IBM PureFlex System and IBM Flex System Products and Technology

IBM PureFlex System and IBM Flex System Products and Technology

by David Watts, Randall Davis, Richard French, Lu Han, Dave Ridley, Cristian Rojas
Released July 2012
Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
ISBN: None

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Book description

To meet today's complex and ever-changing business demands, you need a solid foundation of compute, storage, networking, and software resources. This system must be simple to deploy, and be able to quickly and automatically adapt to changing conditions. You also need to be able to take advantage of broad expertise and proven guidelines in systems management, applications, hardware maintenance, and more.

The IBM® PureFlex™ System combines no-compromise system designs along with built-in expertise and integrates them into complete, optimized solutions. At the heart of PureFlex System is the IBM Flex System™ Enterprise Chassis. This fully integrated infrastructure platform supports a mix of compute, storage, and networking resources to meet the demands of your applications.

The solution is easily scalable with the addition of another chassis with the required nodes. With the IBM Flex System Manager, multiple chassis can be monitored from a single panel. The 14 node, 10U chassis delivers high speed performance complete with integrated servers, storage, and networking. This flexible chassis is simple to deploy now, and to scale to meet your needs in the future.

This IBM Redbooks® publication describes IBM PureFlex System and IBM Flex System. It highlights the technology and features of the chassis, compute nodes, management features, and connectivity options. Guidance is provided about every major component, and about networking and storage connectivity.

This book is intended for customers, Business Partners, and IBM employees who want to know the details about the new family of products. It assumes that you have a basic understanding of blade server concepts and general IT knowledge.

Table of contents

  1. Notices
    1. Trademarks
  2. Preface
    1. The team who wrote this book
    2. Now you can become a published author, too!
    3. Comments welcome
    4. Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
  3. Chapter 1: IBM PureSystems
    1. IBM PureFlex System
    2. IBM PureApplication System
    3. IBM Flex System: The building blocks
      1. Management
      2. Compute nodes
      3. Storage
      4. Networking
      5. Infrastructure
    4. IBM Flex System overview
      1. IBM Flex System Manager
      2. IBM Flex System Enterprise Chassis
      3. Compute nodes
      4. I/O Modules
    5. This book
  4. Chapter 2: IBM PureFlex System
    1. IBM PureFlex System capabilities
    2. IBM PureFlex System Express
      1. Chassis
      2. Top of rack Ethernet switch
      3. Top of rack SAN switch
      4. Compute nodes
      5. IBM Flex System Manager
      6. IBM Storwize V7000
      7. Rack cabinet
      8. Software
      9. Services
    3. IBM PureFlex System Standard
      1. Chassis
      2. Top of rack Ethernet switch
      3. Top of rack SAN switch
      4. Compute nodes
      5. IBM Flex System Manager
      6. IBM Storwize V7000
      7. Rack cabinet
      8. Software
      9. Services
    4. IBM PureFlex System Enterprise
      1. Chassis
      2. Top of rack Ethernet switch
      3. Top of rack SAN switch
      4. Compute nodes
      5. IBM Flex System Manager
      6. IBM Storwize V7000
      7. Rack cabinet
      8. Software
      9. Services
    5. IBM SmartCloud Entry
  5. Chapter 3: Systems management
    1. Management network
    2. Chassis Management Module
      1. Overview
      2. Interfaces
    3. Security
    4. Compute node management
      1. Integrated Management Module II
      2. Flexible service processor
      3. I/O modules
    5. IBM Flex System Manager
      1. Hardware overview
      2. Software features
      3. Supported agents, hardware, operating systems, and tasks
  6. Chapter 4: Chassis and infrastructure configuration
    1. Overview
      1. Front of the chassis
      2. Midplane
      3. Rear of the chassis
      4. Specifications
      5. Air filter
      6. Compute node shelves
      7. Hot plug and hot swap components
    2. Power supplies
    3. Fan modules
    4. Fan logic module
    5. Front information panel
    6. Cooling
    7. Power supply and fan module requirements
      1. Fan module population
      2. Power supply population
    8. Chassis Management Module
    9. I/O architecture (1/2)
    10. I/O architecture (2/2)
    11. I/O modules
      1. I/O module LEDs
      2. Serial access cable
      3. I/O module naming scheme
      4. IBM Flex System Fabric EN4093 10 Gb Scalable Switch
      5. IBM Flex System EN4091 10 Gb Ethernet Pass-thru
      6. IBM Flex System EN2092 1 Gb Ethernet Scalable Switch
      7. IBM Flex System FC5022 16 Gb SAN Scalable Switch (1/2)
      8. IBM Flex System FC5022 16 Gb SAN Scalable Switch (2/2)
      9. IBM Flex System FC3171 8 Gb SAN Switch
      10. IBM Flex System FC3171 8 Gb SAN Pass-thru
      11. IBM Flex System IB6131 InfiniBand Switch
    12. Infrastructure planning
      1. Supported power cords
      2. Supported PDUs and UPS units
      3. Power planning
      4. UPS planning
      5. Console planning
      6. Cooling planning
      7. Chassis-rack cabinet compatibility
    13. IBM 42U 1100 mm Enterprise V2 Dynamic Rack (1/2)
    14. IBM 42U 1100 mm Enterprise V2 Dynamic Rack (2/2)
    15. IBM Rear Door Heat eXchanger V2 Type 1756
  7. Chapter 5: Compute nodes
    1. IBM Flex System Manager
    2. IBM Flex System x240 Compute Node
      1. Introduction
      2. Models
      3. Chassis support
      4. System architecture
      5. Processor
      6. Memory (1/3)
      7. Memory (2/3)
      8. Memory (3/3)
      9. Standard onboard features
      10. Local storage (1/2)
      11. Local storage (2/2)
      12. Integrated virtualization
      13. Embedded 10 Gb Virtual Fabric Adapter
      14. I/O expansion
      15. Systems management
      16. Operating system support
    3. IBM Flex System x220 Compute Node
      1. Introduction
      2. Models
      3. Chassis support
      4. System architecture
      5. Processor options
      6. Memory options
      7. Internal disk storage controllers
      8. Supported internal drives
      9. Embedded 1 Gb Ethernet controller
      10. I/O expansion
      11. Integrated virtualization
      12. Systems management
      13. Operating system support
    4. IBM Flex System p260 and p24L Compute Nodes
      1. Specifications
      2. System board layout
      3. IBM Flex System p24L Compute Node
      4. Front panel
      5. Chassis support
      6. System architecture
      7. Processor
      8. Memory
      9. Active Memory Expansion
      10. Storage
      11. I/O expansion
      12. System management
      13. Integrated features
      14. Operating system support
    5. IBM Flex System p460 Compute Node
      1. Overview
      2. System board layout
      3. Front panel
      4. Chassis support
      5. System architecture
      6. Processor
      7. Memory
      8. Active Memory Expansion
      9. Storage
      10. Local storage and cover options
      11. Hardware RAID capabilities
      12. I/O expansion
      13. System management
      14. Integrated features
      15. Operating system support
    6. I/O adapters
      1. Form factor
      2. Naming structure
      3. Supported compute nodes
      4. Supported switches
      5. IBM Flex System EN2024 4-port 1 Gb Ethernet Adapter
      6. IBM Flex System EN4132 2-port 10 Gb Ethernet Adapter
      7. IBM Flex System EN4054 4-port 10 Gb Ethernet Adapter
      8. IBM Flex System CN4054 10 Gb Virtual Fabric Adapter
      9. IBM Flex System FC3172 2-port 8 Gb FC Adapter
      10. IBM Flex System FC3052 2-port 8 Gb FC Adapter
      11. IBM Flex System FC5022 2-port 16Gb FC Adapter
      12. IBM Flex System IB6132 2-port FDR InfiniBand Adapter
      13. IBM Flex System IB6132 2-port QDR InfiniBand Adapter
  8. Chapter 6: Network integration
    1. Ethernet switch module selection
    2. Scalable switches
    3. VLAN
    4. High availability and redundancy
      1. Redundant network topologies
      2. Spanning Tree Protocol
      3. Layer 2 failover
      4. Virtual Link Aggregation Groups
      5. Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol
      6. Routing protocols
    5. Performance
      1. Trunking
      2. Jumbo frames
      3. NIC teaming
      4. Server Load Balancing
    6. IBM Virtual Fabric Solution
      1. Virtual Fabric mode vNIC
      2. Switch independent mode vNIC
    7. VMready
  9. Chapter 7: Storage integration
    1. External storage
      1. IBM Storwize V7000
      2. IBM XIV Storage System series
      3. IBM System Storage DS8000 series
      4. IBM System Storage DS5000 series
      5. IBM System Storage DS3000 series
      6. IBM System Storage N series
      7. IBM System Storage TS3500 Tape Library
      8. IBM System Storage TS3310 series
      9. IBM System Storage TS3100 Tape Library
    2. Fibre Channel
      1. Fibre Channel requirements
      2. FC switch selection and fabric interoperability rules
    3. iSCSI
    4. High availability and redundancy
    5. Performance
    6. Backup solutions
      1. Dedicated server for centralized LAN backup
      2. LAN-free backup for nodes
    7. Boot from SAN
      1. Implementing Boot from SAN
      2. iSCSI SAN Boot specific considerations
    8. Converged networks
  10. Abbreviations and acronyms
  11. Related publications and education
    1. IBM Redbooks
    2. IBM education
    3. Online resources
    4. Help from IBM
  12. Index (1/3)
  13. Index (2/3)
  14. Index (3/3)
  15. Back cover

Product information

  • Title: IBM PureFlex System and IBM Flex System Products and Technology
  • Author(s): David Watts, Randall Davis, Richard French, Lu Han, Dave Ridley, Cristian Rojas
  • Release date: July 2012
  • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
  • ISBN: None