Inside System Storage -- by Tony Pearson

Well it's Tuesday again, and you know what that means! IBM Announcements!

For nearly 50 years, IBM has been leading the IT industry with its mainframe servers. Today, IBM announced its 12th generation mainframe in its [System z product family], the IBM zEnterprise EC12, or zEC12 for short. I joined IBM in 1986, and my first job was to work on DFHSM for the MVS operating system. The product is now known as DFSMShsm as part of the Data Facility Storage Management System, and the operating systems went through several name changes: MVS/ESA, OS/390, and lately z/OS. I was the lead architect for DFSMS up until 2001. I then switched to be part of the team that brought Linux to the mainframe. Both of these experiences come in handy as I deal with mainframe storage clients at the Tucson Executive Briefing Center.

Let's take a look at some recent developments over the past few years.

• In the 9th and 10th generations (IBM System z9 and z10, respectively), IBM introduced the concept of a large "Enterprise Class", and a small "Business Class" to offer customer choice. These were referred to as the EC and BC models.
  
  
• For the 11th generation, IBM introduced the name "zEnterprise". The large Enterprise Class was the z196, and the small Business Class was the z114. I covered this announcement in my post [Storage University - Washington DC - The new zEnterprise]. Pictures of the z114 model were in my blog post [Datacenter Conference Day 2- Solution Showcase].
  
  
• For the 12th generation, IBM kept the name "zEnterprise", but went back to the "EC" to refer to Enterprise Class. Rather than offer a separate "small" Business Class version, the zEC12 comes in 60 different sub-capacity levels. Many software vendors charge per core, or per [MIPS], so offering sub-capacity means that some portion of the processors are turned off, so the software license is lower. The top rating for the zEC12 is 78,000 MIPS. (I would have thought by now that we would have switched over to BIPS by now!)

If you currently have a z10 or z196, then it can be upgraded to zEC12. The zEC12 can attach to up to four zBX model 003 frames that can run AIX, Microsoft Windows and Linux-x86. If you currently have zBX model 002 frames, these can be upgraded to model 003.

The key enhancements reflect the three key initiatives:

1. Operational Analytics - Most analytics are done after-the-fact, but IBM zEnterprise can enable operational analytics in real-time, such as fraud detection while the person is using the credit card at a retail outlet, or online websites providing real-time suggestions for related products while the person is still adding items to their shopping card. Operational analytics provides not just the insight, but in a timely manner that makes it actionable. There is even work in place to [certify Hadoop on the mainframe].
   
   
2. Security and Resiliency - IBM is famous for having the most secure solutions. With industry-leading EAL5+ security rating, it beats out competitive offerings that are typically only EAL4 or lower. IBM has a Crypto Express4S card to provide tamper-proof co-processing for the system. IBM introduces the new "zAware" feature, which is like "Operational Analytics" pointed inward, evaluating all of the internal processes, error logs and traces, to determine if something needs to be fixed or optimized.
   
   
3. Cloud Agile - When people hear the phrase "Cloud Agile" they immeidately think of IBM System Storage, but servers can be Cloud Agile also, and the mainframe can run Linux and Java better, faster, and at a lower cost, than many competitve alternatives.

For more on this announcement, check out the [zEnterprise EC12 Announcement Letter].

technorati tags: IBM, zEnterprise, EC12, zEC12, System+z, zBX, z/OS, DFSMS, Crypto Express4S, Cloud Agile, Operational Analytics

It's that time again. Every year, IBM hosts the "System Storage Technical University". I have been going to these since they first started in the 1990s. This time we are at the lovely [Hilton Orlando] in Orlando, Florida.

For those who want to relive past events, here are my blog posts from this event in 2010:

• [Day 1 - Intro] with recap for events 2007 through 2009
• [Day 1 - Keynote sessions]
• [Day 2 - More Keynote sessions]
• [Day 2 - Green Data Center]
• [Day 3 - My other two sessions], Tivoli Storage Productivity Center, and Information Lifecycle Management (ILM)
• [Day 3 - XIV Sessions]
• [Day 4 - Storage Free-for-All]
• [Day 5 - Grid, SOA, and Cloud Computing]
• [Day 5 - The New zEnterprise]

The list of sessions that I will be presenting this week were detailed last month in my post [Don't Miss IBM Storage Technical University 2011].

As was the case last year, IBM once again will run this conference alongside the [IBM System x Technical University] the same week, in the same hotel. This allows attendees to cross over to the other side to see a few sessions of the other conference. I took advantage of this last year, and plan to do so again this year as well!

For those on Twitter, you can follow my tweets at [@az990tony] or search on the hash tag #ibmtechu.

technorati tags: IBM, TPC, ILM, Green, DataCenter, Grid, SOA, Cloud Computing, zEnterprise

Yes, it's Tuesday, and that means more IBM Announcements! A lot was announced today, so I have selected an eclectic mix for your enjoyment.

Microsoft Windows support on IBM Mainframes

Last year's announcement of the new IBM zEnterprise included the zEnterprise BladeCenter Extention (zBX) which could run POWER7 and x86 operating systems, but managed by the mainframe's overall Unified Resource Manager. Initially, this was intended for AIX and Linux-x86, but today, IBM [announced a statement of general direction to support Microsoft Windows] on the zBX extension by end of this year. Of course, the standard disclaimer applies: All statements regarding IBM's plans, directions, and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice. Any reliance on these statements of general direction is at the relying party's sole risk and will not create liability or obligation for IBM.

New 15K RPM drives for IBM Storwize V7000

Last October, when IBM introduced the Storwize V7000, it offered both large (3.5 inch) and small form factor (2.5 inch) drives. Unfortunately, a few people were upset that there were no 15K RPM drives for the small form factor models. There were SSD and 10K RPM drives, but nothing in between. Today, IBM [announced new 15K RPM drives of 146GB capacity] have been qualified for both the controller and expansion drawers.

New RVU licensing for IBM Tivoli products

IBM [announced it is changing over to this new RVU licensing model], from the previous PVU license, based on processor value units. What is an RVU? An RVU is a unit of measure by which the program can be licensed. RVU Proofs of Entitlement (PoE) are based on the number of units of a specific resource used or managed by the program. This makes sense, resource management software should be charged by the amount of resources you manage, not the size of the server the software runs on. This change also enables running on server virtualization and live movement of VM guest images from one type of host machine to another.

If you are contemplating a visit to an IBM [Executive Briefing Center], then April and May is a great time to come to Tucson. The weather is ideal here. The cold snap appears to be over, and spring is in the air!

technorati tags: IBM, zEnterprise, zBX, Microsoft, Windows, Storwize V7000, RVU, Tivoli

Wrapping up my coverage of the annual [2010 System Storage Technical University], I attended what might be perhaps the best session of the conference. Jim Nolting, IBM Semiconductor Manufacturing Engineer, presented the new IBM zEnterprise mainframe, "A New Dimension in Computing", under the Federal track.

The zEnterprises debunks the "one processor fits all" myth. For some I/O-intensive workloads, the mainframe continues to be the most cost-effective platform. However, there are other workloads where a memory-rich Intel or AMD x86 instance might be the best fit, and yet other workloads where the high number of parallel threads of reduced instruction set computing [RISC] such as IBM's POWER7 processor is more cost-effective. The IBM zEnterprise combines all three processor types into a single system, so that you can now run each workload on the processor that is optimized for that workload.

IBM zEnterprise z196 Central Processing Complex (CPC)

Let's start with the new mainframe z196 central processing complex (CPC). Many thought this would be called the z11, but that didn't happen. Basically, the z196 machine has a maximum 96 cores versus z10's 64 core maximum, and each core runs 5.2GHz instead of z10's cores running at 4.7GHz.  It is available in air-cooled and water-cooled models. The primary operating system that runs on this is called "z/OS", which when used with its integrated UNIX System Services subsystem, is fully UNIX-certified. The z196 server can also run z/VM, z/VSE, z/TPF and Linux on z, which is just Linux recompiled for the z/Architecture chip set. In my June 2008 post [Yes, Jon, there is a mainframe that can help replace 1500 servers], I mentioned the z10 mainframe had a top speed of nearly 30,000 MIPS (Million Instructions per Second). The new z196 machine can do 50,000 MIPS, a 60 percent increase!

(Update: Back in 2007, IBM and Sun mutually supported [OpenSolaris on an IBM System z mainframe]. Unfortunately, after Oracle acquired Sun, the OpenSolaris Governing Board has [grown uneasy over Oracle's silence] about the future of OpenSolaris on any platform. The OpenSolaris [download site] identifies 2009.06 as the latest release, but only for x86 and SPARC chip sets. Apparently, the 2010.03 release expected five months ago in March has slipped. Now it looks official that [OpenSolaris is Dead].)

The z196 runs a hypervisor called PR/SM that allows the box to be divided into dozens of logical partitions (LPAR), and the z/VM operating system can also act as a hypervisor running hundreds or thousands of guest OS images. Each core can be assigned a specialty engine "personality": GP for general processor, IFL for z/VM and Linux, zAAP for Java and XML processing, and zIIP for database, communications and remote disk mirroring. Like the z9 and z10, the z196 can attach to external disk and tape storage via ESCON, FICON or FCP protocols, and through NFS via 1GbE and 10GbE Ethernet.

IBM zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension (zBX)

There is a new frame called the zBX that basically holds two IBM BladeCenter chassis, each capable of 14 blades, so total of 28 blades per zBX frame. For now, only select blade servers are supported inside, but IBM plans to expand this to include more as testing continues. The POWER-based blades can run native AIX, IBM's other UNIX operating system, and the x86-based blades can run Linux-x86 workloads, for example. Each of these blade servers can run a single OS natively, or run a hypervisor to have multiple guest OS images.  IBM plans to look into running other POWER and x86-based operating systems in the future.

If you are already familiar with IBM's BladeCenter, then you can skip this paragraph. Basically, you have a chassis that holds 14 blades connected to a "mid-plane". On the back of the chassis, you have hot-swappable modules that snap into the other side of the mid-plane. There are modules for FCP, FCoE and Ethernet connectivity, which allows blades to talk to each other, as well as external storage. BladeCenter Management modules serve as both the service processor as well as the keyboard, video and mouse Local Console Manager (LCM). All of the IBM storage options available to IBM BladeCenter apply to zBX as well.

Besides general purpose blades, IBM will offer "accelerator" blades that will offload work from the z196. For example, let's say an OLAP-style query is issued via SQL to DB2 on z/OS. In the process of parsing the complicated query, it creates a Materialized Query Table (MQT) to temporarily hold some data. This MQT contains just the columnar data required, which can then be transferred to a set of blade servers known as the Smart Analytics Optimizer (SAO), then processes the request and sends the results back. The Smart Analytics Optimizer comes in various sizes, from small (7 blades) to extra large (56 blades, 28 in each of two zBX frames).   A 14-blade configuration can hold about 1TB of compressed DB2 data in memory for processing.

IBM zEnterprise Unified Resource Manager

You can have up to eight z196 machines and up to four zBX frames connected together into a monstrously large system. There are two internal networks. The Inter-ensemble data network (IEDN) is a 10GbE that connects all the OS images together, and can be further subdivided into separate virtual LANs (VLAN). The Inter-node management network (INMN) is a 1000 Mbps Base-T Ethernet that connects all the host servers together to be managed under a single pane of glass known as the Unified Resource Manager. It is based on IBM Systems Director.

By integrating service management, the Unified Resource Manager can handle Operations, Energy Management, Hypervisor Management, Virtual Server Lifecycle Management, Platform Performance Management, and Network Management, all from one place.

IBM Rational Developer for System z Unit Test (RDz)

But what about developers and testers, such as those Independent Software Vendors (ISV) that produce mainframe software. How can IBM make their lives easier?

Phil Smith on z/Journal provides a history of [IBM Mainframe Emulation]. Back in 2007, three emulation options were in use in various shops:

• Open Mainframe, from Platform Solutions, Inc. (PSI)
• FLEX-ES, from Fundamental Software, Inc.
• Hercules, which is an open source package

None of these are viable options today. Nobody wanted to pay IBM for its Intellectual Property on the z/Architecture or license the use of the z/OS operating system. To fill the void, IBM put out an officially-supported emulation environment called IBM System z Professional Development Tool (zPDT) available to IBM employees, IBM Business Partners and ISVs that register through IBM Partnerworld. To help out developers and testers who work at clients that run mainframes, IBM now offers IBM Rational Developer for System z Unit Test, which is a modified version of zPDT that can run on a x86-based laptop or shared IBM System x server. Based on the open source [Eclipse IDE], the RDz emulates GP, IFL, zAAP and zIIP engines on a Linux-x86 base. A four-core x86 server can emulate a 3-engine mainframe.

With RDz, a developer can write code, compile and unit test all without consuming any mainframe MIPS. The interface is similar to Rational Application Developer (RAD), and so similar skills, tools and interfaces used to write Java, C/C++ and Fortran code can also be used for JCL, CICS, IMS, COBOL and PL/I on the mainframe. An IBM study ["Benchmarking IDE Efficiency"] found that developers using RDz were 30 percent more productive than using native z/OS ISPF. (I mention the use of RAD in my post [Three Things to do on the IBM Cloud]).

What does this all mean for the IT industry? First, the zEnterprise is perfectly positioned for [three-tier architecture] applications. A typical example could be a client-facing web-server on x86, talking to business logic running on POWER7, which in turn talks to database on z/OS in the z196 mainframe. Second, the zEnterprise is well-positioned for government agencies looking to modernize their operations and significantly reduce costs, corporations looking to consolidate data centers, and service providers looking to deploy public cloud offerings. Third, IBM storage is a great fit for the zEnterprise, with the IBM DS8000 series, XIV, SONAS and Information Archive accessible from both z196 and zBX servers.

To learn more, see the [12-page brochure] or review the collection of [IBM Redbooks]. Check out the [IBM Conferences schedule] for an event near you. Next year, the IBM Storage University will be held July 18-22, 2011 in Orlando, Flordia.

technorati tags: IBM, Technical University, zEnterprise, x86, POWER7, RISC, z/OS, Linux, AIX, OpenSolaris, Oracle, FICON, NFS, z196, zBX, DB2, SAO, IEDN, INMN, RDz, ISV, Eclipse, Cloud Computing

Continuing this week's coverage of IBM's 3Q announcements, today it's all about storage for our mainframe clients.

IBM System Storage DS8700

IBM is the leader in high-end disk attached to mainframes, with the IBM DS8700 being our latest model in a long series of successful products in this space. Here are some key features:

• Full Disk Encryption (FDE), which I mentioned in my post [Different Meanings of the word "Protect"]. FDE are special 15K RPM Fibre Channel drives that include their own encryption chip, so that IBM DS8700 can encrypt the data at rest without impacting performance of reads or writes. The encryption keys are managed by IBM Tivoli Key Lifecycle Manager (TKLM).
  
• Easy Tier, which I covered in my post [DS8700 Easy Tier Sub Lun Automatic Migration] which offers what EMC promised but has yet to deliver, the ability to have CKD volumes and FBA LUNs to straddle the fence between Solid State Drives (SSD) and spinning disk. For example, a 54GB CKD volume could have 4GB on SSD and the remaining 50GB on spinning drives.   The hottest extents are moved automatically to SSD, and the coldest moved down to spinning disk.  To learn more about Easy Tier, watch my [7-minute video] on IBM [Virtual Briefing Center].
  
• z/OS Distributed Data Backup (zDDB), announced this week, provides the ability for a program running on z/OS to backup data written by distributed operating systems like Windows or UNIX stored in FBA format. In the past, to backup FBA LUNs involved a program like IBM Tivoli Storage Manager client to read the data natively, send it over Ethernet LAN to a TSM Server, which could run on the mainframe and use mainframe resources. This feature eliminates the Ethernet traffic by allowing a z/OS program to read the FBA blocks through standard FICON channels, which can then be written to z/OS disk or tape resources. Here is the [Announcement Letter] for more details.

  One program that takes advantage of this new zDDB feature already is Innovation's [FDRSOS], which I pronounce "fudder sauce". If you are an existing FDRSOS customer, now is a good time to get rid of any EMC or HDS disk and replace with the new IBM DS8700 system.

IBM System Storage TS7680 ProtecTIER Deduplication Gateway for System z

When it comes to virtual tape libraries that attach to mainframes, the two main players are IBM TS7700 series and Oracle StorageTek Virtual Storage Manager (VSM). However, mainframe clients with StorageTek equipment are growing frustrated over Oracle's lack of commitment for mainframe-attachable storage. To make matters worse, Oracle recently missed a key delivery date for their latest enterprise tape drive.

Unfortunately, neither of these offer deduplication of the data. IBM solved this with the IBM TS7680. I covered the initial announcement six months ago in my post [TS7680 ProtecTIER Deduplication for the mainframe].

What's new this week is that IBM now supports native IP-based asynchronous replication of virtual tapes at distance, from one TS7680 to another TS7680. This replaces the method of replication using the back end disk features. The problem with using disk replication is that all the virtual tapes will be copied over. Instead, the ProtecTIER administrator can decide which subset of virtual tapes should be replicated to the remote site, and that can reduce both storage requirements as well as bandwidth costs. See the [Announcement Letter] for more details.

These new solutions will work with existing mainframes, as well as the new IBM [zEnterprise mainframe models] announced this week.

technorati tags: , IBM, DS8700, FDE, Easy+Tier, zDDB, SSD, TS7680, Deduplication, VTL, Oracle, Sun, StorageTek, STK, VSM, zEnterprise