• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • One Less Headache: IBM Preconfigures i 6.1 and VIOS on Blades

    October 13, 2008 Timothy Prickett Morgan

    While all of us greeted the delivery of the i platform on Power-based blade servers with much enthusiasm, and most of us had wished this had been accomplished many years ago, the way that IBM implemented i on blades has not been as broad or as simple as many of us had hoped.

    Among business partners I have spoken with, there has been much complaining about the requirement that the Power6-based JS12 and JS22 blade servers require the Virtual I/O Server (VIOS), an intermediary between the operating system and its peripherals created initially for AIX logical partitioning a few years back, to be used in conjunction with the i platform. By doing this, IBM did not have to create new drivers for existing or future peripherals, and in effect, VIOS functions like a giant virtual driver for disks, controllers, and networking. This simplifies IBM’s coding, to be sure, since i5/OS V5R4 or i 6.1 did not have to get explicitly written drivers for all the blade peripherals that can be plugged into the blades. But at least as far as i shops are concerned, the VIOS software is cranky and difficult to set up to work with i 6.1. The situation is so bad, apparently, that IBM is reportedly contemplating an i 6.1.5 interim release to fix the issues. (Although, if IBM doesn’t want to admit problems, it can just roll out a slew of PTF patches.)

    Equally importantly, IBM did not support i5/OS V5R4 on the blades, which means many customers are facing an operating system upgrade to i 6.1, which in some cases requires program conversions to update RPG and COBOL programs to a new microcode layer underneath the i 6.1 operating system. (See i5/OS V6R1: The TIMI, It Is A-Changing for more on that.) It would have been better, I think, if i5/OS and i 6.1 were supported natively on the blades as well as through VIOS–as they are with AIX and Linux–than just through VIOS, but IBM had its reasons. My guess is that IBM didn’t want to commit resources without know what kind of return i development for blades might bring. And, of course, by doing what some have called a clunky implementation, that has probably diminished the uptake of JS12 and JS22 blades. A company that bets its business on midrange platforms can’t pay a premium for blades, shift to VIOS, and move to i 6.1 all in one step. Especially when it is so hard to set up.

    Which is why IBM is finally offering to preinstall i 6.1 and preconfigure VIOS on JS12 and JS22 blades in the BladeCenter S small and medium business chassis. Considering that the Power 520, the JS12, and the JS22 are the only three configurations, based on my own analysis, that can compete transaction for transaction, and dollar for dollar, with a Wintel box, in the new Power Systems line, making i 6.1 on blades easier to buy for customers and easier to peddle for resellers is a big deal. In fact, it had not occurred to me that i 6.1 and VIOS were not already preinstalled on blades. The operating system comes preconfigured on regular System i and Power Systems i rack and tower servers.

    IBM is also now offering to install i 6.1 on disk subsystems integrated into the BladeCenter S chassis, too. The BladeCenter S chassis supporting i blades is now able to use a 450 GB, 15K RPM 3.5-inch SAS drive (feature 3658 on i boxes and formatted down to 428 GB), which allows up to 5.4 TB of raw total disk capacity to be installed with a few JS12 and JS22 blades in the blade chassis. (That’s 12 drives with redundant and cross-coupled RAID 5 SAS disk controllers built into the chassis.) The larger BladeCenter H chassis, which has room for 14 server blades (compared to the six for the BladeCenter S), now supports the DS3400 midrange disk array through Fibre Channel links back into the JS12 and JS22 blades in the H chassis; this gives up to 14.4 TV of capacity using 300 GB SAS drives and up to 48 TB using 1 TB SATA drives. (The DS3400 supports up to 48 drives, which are daisy chained off the controller in the base box using enclosures.)

    The pre-installation of i 6.1 and VIOS on BladeCenter S setups and the new disk options are available starting November 21.

    RELATED STORIES

    The BladeCenter S Gets a New SAS RAID Disk Module

    The Power Systems JS12 and JS22 Blades Versus Other i Boxes

    The i Edition of the BladeCenter S Finally Launches

    Power Systems: The Feeds and Speeds

    Power6 Chips Get i Support in New Entry and Blade Machines

    IBM Rejiggers System i and BladeCenter Deal One More Time

    IBM’s Battle Plan for i5/OS Blade Servers

    IBM Cuts i5/OS-Based JS22 Blade Server Prices

    Let’s Take a Closer Look at JS22 Blade Servers Running i5OS V6R1

    IBM Virtualizes I/O in BladeCenter Servers

    Power6 Blades Finally Come to Market from IBM

    IBM Tweaks BladeCenter S for the Office, Preps Power6 Blades

    HP Beats the System i on Integration for Midrange Shops

    HP Engineers New Blade Server Box for SMB Shops

    IBM Rejiggers BladeCenter for SMBs



                         Post this story to del.icio.us
                   Post this story to Digg
        Post this story to Slashdot

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags: Tags: mtfh_rc, Volume 17, Number 39 -- October 13, 2008

    Sponsored by
    WorksRight Software

    Do you need area code information?
    Do you need ZIP Code information?
    Do you need ZIP+4 information?
    Do you need city name information?
    Do you need county information?
    Do you need a nearest dealer locator system?

    We can HELP! We have affordable AS/400 software and data to do all of the above. Whether you need a simple city name retrieval system or a sophisticated CASS postal coding system, we have it for you!

    The ZIP/CITY system is based on 5-digit ZIP Codes. You can retrieve city names, state names, county names, area codes, time zones, latitude, longitude, and more just by knowing the ZIP Code. We supply information on all the latest area code changes. A nearest dealer locator function is also included. ZIP/CITY includes software, data, monthly updates, and unlimited support. The cost is $495 per year.

    PER/ZIP4 is a sophisticated CASS certified postal coding system for assigning ZIP Codes, ZIP+4, carrier route, and delivery point codes. PER/ZIP4 also provides county names and FIPS codes. PER/ZIP4 can be used interactively, in batch, and with callable programs. PER/ZIP4 includes software, data, monthly updates, and unlimited support. The cost is $3,900 for the first year, and $1,950 for renewal.

    Just call us and we’ll arrange for 30 days FREE use of either ZIP/CITY or PER/ZIP4.

    WorksRight Software, Inc.
    Phone: 601-856-8337
    Fax: 601-856-9432
    Email: software@worksright.com
    Website: www.worksright.com

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Admin Alert: When System Job Tables Attack, Part III IBM Close to Delivering DB2/400 Storage Engine for MySQL

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

TFH Volume: 17 Issue: 39

This Issue Sponsored By

    Table of Contents

    • IBM Doubles the Cores on Midrange Power Systems
    • Sundry October Power Systems Announcements
    • SMB Manufacturers Testing PLM Integration Possibilities
    • As I See It: What’s Old is New
    • IBM Updates i Rational Tools, and HATS Too
    • IBM Tries to Reassure Wall Street It Is Still Making Money
    • New Power Systems Are Not Based on Power6+ Chips
    • One Less Headache: IBM Preconfigures i 6.1 and VIOS on Blades
    • IBM Gives Big Discounts on Opteron Servers and VMware Hypervisors
    • SAP Hits a Wall at the End of September

    Content archive

    • The Four Hundred
    • Four Hundred Stuff
    • Four Hundred Guru

    Recent Posts

    • Public Preview For Watson Code Assistant for i Available Soon
    • COMMON Youth Movement Continues at POWERUp 2025
    • IBM Preserves Memory Investments Across Power10 And Power11
    • Eradani Uses AI For New EDI And API Service
    • Picking Apart IBM’s $150 Billion In US Manufacturing And R&D
    • FAX/400 And CICS For i Are Dead. What Will IBM Kill Next?
    • Fresche Overhauls X-Analysis With Web UI, AI Smarts
    • Is It Time To Add The Rust Programming Language To IBM i?
    • Is IBM Going To Raise Prices On Power10 Expert Care?
    • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 20

    Subscribe

    To get news from IT Jungle sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter.

    Pages

    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Contributors
    • Four Hundred Monitor
    • IBM i PTF Guide
    • Media Kit
    • Subscribe

    Search

    Copyright © 2025 IT Jungle