Re: P7 8205 upgrade options

On 11/12/2015 5:19 PM, Steinmetz, Paul wrote:

Larry,

Thanks for the updates.
Sorry if I confused you.

1) Currently on P7 I have 2 GX loops, not needed on P8.

OK That makes sense!

2) I always have QPFRADJ set to 2, moving memory where best needed.

Reasonable BUT if you only have the four default pools and your workloads are many this is likely not optimal. Even worse when you have a lot of memory.

3) Missed that about the S824 8 extra SSD.

That's why I'm here. :-)

4) I'm currently on P20, I would consider dropping to P10.

Then it would be a nice Help to your budget!

- Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis

www.Frankeni.com
www.iDevCloud.com - Personal Development IBM i timeshare service.
www.iInTheCloud.com - Commercial IBM i Cloud Hosting.

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of DrFranken
Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2015 3:20 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: P7 8205 upgrade options

A few comments:

1) Below "Second GX++ loop" is mentioned. This is not correct as the
POWER8 servers do not use GX at all, it has been completely replaced with PCIe only. So I'm not sure what was meant there.

2) In a discussion with IBM yesterday the comment was made "No such thing as too much memory!" And IBM said YES THERE IS if you don't know how to use it. If you slap 128GB into one partition and just let it all go to *INTERACT and *BASE then you have likely failed. You do need to understand work management to make all that memory work for you. Rule 1 is dissimilar workloads (e.g. SQL batch and Domino) should not be in the same pool. There are of course more rules. :-)

3) 'No Difference in Disk' was mentioned between S814 and S824. There actually IS a difference. There is an 8 bay SSD only space opened up when you order the S824. It's not available in S814 as there is no cooling over there for it without the second socket populated.

4) To me the biggest difference is the Software tier price. Stepping up to P20 from P10 will in fact leave a dent in your budget.

- Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis

www.Frankeni.com
www.iDevCloud.com - Personal Development IBM i timeshare service.
www.iInTheCloud.com - Commercial IBM i Cloud Hosting.

On 11/12/2015 2:14 PM, Steinmetz, Paul wrote:

Rob,

1) When the S814/S824 first came out In August 2014, S814 had mem max of 512gb, S824 had mem max of 1tb.
In May 2015 these have since doubled, S814 mem max is 1tb, S824 mem max is 2tb.
So memory is one factor in choosing S824 over S814.
I currently have 256gb mem, capped to 3 LPARS, Production 196gb, R&D
40gb Sandbox 8gb.
Normally I double the memory when ordering a new box, so I am considering 512gb.
We all know more is always better.
Raises the question, how much memory does one really need?

2) Cores/processors/sockets/software tier
S814 - 4 (3.02),6 (3.02),8 (3.72) cores
S824 - One or Two 6 (3.89), One or Two 8 (4.15) , Two 12 (3.52)
Currently, I have an Two socket 8 (3.55).
Only 3 i5/OS licenses, 5 remaining cores active and idle.
Production capped 1.5
R&D capped 1.0
Sandbox .3
I needed to order these to gain the 2nd GX ++ loop and max memory.
No more loops, and max memory no longer a factor.
Over the years, I had Production LPAR capped at 2 CPU.
Only 1 CPU was every used, 2nd CPU never touched.
Based on performance history, no LPAR ever used more than 1 CPU.
A S814 4 or S824 6 should be fine.
Another factor would be the software Tier.
S824 P20
S814 P10
I could reduce from P20 to P10 if I could make the S814 work.
This could really add up in savings when considering all the 3rd party software required.
So, how many cores do I really need?
Why pay for unused active cores?

3) Everything else is equal for the S814 and S824.
L2, L3, L4 cache, disk slots.
S824 has 11 PCIe slots where S824 has7.
Previously, this was an issue, now the EMXO PCIe Gen 3 IO drawer is an option.

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
rob@xxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, November 06, 2015 7:23 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: P7 8205 upgrade options

We came from 3 Power 6's to 3 Power 8's.
9117-MMA -->> S824, All SSD's
8203-E4A -->> S814, All SSD's
9408-M25 -->> S814, spinning disks

We settled on spinning disks on the last one because it was a third level of replication and sandbox machine.
We got a pretty good deal on SSD's on the first two. Not that we're even close to needing more but when the boss recently priced SSD's he is so glad he took the deal.

Can't remember exactly why we went 824 vs 814. Both machines have 8
lpars: 2 vios, 1 AIX, 5 IBM i. IBM i lpars are type split: 1 Domino DMZ, 1 Infor and other "traditional", 1 Development, 1 heavy Domino, 1 hosting lpar. The development and production lpars are Mimixed over to the 814. The other 814 is 2 vios, no AIX, 1 host of IBM i, 1 triple replica of Domino, 1 sandbox lpar, 1 Domino DMZ, no Mimix.


Rob Berendt
--
IBM Certified System Administrator - IBM i 6.1 Group Dekko Dept 1600 Mail to: 2505 Dekko Drive
Garrett, IN 46738
Ship to: Dock 108
6928N 400E
Kendallville, IN 46755
http://www.dekko.com





From: "Steinmetz, Paul" <PSteinmetz@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "'midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx'" <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 11/05/2015 06:22 PM
Subject: P7 8205 upgrade options
Sent by: "MIDRANGE-L" <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx>



Looking for all available upgrade options for P7-8205.
I5/OS only, 3 LPARS.

S824 is one choice, S814 is another.
S814 might be too limiting.
Are there other choices?

Thank You
_____
Paul Steinmetz
IBM i Systems Administrator

Pencor Services, Inc.
462 Delaware Ave
Palmerton Pa 18071

610-826-9117 work
610-826-9188 fax
610-349-0913 cell
610-377-6012 home

psteinmetz@xxxxxxxxxx
http://www.pencor.com/

--
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing list To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.