Hot News - Integration

Managing Data Centers Much More Than Managing Operating Systems

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:20:00 GMT

We’re in for a treat come Thursday when Greg Hintermeister, who happens to be an IBM Master Inventor (coolest title ever), shows us how to manage our Power/AIX environments with IBM Systems Director at our Power IT Pro virtual event.

In the description of his session, he mentions that managing a data center is a lot harder than managing just operating systems -- successful administrators have to manage server hardware, how it's virtualized, how network and storage are integrated, plus the operating systems running the workloads. But Hintermeister will show you how to manage all of these layers by focusing on just five key areas. And what are those areas? I reached out to Hintermeister to find out.

Beckman on Linux on Power at Virtual Event Next Week

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 01:02:00 GMT

Mel Beckman, our senior technical director for Power IT Pro, will be delivering just one of many free sessions on Power System tips and technology next week during our Power IT Pro Virtual Conference. We’re pretty excited about the event, mostly because we know it’s jam-packed with excellence. (And you can’t beat the price!) Of course, topics: IBM Senior Engineer Jim Mitchell will outline IBM’s Power Systems strategy and directions in the keynote, followed by a hands-on with AIX 7 session by Rob McNelly.

AIX for Mission Critical Computing, Linux for Everything Else?

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 01:45:00 GMT

“A lot of companies that were typically Unix shops were trying to do their IT work and they had no budget because times were really tough,” Gillen explains. “Linux emerged as a solution and was pretty widely used by a lot of Unix shops, and customers got experience with it. And over the last decade, Linux has matured significantly. If you want to put one big generic label on what happened to the average Unix shop is that over time, they are becoming Linux shops.”

Tip: Rebooting with LVM Mirroring and Two VIO Servers

Chris Gibson — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:43:00 GMT

If you are planning on configuring your LPARs with dual virtual I/O servers connected to SCSI storage using LVM mirroring, then you may find this tip interesting.

New Power Systems Cloud Offering from Logicalis Lights the Sky

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 02:19:00 GMT

While we haven't extensively covered cloud computing yet at Power IT Pro, there are a handful of well-respected players offering AIX-focused professionals the ability to serve up Power Systems-based servers from the so-called clouds. Connectria is one, and I know the company serves up a variety of AIX-focused configurations for several dozen customers, large and small. The latest company to invest in IBM Power Systems cloud offerings is Logicalis, which is offering its new Enterprise Power Cloud service -- based on IBM Power 770-class systems capable of supporting multi-tenancy running AIX and i5/OS virtual servers.

Oracle and IBM Offer New Lightning Fast JD Edwards Installation Tool

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 23:34:00 GMT

Oracle and IBM have jointly developed a new express installation tool for IBM i to complement the POWER7-based IBM i Solution Editions program at IBM. This is particularly interesting in several ways. First, the IBM Solution Editions are specially priced POWER7-based hardware, usually 720s, that bundle core application suites from more than 100 independent software vendors worldwide. While each package can be customized, by acquiring a Solution Edition, customers can save 30-35 percent off the cost of the IBM Power Systems hardware -- which doesn't include the benefits of service vouchers or additional incentives offered by the application ISVs.

IPv4 Addresses Finally Gone -- Now What?

Mel Beckman — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 03:34:00 GMT

You might have noticed a disturbance in the Force on February 3, 2011. On that auspicious date, the Internet officially ran out of IPv4 addresses. What does that mean for you? Before I answer that, let’s recap the story so far: A long time ago (1981) in a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency far, far away, the Internet as we know it was invented. The several inventors decided to give their nascent network four billion unique addresses, which seemed reasonable at the time, given the Earth’s population had barely reached this number itself. Then, last Wednesday, we ran out.

Virtual Conference to Deliver: AIX 7.1, HA Answers, 5.2 WPARS, PowerVM in Action, and Much More

Chris Maxcer — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 22:56:00 GMT

The first ever Power IT Pro Virtual Conference is set to deliver an astounding amount of information in one jam-packed day. With seven sessions designed to get at the heart of the hottest topics in the industry, the crew here at Power IT Pro are looking forward to November 16 when we get to share it all -- free!

Ever wonder how IBM's PowerVM actually stacks up against the likes of VMware vSphere on x86-based servers?

Chris Gibson Q&A: AIX 7.1 'Rocks'

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 01:57:00 GMT

I recently caught up with Chris Gibson, an AIX and PowerVM specialist who makes his home in Australia, for an email Q&A on AIX 7. You might recognize Gibson from his "Chris's AIX Blog" on IBM's developerWorks site, his activity out and about in our Power Systems world, his Twitteringn Twitter (@cgibbo), or even as an author on the AIX 7.1 Differences Guide Redbook, which is currently available as a draft and is due for official release in December.

CloudBurst to Shine on POWER7 in December

Chris Maxcer — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 03:13:00 GMT

IBM has expanded its CloudBurst family of private cloud appliances to include a new POWER7-based unit, as well as offer the brains of CloudBurst as a software solution capable of installation on a company's currently installed system. IBM's previous CloudBurst solution was x86 for IBM BladeCenter, but this new POWER7 option, IBM CloudBurst v2.1 on Power Systems, is based on IBM Power 750 servers.

The "appliance" can support from 160 up to 2,900 virtual machines and securely keep the data in those applications separate. The operating systems that run on POWER7, of course, are AIX, IBM i, and Linux. Incidentally, IBM estimates that private clouds built on Power systems can be up to 70 percent less expensive than stand alone x86 servers.