in Table 6-1...
Page 348 4. When the installation finishes, you may delete the files in the temporary folder. To determine if the installation was successful, check the services for the IBM Remote Supervisor Adapter II by selecting Start → All Programs → Administrative Tools → Services. Scroll to the service IBM RSAII and verify that the Status indicates Started (Figure 6-23).
Page 349 RHEL and SLES daemon installation Make sure both the run-time and development libusb libraries are installed on your Linux system. Execute the following rpm query command to check that the libraries are installed and the version numbers: rpm -qa | grep libusb The command returns the following two libusb entries (if your version numbers are different, that is okay): libusb-0.1.6-3...
Page 350: Tcp/Udp Ports Used By The Rsa Ii
RSA. Table 6-3 on page 333 lists the default ports. Remember when you change the ports in the RSA you have to change them in the firewalls too. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 351: Mib Files
Partition Management 6.2.8 MIB files The RSA II supports SNMP from many management tools, including IBM Director. If you require management information base (MIB) files, they are on the RSA II firmware ZIP file that also includes the PKT files: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5073124...
Page 352: Use Of Ibm Director With Vmware Esx
0 in ESX Server 3i, and levels 1 and 2 in ESX 3.0.2U1, 3.5. To manage a Level-0 system, you must use an out-of-band network connection to the RSA II. To manage the server as a Level-1 system, you must have IBM Director Core Services installed. The system management driver is required to manage Level-2 systems by the IBM Director agent.
Page 353: Active Energy Manager Terminology
IBM Systems Software Information center at: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/eserver/v1r2/index.jsp?topic=/ aem_310/frb0_main.html To download the extension to IBM Director and the stand-alone version, go to: http://www.ibm.com/systems/management/director The requirements for using the AEM are as follows: IBM Director 5.20.2 requirements, see IBM Director information center: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/eserver/v1r2/index.jsp?topi...
Page 354: Active Energy Manager Components
Power data is collected only while the Active Energy Manager Server is running. When you install AEM, the server starts running. It runs when the IBM Director Server is running. By default, it collects data on the BladeCenter chassis and rack-mounted servers every minute, but the collection interval can be configured on the Manage Trend Data window in the a graphical user interface (GUI).
Page 355 Derby database. The AEM Database is created in the Data subdirectory of the IBM Director installation directory. When you uninstall IBM Director Server, it does not remove the AEM Database unless you request that customizations be deleted during the uninstallation of IBM Director Server.
Page 356: Active Energy Manager Tasks
Figure 6-24 x3850 M2 and x3950 M2: power capping feature in BIOS is enabled 6.4.3 Active Energy Manager tasks After the AEM is launched, it displays the AEM console in the IBM Director Console. Its functions enable you to monitor and collect power-consumption data from power devices, create trend data, export data and manage energy on certain hardware, for example by using capping features.
Page 357 Figure 6-26 Active Energy Manager options When you install the AEM extension in your IBM Director environment, its task is added to IBM Director Console. Start the Active Energy Manager task by dragging and dropping the task icon onto any of the following targets: If the target is a blade server, the display consists of the BladeCenter chassis containing the blade with the targeted blade preselected.
Page 358: Active Energy Manager 3.1 Functions
Energy Manager task for those additional managed systems. 6.4.4 Active Energy Manager 3.1 functions This section provides an overview of the functions supported through the Active Energy Manger. The two classes of functions are monitoring functions, which are Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 359 always available, and management functions, which require a license fee to be paid to allow them to work beyond a 90-day trial period: Monitoring functions (no charge) – Power Trending – Thermal Trending – iPDU support – Display details of current power and temperature –...
Page 360 All of the logical sensors are the result of firmware running on the thermal and power management device (TPMD) using the raw data provided by the hardware, and converting it into values that are then fed into the control loops. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 361 In Figure 6-27 on page 340, the bottom chart shows an example of thermal trending information. The device in this example shows the ambient and exhaust temperature. Other devices might not available to show an exhaust temperature. iPDU support Section 6.8, “Power Distribution Units (PDU)” on page 357 briefly describes on how iPDUs work with the AEM.
Page 362 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 363 Figure 6-30 Active Energy Manager: Watt-Hour Meter Management functions The management functions are Power Saver and Power Capping. They provide methods to reduce energy consumption by dropping the processor voltage and frequency. The functions are available for a 90-day trial use. You must purchase a license and install a key to use these functions beyond the trial period.
Page 364: Ibm Director: Implementation Of Servers
6.5 IBM Director: Implementation of servers This section does not discuss the general use of the IBM Director. Rather, it discusses how to implement your x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 into an existing IBM Director environment.
Page 365: Integrating X3850 M2 And X3950 M2 Into Ibm Director
Requirements Integrating your x3850 M2 or x3950 M2 server as a Level-0 managed system does not require that the drivers or the IBM Director agent be installed. Level-0 systems are managed by the embedded service processor or optional installed RSA II adapter out-of-band through the service processor LAN interface communication.
Page 366: Level 0: Implementation By Service Processors
Detection of manageable objects The IBM Director detects your systems automatically or you can detect it manually. After a system is detected, an icon is added in the IBM Director console. The basic management server saves the addresses of the detected systems in the IBM Director database and supports, based on the x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 server.
Page 367: Level 1: Implementation By The Ibm Director Core Services
Remote management (if SSH service started) Running of command-line scripts Installation of the IBM Director Core Services The IBM Director Core Services is on the IBM Director installation CD or can be downloaded as a single installation package from: http://www.ibm.com/systems/management/director/downloads.html...
Page 368 – installationtype is either: • unattended: installation progress, no user intervention • silent: hide progress – responsefile.rsp is path and name of the created response file – option indicates: • waitforme (ensure complete installation) Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 369 6. Restart the operating system after the installation is completed. Implementation of Level-1 systems in IBM Director After the IBM Director Core Services are installed and an automatic or manual Discovery is performed, the IBM Director detects the systems. After IBM Director detects the system, that system is listed under Groups as:...
Page 370: Lsi Megaraid Provider
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 for x86 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 for x86 Microsoft Windows The IBM Director Core Services must be installed before you can install the LSI MegaRAID Provider. Download this extension from: http://www.ibm.com/systems/management/director/downloads.html LSI MegaRAID Provider is not supported with:...
Page 371: Level 2: Implementation By The Ibm Director Agent
Linux and Windows operating systems. Installation of the IBM Director agent IBM Director agent is on IBM Director installation CD or you can download it as single installation package from: http://www.ibm.com/systems/management/director/downloads.html...
Page 372 RebootIfRequired=Y (Yes) Implementation of Level-2 systems in IBM Director After IBM Director detects the system, that system is listed under Groups as: Level2: IBM Director Agents To unlock the system, right-click the system name, select Request Access, and provide your operating system logon credentials.
Page 373: System Management With Vmware Esxi 3.5
The lock disappears and the system can now be managed from IBM Director Console. 6.6 System management with VMware ESXi 3.5 Understand hypervisors and implementation of them. 6.6.1 Hypervisor systems The VMware ESXi 3.5 Embedded and Installable hypervisors offer several management features through integrated CIM and SNMP protocols.
Page 374: Power Management
M2 and x3950 M2 server systems. This feature must be enabled so it works in IBM Active Energy Manager as described in “Active Energy Manager (power capping)” on page 100. IBM added this feature as a key component of the IBM Cool Blue™ portfolio within Project Big Green.
Page 375: Power Consumption Measurement And Capping
IT environment to reduce costs for energy. Section 6.4, “Active Energy Manager” on page 334 explains the use of this application as an IBM Director extension. Power capping is an effective way of keeping control of energy costs. However, it...
Page 376: Key Features
These help to quickly and simply deploy, protect, and manage your high-availability IBM System x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 and non-server equipment such as expansions for storage, tape backup, or non-IBM hardware. All enterprise PDUs are designed in 1U full-rack size and can be mounted vertically inside the rack.
Page 377: Availability And Flexibility Of Enterprise Pdus
Second last letter: N = non-monitored (PDU);, M = monitored (PDU+) Table 6-6 lists the available detachable line cords and the power source they support. Only those PDUs in Table 6-5 without fixed line cords support these. Table 6-6 IBM Ultra Density Enterprise PDU power cords Geography Part number...
Page 378: Comparing Pdu And Intelligent Pdu
Web interface or by using tools such as IBM Active Energy Manager. They report power and thermal trending also for devices that is plugged into their individual load groups.
Page 379: Assembling Of Intelligent Pdu
Users are alerted when an iPDU approaches its capacity. Note: IBM DPI C13+ and IBM DPI C19 PDU+ PDUs were available before the announcement of Active Energy Manager. Any existing versions of these iPDUs in the field must be upgraded to the November 7th, 2007 version of the iPDU firmware so that Active Energy Manager can support them.
Page 380 Figure 6-34 shows the back and front of the C19 DPI Enterprise PDU+, part number 39M2818. Figure 6-34 IBM Enterprise DPI C19 PDU+ UTG connector, part number: 39M2818 The back of the PDU+ shows (from left to right): Left: Management interface with RJ45 LAN, RJ45 serial console port, RS232 serial port (DB-9) interface, reset button, input voltage status LED, and operating DIP switch.
Page 381 C19 outlet Operating mode DIPswitch C13 outlet Ground screw Figure 6-35 IBM Ultra Density Enterprise PDU+, part number: 71762MX The front of the PDU+ shows (from left to right): Left: 9x IEC-320-C19 outlets Right: UTG0247 inlet connector Far right: Management interface with RJ45 LAN, RJ45 serial console port, reset button, input voltage status LED, and operating DIP switch.
Page 382: Intelligent Pdu Power Management Web Interface
6.8.5 Intelligent PDU power management Web interface Each intelligent PDU can be accessed by a Web browser. The section describes the IBM Enterprise DPI C19 PDU+ (part number 39M2818) in particular. The Web interface, in Figure 6-36 on page 365, shows the actual power data measurement at the load groups, which are refreshed once per second.
Page 383 Figure 6-36 Home page of the IBM Enterprise DPI C19 PDU+ Web interface The iPDU stores the measurement of power data and reports it to a graph, shown in Figure 6-37 on page 366, and presents a chart of power consumption tendencies.
Page 384: Dsa Preboot
Figure 6-37 The iPDU power measurement graph The measured results are reported by the built-in SNMP support to the IBM Active Energy Manager. 6.9 DSA Preboot IBM developed Dynamic System Analysis (DSA) Preboot for the x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 because the previous tool (PC Doctor) did not meet the requirements for newer systems.
Page 385 DSA and DSA Preboot collect the information that can be viewed locally or uploaded to an IBM internal FTP server for the Technical Support teams to have remote access from different locations around the world if further analysis of system state information or error logs is required.
Page 386 - Quit the program. Note: This will reboot the system. help - Display this help message. Please enter a command. (Type ’help’ for commands) > Figure 6-39 DSA Preboot: Commands on the main menu Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 387: Updating Dsa Preboot
6.9.1 Updating DSA Preboot This section describes how easily DSA Preboot can be updated. Download DSA Preboot from: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5072294 The DSA can be updated by: Windows operating system Linux operation system (not VMware ESX 3i embedded) Bootable CD or mounted ISO image in the RSA II Web interface...
Page 388 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0 Device flashing in progress ........................................................ DSA key has been flashed successfully Please enter a command. (Type ’help’ for commands) usb 5-6: USB disconnect, address 3 > _ Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 389 5. Verify you receive the following message: DSA key has been flashed successfully 6. Type exit and quit the program. The server reboots. 7. Unmount the image or remove your CD-ROM from the local drive at your server. Update in the Linux operating system You may update the DSA Preboot in 32-bit and 64-bit Linux operating systems.
Page 390: Working With The Command Line Interface
The command line environment interface you can use to perform the set of diagnostics, collect the system information, and show the date in the local text viewer. The data and results can be sent to the IBM FTP server to diagnose the information. See “Use of the interactive menu” on page 373.
Page 391 Exits the DSA Preboot menu, reboots the system. quit Save the collected information Data that you can save for reviewing or sending to IBM must be previously collected in the interactive menu (by using the commands cmd and then collect).
Page 392 Do this by pressing Ctrl+End on your keyboard during POST when the IBM logo appears. Although no message indicates that it is enabled, the device shows up in BIOS and the operating system.
Page 393 Windows adds it as a storage device in the Device Manager (Figure 6-42 on page 375). Figure 6-42 Embedded USB device unhidden in Windows OS In the Linux operating system, shown in Figure 6-43, you see the USB device listed, which can be mounted as storage device. linux-x3850m2-2:~ # dmesg | grep -i usb usb 1-6: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4 usb 1-6: new device found, idVendor=0483, idProduct=fada...
Page 394: Working With The Graphical User Interface (Gui)
# Copy the files with the extension *.xml.gz to a local disk. Provide the log files to the IBM technical support team if requested. After you reboot or power cycle your server this device is hidden again. 6.9.3 Working with the graphical user interface (GUI) The new embedded DSA Preboot in your x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 enables a graphical user interface (GUI) that you control by keyboard and mouse.
Page 395 Diagnostics Click Diagnostics to open the Diagnostics window, shown in Figure 6-45. Use this to perform various tests, such as CPU or Memory stress test. The complete list of implemented tests at the time of writing this book are in “Use of the interactive menu”...
Page 396 Snapshot information about error LED states and information about the Light Path Diagnostic (LPD) panel on the x3850 M2 and x3950 M2, error LED status at the failing component, such as a single DIMM, processor or VRM. Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 397: Scalability Partition Management
SP Built-In Self TestRSA and BMC self test SP Logs Service Processor (SP) logs are split in a table for RSA and BMC (IPMI) event logs. Note: If your system indicates an error and you are able to boot to the DSA Preboot diagnostics, we recommend you review each of these entries.
Page 398 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 399: Abbreviations And Acronyms
Baseboard Management Controller Domain Name System consistency check disk operating system compact disc deferred procedure call CD-ROM compact disc read only Distributed Power memory Management Common Information Model DRAM dynamic random access memory © Copyright IBM Corp. 2008. All rights reserved.
Page 400 LLHEL Low-Level Hardware Error human interface device Handlers high performance computing light path diagnostic HPMA High Performance Memory logical unit number Array media access control hotspare Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 401 megabyte power distribution unit Master Boot Record platform event filtering MCFG Memory-Mapped PCI Predictive Failure Analysis Configuration Space partition ID machine check packet management information power management event base POST power-on self test MIOC Memory and I/O Controller processor power MMIO memory mapped I/O management...
Page 402 Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol TCP offload engine Trusted Platform Module TPMD thermal and power management device Trusted Computing Group Software Stack Uniform Resource Locator universal serial bus UUID Universally Unique Identifier Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 403: Related Publications
IBM eServer xSeries and BladeCenter Server Management, SG24-6495 Virtualization on the IBM System x3950 Server, SG24-7190 IBM BladeCenter Products and Technology, SG24-7523 Building an Efficient Data Center with IBM iDataPlex, REDP-4418 Enabling Serial Over LAN for a Remote Windows Text Console using OSA SMBridge, TIPS0551...
Page 404: Online Resources
IBM ServeRAID-MR10k documentation (installation and user guides) http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5074104 IBM ServeRAID-MR10M documentation (installation and user guides) http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5074105 IBM Information Center: IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager V3.1.1 http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/eserver/v1r2/index.jsp?topi c=/aem_310/frb0_main.html IBM Information Center: IBM Director http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/eserver/v1r2/index.jsp?topi c=/diricinfo_all/diricinfoparent.html Online resources These Web sites are also relevant as further information sources:...
Page 405 ServerProven operating system compatibility home page http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/nos/matrix .shtml Linux Open Source watchdog daemon support replaces IPMI ASR http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5069505 Download latest Linux Open Source ipmitool utility http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5069538 IBM now supporting Linux open source IPMI driver and utility http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5069569 Related publications...
Page 406 Intel-based Gigabit Ethernet drivers for Microsoft Windows 2003 and 2008 http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5070807 IBM Remote Supervisor Adapter II Daemon for IA32 Windows http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5071025 IBM Remote Supervisor Adapter II Daemon for Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2008 x64 http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5071027 IBM Remote Supervisor Adapter II Daemon for Linux http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5071676...
Page 407 IBM and LSI Basic or Integrated RAID SAS driver (Windows) http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5073138 ServeRAID MR10k SAS controller firmware update (Windows) http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5073139 ServeRAID MR10M SAS controller firmware update (Windows) http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5073389 IBM HBA EXP3000 ESM 1.88 update program http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5073877 Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 5 Update 1 http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-5074155...
Page 408 Processor Power Management in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/pnppwr/powermgmt/ProcPowerMgmt.mspx Windows Server 2008, Compare Technical Features and Specifications http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/compare-specs.aspx WindowsServer catalog http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/ WindowsServer catalog, IBM System x3950 M2 http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/item.aspx?idItem=dbf1ed79-c158-c 428-e19d-5b4144c9d5cd Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 409 VMware See the following Web addresses for more information: ESXi 3 Hosts without swap enabled cannot be added to a VMware High Availability Cluster http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1004177 Limited configurations are supported for VMware HA and ESX Server 3i hosts http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1004656 The Architecture of VMware ESX Server 3i http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/ESXServer3i_architecture.pdf I/O Compatibility Guide For ESX Server 3.5 and ESX Server 3i http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_io_guide.pdf...
Page 410 See the following Web addresses for more information: Execute Disable Bit and Enterprise Security http://www.intel.com/technology/xdbit/index.htm Intelligent Platform Management (IPMI) Interface Specification http://www.intel.com/design/servers/ipmi/ipmiv2_0_rev1_0_markup_2.pdf Intel Xeon Processor 7000 Sequence http://www.intel.com/products/processor/xeon7000/index.htm?iid=servp roc+body_xeon7000subtitle Server Processors http://www.intel.com/products/server/processors/index.htm?iid=proces s+server Intel 64 Architecture http://www.intel.com/technology/intel64 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 411 Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor 7200 Series and Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor 7300 Series http://download.intel.com/design/xeon/datashts/318080.pdf Linux Scalability in a NUMA world http://oss.intel.com/pdf/linux_scalability_in_a_numa_world.pdf Red Hat See the following Web addresses for more information: What Every Programmer Should Know About Memory http://people.redhat.com/drepper/cpumemory.pdf Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Version comparison chart http://www.redhat.com/rhel/compare/ Red Hat Hardware Catalog https://hardware.redhat.com/...
Page 412: How To Get Redbooks
You can search for, view, or download Redbooks, Redpapers, Technotes, draft publications and Additional materials, as well as order hardcopy Redbooks, at this Web site: ibm.com/redbooks Help from IBM IBM Support and downloads ibm.com/support IBM Global Services ibm.com/services Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 413: Index
BMC 302, 306 BMC user accounts 305 ACPI 102 C1E 110 Active Energy Manager 51, 100, 334–346 Clustering Technology 105 BIOS setting 337 CPU 99 capping 346 CPU IDs 254 components 336 © Copyright IBM Corp. 2008. All rights reserved.
Page 414 38 x3850 M2, x3950 M2 27 Complex Descriptor 196, 199 complex. See multinode configurations 195 account settings 305 configurations BIOS settings 302 LSI WebBIOS 179 configuration 300 multinode 195–244 connectivity 302 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 415 partitions 225 updating 251, 369 Core Architecture 29 DSA preboot 366, 379 CPU Options, configuration options 99 dual-core processors 33 CPUs 33, 90 Dunnington 5, 33, 90 creating volumes 157 DVD drive 7 CRM 55 eCommerce 55 Data Execution Prevention 109 EDB, Execute Disable Bit 108 data scrubbing 130, 165 EIDE interface 44...
Page 416 29, 67 Active Energy Manager 334 LEDs 3 agents 348 legacy mode 37 LSI provider 352 light path diagnostics 6, 34, 47, 93 IBM iDataPlex 58 line cords for PDUs 359 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 417 Linux order of population 116 Data Execution Prevention 109 pairs of DIMMs 114 NUMA 77 performance-optimized configuration 117 scaling 77 ports 28 load balancing 69 replacing a hot-swap DIMM 120 logical drive migration 130 replacing or adding 115 LSI 1078 controller 124 request queue 67 See also WebBIOS Run Time Scrub Rate 123...
Page 418 PowerExecutive. See Active Energy Manager configuration steps 225 prefetcher configure 222 adjacent sector 107 creating 226 processor hardware 108 defined 197, 199 prerequisites for multinode 201 delete a partition 232 primary node 197 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 419 problem determination 237 RSA II driver 330 Processor Performance Status 101 scaling 77 processors 5, 33, 90 support 261 6-core 33 Trusted Platform Module 295 air baffle 96 Redbooks Web site 394 applications 65 Contact us xvi BIOS settings 99 redundancy 45 C1E 110 redundant power supplies 4...
Page 420 135 support 262 cache 135 system event log 304 external x4 port 135 system management features 47 firmware update 150 iBBU 137 IBM Director provider 352 target applications 54 installation 137–138 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 421 RSA II driver 330 Director 334 scheduling opportunities 22 dynamic load balancing 69 ScratchConfig 278 home node 68 subscription 25 IBM Director 334 systems management 355 installation 281–285 ThinESX Installer 280 load balancing 69 upgrades 25 logical processors 72 VI client 273...
Page 422 XD, Execute Disable Bit 108 Stripe Size 185 Xeon 7000 family 33 Unconfigured good 183 virtual disk properties 168–169 virtual drive states 168 wizard 179 WHEA support 7 Windows Datacenter Server 15–19 Windows Server 2003 Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2...
Page 426: Back Cover
® Understand the IBM The x3950 M2 server is the System x flagship server and INTERNATIONAL implements the fourth generation of the IBM X-Architecture. System x3950 M2 TECHNICAL It delivers innovation with enhanced reliability and availability and IBM x3850 M2...

This manual is also suitable for:

System x3950 m2

IBM 88743BU - System x3950 E User Manual

Notices

Preface

Chapter 1. Technical Overview

Scalable Upgrade Option for X3850 M2

Chapter 2. Product Positioning

Chapter 3. Hardware Configuration

Chapter 4. Multinode Hardware Configurations

Chapter 5. Installation

Chapter 6. Management

Abbreviations and Acronyms

Related Publications

Index

Quick Links

Front cover

Related Manuals for IBM 88743BU - System x3950 E

Summary of Contents for IBM 88743BU - System x3950 E