Why is iSeries Server Consolidation good?

The real advantage of any Server Consolidation project aimed at achieving I/T optimization is that the resulting structure should enable the enterprise to manage technology more efficiently. In the case of AS/400 server consolidation, studies have shown  that companies should anticipate reduced operational costs as well as improved productivity for users and staff.

Cost Savings - Essentially cost savings from consolidation can loosely be identified as falling into the following categories:

• Administrative savings - Two machines are more difficult to manage than one, and several are many times more difficult. All of the standard Systems Management processes such as Security, Backup/Restore, Change and Network Management are more difficult and time-consuming in a multi-site/multi-system environment.

• Space savings - The latest AS/400e systems take up far less space than previous hardware with more processor power per square inch of footprint. Consolidations enable fewer and smaller computer rooms. For systems that support dynamic, flexible partitioning, resources can be reassigned "off shift" from one system image to another, making more effective use of many hardware resources.

• Power - The latest systems require far less electricity, air conditioning or UPS backup systems than before.

• Performance - A single large system does deliver better performance, at a lower cost per user, than multiple small systems even where both options use the same technology.

• DASD savings - An enterprise is forced to store many system objects, multiple times, in a distributed environment. As an example, multiple small systems consume more disk space by storing the Operating System and its associated objects on every system.

How is iSeries Linux and LPAR related?

With a OS/400 V5R1 primary partition, IBM has enabled Linux to run in a secondary partition. Multiple Linux partitions are supported. Each partition has its own Linux environment. These Linux environments can be different. For example, each partition could run a different Linux distribution.

OS/400 V5R1 introduces a new concept for logical partitioning which will allow partitions to share partial processors. OS/400 V5R1 will support for up to 4 partitions per processor, thus opening up the uni-processor iSeries Model 270 and 820 to be partitioned into 4 partitions. In addition, a 2-way iSeries Model 820 can support up to 8 partitions (2 x 4), a 4-way iSeries Model 830 can support up to 16 partitions (4x4), and so on with a maximum of 32 partitions - whichever comes first. These shared processor partitions can run OS/400 V5R1 and/or Linux.