As others have mentioned, IXS and IXA are sunsetted technologies. I would not advise going that route. That said, here are some responses:
* set up several windows servers using the Integrated xSeries Server cards
True. Works easily.
* dynamically allocate disk space among the iSeries and the various windows servers
Sort of true. Disk can be expanded by creating a network server storage space & adding it to the existing space, then expand the drive partition in Windows disk manager. But it's not entirely dynamic. GO CMDNWS and look at the storage-related commands.
* use our existing tape backup system to back up the windows data at the same time we're backing up our iSeries data
True. Note that the IXS/IXA would be varied off (shutting it down), then you do the backup, then vary it back on. Or use a Windows backup utility.
** the integrated server cards aren't recommended because they're hard to upgrade, and we'd be better off with the Integrated xSeries Adapters (and some boxes to put them in)
The IXS is easy to upgrade with more RAM, but there are no processor upgrades. For the IXS, a 2GHz CPU was top of the line. For IXA, you're tied to specific xSeries server models. Basically your choices are limited.
** the disk would need to be split between the windows servers and the iSeries, and we couldn't just dynamically shift it around
That sounds worse than the reality. You have the disk for the iSeries. >From that, you create network server storage spaces. Those spaces can individually or in groups appear to be hard drives to Windows on the IXA/IXS. Windows can then do its own partitioning & formatting. It's quite painless; the only caution is not massively over-allocate space to Windows.
** we'd need a separate LPAR to handle the windows stuff
Total falsehood. The only reason to do this is to make it so you can IPL the iSeries partition without impacting the Windows servers.
** we'd be better off with a separate backup system for the window stuff
That depends on your backup needs. If a periodic full-system Windows backup that coincides with the iSeries is adequate, then nothing else is needed. If you want file-level restore capabilities on the Windows side, that's a lot trickier without resorting to a separate backup of the Windows disk space.
Note that the iSeries optical and, I believe, tape drives can be dynamically allocated to the IXS/IXA so you could have a Windows backup that used the iSeries tape. We never did this, though.
The other major caveat to the IXS is that number of cards you can cram in a chassis is rather limited. So before long you might find yourself looking at expansion frames to accommodate the extra cards.
OTOH, a plus is that the IXS servers have literally zero hardware maintenance cost; it is covered under the iSeries hardware contract.
We have de-commissioned 2 IXS cards and have 3 left. Two of the three are in supporting, non-production roles and the third is purely for a test environment.
Nowadays, for most application, a separate x86 server running VMWare is generally a better choice for Windows consolidation.
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John A. Jones, CISSP
Sr. Analyst, Global Information Security
Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.
Voice: +1.630-455.2787
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-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Michael Naughton
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 1:39 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Windows on an iSeries?
I'm looking or people who know more than I do, so of course I came right over here :-). My company is looking to consolidate its windows servers, and I ran across this article:
http://www.infordata.net/inforweb.static/documents/newsletter/ISSE1007.pdf
that makes it sound as if we could do it all on our iSeries (we've got a model 9406-520). From the article, it looked as if we could
* set up several windows servers using the Integrated xSeries Server cards
* dynamically allocate disk space among the iSeries and the various windows servers
* use our existing tape backup system to back up the windows data at the same time we're backing up our iSeries data
Then we talked to our BP, who said it's not that simple. According to them,
** the integrated server cards aren't recommended because they're hard to upgrade, and we'd be better off with the Integrated xSeries Adapters (and some boxes to put them in)
** the disk would need to be split between the windows servers and the iSeries, and we couldn't just dynamically shift it around
** we'd need a separate LPAR to handle the windows stuff
** we'd be better off with a separate backup system for the window stuff
All of which makes it look a LOT less worth it, but I'm not convinced -- hence my question. Does anyone have experience with either of these environments? Is it as great as the article makes it sound, or is our BP closer to the mark? If we're looking to
centralize storage, management, and backup, is this a good option, or we better off just going with a windows SAN (the other option)?
Thanks very much for your help,
Mike Naughton
Senior Programmer/Analyst
Judd Wire, Inc.
124 Turnpike Road
Turners Falls, MA 01376
413-863-4357 x444
mnaughton@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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