AIX

Folks,

Again a very silly question Could someone tell me, how to determine the power family(540, 520, 575, 595 etc) just by looking into the model # info from prtconf/lsconf o/p of the lpar?

I dont want run a search on any search engine to find out the power family or hit IBM website to find out this info. Does it grow with experience?


Thanks,
-- Souvik

I would go for a combination of:-

Code:

lsattr -El sys0 | grep -i model
lsattr -El proc0|grep -E "freq|type"

My output for a server gives me this:-

Code:

/usr/home/RBATTE1> lsattr -El sys0|grep model;echo
modelname       IBM,8203-E4A                         Machine name                                      False

/usr/home/RBATTE1> lsattr -El proc0|grep -E "freq|type"
frequency   4204000000     Processor Speed       False
type        PowerPC_POWER6 Processor type        False
/usr/home/RBATTE1>

So, it's a Power-6 8204-E4A (aka p520) with a cpu speed of ~4GHz

I think that to get the sales name (in my case p520) you just need to put "IBM Redbook 8204-E4A" into a search engine. It will cut through most of the drivel with people trying to sell stuff.

I don't think that the server itself will tell you, which is a shame.



I hope that this helps,
Robin

The naming conventions for p-Series systems prior to the (newest) POWER8 was erratic at best. Yes, it will grow with experience, because it will always be the same 20-30 types of systems you deal with. Here is what little systematics i could glean from the passing generations of technology:

p6xx was the first really virtualized platform and built on the POWER4 processor (obviously the "p6" is for "POWER-4", LOL).

p5xx were all the systems built on POWER5 and POWER5+, as well as the POWER6-systems (yes, just to confuse the russians).

p7xx are the systems built on POWER7 and POWER7+.

p8xx are POWER8-systems.

Save for the p8 there is no real system in the naming, but in principle the higher the second and third number is the bigger the system is: a "520" is a single-processor system whereas a "550" is a midrange machine with usually 1 CEC and a "570" has usually several CECs. A "505" is a low-end, 1HU server. Similar with the P7-systems where the biggest is the "780" (up to 192 processors, up to 6TB RAM, IIRC).

Usually there is a "0" in the last position: p720, p740, p770, p780. A "5" in the last position indicates a high-performance model: p595, p775 (water-cooled and built for supercomputing), p795. The 505 is an exception to this.

The p8 brought an end to that and - for the first time - a real system into the naming. The first digit is a "8" for P8-processor, the second digit is the number of processor-sockets, the third digit the number of HUs the case takes, for instance: the "S824" can hold up to 24 cores (2 times 12, the P8 is a 12-core design) and is a an AIX- and Linux-capable P8 system with 4HU height. A final "L" in the name indicates that the system is sold with AIX license and without IBMs hypervisor. You can only install Linux on this system and have to use the PowerKVM hypervisor which is slightly slower than IBM original one. The "S824L" would be the same hardware but only Linux-capable.

I hope this helps.

bakunin

Of course, a 530, 550, 570 server and others were also the numbers used on earlier RS/6000 AIX servers, so you have to be careful what you buy!

I've got a p505 (9115-505) which does great for what we ask of it. Talk to your approved IBM reseller about performance needs and discuss any limitations that you might be putting on yourself. Capacity and Performance planning is all about getting the cheapest deal for what you need without limiting future growth too much. We had someone (no, not me) buy the p505 to do a job, but we can't expand it, so it's new hardware and an application migration to move things on now



Robin