POWER9 Scale-Out Server FAQ

Questions and Answers:

General 4

When is Knowledge Center available? 4

What is the warranty? 4

What is the maximum number of cores? 5

Will there be a 1-core POWER9 model? 5

Are the internal NVMe devices bootable and can they be hot swapped? 5

How big is each NVMe device? 6

What is Smart Seller? 6

What is the difference in the POWER8 to POWER9 Mainstream SSD Drive Warranty? 6

Does the USB 3.0 ports on the S914 support DLPARs? 7

For features EB2L and EB2M, what are the minimum number of features for an initial order for S914 tower and rack models. 7

What are the minimum firmware levels? 9

What about licensing of products from IBM Software? 9

When are IBM i solution edition available? 10

For IBM i, how many cores per partition can be supported in the S922? 10

Can PowerVC be removed from eConfig if not desired like for a small IBM i user? 11

Can LPM be used to migrate workloads from older Power servers to the new POWER9 models? 11

What is the replacement for smaller configurations with no HMC which relied on Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM)? 11

Will VIOS 3.1 be required for POWER9? 11

When will the SAP certification be complete? 14

When are the H924 and H922 available? 14

Are the H924 and H922 secure, with respect to Meltdown & Spectre? 15

Can you upgrade/convert to the H924 or H922 systems? 15

General

What is being announced?

What is the product rollout schedule (Announce, GA,…)?

2/13/2018 – Product announce. eConfig goes live. Pricing available. Orders can be placed.

2/27/2018 – Performance data available (rPerf, CPW, …).

When can we start configuring systems?

When is System Planning Tool available?

The POWER9 Scale-Out servers are support in version 6.18.047.0.

When is Knowledge Center available?

These will be available on 2/23/2018.

What is the warranty?

What are the POWER8 server withdrawal plans?

However, these plans are subject to change.

Are these available worldwide?

Yes, except for the Embargoed countries of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, & Syria.

What IO adapters can be migrated from the POWER8 to the POWER9 Scale systems?

Do the scale-out servers support PCIe Gen4?

What is the maximum number of cores?

Will there be a 1-core POWER9 model?

Is POWER9 full bandwidth with 1/2 or all memory slots filled?

For Scale out systems, 1/2 of the memory DIMMs populated provides best memory bandwidth.

Is best performance achieved by populating all slots?

This depends on the application, for applications that are memory bandwidth sensitive, half the memory DIMM slots would give better performance. If the application is sensitive to memory capacity, then fully populating all the DIMM slots will provide the best performance.

Are DVD drives supported?

Are SAS attached DVD drives supported?

Are the internal NVMe devices bootable and can they be hot swapped? ­

Up to four 400GB M.2 form factor, NVMe devices­ can be used.

Is the EJ1G backplane supported in GA1?

Yes, but only running Linux as operating system. AIX support will come with GA2. IBM i will be not supported.

Power requirements (110 vs 220)?

Are there any PDU or line cords changes from POWER8?

What about Meltdown and Spectre Security Issues?

What is Smart Seller? ­

What is the difference in the POWER8 to POWER9 Mainstream SSD Drive Warranty?

On POWER8 systems, both SSD failure and wear out are covered under Warranty however after the warranty period, Maintenance will only cover device failures, but not wear out. This is reflected in the Service Elite/Service Suite contract language.

Based on competitive assessment, no one in the industry currently covers SSD wear out under Warranty or Maintenance. As a result, POWER9 will not cover wear out either. The typical POWER9 language addressing this change can be found in S924 announcement letter:

Are the POWER9 Scale-out server software prerequisites available in the IBM Prerequisite Tool?

Does EN0J adapter on a S922 supports SR-IOV?

How are the USB drives in the 7226-1U3 supported/connected to the S914?

7226-1U3 supports USB-RDX drive and USB-DVD drive.  S914 has 2 rear USB ports. Use USB cables that are shipped with 7226-1U3 drawer to connect to S914 rear USB ports.

How is the stand-alone USB DVD drive FC EUA5 supported/connected to the S914?    

S914 has a "front" USB 3.0 port which can support FC EUA5 (stand-alone USB-DVD drive). Make sure to use the front USB 3.0 port.

Does the USB 3.0 ports on the S914 support DLPARs?

What type of hole is used on the S914/S924 rack rails?

OS Related

What OS levels are supported?

If installing the AIX operating system LPAR with any I/O configuration (one of these):

• AIX Version 7.2 with the 7200-02 Technology Level and Service Pack 7200-02-02-1810, or later 

• AIX Version 7.1 with the 7100-04 Technology Level and Service pack 7100-04-06-1806, or later (planned availability May 4, 2018) 

If installing the AIX operating system Virtual I/O only LPAR (one of these): 

• AIX Version 7.1 with the 7100-04 Technology Level and Service Pack 7100-04-01-1543, or later

• AIX Version 6.1 with the 6100-09 Technology Level and Service Pack 6100-09-06-1543, or later (AIX 6.1 service extension required)

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 for Power LE, version 7.4, or later (Power8-mode)

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Service Pack 3, or later

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 for Power LE, version 7.4, or later (Power8-mode)

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for SAP with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 for Power LE version 7.4, or later (Power8-mode)

What are the minimum firmware levels?

• Firmware 910

• HMC Firmware V9.910.0

What about licensing of products from IBM Software?

Can you LPM from POWER6/7/8 to POWER9?

AIX Version 7.1 TL5 SP01 (7100-05-01-1731) or later;

AIX Version 7.2 TL1 SP01 (7200-01-01-1642) or later;

Will there be AIX Standard and Enterprise Editions on POWER9? ­

Yes.

Are there plans to provide native AIX 5.3 support on POWER9? ­

No, there are no plans for native AIX 5.3 support on POWER9. The only option is for clients who are already running AIX 5.3 WPARs, they can run then on P9 as well­.

What are the IBM i Software Tiers?

When are IBM i solution edition available?

For IBM i, how many cores per partition can be supported in the S922?

­Does IBM i run the CPUs in POWER9 mode?

Virtualization

Is PowerVM included with the systems?

Yes, PowerVM Enterprise Edition license is “embedded” in every model. In eConfig PowerVM shows as a zero-cost item which cannot be removed.

­If PowerVM is built in, what about SWMA? ­

The PowerVM license is included as a zero-cost feature, however, SWMA can optionally be purchased if desired.

­Can PowerVC be removed from eConfig if not desired like for a small IBM i user­?

Can LPM be used to migrate workloads from older Power servers to the new POWER9 models?

­If LPM is included in the embedded PowerVM version what can we do to address Oracle License issue with LPM­?

What HMC version can be used to manage the POWER9 Scale-Out servers?

• x86 based - 7042-CR7, CR8, CR9

• POWER8 based - 7063-CR1

­Is PowerVM IVM supported?

Will PowerVP be supported on POWER9?

What is the replacement for smaller configurations with no HMC which relied on Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM)?

For small configurations without an HMC use the vHMC appliance.

Will VIOS 3.1 be required for POWER9? ­

The POWER Scale-Out servers require VIOS 2.2.6.21, or later. However, the scale-up server planned for later this year will require VIOS 3.1.

SAP HANA

What is being announced on February 13, 2018?

• H922 (9223-22H)

  • The Power H922 for SAP HANA server supports two processor sockets, offering 10-core or 20-core 2.5 GHz, 8-core or 16-core 3.0 GHz, or 4-core 2.3 GHz POWER9 configurations in a 19-inch rack-mount, 2U (EIA units) drawer configuration. All the cores are active. 

Can SAP HANA be implemented on the S924 and S922 and if so, when should I use the H or S model?

• AIX and IBM i can be chosen as secondary operating systems, with a maximum of 25% of total cores activated across both. 

• If the AIX and IBM i total core activation requirements exceed 25% then the Power S924 and Power S922 are the recommended servers for these cases. 

What operating systems are supported on the H systems?

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Service Pack 3

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 for Power LE, version 7.4 

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3

• AIX and IBM i are supported by secondary operating systems.

• AIX Version 7.2 with the 7200-01 Technology Level and Service Pack 7200-01-04-1806, or later (planned availability May 4, 2018) 

• AIX Version 7.2 with the 7200-00 Technology Level and Service Pack 7200-00-06-1806, or later (planned availability May 4, 2018) 

• AIX Version 7.2 with the 7200-00 Technology Level and Service Pack 7200-00-01-1543, or later

• AIX Version 7.1 with the 7100-05 Technology Level and Service Pack 7100-05-01-1731, or later 

• IBM i 7.2 TR8 

If installing VIOS:

When will the SAP certification be complete?

When are the H924 and H922 available?

How are the H924 and H924 ordered?

Are Lab Services provided?

IBM Systems Lab Services can provide on-site professional services to help clients build their SAP HANA solutions using a tailored data center infrastructure strategy.

IBM Systems Lab Services consultants help design and implement flexible virtualization and capacity management to ensure server, storage, and networking resources meet business requirements and SAP HANA KPIs. Lab Services consultants can also advise on best practices for data migration to SAP HANA on Power from a variety of database environments and server platforms.

How much memory do the new POWER9 models support?

• • Up to 4 TB of DDR4 memory with two Power Systems processors

  • Up to 2 TB of DDR4 memory with one Power Systems processor

Where will SAP sizing data be available?

Are the H924 and H922 secure, with respect to Meltdown & Spectre?

Can you upgrade/convert to the H924 or H922 systems?

Can the HANA on Power offering be sold on a P9 server other than the H922 and H924?

What is the value of the new H922 and H924 HANA Processor and Memory feature codes announced on April 24, 2018?

The new announced HANA feature codes for processor, memory and their associated activations, allow the flexibility for the Offering Team to alter the list prices for the H922 and H924 in the future, as required, in response to substantiated competitive sales influence.
Technical specifications and performance of the announced feature codes in H-models are identical to the respective standard feature codes in non H-models.