This blog also applies to Power Servers running Linux on Power native on the machine. While you can perform a text based Linux install on the dumb console terminal emulator (see previous AIXpert Blog about the serial cable that you need and the software) as a challenge to survive the Tab navigation, space selection, sometimes the cursor works and occasional Function Key show stopper (SUSE SLES 11) - I would recommend a VNC install. First, you can get back to your desk to run VNC viewer client to complete the install and not stand in the noisy... [More]

This is part 2 of Systems Director licensing or at least working out what you are doing with System Director that requires a license. In part 1, we looked at listing (via the command line) the POWER machines that Systems Director was connected too.   This time we what to find out the machines that Active Energy Manager (AEM) is controlling. Once you have installed AEM it is tempting to start monitoring and controlling all your Power Systems electrical use and temperatures but you should only use AEM if you have a license for AEM for each... [More]

Tags:  energy active systems power powervm hmc aem licence manager aix director

The latest Versioned Workload Partition (VWPAR) Version 1.1.2 is available but largely secret! With this update I get on my AIX 7 virtual machine,  in which I have installed both AIX5.2 and AIX 5.3 support: # lslpp -L | grep -i vwpar vwpar.52.rte 1.1.0.0 C F AIX 5.2 Versioned WPAR Runtime vwpar.images.52 1.1.2.0 C F Versioned WPAR 5.2 Support vwpar.images.53 1.1.2.0 C F Versioned WPAR 5.3 Support vwpar.images.base 1.1.2.0 C F Versioned WPAR... [More]

HACMP recently announced support for the following: PowerHA supports N6040,N6070,N7700,N7900 Click on the above linked text for full support details.

Be sure you order the correct Hardware Management Console to match the code you plan to run. The 7042 machine type is for HMCs running Version 7. This Licensed Internal Code is a requirement for managing POWER6 servers, such as the 9117-MMA. However, it will also support POWER5 and POWER5+ managed servers. The 7310 machine type is for HMCs running Version 6. You cannot manage a POWER6 server using this HMC code. It is for POWER5 and POWER5+ managed servers only. Many 7310 HMCs can be upgraded in the field to support HMC V7 Release 3 code. ... [More]

Tags:  power5 hmc power6

Over the Xmas break I have been busy improving nmon and this is a summary. Below is a summary with pictures: 1 New Performance Statistics GPU First for the OpenPOWER people using the Nvidia GPUs within the S822LC (Firestone) machines we have the Graphical Processor Units and a previous AIXpert Blog covered the details but below is a little reminder: These are the stats on-screen GPU MHz CPU and Memory Utilisation Temperature in C Electrical power in Watts This is also saved to the nmon output file.   MHz Below we now noticed the CPU... [More]

AIX 7, VIOS and SSP - SSD/Flash Cache Best Practice I have been asked for this a couple of times and the answers that spring to mind are Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Oh, you are serious! Consultant standard answer number 1: "It depends" Hmmm! Tricky! I guess the problem is: The questioner is really wanting a prediction of what will happen and is it going to be cost-effective. And these questions  have no answer . If you look the topic up on Google you will get hits on the Official Announcement and a few cut'n'pastes of them, which... [More]

In 2007 the Daylight Saving Time start/end dates will change in the United States. The new start date is the second Sunday of March; the new end date is the first Sunday of November. For more information, see "Managing the Time Zone Variable" at http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg3T1000252 You'll need one of the the following APARs: AIX 5.3 = IY75211 AIX 5.2 = IY75213 AIX 5.1 = IY75214 AIX 4.3 see workaround in the "Managing the Time Zone Variable" Some of the more current AIX releases already have this patch. You can use the... [More]

This is an odd blog - it is about the withdrawal of POWER6 - which was announced in stealth mode! It has come as a shock to some customers. Given POWER7 comes with vast improvements in price performance you might say: Who cares and who would be buying POWER6 anyway?  Well some customers with long term roll-out plans, need consistent equipment for reduced complexity and reduced testing and so still want POWER6 and could get caught out. So if you care, here is my list of withdrawal dates after which you can't buy new machines (nor POWER5 to... [More]

Tags:  systems power power6

In the OpenPOWER IBM S812LC - First Look we had a look at the basic machine but in this blog we now have 12 disks to add and a RAID SATA adapter to drive them. I have made an update with new information at the end of this Blog in red. Here is a repeat of the first picture but highlighting the details for supporting the twelve 3.5 inch Front Disk Bays: Note: The three blue SATA cables are provided with the basic system but not connected to anything, of course, until now.   Below the delivery unpacked... [More]

Tags:  power8 redhat ubuntu s812lc tyan powerkvm openpower

There were a number of announcements made today by Power Systems including new hardware features, a new platform management console, and new PowerVM virtualization capabilities. Two new Power Systems blade servers were announced, the PS703 and PS704 . The PS703 blade supports up to 16 processor cores in a single BladeCenter slot and the PS704 supports up to 32 cores in a double-wide blade.   The PS703 and PS704 also support a new solid state drive option. The Power 750 Express server has new processor options or 4, 6 or 8 cores per socket... [More]

Tags:  powervm power aix systems

Please provide comments on this blog entry - I want to know where I have it wrong? With IBM's massive investment in Linux on Power my brain hurts trying to express the advantages.  This is because the technology is excellent but the bits you want depend on where you are coming from.  So I have tried to break out potential users in to various types. For the record I am an Ab Linux on POWER User type! A - Current AIX and POWER user Already understands the POWER infrastructure, AIX and/or IBM i and are adding a new operating system... [More]

AIX Workload Partitions (WPAR) are now certified by Oracle for Oracle 10gr2 Oracle announces Oracle 10gR2 support for Workload Partitions IBM TechDocs Flash: AIX WPAR (Workload Partition) available for Oracle Database        

Tags:  oracle wpar power aix

Setting the title on a running aixterm To set the title of your current aixterm window you can use the echo command to output an Escape, left square bracket, number 2, semicolon, the text for the window, and the octal 007. For example to set the title to AIXTERM Title use: echo "\033]2;AIXTERM Title" To set the title for the icon window replace the number '2' with the number '1' as shown here: echo "\033]1;ICON Title" To set the title for both the window and the icon use the number 0 instead of 1 or 2 echo "\033]0;Title and ICON Title" Of... [More]

Tags:  tools