Unit 1
Introduction to
IBM Power systems,
AIX and System Administration
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
Course materials may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written permission of IBM. 5.2
Unit objectives
IBM Power Systems
After completing this unit, you should be able to:
• Define terminology and concepts of IBM Power system
servers, virtualization, HMC, and AIX
• Understand a typical set-up of a Power environment
• Describe the roles of the system administrator
• Obtain root access with the su command
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
AIX overview
IBM Power Systems
• IBM’s proprietary operating system based on UNIX System V
– Also has BSD compatible commands and programming interface
extensions
• Advanced Interactive Executive (AIX) runs on proprietary
hardware (H/W) called IBM Power Systems
– Sixth generation of Power, based on Reduced Instruction Set
Computer (RISC) technology
• Most Power Systems today run many instances of AIX in
partitions known as Logical Partitions (LPAR)
– This is H/W partitioning managed by the system firmware, Power
Hyperviso
LPAR:
AIX1
LPAR:
AIX2
LPAR:
AIX3
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
Logical partition (LPAR) overview
IBM Power Systems
• An LPAR is the allocation of system resources to create
logically separate systems within the same physical footprint.
• The resource allocation and isolation for a logical partition is
implemented in firmware called Power Hypervisor.
– Provides configuration flexibility
• Each partition has its own:
– Operating system
– Resources: processors, memory, devices (defined in a profile)
• Resources can be changed dynamically using Dynamic LPAR (DLPAR)
• Partitions can consist of physical (real) or virtual devices
– or a combination of both
sys1 sys2 sys3 sys4
04:42 14:42 11:42 19:42
LPAR 1 LPAR 2 LPAR 3 LPAR 4
Power Hypervisor
System Hardware (memory, processors, devices)
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
Dynamic logical partitioning (DLPAR)
IBM Power Systems
• DLPAR is the ability to add, remove, and move resources
without reactivation of a partition
– Processor, memory, and I/O allocation changes
• Processors and memory quantities are bound by the minimum
and maximum profile settings
• Applications may be DLPAR-aware
Before After
LPAR 1 LPAR 1
DLPAR Operation:
(running) (running)
- Add 2.0 CPU
-Remove 4Gb Mem
2.0 CPU 4.0 CPU
-Move the DVD slot to LPAR 2 16Gb Mem 12Gb Mem
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
Workload partitions (WPAR)
IBM Power Systems
• Software (S/W) partitioning is managed by AIX.
– Available from AIX 6.1
• Many AIX OS images can reside within a master global AIX
image.
• Live Application Mobility allows WPAR relocation to another
box or LPAR.
• WPARs provide automatic workload balancing.
• WPAR technology is not H/W dependent.
– Support is available on Power 4, 5, and 6.
AIX1
AIX2 WPAR2 2.
1.
AIX3
WPAR1
WPAR4
WPAR5
WPAR3
WPAR6 WPAR mgr
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
Live partition mobility
IBM Power Systems
• Live partition mobility allows running AIX partitions to be
migrated from one physical server to another without
downtime.
– For Power 6 only, LPARs must not contain any physical devices.
No
LPAR:
LPAR:
Downtime
AIX1
AIX1
• Partition Mobility provides systems management flexibility and
is designed to improve system availability.
– Can help avoid planned outages for hardware or firmware
maintenance
– Can help avoid unplanned downtime
• If a server indicates a potential failure, you can move its partitions to
another server before the failure occurs.
– Enables optimized resource use by moving workloads from server to
server
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
Evolution of AIX
IBM Power Systems
AIX Version 6.1 Technology Level 2
(GA 14, November, 2008)
IBM Support for new IBM UNIX® Systems
New Virtualization Support
• Faster Live Application Mobility
• (with WPAR Manager V1.2
• Inactive Application Mobility
• Independent WPAR network routes
• WPAR named interface support
• IPv6 WPAR network support
• MPIO support for physical and virtual paths
• PowerVM™ n Port ID virtualization (NPIV)
• PowerVM™ Shared Memory Partitioning
OS Integration and Management
• IPv6 RFC currency
• BIND 9.4.1 support
• IPv4 tunneling in IPv6 networks
• nmon integrated into topas
• topasrec performance data recording
• topas monitoring support for PowerVM VIOS
• mpstat and sar support WPAR support
• Concurrent kernel update enhancements
• LVM support for SAN mirror pools
• Systems Director Console enhancements
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
Overview of the POWER6 servers
IBM Power Systems
Power 520 Power 550
• Entry/Low end • Mid-range
• Deskside or Rack (4U) • Deskside or Rack (4U)
• 1,2, or 4 CPUs • 2, 4, 6 or 8 CPUs
• 1GB-64GB memory • 1GB-256GB memory
• Max. Storage, Internal + • Max. Storage, Internal +
• Expansion I/O 132TB • Expansion I/O 249TB
Power 570
Power 560
• Mid-range
• Mid-range
• Rack (4U) building block (to 16U)
• Rack (4U) building block (to 8U) • 2, 4, 8, 16 or 32 CPUs
• 4, 8 or 16 CPUs
• 1GB-768GB memory
• 8GB-384GB memory • Max. Storage, Internal +
• Max. Storage, Internal +
• Expansion I/O 604TB
• Expansion I/O 599TB
Power 575
• High Performance Computing cluster Power 595
• High-end
• For highly-parallel, compute-intensive
HPC workloads (up to 64 nodes per • 42U System Frame
• 8 to 64 CPUs
cluster)
• 16GB-4TB memory
• 24” System Frame, water cooled
• 32 CPUs per nodes • Max. Storage, Internal +
• Expansion I/O 999TB
• 32GB-256GB memory per node
• Max Internal storage per node 292GB
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
Typical Power / AIX system layout
IBM Power Systems
• LPAR Configuration and Control is completed through the
Hardware Management Console (HMC).
• The HMC connects to the Service Processors and the LPARs.
– Best practice: Use a private network between the HMC and
Service Processors.
LPAR 4
Private Service
Processors Managed
Network System
Secondary HMC
‘Backup’ LPAR 1
LPAR 2
Primary HMC SAN
Public/Open
Network LPAR 3
LPAR 4
NIM Server Images
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
The HMC (1 of 2)
IBM Power Systems
• Intel based server (desktop or rack mount) running a web
based application on a customized version of Linux
• Access is through https (GUI) and SSH (Command line)
• Collects status health information from the managed
systems
• Mandatory on Power 570s and above
– Power 550’s and below can use Integrated Virtualization
Manager (IVM)
• Can be configured to call home to IBM
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
The HMC (2 of 2)
IBM Power Systems
Managed
Systems
LPARs Proc &
running MEM
AIX resources
Navigation
area
Task
Pad
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
LPAR virtualization overview (1 of 2)
IBM Power Systems
• An AIX client partition can :
– Be virtual, have no real devices
– Use fractions of CPUs (Micro-Partitioning)
• Virtualizing LPARs has many advantages
– Flexibility in allocating resources
– More efficient use of system resources through sharing
– Consolidation (H/W, floor space, merge production and test
environments)
– Relocating partitions using Live Partition Mobility
• A key component of virtualization is the Virtual I/O Server
(VIOS)
– Implemented as special customized version of AIX
– It is not AIX. It is PowerVM software!
– Requires at minimum a PowerVM standard license
• Included on some high-end systems
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
LPAR virtualization overview (2 of 2)
IBM Power Systems
• The two key functions of virtualization are:
– Virtual Ethernet is a standard feature of POWER5 and POWER6.
• AIX can have up to 256 virtual adapters per LPAR.
• Does not require a VIOS, unless a bridged connection to the outside
world is required
– Virtual SCSI is way of providing virtual disks to clients.
• The backend storage can be Internal disk (SCSI/SAS) or SAN
storage.
• This is a feature of the VIOS.
• Note: There are many other virtualization features which are covered in more
depth in the LPAR & virtualization curriculum / roadmap.
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
Virtual I/O server (VIOS) overview
IBM Power Systems
• The VIOS partition is allocated physical I/O slots containing
real adapters.
– These are used for the virtual adapters (SCSI or Ethernet) to share
amongst the client partitions
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
Virtualization example
IBM Power Systems
AIX Virtual I/O Server
LPAR LPAR
Physical
Virtual
Virtual Physical Network
Ethernet Virtual SEA Ethernet
Ethernet
ent0 Ethernet Layer 2 ent0
ent1
Switch Bridge
Virtual ent2
Ethernet
ent1
Hypervisor
Virtual
Virtual Physical
Client Device
vSCSI Server Storage
Adapter
Adapter Mapping Adapter
vtscsi0
vhost0 fcs0
SCSI, SAS, FC Physical Disks
or Logical Volumes
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
Role of the system administrator
IBM Power Systems
• Pre-installation planning of:
– Partitions
– User accounts/groups
– Storage allocation/paging space
– Subsystems (printing, networks, and so forth)
– Standard naming conventions
– Determine system policies
– Install and configure hardware Maintain application /
• Network configuration System uptime!
• System Backups and disaster recovery
• Create/manage user accounts
• Define and manage subsystems
• Manage system resources (for example, disk space)
• Performance monitoring
• Capacity planning
• Application license management
• Documentation - system configuration, and keep it current!
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
Who can perform administration tasks?
IBM Power Systems
• The root user
– Exercise caution when logging in directly as root, especially
remotely.
– Keep the root password secure.
• Members of special groups such as system, or roles using the new
AIX6 feature: RBAC
• The su command enables you to obtain access to the root user
$ id; pwd $ id; pwd
uid=251(alex) gid=1(staff) uid=251(alex) gid=1(staff)
/home/alex /home/alex
$ su root $ su - root
root's Password: or root's Password:
# id; pwd # id; pwd
uid=0(root) gid=0(system) uid=0(root) gid=0(system)
/home/alex /
# set |grep USER # set |grep USER
USER=alex USER=root
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
Unit summary
IBM Power Systems
Having completed this unit, you should be able to:
• Define terminology and concepts of IBM Power System
servers, virtualization, HMC, and AIX
• Understand a typical set-up of a Power environment
• Describe the roles of the system administrator
• Obtain root access with the su command
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
