Oportunidades de mejora

The IBM POWER7 processor-based systems support three families of operating systems:

򐂰 AIX

򐂰 IBM i

򐂰 Linux

In addition, the Virtual I/O Server can be installed in special partitions that provide support to the other operating systems for using features such as virtualized I/O devices, PowerVM Live Partition Mobility, or PowerVM Active Memory Sharing.

2.15.1 Virtual I/O Server

The minimum required level of Virtual I/O Server software depends on the server model:

Power 710 and 730 Virtual I/O Server Version 2.2, or later

Power 720 and 740 Virtual I/O Server Version 2.2, or later

Power 750 Virtual I/O Server Version 2.1.2.11 with Fix Pack 22.1 and Service

Pack 1

Power 755 The Virtual I/O Server feature is not available on this model.

Power 795 Virtual I/O Server Version 2.2, or later

IBM regularly updates the Virtual I/O Server code. To find information about the latest updates, visit the Virtual I/O Server site:

PowerVM functions

Full PowerVM Capability Partial Full Capacity on Demand Entry of PowerVM codes only Full support I/O Support for i5/OS® Virtual only Virtual and direct Multiple Shared Processor

Pool

No, default pool only Yes

Workload Management (WLM) Groups Supported

One 254

Support for multiple profiles per partition

No Yes

SysPlan Deploy & mksysplan

Yes Yes

Characteristics, functions IVM HMC

Note: For details about the software available on IBM POWER servers, visit the Power

Systems Software™ site:

2.15.2 IBM AIX operating system

The following sections discuss the support for the various levels of AIX operating system support.

IBM periodically releases maintenance packages (service packs or technology levels) for the AIX operating system. Information about these packages, downloading, and obtaining the CD-ROM is on the Fix Central Web site:

http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/

The Fix Central Web site also provides information about ho to obtain the fixes shipping on CD-ROM.

The Service Update Management Assistant, which can help you to automate the task of checking and downloading operating system downloads, is part of the base operating system. For more information about the suma command, go to following Web site:

http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/genunix/suma.html

IBM AIX Version 5.3

IBM AIX Version 5.3 is supported on all models of POWER7 processor-based servers delivered in 2010.

The minimum level of AIX Version 5.3 to support the Power 710, 720, 730, and 740 is:

򐂰 AIX 5.3 with the 5300-10 Technology Level and Service Pack 5, or later

򐂰 AIX 5.3 with the 5300-11 Technology Level and Service Pack 5, or later

򐂰 AIX 5.3 with the 5300-12 Technology Level and Service Pack 2, or later

The minimum level of AIX Version 5.3 to support the Power 750, 755, 770 and 780 is:

򐂰 AIX 5.3 with the 5300-09 Technology Level and Service Pack 7, or later

򐂰 AIX 5.3 with the 5300-10 Technology Level and Service Pack 4, or later

򐂰 AIX 5.3 with the 5300-11 Technology Level and Service Pack 2, or later The minimum level of AIX Version 5.3 to support the Power 795 is:

򐂰 AIX 5.3 with the 5300-10 Technology Level and Service Pack 5, or later

򐂰 AIX 5.3 with the 5300-11 Technology Level and Service Pack 5, or later

򐂰 AIX 5.3 with the 5300-12 Technology Level and Service Pack 1, or later

A partition using AIX Version 5.3 will be executing in POWER6 or POWER6+ compatibility mode. This means that although the POWER7 processor has the ability to run four hardware threads per core simultaneously, using AIX 5.3 limits the number of hardware threads per core to two.

A partition with AIX 5.3 is limited to a maximum of 64 cores.

IBM AIX Version 6.1

If you install AIX 6.1 on a POWER7 processor-based server, the minimum level requirements depend on the target server model:

The minimum level of AIX Version 6.1 to support the Power 710, 720, 730, 740, and 795 is:

򐂰 AIX 6.1 with the 6100-05 Technology Level and Service Pack 3, or later

򐂰 AIX 6,1 with the 6100-06 Technology Level

The minimum level of AIX Version 6.1 to support the Power 750 and 755 is:

򐂰 AIX 6.1 with the 6100-02 Technology Level and Service Pack 8, or later

򐂰 AIX 6.1 with the 6100-03 Technology Level and Service Pack 5, or later

򐂰 AIX 6.1 with the 6100-04 Technology Level and Service Pack 2, or later

A partition using AIX 6.1 with TL6 can run in POWER6, POWER6+ or POWER7 mode. It is best to run the partition in POWER7 mode to allow exploitation of new hardware capabilities such as SMT4 and Active Memory Expansion (AME).

A partition with AIX 6.1 is limited to a maximum of 64 cores.

IBM AIX Version 7.1

AIX Version 7.1 comes will full support for the Power 710, 720, 730, 740, 750, 755, 770, 780, and 795, exploiting all the hardware features from the POWER7 processor, as well as from the server architecture. A partition with AIX 7.1 can run in POWER6, POWER6+ or POWER7 mode, to enable Live Partition Mobility to different POWER6 and POWER7 systems. When running in POWER7 mode, a partition with AIX 7.1 can scale up to 256 cores and 8 TB of RAM.

2.15.3 IBM i operating system

The IBM i operating system is supported on Power 710, 720, 730, 740, 750, 770, 780, and 795 at the following minimum levels:

򐂰 IBM i Version 6.1 with i 6.1.1 machine code, or later

򐂰 IBM i Version 7.1, or later

IBM i Standard Edition, and Application Server Edition options are available for the Power 750.

򐂰 IBM i Standard Edition offers an integrated operating environment for business processing

򐂰 IBM i Application Server Edition offers IBM i without DB2® for application and infrastructure serving.

IBM i is not supported on Power 755.

IBM periodically releases maintenance packages (service packs or technology levels) for the IBM i operating system. Information about these packages, downloading, and obtaining the CD-ROM is on the Fix Central Web site:

http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/

Note: Partition sizes greater than 128-cores (up to 256-cores) will require a software key to

enable. Purchase will require lab services pre-analysis as a prerequisite to shipment. The software key requires feature #1256 to be installed.

2.15.4 Linux operating system

Linux is an open source operating system that runs on numerous platforms from embedded systems to mainframe computers. It provides a UNIX-like implementation across many computer architectures.

The supported versions of Linux on POWER7 processor-based servers are:

򐂰 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 with SP3, enabled to run in POWER6 Compatibility mode

򐂰 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11, supporting POWER6 or POWER7 mode

򐂰 Red Hat Enterprise Linux AP 5 Update 5 for POWER, or later

Clients wanting to configure Linux partitions in virtualized Power Systems have to be aware of these conditions:

򐂰 Not all devices and features that are supported by the AIX operating system are supported in logical partitions running the Linux operating system.

򐂰 Linux operating system licenses are ordered separately from the hardware. You may acquire Linux operating system licenses from IBM, to be included with the POWER7 processor-based servers, or from other Linux distributors.

For information about the features and external devices supported by Linux, go to: http://www.ibm.com/systems/p/os/linux/index.html

For information about SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, go to: http://www.novell.com/products/server

For information about Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Server, go to: http://www.redhat.com/rhel/features

Supported virtualization features are listed in 3.4.9, “Operating system support for PowerVM”.