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http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/power/hardware/blades/i_on_blade_readme.pdf

This document seems to indicate that SAS drives should be ok for a JS12 blade....

This caught my eye as I was skimming the document (page 15)...

When configuring LUNs for IBM i (virtualized by VIOS), they should be created as 512-byte,
"AIX" LUNs, not as 520-byte "IBM i" LUNs. VIOS accesses the 512-byte LUNs as described
above and then virtualizes them to IBM i via a Virtual SCSI connection between the 2 partitions.
The Virtual SCSI server adapter in VIOS and Virtual SCSI client adapter in IBM i are created
automatically when the LUNs are assigned to IBM i in IVM. The translation from 512 bytes per
sector to 520 bytes per sector is performed by the Virtual SCSI client driver in IBM i.

There is a separate Virtual SCSI connection between VIOS and each IBM i partition, which is also
used for IBM i access to the USB DVD-ROM drive in the chassis. The maximum number of
Virtual SCSI connections per IBM i partition in this environment is one. The Virtual SCSI
connection allows a maximum of 16 disk and 16 optical devices in IBM i. This means that a
maximum of 16 LUNs can be virtualized by VIOS per IBM i partition. However, each LUN does
not represent a single physical disk arm. IBM i (via VIOS) takes advantage of the SAN system's
ability to create a LUN using a RAID rank with multiple physical drives (DDMs).

Eric

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Lukas Beeler
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 3:48 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: i on Blade - Experiences?


On Fri, Jun 20, 2008 at 10:20 PM, Pete Helgren <Pete@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Are you saying you can't install i OS or that you are running i/OS and
can't create a second i partition ?

The first - on the Blades you need to run a "Parent" Partition running
VIOS (Virtual IO Server), which is basically a customized AIX, which
virtualizes Disks for IBM i using a virtual SCSI connection.

The problem i have is that the demo unit shipped with a full loadout
of 12 500GB SATA Drives. Unfortunately, these SATA Drives are not
supported with VIOS/IBM i. So, until Thursday i just have blade
running VIOS :(

So far, my experience has been mixed. Complexity is certainly higher
than using a HMC.

What i did so far:

* Attach the BladeCenter Management Module to the network.
* Access AMM (Advanced Management Module) using Webbrowser. Assign IP
Adress to SAS Switch. Upgrade BladeCenter AMM Firmware to latest
level.
* Access SAS Switch using Webbrowser. Upgrade SAS Switch Firmware to
latest level (Wasn't necessary in the unit i had)
* Install IBM SMC (Storage Management Console) on Virtual Machine, use
SMC to configure appropriate SAS Zoning (for all the Blades). It's
possible to use a pre-configured Layout here though, but none of them
fit what i had)
* Connect to BladeCenter using SSH, access the serial over LAN console
of the POWER6 Blade
* Insert VIOS CD into BladeCenter Media Bay
* Power on POWER6 Blade
* Wait until POWER6 Blade has booted from VIOS Media
* Install VIOS (essentially just waiting.. most of this is configured
correctly, and the docs are good)
* Enable Mirroring of VIOS on Blade-Internal Disks
* Upgrade Firmware in Blade, Upgrade Firmware of Blade Disk Controllers
* Update VIOS (takes hours.. around 4GB to download)

Took me the around 8 hours, but i don't have any experience with
Blades so far. The Documentation was fairly good. I ran into some
issues because i tried to get the VIOS to use the SATA disks anyway,
which crashed the SAS Switch (and took all the Intel Blades with him).
Not really funny, but not IBMs fault - it's an unsupported
configuration.

Should be an interesting ride. Also, how did you get "an evaluation"
unit? Did you buy it and are just using it for testing/evaluation or
has it been given to you on a temporary basis?

I don't know, i'm just a technician.


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