Network Express planning considerations

There is added support for RDMA over Network Express for networking. There are 10GbE and 25GbE variants. Network Express cards are specified in the IOCP input via FUNCTION statements, giving them a Function ID (FID) and an association with a single active partition at a time (they are serially reusable, but remain in one partition at a time). Network Express adapters have 2 ports where each port is a PCHID and FIDs are defined on a PCHID basis. See the Input/Output Configuration Program User’s Guide for ICP IOCP, SB10-7183.

Network Express adapters can also be used as a tradition networking card for TCP/IP communication. In addition, they can be used with Enhanced QDIO architecture supporting IP applications providing connectivity to either 10GbE or 25GbE LANs when defined as an OSH CHPID.

FUNCTION FID=10,PCHID=314,PART=((LP01),(LP02)),PNETID=NETWORK1,TYPE=NETH  
FUNCTION FID=11,PCHID=338,PART=((LP01),(LP02)),PNETID=NETWORK1,TYPE=NETH
CHPID PCHID=314,PATH=(CSS(0,1,2,3),D0),TYPE=OSH,SHARED,PNETID=NETWORK1
CHPID PCHID=338,PATH=(CSS(0,1,2,3),D1),TYPE=OSH,SHARED,PNETID=NETWORK1

In this example, two 10Gb Network Express cards are defined to partition LP01 for SMC-R traffic and the same two adapter ports are defined as OSH CHPIDs for EQDIO traffic and are shared by the partitions (including LP01). The z/OS Communications Server setup requires that an OSH CHPID be defined so that a NETH FID can be used for SMC-R. Two adapters are required for RAS, as otherwise during certain system maintenance operations or card failures, there can be a loss of connectivity. The PNETID=NETWORK1 is a Physical Network ID and is required and the values must be identical.