Emulex has created a website specially for the relationship between Emulex and IBM. You could be a winner of a fantastic prize when you fill in your your unique registration number.
Datasheets, whitepapers, cheat sheets and an interoperability matrix can be found on the partner site.
Source: Emulex & IBM Partner Site
An interesting story about IBM server (System x 3950 M2) with 192 cores: 32 sockets with 6 cores with Intel XEON processors and Microsoft Windows 7. (please start watching this presentation / demo from the 30th minute into the presentation, server introduced at 34min).
Also, how did Microsoft change Windows to allow this.... Mark speaks about new kernel constructs in Windows 7 and the dismantling of the Dispatcher Spin Lock and redesign and implementation of its functionality into separate components. Resulting in Windows 7 being able to scale to 256 processors, along with Boot from VHD and other OS enhancements.
Source: WinHEC, Intel Communities, Microsoft MSDN Mark Russinovich
IT analyst firm IDC recently published a white paper on the business value of Linux on non-x86 platforms. As part of IBM's Project Big Green Linux, read this paper to see the advantages of Linux consolidation on IBM systems. Based on a survey of many clients who consolidated to Linux on IBM Power Systems and System z, the study showed that:
A draft of the redbook "Implementing Systems Director 6.1" that will be released in january 2009 has been made available.
This IBM Redbooks® publication describes how to implement systems management with IBM Systems Director 6.1, discussing IBM Systems Director architecture, its adherence to industry standards, and the planning required for a successful implementation.
This book helps you tailor and configure IBM Systems Director while showing how to maximize your investment in IBM technology. This book is a companion to the IBM Systems Director online publications and the product DVDs.
As businesses take on the challenge to deliver greater capability with smaller budgets, they have to become smarter in how they approach every aspect of their IT. Especially in dealing with the sometimes hidden cost of service of the IT. IBM BladeCenter Service Advisor is a proactive way to manage and reduce these costs.
IBM BladeCenter Service Advisor comes standard in all BladeCenter chassis that have the Advanced Management Module. Once activated, it’s like having a 24/7 IT staff onsite at your office or datacenter. If there is a service event on the BladeCenter chassis, Service Advisor has the power to inform you, as well as IBM Service & Support, or your designated service provider. This proactive approach to service can help you eliminate expense, so you can focus on what is important; running your business.The unique 2+2 pricing program available on the LS42 and System x3755 lets you start in case of the LS42 with a 30mm, single-wide, 2-processor blade server. When workloads demand more performance, this blade server is ready to scale to four processors with the addition of a multi-processor expansion unit (MPE). Simply snap the MPE onto the original blade and it becomes a 4-processor, 60mm blade server with the additional performance you need.
This is click and scale from two to four processors, pay as you grow without upfront cost.
Ask your local IBM representative for details on this pricing program
Source: Announcement LS42 and x3755, Product details LS42, Product details x3755
VMware Management and Automation products offer enhanced virtual machine management capabilities, helping lower total cost of ownership. The Management and Automation products include Lifecycle Manager, Lab Manager, Stage Manager, and Site Recovery Manager.
Source: Announcement Letter VMware Management and Automation
Now these products can also be purchased through regular IBM System x channels and are part of the SSCT:
IBM has made available to us an IBM Systems Director 6.1 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document which answers questions like:
AEM is an energy management software tool that can help provide a single view of the actual power usage across systems in your infrastructure as opposed to the benchmarked power consumption. Planned availability date is december 12th 2008.
The new features in this release are: Web-based user interface requiring only a browser, Soft power capping, Energy thresholding, Group capping, Integration with Emerson-Liebert's SiteScan management application (the SiteScan application is supported by Emerson Network Power), Additional power savings modes, Command-line interface support, Select non-IBM PDU support
AEM V4.1 is available as a Web download and includes AEM's monitoring and management functions. AEM's monitoring functions are available for no charge, and the AEM management functions are enabled for a 60-day evaluation period.
You can use the IBM® Advanced Settings Utility (ASU) to modify firmware settings from the command line on multiple operating-system platforms like DOS, Linux, Solaris, Windows (yes also WinPE).
It supports BIOS code, Remote Supervisor Adapter firmware, Remote Supervisor Adapter II firmware and Baseboard management controller firmware
You can perform the following tasks by using the utility:
The ASU supports scripting environments through its batch-processing mode.
Readme: ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/systems/support/system_x_pdf/46m1352.pdf
Files: http://www-304.ibm.com/systems/support/supportsite.wss/docdisplay?lndocid=MIGR-55021&brandind=5000008
IBM® BladeCenter® provides a modular approach to streamlining your system to maximize server capability. Take advantage of the IBM Blade Assessment Tool and see if blades or rack servers are right for you.
What is the Blade Assessment?
The Blade Assessment Tool is designed to help you determine whether
blade or rack servers can help meet your organization's requirement.
The assessment uses your responses to determine whether your
organization has a requirment for rack or blade servers. When you have
completed the online assessment, a graphic is generated on-screen. A
graphic of the result will also be emailed to you if you request it.
Source: Blade Assessment Tool
ARMONK, NY and SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- October 23, 2008 -- IBM and Intel Corporation today announced they are extending their collaboration in the blade server market to drive adoption of an open industry specification for blade switches. This will enable switch vendors to maximize return on their research and development by developing products to a single design, reaching more customers with just one product.
Last october 2008 the Tolly Group did a functionality certification and cooperative interoperability evaluation on the IBM Corporation Nortel 1/10Gb Uplink Ethernet Switch Module for IBM BladeCenter (report 208337). Test report highlights:
Source: BladeNetwork 208337, Tolly Group report, 1/10Gb Uplink Ethernet Switch
We received a VERY extensive and useful consultant report from 'International Technology Group' which proofs that IBM System x, BladeCenter and System Storage have the
best TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) compared to HP and Dell. We urge everyone to read this.
Some of the results for these comparisons may be summarized as follows:
Server costs. Overall three-year costs, including hardware, maintenance, software, personnel and facilities for use of IBM System x and BladeCenter platforms averaged 12.2 and 8.9 percent less than for use of Dell PowerEdge and HP ProLiant and BladeSystem equivalents respectively.
Disk system costs. Overall three-year costs, including the same components as for servers, averaged 21.6 percent less for IBM DS3000 and DS4000 systems than for Dell/EMC AX4 and CX3 systems, and 22.9 percent less than for HP Modular Storage Array (MSA) and Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA) systems.
Combined server and disk system costs. Reflecting the differences described above, combined three-year costs for IBM server and disk system platforms averaged 16.4 and 15.3 percent less than for Dell and HP equivalents respectively.
Source: Business Case for IBM System x, BladeCenter and System Storage (XSW03022USEN.PDF)
A new updated version of the Power Concepts and Solutions PDF file can be found HERE.
Changelog: BladeCenter S and the new PDU's are added.
If you want to know something about power, (cable) connectors, PDU's, BladeCenter configurations of just want to know how to calculate Volts to Amps or viceversa than this is your guide. It is created by Chris Gillen (IBM)
More @ ibm.com/technotes
IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a powerful new solution to help organizations slash virtual desktop infrastructure storage requirements by up to 80 percent, allowing them to take advantage of new cloud computing models at significantly reduced costs while increasing energy efficiency.
Update Oct 31st: Added link to webcast
