VIOS and IBM i

Two questions for IBM i shops: Are you reluctant to use a VIO server and attach it to your SAN, even though your SAN isn't supported directly by IBM i? Do you end up telling yourself that internal disks give you better performance?

If so, this document might help alleviate your fears.

It covers different topics related to IBM i virtualization and open storage, including how to use an IBM i partition to host another IBM i partition:

"An IBM i 6.1/7.1 LPAR can host one or more additional IBM i LPARs, known as virtual client LPARs. Virtual client partitions typically have no physical I/O hardware assigned and instead leverage virtual I/O resources from the host IBM i partition. The types of hardware resources that can be virtualized by the host LPAR are disk, tape, optical and networking."

There's also this about IBM i using open storage as a client of the VIOS:

"IBM i virtual client partitions can also be hosted by VIOS. VIOS is virtualization software that runs in a separate partition with the purpose to provide virtual storage, optical, tape and networking resources to one or more client partitions. The most immediate benefit that VIOS brings to an IBM i client partition is the ability to expand its storage portfolio to use 512-byte/sector open storage. Open storage volumes (or logical units, LUNs) are physically attached to VIOS through a FC or a Serial-attached SCSI (SAS) connection and then made available to IBM i. While IBM i does not directly attach to the storage area network (SAN) in this case, as soon as open storage LUNs become available through VIOS, they are managed the same way as integrated disks or LUNs from a directly attached storage system and run IBM i on a Power blade."

Finally, something about blades:

"The third major virtualization enhancement with IBM i 6.1 is the ability to run an IBM i LPAR and its applications on a Power blade server, such as IBM BladeCenter JS12 or JS22. Running IBM i on a Power blade is beyond the scope of this paper. Refer to the IBM i on a Power Blade Readme First for a complete technical overview and implementation instructions."

The document covers supported configurations and concepts to help you visualize what I'm proposing. I'll highlight this section on 5.2 performance:

"When creating an open storage LUN configuration for IBM i as a client of VIOS, it is crucial to plan for both capacity and performance. As LUNs are virtualized for IBM i by VIOS instead of being directly connected it may seem that the virtualization layer will necessarily add a significant performance overhead. However, internal IBM performance tests clearly show that the VIOS layer adds a negligible amount of overhead to each I/O operation. Instead, the tests demonstrate that when IBM i uses open storage LUNs virtualized by VIOS, performance is almost entirely determined by the physical and logical configuration of the storage subsystem.

"The IBM Rochester, MN, performance team has run a significant number of tests with IBM i as a client of VIOS using open storage. The resulting recommendations on configuring both the open storage and VIOS are available in the latest Performance Capabilities Reference manual (PCRM)."

I find more customers that are willing to give VIOS a try. I've yet to find one that decided to switch back because performance was unacceptable.

I realize that this blog's readership is very AIX-centric, but plenty of shops run Linux and IBM i as well. It's nice to know that the frame that you're virtualizing with VIOS to run AIX can run other operating systems as well. Not that this is a new idea.

Relatedly, this survey is intended to uncover some misconceptions about the IBM i platform.

 

IVM, HMC and SDMC Continued

Continuing from last week, here's more on the recently released IBM Redpaper, "IBM PowerVM Getting Started Guide."

Chapter 2: IVM

From the authors:

"IBM developed the Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM) as a server management solution that performs a subset of the HMC and SDMC features for a single server, avoiding the need for a dedicated HMC or SDMC server. IVM manages a single stand-alone server -- a second server managed by IVM has its own instance of IVM installed. With the subset of HMC and SDMC server functionality, IVM provides a solution that enables the administrator to quickly set up a server. IVM is integrated within the Virtual I/O Server product, which services I/O, memory, and processor virtualization in IBM Power Systems.

"There are many environments that need small partitioned systems, either for test reasons or for specific requirements, for which the HMC and SDMC solutions are not ideal. A sample situation is where there are small partitioned systems that cannot share a common HMC or SDMC because they are in multiple locations.

"IVM is a simplified hardware management solution that inherits most of the HMC features. It manages a single server, avoiding the need for an independent personal computer. It is designed to provide a solution that enables the administrator to reduce system setup time and to make hardware management easier, at a lower cost.

"When not using either the HMC or the SDMC, VIOS takes control of all the hardware resources. There is no need to create a specific partition for the VIOS. When VIOS is installed using the default settings, it installs on the server’s first internal disk controller and onto the first disk on that controller. IVM is part of VIOS and activated when VIOS is installed without an HMC or SDMC."

Chapter 2 continues with details on IVM installation.

I wish this chapter would include screen shots. (There are screen shots in chapters 3-4.) The Redpaper describes the steps, but for those unfamiliar with the interface it might be confusing. Some screen shots could help.

Chapter 3: HMC

More from the authors:

"Note: There is flexibility for you to plan your own adapter numbering scheme. The Maximum virtual adapters setting needs to be set in the Virtual Adapters window to allow for your numbering scheme. The maximum setting is 65535 but the higher the setting, the more memory the managed system reserves to manage the adapters."

They cover the three VIOS installation methods: DVD, via the HMC (using the installios command) and via Network Installation Manager (NIM). One of the notes says:

"Interface en5 is the SEA adapter created in 3 on page 29. Alternatively, an additional virtual adapter may be created for the VIOS remote connection, or another physical adapter may be used (it will need to be cabled) for the TCP/IP remote connection. TCP and UDP port 657 must be open between the HMC and the VIOS. This is a requirement for DLPAR (using RMC protocol)."

I know when I set up shared Ethernet adapters on VIO servers, I like to add an additional virtual Ethernet adapter to put my VIO IP address on. This allows me to perform maintenance on my VIOS and SEA without an outage, as the network traffic goes out my backup SEA on my other VIOS.

Section 3.2 covers setting up dual VIO servers:

"The benefit of a dual VIOS setup is that it promotes Redundancy, Accessibility and Serviceability (RAS). It also offers load balancing capabilities for MPIO and for multi SEA configuration setups. The differences between a single and dual VIOS setup are:

The additional VIOS partition
The additional virtual Ethernet adapter used as the SEA Control Channel adapter per VIOS
Setting the trunk priority on the virtual Ethernet adapters used for bridging to physical adapters in an SEA configuration."

The authors explain how to move from a single VIO SEA to a dual VIO scenario by adding the control channel adapter using this command:

   chdev -dev ent5 -attr ctl_chan=ent6 ha_mode=auto

They also mention that we can run commands on the VIO command line or use cfgassist, which is similar to smitty in AIX.

Section 3.3 covers setting up virtual fibre. The authors argue that virtual SCSI disks be used for rootvg and NPIV be used for data LUNs:

"Virtual Fibre Channel allows disks to be assigned directly to the client partitions from the SAN storage system. With virtual SCSI, the disks are assigned to the VIOS partition before they are mapped to a virtual SCSI adapter.

"The preference is to still use virtual SCSI for client partition operating system disk, and use virtual Fibre Channel for the data. The reasons for using virtual SCSI for client partition operating system disks are:

* When the disks are assigned VIOS first, they can be checked before having them mapped to a client. Whereas using virtual Fibre Channel this cannot be determined until the client partition is loaded from an installation source.

* Operating systems such as AIX and Linux have their kernels running in memory. If serious SAN issues are being experienced, the VIOS will first detect the problem and sever the link to the client partition. The client partition will halt abruptly reducing any risk to data corruption. With operating systems using virtual Fibre Channel or physical Fibre Channel, the partition will remain running for a period. During that period the client partition is susceptible to data corruption.

* Operating system disks using virtual SCSI are not reliant on external device drivers whereas operating system disks using virtual Fibre Channel are. When it comes to upgrading the external device drivers, the client partitions would need to follow special procedures to upgrade."

Chapter 4: SDMC

From the authors:

"The IBM Systems Director Management Console (SDMC) provides system administrators the ability to manage IBM Power System servers as well as IBM Power Blade servers. The SDMC organizes tasks in a single panel that simplifies views of systems and day-to-tay tasks. The SDMC is also designed to be integrated into the administrative framework of IBM Systems Director.

"The SDMC can automatically handle the slot allocation of virtual adapters for the user. With the SDMC the user can choose to either let the SDMC manage the slot allocations, or use the traditional manual mechanism to allocate the virtual adapter IDs."

According to section 4.1.4, setting up an SEA failover configuration is a simple GUI operation when using SDMC:

 

 

Select the primary VIOS, the physical adapter you want to use and the backup VIO and its physical adapter. Then hit OK:

"The SDMC automatically creates the SEA adapters on both VIOS1 and VIOS2. The SDMC will also configure the control channel as a part of this step. The virtual Ethernet adapter with the highest VLAN ID is used for the SEA control channel."

This should remove the possibility of errors arising from setting up the control channels manually.

Although you can do the same with the HMC GUI, I still prefer to manage things on the command line.

The publication has much more. It's well worth your time.

AIX and TCO

Would you put bicycle tires on a new car? I keep hearing that analogy, and I like it.

When I was much younger and much less well off, I sort of did that, only instead of a bicycle, I made life more difficult when I bought used tires for my car. This wasn't quite as foolish as choosing gas over oil, but bear with me.

A tire shop in town took in old tires when they sold customers new tires. Then they'd resell their used tires to poor kids like me. The shop charged $5 per old tire. That sure seemed like a bargain at the time, but I soon learned that you get what you pay for. My "new" old tires had no tread and wouldn't hold air. Then I'd spring for more $5 tires. While occasionally I'd find some tires with a little more life in them, it wasn't long before I concluded that I should just spend the extra money up front. Once I started purchasing new tires, my tire problems went away.

Now, instead of a car, think about your computers, and instead of tires, think about the operating system or applications that you run in your enterprise. Then ask yourself, why do people go with cheap computers and free operating systems?

Sure, they're less costly up front, and we might be able to download an OS and get them to run on commodity hardware. But by taking this route, are we putting bald used tires on a fancy new sports car? Are we so focused on the cheap initial investment that we overlook the total cost of ownership (TCO)?

I like enterprise class servers and enterprise class operating systems. In the case of Power Systems, I like knowing that IBM designed the hardware, designed the hypervisor, designed the operating system, and is there to support them all. If I have issues, help is a quick phone call away. If I need to escalate an issue, I can easily gather an army of IBMers to help solve problems.

If I'm running an application that supports my business, and I need application availability, why would I want to buy used, worn tires?

Recently on Twitter, fellow Power Champion Andrew Wojnarek (@andywojo) said that Linux is free only if your time is worthless. I don't want to go that far, because Linux has its uses. But assuredly, if given the choice, I'll always choose AIX over Linux.

Of course, there are those who believe that Linux on VMware is good enough for their needs, as you can see from the comments on this post. What do you think?

Technical University a Training Highlight

They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but that isn't always the case. For instance, the IBM Power Systems Technical University 2010 is set for Oct. 18-22 in Las Vegas. And if you attend this conference, odds are you'll bring back a wealth of new knowledge about AIX, Linux and IBM i systems.

As I've noted numerous times (here, here and here), the information available at Technical University conferences is invaluable. I consider this the IBM technical training highlight of the year. These events are well worth planning and budgeting for.

Here's an overview from IBM:

"This university is an intense, consolidated way for attendees to learn how to reduce operating costs, simplify the IT environment, access current and upcoming solution providers and leverage the newest technology innovation -- virtualization with the IBM POWER7 technology.

"IBM Power Systems Technical University will offer hundreds of sessions on extensive topics, multiple training levels (beginner to advanced), best practices, solution center/expo and certification testing. Attendees will hear details behind the latest POWER7 announcements offering improved capabilities: New workload optimizing technologies like IBM TurboCore, IBM Active Memory Expansion and Active Memory Sharing to reduce memory costs, IBM PowerVM and VMControl virtualization software to support up to 1,000 virtual machines, Intelligent energy optimization features, such as IBM POWER7 EnergyScale.

"The more than 300 sessions will feature such topics as:

•    What's new in AIX 7.1 and IBM i7.1.
•    Deepdive sessions covering all 2010 POWER7 announcement.
•    NDA future Trends and Directions sessions for Power, AIX and IBM i.
•    Active Memory Sharing (AMS) and Active Memory Expansion (AME). Taking virtualization to the next level.
•    Best practices for POWER Systems including VIOS, I/O and firmware/microcode currency.
•    Turning SAP and Oracle in AIX Environments.
•    Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and converged network adapters (CNAs) for Power Systems servers.
•    Understanding the Processor Virtualization for POWER6 and POWER7.
•    Migrating from IBM i V5R4 to i6.1/7.1.
•    VIO Server Best Practices and Enhancements.
•    Leveraging Live Partition Mobility to move to POWER7.
•    Technical details of the new high-end POWER7 Systems.
•    How to migrate to POWER7 Hardware.
•    Designing your NIM Environments with Reliability.
•    What's new in PowerHA SystemMirror.
•    Performance, Capacity Planning Enhancements."

If you can make it happen, I encourage you to attend next month's Technical University conference. And, for those readers outside the United States, here's a worldwide events calendar that includes an IBM Technical University conference in France.

Getting Started With AIX 7.1

Well, I was wrong. After arguing in two posts (here and here) that getting physical media from IBM is preferable to downloading AIX images, I am now among the converted. Sort of.

What happened? AIX 7.1 happened. When it was released on Sept. 10, I just had to get my hands on it. That meant I had to download it. Don't worry; I also ordered my physical media. But I did download a copy so I could work with it right away.

Glad as I was to get started with the newest AIX version, the experience reminded me why I'm generally reluctant to download these files. I couldn't unzip one file,
AIX_7.1_Base_Operating_System_TL_7100-00-00_DVD_1_of_2_092010.iso.ZIP. Instead, I received this error message:

End-of-central-directory signature not found. Either this file is not a zipfile, or it constitutes one disk of a     multi-part archive. In the latter case the central directory and zipfile comment will be found on the last disk(s) of this archive.
unzip:  cannot find zipfile directory in one of
AIX_7.1_Base_Operating_System_TL_7100-00-00_DVD_1_of_2_092010.iso.ZIP
or
AIX_7.1_Base_Operating_System_TL_7100-00-00_DVD_1_of_2_092010.iso.ZIP.zip,
and cannot find
AIX_7.1_Base_Operating_System_TL_7100-00-00_DVD_1_of_2_092010.iso.ZIP.ZIP, period.

Since I was able to unzip the AIX_7.1_Base_Operating_System_TL_7100-00-00_DVD_2_of_2_092010.iso.ZIP (disk 2) file with no trouble, I thought maybe the download didn't complete the first time. So I tried downloading the whole thing again, with the same results. Interestingly though, once I moved the file to an LPAR running RedHat Linux on the same frame, it unzipped just fine.

After completing the download and the decompressing the files, I moved the .iso images over to my virtual media repository, booted an LPAR from it and loaded AIX 7.1. I was able to select the edition of AIX I wanted to install, and I was able to navigate through menus and pick different software install options, including my preferred browser and the server packages I wanted to install. It looked like a normal AIX installation.

     1  System Settings:
         Method of Installation............. New and Complete Overwrite     
         Disk Where You Want to Install.....hdisk0

    2  Primary Language Environment Settings (AFTER Install):
         Cultural Convention................English (United States)
         Language ..........................English (United States)
         Keyboard ..........................English (United States)
         Keyboard Type......................Default
    3  Security Model.......................Default                  
    4  More Options  (Software install options)
    5  Select Edition.......................express

Install Options

 1.  Graphics Software................................................ Yes
 2.  System Management Client Software................................ Yes
 3.  Enable System Backups to install any system...................... Yes
     (Installs all devices)
4.    Import User Volume Groups........................................ Yes

Install More Software

 1. Firefox (Firefox CD).............................................. No
 2. Kerberos_5 (Expansion Pack)....................................... No
 3. Server (Volume 2)................................................. No

Nevertheless, I have a couple of nits to pick: First, why is the Manage Editions menu option so high up on the SMIT main menu?

  Software Installation and Maintenance
  Software License Management
  Manage Editions
  Devices
  System Storage Management (Physical & Logical Storage)
  Security & Users
  Communications Applications and Services
  Workload Partition Administration
  Print Spooling
  Advanced Accounting
  Problem Determination
  Performance & Resource Scheduling
  System Environments
  Processes & Subsystems
  Applications
  Installation Assistant
  Electronic Service Agent
  Using SMIT (information only)

Even computer geeks build muscle memory, and we've become used to the devices or system storage manager options being only a couple of down arrow keystrokes away. Now we must unlearn years and years of keyboarding. It's the new options -- especially those that probably won't change often -- that should be buried further down the list.

So AIX 7 was loaded, and rebooted. Now we come to my second issue: Having to watch this message on my console as I waited for it to allow me to login to the system for the first time:

    This is the first time starting Director Agent. Please wait several minutes for the initial setup...

    Stopping The LWI Nonstop Profile...
    Waiting for The LWI Nonstop Profile to exit...
    Waiting for The LWI Nonstop Profile to exit...
    Waiting for The LWI Nonstop Profile to exit...
    Waiting for The LWI Nonstop Profile to exit...
    Waiting for The LWI Nonstop Profile to exit...
    Waiting for The LWI Nonstop Profile to exit...
    Waiting for The LWI Nonstop Profile to exit...
    Waiting for The LWI Nonstop Profile to exit...
    Waiting for The LWI Nonstop Profile to exit...
    Waiting for The LWI Nonstop Profile to exit...
    Waiting for The LWI Nonstop Profile to exit...

It'd be nice if I could start the System Director Agent when I wanted to, or at least have the option of running it in the background while I install systems.

And of course, ssh wasn't installed by default, but as always it was easy enough to install it after the fact.

Another thing keep in mind is that if you plan on working with versioned WPARs (where AIX 5.2 can run in a WPAR), those vwpar filesets aren't loaded by default. Be sure you've ordered them separately.

Along with the unveiling of AIX 7.1, new VIOS code was released. Read about Anthony English's experiences with VIOS. (And once you've done so, check out Anthony's comments about migrating the NIM server to AIX 7.1.)

Finally, please share your experiences with AIX 7 in Comments. While I realize that many of you aren't yet considering migration, I am curious to know if AIX 7 is in your near-term plans.

AIX and Linux

I've been exchanging numerous e-mails regarding this article that's been making the rounds on Twitter. The premise? Linux is now on a par with AIX.

My response? First, note the source: CIO Weekly. Now, it's fine that C-level executives are seeing the value of Linux. But to suggest that Linux has achieved parity with AIX? I have a hard time believing that actual AIX and Linux administrators would go that far.

The article quotes Jean Staten Healy, IBM's director of worldwide Linux strategy.

"From Healy's perspective, Linux is meeting the needs of many CIOs today. She noted that total cost of ownership is a focus for CIOs, but there are other pressures which Linux can help relieve. She noted that virtualization and server consolidation as well as management simplification are key CIO goals in 2010."

And the money quote?

"'Linux is on parity with AIX,' Healy told InternetNews.com in response to a question about how IBM is positioning AIX against Linux. 'Linux enables choice. I think that's one of the basic tenants of the faith.'"

Chris Gibson wrote a great article that articulates many of the points I made in the e-mails. Among other things, Chris discusses smit, LVM, mksysb, NIM, multibos, nimadm, concurrent updates, alt_disk_install, savevg, installp, WPARs and IBM support.

To me, Linux has one huge advantage over AIX -- its ease of entry. Obtaining a copy of Linux and getting up and running in a test lab is simple. About all you need is an old x86 machine or the capability to create a virtual machine to host one. Then you can play around with the systems or work or home and get comfortable.

On the other hand, if management doesn't approve a sandbox system for the administrators to learn the ins and outs of AIX, it makes things that much more difficult. It's great to attend classes or read IBM Redbooks, but these are no substitutes for hands-on work with an operating system and hardware.

So many, many more people have used Linux than IBM Power Systems. And that matters when a company's UNIX team is asked which operating system they should deploy. They're unlikely to say AIX if they've never previously worked with it (or even worse, if their only AIX experience came many years ago on 3.x or 4.x).

But if you've used AIX like I have, you can rattle off its many attributes. I like having my logical volume manager running by default. I like making changes to the system, running cfgmgr and having my new hardware and new LUNs show up automagically. I like making dynamic changes to my running system with no need for a reboot. I like that the IBM owns the hardware and the operating system, and that its support team will fix the system when I report a problem. I like having enterprise class hardware and an enterprise class operating system to run my enterprise. I even like AIX's security through obscurity advantage. How many script kiddies are attacking my AIX machines as opposed to my Linux machines?

Maybe my problem with the article simply stems from the word choice. "Parity" is defined as "the quality or state of being equal or equivalent." That doesn't seem accurate to me -- even if you believe Linux is as valuable as AIX, they're very different operating systems. They aren't the same. But I imagine the perspective does change if you look at this through the eyes of a CIO.

Ask this administrator though, and I'll always maintain that, unless or until Linux gets the same capabilities, AIX is the superior operating system.

Readers Respond

Recently I questioned why so many people choose to download .iso images rather than order a set from IBM. Some of you were kind enough to offer your thoughts.

Being able to download these images from IBM is nothing new, (although the capability to download one DVD image as opposed to multiple CD images is a welcome new twist). Back when I first wrote about this, we weren't yet able to take advantage of virtual optical media. It makes me laugh to go back and read about the gyrations I once went through to use these disk images for anything other than a source file that I would then need to burn to physical media. The method I described in that post didn't even allow me boot from the images to load the OS; the images could only be used to load the AIX code into a NIM server using the bffcreate command.

In the article I mentioned that I had to download the CDs, then I noted that:

“On Linux, I can simply run:
    mount -o loop -t iso9660 filename.iso /mnt/iso

"This mounts my CD image on my filesystem. On AIX, mounting an .iso image is a little more involved. First I created my logical volume, in this case:
    /usr/sbin/mklv -y'testlv' datavg 6

"Then I ran the dd command in order to write the contents of the .iso file to my logical volume:
    dd if=/aixcd1.iso of=/dev/testlv bs=10M

"Then I mounted my .iso image with:
    mount -v cdrfs -o ro /dev/testlv /mnt/iso

"At this point the CD was mounted, and I could run smitty bffcreate."

Of course these days, with virtual optical media, .iso images can be copied into a virtual media library and loaded and unloaded without the need to create logical volumes and run dd commands.


Another thing that simplifies this process now is the addition of the loopmount command in AIX. Anthony English explains:

     "You can now mount ISO images directly onto an AIX LPAR using the loopmount command. This was introduced into AIX 6.1 TL 4 (use the oslevel -s to check your current level). The man page for loopmount provides this example:
    loopmount -i cdrom.iso -o "-V cdrfs -o ro" -m /mnt


So, with all this said, I can certainly understand why people choose to download the .iso images, and that for some in fact it may be their only option. As one reader told me: "I prefer the downloads. It seems easier to me to mount an .iso via virtual means. Though we keep hard copies at the DC just for the reasons you mention."

Not everyone disagreed with me though. Here's another comment: "Call me old school also, but I too like for IBM to send me the base media, comes in real handy for booting to maintenance mode for an
outage recovery. I can always download/burn .iso (images), but if a server is down, every minute counts...."

Here's a final comment I liked: "I wish I could download .iso images, because I have more often access to a high bandwidth Internet connection than to a physical media drive. (I work on some systems that are a several miles away from me.)" Without physical access to a machine, an .iso image in a virtualized machine is certainly the way to go. But even in that situation, I'd still want a copy of the media from IBM as well.

Yes, I understand that we can boot from .iso images as if an actual DVD was loaded in a virtual drive.  We can also burn our own copies from the images if we want to. With physical media, we can still load our system even if the environment lacks a NIM server or we don't have a VIO server running on the server in question. Each method has its pros and cons. As in any case, we need to know what tools we have at our disposal, and then use the most appropriate one for the task at hand.

On an unrelated note, the Central Region Virtual users group hosted another great session -- this one covers NIM. Check out the replays (here and here) and download the materials (here and here).

IBM Gets Rolling with Loaner Hardware

Are you a current IBM customer who's planning on upgrading to POWER6 or POWER7, but would like to try out the machines before buying them? Or maybe you use other operating systems, but want to evaluate IBM hardware running AIX? Or maybe you've been reading about the latest virtualization techniques, but don't have current hardware to test them on?

If you face any of these scenarios, help may be available. Of course, your business partner may have access to machines that you could run some test workloads on. You may be able to work with an IBM Innovation Center to test the hardware.

Or, you could look into the POWER on Wheels program. From IBM:

"Power on Wheels is a revolutionary addition to the Power Loaner Program designed to help quickly determine if Power is right for your server consolidation efforts by providing your client with direct,
hands on access to the newest Power technology in a simple to use package that requires little to no previous AIX or Power skills. Power on Wheels is delivered to a client location in a self contained shipping box. When the box arrives, the client wheels it onto their floor, opens the doors, plugs the box into an electrical outlet and within minutes, the client starts stepping through the graphical user interface to power up and starts running the demo software application."

Power on Wheels is a POWER7 technology-based server and software demo combination that can be used to demonstrate virtualization, CPU sharing, multiple operating system support, server consolidation Power savings and more. Participants receive a loaner plug and play shipping box, which IBM ships to the customer location for three weeks. The solution also features several pre-packaged software solution demos, but customers can add their own applications to test the hardware as well.

Once the shipping container arrives, you would need to provide power and (if desired) network connectivity. Once it's plugged in on the raised floor, you'd fire up the physical machines and start running the LPARs, monitoring, applications, etc.

To get nominated for the program, contact your IBM Field Technical Sales Specialist (FTSS) or IBM Business Partner. Currently Power on Wheels is available only in North America, but availability is expected soon for European Union members, and a worldwide rollout is being planned.

Right now, IBM is building the fleet of machines that will serve this program. Currently, there are six shipping boxes, two POWER7 and four POWER6 systems. Another six systems are expected to be deployed, and IBM anticipates mid-August availability for the Power on Wheels V2 stack. And around that time, the POWER6 systems should be upgraded to POWER7.

For more on the Power on Wheels program, check out this text and these videos.

Looking Back, Looking Ahead, Staying Put

Sometimes I'll look at the raw computing power that sits on my desk and think back to the IBM XT systems I used years ago. Like a lot of folks in our industry, I go back a ways. I recently found some old floppy disks, and in the pile were some installation disks for some old programs I remember using under DOS on IBM-compatible machines many years ago. I was around when everyone used Lotus 1-2-3 to create spreadsheets, and WordPerfect for word processing. I was messing around prior to that, when my 300 baud acoustic coupler and my phone line would connect me to bulletin board systems (BBS) where I could communicate with others. I can easily recall the days of VisiCalc on the Apple II computer.

Going back even further, I wrote my first school papers using Stylograph on the OS-9 operating system. I remember being astounded by WYSIWYG and the capability to fully justify my text. It's safe to say that my teachers were impressed by this cutting-edge technology as well. Back then, most students still wrote their papers by hand.

Technologies and applications come and go, and they'll continue to do so. Microsoft Office didn't always dominate user workstations, and I'm sure something will eventually emerge to replace it.

Right now there are free alternatives like OpenOffice, StarOffice, and Google docs (see this chart for highlights). I've tried many of these solutions--for instance, I use Gmail quite a bit, and when attachments come my way I often view them using Google docs.

I've also played around with IBM's Lotus Symphony. While I've been happy with the results, I've yet to really give it a workout.

I guess, at the end of the day, I'm OK with Microsoft Office. Likewise, I keep coming back to Windows. Even as fond as I am of VMware workstation (which allows me to run a copy of Windows inside another operating system) and vncviewer (which allows me to view a remote Windows desktop hosted by another machine), I can't seem to make the full-time switch to a Linux desktop. I've tried, but the need for some new app or utility seems to keep me from moving. Frankly, it's just easier using what everyone else uses.

Another thing that's easy (at least in my case) is looking back. Even during this spring's POWER7 announcements, I got a little nostalgic thinking of the earlier iterations of AS/400 and RS/6000 hardware I once administered. It's not that I want to go back to using those systems--and I sure wouldn't trade my laptop and today's software for a 386 running Wordperfect. It's just fun to think about how far we've come--and how much further we'll go.

I mean, what kind of computers will I be using in another 20 years? I'm sure I'll be fine with future technology--provided I can still attach my Model M keyboard.

Speaking of POWER7 hardware, if you're looking for a quick introduction to the new systems, check out these data sheets for the Model 750, Model 770 and Model 780.

Managing Servers a Unique Challenge for Small Shops

It seems like every customer I talk to has a different method for managing their servers.

For a large data center, the challenges are apparent. There are hundreds, even thousands of servers. Some are standalone servers, some have virtual I/O servers with many client LPARs. As the number of servers grows, getting a handle on these environments can be difficult.

However, smaller shops face their own issues. Many manage their servers without the benefit of standard management tools. If you're in this situation, you should be aware of some of the available options. For starters, built-in tools like syslog and errpt can alert us when problems occur.

We can also roll our own scripts and parse our own logs and manage our own machines without any help from anyone outside of our organization -- assuming, of course, that we have the time to work on our scripts.

However, the many organizations lacking the time and/or skills to create their own tools want to be able to purchase software to help them with this task. Certainly IBM Systems Director comes to mind, but recently I was asked about other monitoring tools.

As I'm focused heavily on AIX running on POWER servers, my responses were confined to that platform. I immediately thought of Tivoli software, as I had administered Tivoli NetView once upon a time.

According to the Web site, "this system monitoring software (can) manage operating systems, databases and servers in distributed and host environments. It provides a common, flexible and easy-to-use browser interface and customizable workspaces to facilitate system monitoring. It detects and recovers potential problems in essential system resources automatically. It offers lightweight and scalable architecture, with support for IBM AIX, Solaris, Windows, Linux and IBM System z monitoring software."

I've also read about software called Ganglia. I've even seen it in action. Though its creators tout it as "a scalable distributed monitoring system for high-performance computing systems such as clusters and grids," it's capable of monitoring performance across POWER machines.

Beyond that though, I drew a blank. What other toolsets are out there? What are we relying upon to manage and monitor our systems?

Back when I worked on the AS/400 system, I loved the Robot/Alert and Robot/Console products.

Hopefully I'm not misremembering, but I seem to recall being able to automate the answering of console messages and redirect operator messages to an alphanumeric pager. Back in the early '90s, this was a handy way to have my machine page me and tell me what was wrong. With a quick glance at my pager, I knew whether the issue required an immediate response or if it could wait a bit. I'm sure the current iteration of the product offers many more powerful features of which I am not aware.

What do you think? What's the dominant monitoring software package for Power Systems? What are you using? Send me an e-mail or leave a comment. While you're at it, are there tools you tried and didn't like? Or, if you had a wish list, what features would you like to see included in monitoring software?