IBM Power 595 Technical Overview And Introduction Download

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Chapter 1. General description

large write cache disk controllers, specific Fibre Channel adapters, iSCSI adapters, and
specific WAN/LAN adapters.

System i hardware technologies and the IBM i operating system (OS/400®, i5/OS, and so
forth) have a long history of supporting I/O adapters (IOAs, also commonly referred to as

controllers

) that also required a controlling I/O Processor (IOP) card. A single IOP might

support multiple IOAs. The IOP card originally had a faster processor technology than its
attached IOAs. Thus, microcode was placed in the IOP to deliver the fastest possible
performance expected by clients.

IOAs introduced over the last two to three years (since the time of writing), have very fast
processors and do not require a supporting IOP. Among the System i community, these
adapters are sometimes referred to as

smart IOAs

that can operate with or without an IOP.

Sometimes, these IOAs are also referred to as a

dual mode IOA

. There are also IOAs that do

not run with an IOP. These are sometimes referred to as an

IOP-less

IOA (or one that does

not run with an IOP).

AIX or Linux client partitions hosted by an IBM i partition are independent of any unique IBM i
I/O hardware requirements.

For new system orders, IOP-less IOAs are what AIX or Linux users consider as the normal
I/O environment. New orders for IBM i, AIX, and Linux operating systems should specify the
smart or IOP-less IOAs.

However, many System i technology clients who are considering moving to the POWER6
models should determine how to handle any existing IOP-IOA configurations they might have.
Older technology IOAs and IOPs should be replaced or I/O enclosures supporting IOPs
should be used.

The POWER6 system unit does not support IOPs and thus IOAs that require an IOP are not
supported. IOPs can be used in supported I/O enclosures attached to the system by using a
RIO-2 loop connection. RIO-2 is the System p technology term used in this publication to also
represent the I/O loop technology typically referred to as HSL-2 by System i clients.

Later in this publication, we discuss the PCI technologies that can be placed within the
processor enclosure. For complete PCI card placement guidance in a POWER6
configuration, including the system unit and I/O enclosures attached to loops, refer to the
documents available at the IBM Systems Hardware Information Center at the following
location (the documents are in the Power Systems information category):

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/systems/scope/hw/index.jsp

PCI placement information for the Power 595 server can be found in the

Power Systems PCI

Adapter Placement Guide for Machine Type 820x and 91xx,

SA76-0090.

1.3.6 Hardware Management Console models

Each Power 595 server must be connected to an Hardware Management Console (HMC) for
system control, LPAR, Capacity on Demand, and service functions. It is highly recommended
that each 595 server is connected to two HMCs for redundancy. The Power 595 is connected
to the HMC through Ethernet connections to the front and rear Bulk Power Hub (BPH) in the
CEC Bulk Power Assembly.

Several HMC models are available for POWER6-based systems at the time of writing. See
2.13, “Hardware Management Console (HMC)” on page 101 for details about specific HMC
models. HMCs are preloaded with the required Licensed Machine Code Version 7 (#0962) to
support POWER6 systems, in addition to POWER5™ and ™ systems.