| Editor: | Timothy Prickett Morgan | Managing Editor: | Shannon Pastore | |
| Contributing Editors: | Joe Hertvik | |||
| Shannon O'Donnell | ||||
| Victor Rozek | ||||
| Alex Woodie |
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Volume 10, Number 22, sponsored by:Maximum Availability Limited Help/Systems Symtrax Business Computer Design Int'l, Inc.
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HPC Regattas Might Make Great iSeries Bumblebees Reader Insights and Feedback |
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Happy Holidays From Guild Companies by Timothy Prickett Morgan
All of us at Guild Companies would like to end 2001 by wishing you a happy
holiday season and, as absurd as this idea may sound, a prosperous 2002.
We would like to thank all of our subscribers--those who signed up for our
newsletters in the wake of the collapse of Midrange Computing in late July
and those who are new to our publications within the past few weeks. We
cannot exist as a resource for midrange MIS managers, programmers,
administrators as well as for midrange resellers, software developers, and
other partners without your continued support. Many thanks for your strong
letters of support over the past five months as we got this company off the
ground. Your input is valuable to us, and 2002 will bring a new, Web-tuned
format for our newsletters that will enable us to better include your
viewpoints as well as our own in our email and Web publications. We
promise to do our part and publish insightful and, if need be, provocative
stories to help you suss out the midrange market and make your IT plans.
We would also like to extend our gratitude to the many midrange hardware
and software vendors who were early and enthusiastic supporters of the
fledgling Guild Companies, which launched its first publication on August 1
and which has grown to publish several newsletters a week since then. All
of our newsletters are free, and are only possible through the continuing
support of our advertisers. Thanks.
We look forward to 2002 as an upstart publisher should: Times of change,
chaos, and confusion are the best times to be a new company serving an
evolving market--provided you have the opportunity and the stomach for it.
We are also excited by the partnerships that we are in the process of
forging to help better serve the midrange community. We'll let you know
about these partnerships as soon as we ink the deals.
For those of you who have recently started receiving our flagship AS/400
and iSeries newsletter, The Four Hundred, we have compiled a
complete story index for the issues published in 2001. We will also publish
indexes for Midrange Stuff, our OS/400 products newsletter,
Midrange Guru, our OS/400 tech tips newsletter, and the OS/400
PTF Guide, which is put together by our partner DLB Associates.
We are in the process of installing WebSphere 4.0 on our AS/400-based
Web server, and will have full search capabilities on the Guild Companies
site very soon. (Yes, we host our site on an AS/400, and provided the
economics are not too painful in the future, we plan to stay on an AS/400
because we are allergic to Windows viruses.)
In any event, the story index for The Four Hundred can be found at
http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfhindex.html.
The story index for Midrange Stuff can be found at
http://www.itjungle.com/mso/msoindex.html.
The story index for Midrange Guru can be found at
http://www.itjungle.com/guruo/guruoindex.html.
The story index for the OS/400 PTF Guide, which will soon be superceded
by PTF News, can be found at
http://www.itjungle.com/ptf/ptfindex.html.
We'll see you again in 2002. Happy New Year!
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HPC Regattas Might Make Great iSeries Bumblebees by Timothy Prickett Morgan
The new pSeries 690 "Regatta" servers from IBM are not a
single machine, but two different types of machines with somewhat different
technical characteristics. These differing characteristics make the machines
appropriate for particular workloads. One Regatta version is aimed at
traditional online transaction processing and e-business workloads, while
the other is aimed at high-performance computing. (HPC is what most of
us still call supercomputing.) The interesting thing about these pSeries 690
HPC machines is that they would make great dedicated Java and
"Bumblebee" iSeries servers for applications that require high clock speeds
and great gobs of L2, and now L3, cache. The question is whether or not
IBM will decide to employ the HPC Regattas as Bumblebee servers in the
iSeries line.
The Power4 chip includes two Power4 processing cores running at either
1.1 GHz or 1.3 GHz. These cores are linked to a shared 1.5 MB L1/L2
data cache. In effect, the Power4 is a mini two-way server using symmetric
multiprocessing. Putting multiple processing cores on a single chip is a
strategy that more server designers will likely employ in the future; Sun
and Intel, for example, are known to be working on multiple core
processors. Each Power4 processor can be equipped with 32 MB of L3
cache memory. (The Regattas are the first of IBM's servers to use L3 cache
memory.) The Power4 processors include all of the interconnection
electronics to glue four of these dual-processor chips together into an
8-way symmetric multiprocessing server. IBM packages this 8-way onto a
single multichip module. Each multichip module can be equipped with 128
MB of L3 cache memory, which is shared across the four Power4
processors in the multichip module. To build bigger Regatta machines, from
two to four of these 8-way multichip modules are glued together using
symmetric multiprocessing techniques.
The Power4 chip has 200 million transistors, and the odds are, when you
make such a large chip, some portion of it is going to have a flaw that keeps
it from working properly. Rather than throw these flawed chips away, IBM
is being smart. If a chip has a bum processing core but its caches are still
working, this chip is still quite useful. In the HPC model Regatta server, only
one core in the Power4 chip is working, but this chip has the full complement
of L1, L2, and L3 cache available to it. For certain cache-sensitive and
memory-bandwidth workloads, this turns out to be a good thing.
On the supercomputing benchmark tests IBM performed its in labs, a
16-way HPC Regatta server attained about 80 percent of the memory
bandwidth of a full 32-way Regatta machine, and the floating-point
performance of HPC configurations using an identical number and speed of
Power4 processors exhibited performance gains of 5 to 45 percent on a
wide variety of technical workloads; 15 to 20 percent more performance
on technical workloads looks like a good average, according to IBM's
tests.
One of the innovations IBM has added to the pSeries Regatta line and its
AIX operating system is dedicated L2 caching for processors. Rather than
share L2 caches across all processors, for some workloads L2 cache can
be allocated for specific processors. This can yield a substantial performance
boost. It is unclear if this technology is being ported to OS/400 V5R2.
So what does any of this have to do with the iSeries, you ask? Maybe
nothing. Maybe a lot. Sources within IBM say that it seems unlikely that the
company can push the S-Star PowerPC processors much beyond the
750 MHz level it has pushed them to in the pSeries midrange line. (The
fastest S-Stars are running at 600 MHz in the iSeries line.) They say IBM
will continue selling S-Star based machines throughout 2002 and probably
into early 2003, but there is increasing pressure within IBM to move as
much of its server line to the Power4 chip as possible. If IBM has a lot of
partial duds coming off the Power4 lines in its chip factories, the company
might want to recycle these chips into special "Bumblebee" configurations
of the iSeries product line.
It's hard to be sure, but the characteristics of the HPC Regattas might also
make them great price-performers on WebSphere and Java workloads. If
an 8-way or 16-way Regatta HPC server can yield nearly the memory
bandwidth of a 16-way or 32-way Regatta, and if--chip for chip--HPC
configurations can offer better performance on certain memory and cache-
sensitive workloads, then it seems likely that IBM will offer iSeries
Bumblebees that differ from regular iSeries machines, much as the HPC
Regattas differ from regular Regattas.
Perhaps more significant, IBM could offer pSeries and iSeries machines
with fewer than eight processors by making use of less-than-perfect
Power4s, too. Because IBM likes to offer iSeries customers more
granularity than what is available in most other server product lines, it will
probably also offer Power4 machines that have been tuned to hit specific
power ratings, much as it has done in the past in the AS/400 and iSeries line.
With the L2 cache integrated on the chip, L2 cache integrated into the
multichip module, and only 1.1 GHz and 1.3 GHz speeds available, there is
only so much IBM can do to differentiate the performance of the Power4
servers. To get granularity, it will have to either resort to other tuning tricks
or continue to use the S-Star processors. A Power4 chip with only one
core working at half speed (550 MHz or 650 MHz) with full L2 and L3
cache will nonetheless be much more of a speed demon than today's
S-Star Model 270. Similarly, Power4 multichip modules with two, four, six,
eight, and 16 working processor cores would span the iSeries Model 8XX
line, probably without full cache complements. I guess we will have to wait
a little longer to see what IBM will do.
I just read Victor Rozek's piece about the BSA [see the December 17
issue of The Four Hundred]. I'd quibble with some of the language
regarding the effect of receiving a BSA letter. Despite the BSA's
*presumption* that a letter recipient is "guilty" of copyright/license violations,
the law doesn't jump to that conclusion. Nor should your readers assume
the court system and law in their jurisdiction favors BSA's spamming
campaign. Midrange shops have other options in addition to protracted
litigation and sheepishly submitting to BSA threats. There is a lot of
misinformation about BSA's power, copyright suits, and the legal system,
and Victor's piece doesn't clear any of that up. To that end, the piece
doesn't help your members much. Compliance and negotiation information
would have been very useful, however.
I also don't think the threat of BSA "prosecution" is driving the adoption of
open source technologies, including Linux. Business imperatives, including
cost reduction, are driving the adoption of open source and Linux.
Adopters are simply tired of paying top dollar for proprietary or Microsoft
technologies that are too complicated, too bloated, and in many instances,
buggy and insecure. While open source solutions may also be buggy and
insecure, the price is "right" and adopters have access to the source to
solve their own problems. Open source often represents the (simpler) and
lesser of two evils for an increasing number of shops. Not having to worry
about the BSA is a collateral benefit, offset by training costs and conversion
issues.
-- Michael Heikka
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IBM Offers Trial iSeries Linux Partitions to Developers by Timothy Prickett Morgan
Last May, IBM announced a special trial program for Linux
developers to play around with its zSeries mainframes running Linux
partitions. At the time, I said that this was a great idea, and that it would be
an even better idea if IBM made similar trial Linux capacity available to the
OS/400 and Linux developer communities so they could play with Linux on
the iSeries and AS/400 server line and see that it does indeed work. IBM
seems to have taken that advice, and earlier this week it announced the
Linux for iSeries Test Drive program.
Under the iSeries Linux trial program, any member of IBM's PartnerWorld
for Developers organization can sign up for a guest account on an IBM
iSeries server running Linux partitions to test code. Trial users can choose
between SuSE Linux 7.1 or TurboLinux 6.5 Linux partitions, which are
equipped with 170 MB of disk capacity. The partition remains active for
14 days. All access is remote, and the user ID and password are supplied
to trail users through email from IBM. The remote link to the iSeries Linux
partition includes an ssh connection and secure file copy, but does not have
root or superuser access. No additional middleware linking to OS/400 is
available, which limits the usefulness of the trial somewhat. For people who
want to play with Linux on the iSeries for a little bit longer, IBM is offering
a fee-based shared Linux partition with 500 MB of disk space, which is
available for 30 days for $200. For those who want a dedicated Linux
partition and 1 GB of disk, IBM is also making this option available for 30
days at a cost of $400. In January, Red Hat Linux will be supported on the
test drive as well.
IBM says that access to the partitions is available on a first come, first
served basis and says further that there are only a limited number of slots
open. It is unclear if IBM is using a mix of Model 270 and Model 8XX
iSeries servers to support the Linux partitions, and IBM is not saying exactly
how much processing power is available in each Linux partition. The
economics of the iSeries make it seem very, very likely that IBM is using
uniprocessor Model 270s with four virtual partitions. It costs about $3,600
per partition to acquire a base uniprocessor Model 270-2432. A 32-way
Model 840-2461, which can support 31 Linux partitions running V5R1,
costs nearly $1.5 million, which would make each Linux partition cost just
under $48,000 a piece. This is the best argument for not using the Model
840 for the Linux for iSeries Test Drive and for using Model 270s.
(However, if IBM has some Model 8XX servers sitting around
unsold, these might be the servers behind the test drive.)
Back in May, when IBM announced the similar
zSeries test drive program, IBM chose a 10-way "Freeway" zSeries server as
the platform, rather than a smaller mainframe, because the zSeries server
supports thousands of virtual Linux servers on a single machine. (The
Freeway server scales to 16 processors.) So even at a cost of $3.4 million
for the base 10-way zSeries server, the hardware driving each virtual
Linux partition only cost a few grand. The economics are similar to the
iSeries Model 270 line in that regard. However, IBM offered 30-day,
60-day, and 90-day trials to customers, and did so for free for even these
longer trials. The zSeries Linux trial program seems aimed at helping
companies test their applications on the zSeries platform, while the
iSeries Linux trial program seems intended to prove to potential iSeries
customers that the Linux operating system itself works on the iSeries
platform.
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WHAT CUSTOMERS ARE SAYING ABOUT newlook
"newlook actually delivered everything it claimed. It's
dynamic 'on the fly' recognition engine just makes sense. Now when
the users see the newlook screens, their perceptions have
changed tremendously. newlook should be a mandatory purchase
for any iSeries shop with robust legacy applications." Read about
New York's Museum of Modern Art's success with newlook at
IBM's website http://www.as400.ibm.com/developer/tools/hotlist.html.
WHAT ISVs ARE SAYING ABOUT newlook
"A week after getting started with newlook, we invited one
of our customers to come see some of the new graphical screens.
Within 15 minutes we had our first order. Since then, all of our
existing customers have been eager to move to newlook. No
longer do we hear about integration problems with PC applications.
Training times for new and existing users have been dramatically
decreased." SSUI is a solution provider to the Education Industry.
WHAT THE ANALYSTS ARE SAYING ABOUT newlook
"Best of breed! 10 out of 10" -- Editor 400 times. Read the story
at http://www.looksoftware.com/news32.htm
"Right now in the AS/400 space, newlook is rarely if ever beaten
by any of the others. newlook has thus become the bar that
has to be exceeded in order to succeed in the AS/400 marketplace."
-- Editor i-BigBlue Professionals Monthly, Aug 2001.
newlook's OTHER CAPABILITIES:
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Visit http://www.looksoftware.com
or email info@looksoftware.com to
learn more about rich client functionality with thin client
benefits.
Get The Latest OS/400 PTF Guides by Timothy Prickett Morgan
As the year closes, you need to know the skinny on IBM's latest
PTF updates for OS/400. Our partner, DLB Associates, has
compiled two OS/400 PTF Guides for you, one from this week and one
from last week.
You can read the December 15 OS/400 PTF Guide at
http://www.itjungle.com/ptf/DLB-PTF_121501_V3N47.htm.
Over the weekend, DLB Associates will put out a follow-on OS/400 PTF
Guide at covering PTFs announced just before the Christmas holiday,
which will be available at http://www.itjungle.com/ptf/DLB-PTF_122301_V3N48.htm.
Obviously this latter link will not be active until Sunday, when this issue of
the guide is completed.
In the new year, we will launch the PTF News newsletter, which is
being created by DLB Associates and distributed by Guild Companies. This
in-depth analysis of software bugs and updates for OS/400 and related
programs will go out to subscribers of The Four Hundred
automatically.
Advertising Information Please see our advertising opportunities and
pricing at http://www.itjungle.com/advertising.html
Or contact Timothy Prickett Morgan at
Phone: 212 942 5818
Email: tpm@itjungle.com.
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Do you have a gripe? Vendors, please email Press Releases and other announcement
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