IBM i – Architecture and technical overview

2.10.3 IBM i

IBM i is supported on the Power E1080 server by the following minimum required levels:

Ê IBM i 7.3 TR11 or later Ê IBM i 7.4 TR5 or later

For compatibility information for hardware features and the corresponding IBM i Technology Levels, see IBM Prerequisites.

IBM i operating system transfer

IBM i customers can move to new Power E1080 servers, just like previous new system non-serial preserving upgrades/replacements.

IBM i terms and conditions require that IBM i operating system license entitlements remain with the machine for which they were originally purchased. Under qualifying conditions, IBM allows the transfer of IBM i processor and user entitlements from one machine to another. This capability helps facilitate machine replacement, server consolidation, and load rebalancing while protecting a customer’s investment in IBM i software. When requirements are met, IBM i license transfer can be configured by using IBM configurator tools.

The following prerequisites must be met for transfers:

Ê The IBM i entitlements are owned by the user’s enterprise.

Ê The donor machine and receiving machine are owned by the user’s enterprise.

Ê The donor machine must have owned in the same user’s enterprise as the receiving machine for a minimum of one year.

Ê Software Maintenance (SWMA) is on the donor machine. Each software entitlement to be transferred has SWMA coverage.

Ê An electronic Proof of Entitlement (ePoE) exists for the entitlements to be transferred. Ê The donor machine entitlements is IBM i 5.4 or later.

Ê The receiving machine includes activated processors that are available to accommodate the transferred entitlements.

Each IBM i processor entitlement that is transferred to a target machine includes one year of new SWMA at no charge. Extra years of coverage or 24×7 support are available options for an extra charge.

2.10.4 Linux

The following types of Linux distributions are available to run on Power E1080:

Ê With native Power10 processor technology support Ê Running in POWER9 compatibility mode

Distributions with native Power10 processor technology support also can run in POWER9 compatibility mode. This feature is important when doing LPM from a POWER9 processor-based server to Power E1080.

116  IBM Power E1080: Technical Overview and Introduction

Red Hat

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) version 8.4 and later can run in native Power10 processor mode. At the time of this writing, RHEL version 8.4 was available.

OpenShift and CoreOS also are supported.

SUSE

SUSE 15 SP3 is the first version with native Power10 processor technology support. Its regular support cycle is 18 months, plus long-term SP support.

Older distribution

The following selected older distribution also are supported on Power E1080:

Ê RHEL 8.2 is supported in POWER9 compatibility mode only

Ê SLES 12 SP5 is supported in POWER9 compatibility mode only

When a LPAR runs in POWER9 compatibility mode, it benefits from most of the features of the Power10 processor technology, including the full eight threads per core. However, program and kernel features that use new Power10 instructions or capabilities are not available.

The POWER9 compatibility mode is required when moving partitions back and forth between POWER9 processor based-systems and Power10 processor-based systems. After a partition is moved to a Power 10 processor-based systems, it can be upgraded to a distribution with native Power10 technology support and restarted in native Power10 mode.

Enhancements

One of the main features of the Power10 processor chip is the possibility to support up to 15 cores per SCM. Therefore, on a Power E1080 that is configured with up to 240 processor cores (each capable of running eight threads for up to 1920 possible threads), the Linux distribution with native Power10 technology support can use this capability.

LPARs running in POWER9 compatibility mode are restricted to 1536 threads per LPAR, which is the maximum for a POWER9 processor-based server. Table 2-30 lists the maximum logical CPUs, maximum memory, and maximum memory with LPM supported, according to the Linux distribution.

Table 2-30 Maximum threads versus processing mode

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The Power10 specific toolchain is available in Advance Toolchain version 15.0, which allows customers and developers to use all new Power10 processor-based technology instructions when programming. Cross-module function call overhead was reduced because of a new PC-relative addressing mode.

One specific is a 10x-to-20x advantage over POWER9 processor-based technology on inferencing workloads because of new memory bandwidth and new instructions. One example is the new special purpose-built matrix math accelerator (MMA) that was tailored for the demands of machine learning and deep learning inference. It also includes many AI data types.

Network virtualization is an area with significant evolution and improvements, which benefit virtual and containerized environments. The following recent improvements were made for Linux networking features on Power E1080:

Ê SR-IOV allows virtualization of network cards at the controller level without the need to create virtual Shared Ethernet Adapters in the VIOS partition. It is enhanced with (vNIC) virtual Network Interface Controller, which allows data to be transferred directly from the partitions to or from the SR-IOV physical adapter without transiting through a VIOS partition.

Ê Hybrid Network Virtualization (HNV) allows Linux partitions to use the efficiency and performance benefits of SR-IOV logical ports and participate in mobility operations, such as active and inactive Live Partition Mobility (LPM) and Simplified Remote Restart (SRR). HNV is enabled by selecting a new Migratable option when an SR-IOV logical port is configured.

Ê NVMe over Fibre Channel fabrics (NVMe-OF) is now available on Power E1080 running Linux when the 2-port 32 Gb adapter (#EN1A or #EN1B) is and the selected IBM FlashSystem high-end (FS9110) and mid-range (FS7200) model are used.

Security

Security is a top priority for IBM and our distribution partners. Linux security on IBM Power is a vast topic that can be the subject of detailed separate material; however, improvements in the areas of hardening, integrity protection, performance, platform security, and certifications are introduced with this section.

Hardening and integrity protection deal with protecting the Linux kernel from unauthorized tampering while allowing upgrading and servicing to the kernel. These topics become even more important when running in a containerized environment with an immutable operating system, such as CoreOS in OpenShift.

Performance also is a security topic because specific hardening mitigation strategies (for example, against side-channel attacks), can have a significant performance effect. In addition, cryptography can use significant compute cycles.

The Power E1080 features transparent memory encryption at the level of the controller, which prevents an attacker from retrieving data from physical memory or storage-class devices that are attached to the processor bus.