IBM eServer zSeries 990 Technical Guide

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2003, 2004. All rights reserved. 235

Appendix A. Hardware Management Console

(HMC)

In this appendix, we discuss the z990 Hardware Management Console, and provide you with

some configuration guidelines.

The HMC is a PC/ISA bus PC running OS/2®, Communications Server for OS/2, a remote

control systems management product, and the Hardware Management Console Application

(HMCA). It also contains configuration information about its own configuration and about the

Support Element (SE) defined to it.

The HMC is attached to the SE either by a local area network (LAN) through the Multistation

Access Unit (MAU) or by an Ethernet LAN. The HMC resides external to the system frame.

The HMC can also control and monitor status for multiple Central Processor Complexes

(CPCs) configured to it, providing a single point of control and a single system image. One

HMC can control 100 SEs, and one SE can be controlled by 32 HMCs.

The physical location of some HMC hardware features (standard or optional) are dictated by

the specific PC. Some features may be mutually exclusive with other features, depending on

the PC model.

The HMC user interface is designed to provide the functions you need to operate, monitor,

and maintain your processor. Various elements of the processor hardware are represented as

objects by the HMC application. Through this application, you can directly manipulate the

CPC objects that are defined to the HMC and be aware of changes to hardware status as

they are detected.

The Hardware Management Console and Support Elements provide the following:

򐂰 A Hardware Management Console Application object-oriented interface

򐂰 Customizable groups of hardware objects

򐂰 A customizable Hardware Management Console

򐂰 Application settings

A

236 IBM ^ zSeries 990 Technical Guide

Consolidation of:

򐂰 Operator controls

򐂰 Hardware status reporting

򐂰 Hardware message presentation

򐂰 Operating system messages

򐂰 Problem analysis and reporting

򐂰 Licensed Internal Code (LIC) control and distribution

򐂰 Remote I/O configuration and IOCDS management

򐂰 Scheduled operations

The HMC communicates with the CPC through the Support Element (SE). When tasks are

performed at the HMC, the commands are sent to one or more Support Elements which then

issue commands to their CPCs. CPCs can be grouped at the HMC so that a single command

can be passed along to as many as all of the CPCs defined to the HMC.

One Hardware Management Console can control up to 100 Support Elements, and one

Support Element can be controlled by 32 Hardware Management Consoles. Refer to the

examples shown in Figure A-1 and Figure A-2 on page 237 for typical Hardware

Management Console configurations.

Figure A-1 Single CPC environment

LAN

LAN

zSeries

HMC

HMC

Appendix A. Hardware Management Console (HMC) 237

Figure A-2 Multi CPC environment

Important: Beginning with the next zSeries server, after the IBM ^ zSeries 890

and 990, all new HMCs on all currently marketed zSeries servers are intended to become

closed platforms. They will only support the HMC application and not the installation of

other applications, such as the IBM ESCON Director and the IBM Sysplex Timer console

applications.

When available, the next generation HMC is expected to communicate only with G5

Servers, and above (Multiprise 3000, G5/G6, z800, z900, z890, z990). TCP/IP is intended

to be the only communications protocol supported.

LAN

LAN

zSeries z990

HMC

HMC

zSeries z900

G5/G6 Series