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 available from IBM. 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, IBM 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.

To meet today's complex and ever-changing business demands, you need a solid foundation of compute, storage, networking, and software resources that is simple to deploy and can quickly and automatically adapt to changing conditions. You also need to make full use of broad expertise and proven preferred practices in systems management, applications, hardware maintenance, and more. The IBM® Flex System p270 Compute Node is an IBM Power SystemsTM server that is based on the new dual-chip module POWER7+TM processor and is optimized for virtualization, performance, and efficiency. The server supports IBM AIX®, IBM i, or Linux operating environments, and is designed to run various workloads in IBM PureFlexTM System. The p270 Compute Node is a follow-on to the IBM Flex SystemTM p260 Compute Node. This IBM Redbooks® publication is a comprehensive guide to the p270 Compute Node. We introduce the related Flex System offerings and describe the compute node in detail. We then describe planning and implementation steps including converged networking, management, virtualization, and operating system installation. This book is for customers, IBM Business Partners, and IBM technical specialists who want to understand the new offerings and plan and implement an IBM Flex System installation that involves the Power Systems compute nodes.

To meet today's complex and ever-changing business demands, you need a solid foundation of compute, storage, networking, and software resources that is simple to deploy and can quickly and automatically adapt to changing conditions. You also need to be able to take advantage of broad expertise and proven preferred practices in systems management, applications, hardware maintenance, and more. The IBM® Flex SystemTM p260 and p460 Compute Nodes are IBM Power SystemsTM servers optimized for virtualization, performance, and efficiency. The nodes support IBM AIX®, IBM i, or Linux operating environments, and are designed to run various workloads in IBM PureFlexTM System. This IBM Redbooks® publication is a comprehensive guide to IBM PureFlex System and the Power Systems compute nodes. We introduce the offerings and describe the compute nodes in detail. We then describe planning and implementation steps and go through some of the key the management features of the IBM Flex System Manager management node. This book is for customers, IBM Business Partners, and IBM technical specialists that want to understand the new offerings and to plan and implement an IBM Flex System installation that involves the Power Systems compute nodes.

In a traditional deployment model, software is installed on a physical server, and it is configured for the particular data center environment. The cloud deployment model requires that the dependency on a specific hardware configuration is severed. This IBM® Redbooks® publication guides you through the transition from the traditional application deployment model to the cloud-friendly deployment model. It explains how to achieve these goals by packaging the software stacks into industry standard virtual appliances. A key part of this transition involves using the IBM Image Construction and Composition Tool. This tool is the IBM tool for creating virtualized workloads that target several private cloud deployment platforms, including platforms from IBM and not from IBM. In fact, this tool is unique in its ability to support such a wide range of cloud offerings. It is also the only tool in the marketplace that can create virtual appliances for both x86 and IBM Power hardware architectures. This book provides an in-depth look at the capabilities and internal workings of Image Construction and Composition Tool. It focuses on the capabilities of this tool, which target the virtualization and cloud offerings of IBM Systems and Technology Group. These offerings include IBM Systems Director VMControlTM, IBM SmartCloud® Entry, and IBM PureFlexTM System with IBM Flex System ManagerTM appliance. The Image Construction and Composition Tool also has a much richer set of capabilities. Specifically, it supports IBM Workload Deployer, IBM PureApplicationTM Systems, and IBM SmartCloud Provisioning. This publication targets software architects, cloud solutions architects, and cloud administrators. Its goal is to provide you with the expert-level skills required to package the existing and newly created applications into self-configurable, smart virtual appliances. Related publication: Smart Virtual Appliances Made Easy with IBM Image Construction and Composition Tool, TIPS1037

Many companies have a complex process for purchasing software that is required by IT projects, or better, by the business. Usually software is purchased by a centralized procurement function, and is either purchased on a project-by-project basis or as a large periodic software contract. Unfortunately purchasing software products does not automatically mean that these products are exploited throughout the organization providing the maximum possible value to the business units. Several issues call for a structured approach that gets the most business value out of software already purchased. The objectives of this approach are to: Create maximum awareness throughout the organization of the software purchased. Track software use in IT projects and act if products are not used at all, used improperly, or insufficiently used. Facilitate use of software products in projects, especially when software products are complex and require a lot of integration. We can summarize the overall objective of this approach as ensuring that the business units in an organization obtain the maximum possible value of software products purchased, which is also the scope of this IBM® Redbooks® publication.

Data centers must become smarter to meet today's business needs. They need to be more efficient, scalable, and flexible and at the same time keep operational costs in check. A smarter data center must seamlessly integrate IT resources, such as servers, storage, and networking, while also responding quickly to change. Networking plays an essential role in enabling infrastructures for smarter data centers. In dynamic environments with virtualized IT resources, the network must do more than just carry traffic and support the provisioning of new IT services. It must also have the built-in flexibility and capability to adapt quickly while maintaining comprehensive security, visibility, and management. IBM® Flex SystemTM build-to-order (BTO) and Juniper Networks QFabric are key building blocks for a smarter data center infrastructure. They are reliable, resilient, and energy efficient resources that seamlessly integrate to provide the capabilities and flexibility needed now and in the future. This IBM RedpaperTM publication discusses how to build a smarter data center infrastructure with IBM Flex System BTO and Juniper Networks QFabric. It discusses key client use cases that address today's data center challenges: Business continuity and disaster recovery Multitenancy Virtual machine mobility This paper is intended for IT management, IT architects, network planners and integrators, and technical specialists.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication illustrates implementation, testing, and helpful scenarios with IBM Power® Systems 780 and 795 using the comprehensive set of the Power virtualization features. We focus on the Power Systems functional improvements, in particular, highlighting the reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) features of the enterprise servers. This document highlights IBM Power Systems Enterprise Server features, such as system scalability, virtualization features, and logical partitioning among others. This book provides a documented deployment model for Power 780 and Power 795 within a virtualized environment, which allows clients to plan a foundation for exploiting and using the latest features of the IBM Power Systems Enterprise Servers. The target audience for this book includes technical professionals (IT consultants, technical support staff, IT Architects, and IT Specialists) responsible for providing IBM Power Systems solutions and support.

This IBM® RedpaperTM publication describes the adapter-based virtualization capabilities that are being deployed in high-end IBM POWER7+TM processor-based servers. Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) single root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) is a virtualization technology on IBM Power Systems servers. SR-IOV allows multiple logical partitions (LPARs) to share a PCIe adapter with little or no run time involvement of a hypervisor or other virtualization intermediary. SR-IOV does not replace the existing virtualization capabilities that are offered as part of the IBM PowerVM® offerings. Rather, SR-IOV compliments them with additional capabilities. This paper describes many aspects of the SR-IOV technology, including: A comparison of SR-IOV with standard virtualization technology Overall benefits of SR-IOV Architectural overview of SR-IOV Planning requirements SR-IOV deployment models that use standard I/O virtualization Configuring the adapter for dedicated or shared modes Tips for maintaining and troubleshooting your system Scenarios for configuring your system This paper is directed to clients, IBM Business Partners, and system administrators who are involved with planning, deploying, configuring, and maintaining key virtualization technologies.

This IBM® RedpaperTM publication provides a brief overview of cloud technology, and describes how, from a user perspective, IBM SmartCloudTM Entry can help you access the benefits of the cloud. In particular, the product provides a comprehensive cloud software stack with capabilities that you otherwise might need to purchase separately as multiple products from multiple vendors. Businesses with an existing virtualized platform (IBM Power SystemsTM with PowerVM® or IBM System x with VMware vSphere) can be transformed to a private cloud. IBM SmartCloud Entry makes this transformation possible. IBM SmartCloud Entry integrates with the IBM PureFlexTM System, so that clients with PureFlex System can also experience easier cloud-ready deployments. IBM SmartCloud Entry adds a self-service, user portal, and basic metering to your existing virtualized platform. Overall, IBM SmartCloud Entry delivers improved service levels and fast time-to-value results for receiving the benefits of a private cloud infrastructure. The four use cases demonstrate how easily IBM SmartCloud Entry can be deployed and the possibilities for improved efficiencies in your organization. The cases demonstrate cloud deployment in PureFlex, VMware, Power Systems and x86 environments, and a telecom company. Also described are two IBM SmartCloud Entry processes, showing the ease of provisioning and installing with this product. This paper is directed at decision-makers, such as CFOs, CIOs, CEOs, IT managers, systems administrators, enterprise architects, systems architects, and IBM Business Partners. Presales and post-sales technical staff can benefit from discussing this paper with clients and potential clients.

This IBM® RedpaperTM publication is a comprehensive guide covering the IBM Power 710 (8231-E1D) and Power 730 (8231-E2D) servers that support IBM AIX®, IBM i, and Linux operating systems. This paper also describes the IBM PowerLinuxTM 7R1 (8246-L1D and 8246-L1T) and the PowerLinux 7R2 (8246-L2D and 8246-L2T) servers that support the Linux operating system. The goal of this paper is to introduce the innovative Power 710, Power 730, PowerLinux 7R1, and PowerLinux offerings and their major functions: IBM POWER7+TM processor is available at frequencies of 3.6 GHz, 4.2 GHz, and 4.3 GHz. Larger IBM POWER7+ Level 3 cache provides greater bandwidth, capacity, and reliability. Integrated SAS/SATA controller for HDD, SSD, tape, and DVD supports built-in hardware RAID 0, 1, and 10. New IBM PowerVM® V2.2.2 features, such as 20 LPARs per core. Improved IBM Active MemoryTM Expansion technology provides more usable memory than is physically installed in the system. Professionals who want to acquire a better understanding of IBM Power SystemsTM products can benefit from reading this paper. This paper expands the current set of IBM Power Systems documentation by providing a desktop reference that offers a detailed technical description of the Power 710 and Power 730 systems. This paper does not replace the latest marketing materials and configuration tools. It is intended as an additional source of information that, together with existing sources, can be used to enhance your knowledge of IBM server solutions.