RE: Twinax?

Does a new i5/System I need twinax?  No.  For console connections, the
following have been available for years.
Twinax
Operations Console
LAN Console
Hardware Management Console (HMC)

I believe Ops or LAN console is on it's way out as a supported console,
but I don't recall which or if that's definite.

For an i5 or System i, the HMC is the only way to go.  Yes, that means
there's an Intel-based PC (but no Windows; it's a Linux appliance)
serving as the console.  So what.  It provides management facilities
that a dumb terminal can't.  

- Remote console is built in. 
- Remote power on/off.  
- LPAR management & resource usage.  Includes scheduling of resource
movement.
- Help with hardware.  If you add a feature to your i5, the HMC will
walk you through the routine.  Complete with on-screen schematics.
Available even if you have to power down the i5.
- Doesn't have to be powered on except when the system is configured.
- Can manage multiple iSeries machines with one HMC.
- Can manage one iSeries with multiple (up to 2) HMCs.
- Can combine the above two.  You can put one HMC on your production
machine(s) and another on your DR machine(s) 1000 miles away and use
either HMC to manage both machines.

John A. Jones, CISSP
Americas Information Security Officer
Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.
V: +1-630-455-2787 F: +1-312-601-1782
john.jones@xxxxxxxxxx

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Rob Dixon
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 6:45 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: Twinax?

Gary Kuznitz wrote:

>Are they serious?
>
>Does a new 520 still need twinax for a console connection?  Do you mean

>they haven't figured out how to make TCP/IP reliable enough yet?
>Is this candid camera?  Is someone pulling my leg?  I thought twinax 
>was outdated 10 years ago.  Can't IBM figure out how to make a reliable

>console without twinax?
>
>I thought I had an old twinax card in my stash of relics but I can't
find one.  
>Is there any twinax emulation that would go out an ethernet port to a 
>balun?  Do I really have to buy a twinax card for windows?  Do they 
>still make them?  Does anyone know where to buy one?  Which one to buy?
>I'm not buying a dumb terminal.  This is ridiculous.  
>
You can pick up a second hand one for very little.

I have been using dumb terminals for 25 years, although for many years
now I have only used one as a console.  Even with my PCs I prefer to use
a terminal emulator.

I would always specify one as a console, even for a new iSeries.  The
point is not that IBM doesn't know how to make a reliable console
without twinax.  They have already got a console that is not dependent
on the vagaries of the Wintel platform.  If you plug in a twinax
terminal and turn it on, it works.  Unlike my PCs, it doesn't have a
blue screen of death.  If it ain't  broke, don't fix it. For a console,
you must have absolute reliability.

>Surly someone can
>explain to IBM how make tcp/ip reliable enough for a console.  
>
>I just can't stop laughing.  They can make a reliable computer but they

>can't make communications reliable enough for a console?
>
>Maybe this is all a joke and I really don't have to use twinax for a
console.  
>  
>
You can do what you like.  IBM enables you to use a PC.  But my advice
is to overcome your prejudices and get a twinax terminal.

>That must be.  Please tell me it is.
>
>  
>
Rob Dixon
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