IBM General Parallel File System for POWER V3.2 delivers superior scalability and performance
IBM United States Software Announcement 207-179August 7, 2007
 ENUS207179.PDF (48KB)
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At a glance
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| At a glance |
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IBM General Parallel File System (GPFS) for POWER, V3.2 offers:
- Administration, manageability, and monitoring improvements
- Improvements in migration and compatibility between GPFS releases
- Multicluster enhancements to support multiple active Network Shared Disk (NSD) servers per logical unit number (LUN)
- Clustered Network File System (NFS), which is a high availability solution for NFS exporting of file systems
- Improvements to performance, scaling, availability, and reliability
For ordering, contact:
Your IBM representative or IBM Americas Call Centers at
800-IBM-CALL
(Reference: RE001).
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| Overview |
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GPFS™ for POWER™ is ideal for high-performance parallel file transfer and parallel I/O to single or multiple files. GPFS delivers multicluster support, superior scalability and performance, support for extremely large files, failure recovery, and ease of administration.
Version 3.2 enhancements:
- To facilitate migration, you can install new GPFS code one node at a time without shutting down GPFS on other nodes. Capability enhancements now allow for backward compatibility between GPFS V3.2 and V3.1 remote clusters.
- Designate up to eight NSD servers per LUN.
- GPFS for Linux™ offers the Clustered NFS, which is a high availability solution for NFS exporting of file systems.
- GPFS for AIX® now supports Persistent Reserve mechanisms for storage subsystems.
- GPFS cluster monitoring capability through the utilization of an SNMP-based management application. This requires a Linux node to be installed in order to collect the data.
- Performance enhancements include parallel defragmentation of a file system, larger pagepool support, and directory-locking improvements for concurrent file creates and deletes from multiple nodes (directory-locking improvements will be available in APAR IZ01431).
- GPFS can attempt to reconnect broken sockets.
- Mount up to 256 file systems.
- Trace improvements increase the ability and probability of getting accurate and reliable problem determination information.
- Support is added for backup and restore policy attributes, tighter integration with HSM, and other additional ILM policy language enhancements.
- GPFS V3.2 allows the policy code to run in parallel across all nodes in the home cluster that have the file system mounted.
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| Key prerequisites |
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Refer to the
Hardware requirements
and
Software requirements
sections.
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| Planned availability date |
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October 5, 2007
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| Description |
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GPFS delivers file system services to parallel and serial applications. It allows parallel applications simultaneous access to the same or different files, from any node that has the GPFS file system mounted, while managing a high level of control over all file system operations. GPFS is particularly appropriate in an environment where the aggregate peak need for data bandwidth exceeds the capability of a distributed file system server.
GPFS allows users shared file access within a single GPFS cluster and across multiple GPFS clusters. A GPFS cluster can consist of AIX 5.3 nodes, Linux nodes, or a combination thereof, and NSDs created and maintained by the NSD component of GPFS.
GPFS V3.2 enhancements
In the past, migrating to a new release of GPFS required shutting down GPFS and upgrading all nodes before GPFS could be restarted. GPFS V3.2 supports rolling upgrades and a limited form of backward compatibility:
- Rolling upgrades enable you to install new GPFS code one node at a time without shutting down GPFS on other nodes. It is expected that all nodes will be upgraded within a short time. Some features become available on each node as soon as the node is upgraded, while other features become available as soon as all participating nodes are upgraded.
- Backward compatibility allows running with a mixture of old and new nodes. Multi-cluster environments may be able to upgrade the local cluster while still allowing mounts from remote nodes in other clusters that have not yet been upgraded.
You can now designate up to eight NSD servers to simultaneously service I/O requests from different clients. Each of these NSD servers must have physical access to the same LUN. Different servers can serve I/O to different nonintersecting sets of clients for a variety of reasons, such as load balancing on the server, network partitioning by balancing the load on different networks, or workload partitioning. Multiple NSD server functions require all (peer) NSD servers to be part of the same GPFS cluster. The existing subnet functions in GPFS determine which NSD server should serve a particular client. The assumption is that nodes within a subnet are connected via high-speed networks.
GPFS offers Clustered NFS, which is a high availability solution for NFS exporting of file systems. Some or all nodes in an existing GPFS cluster also serve NFS and are part of the NFS cluster. All of the nodes in the NFS cluster export the same file systems to the NFS clients. This support is for systems with Linux only.
- Monitoring: Every node in the NFS cluster runs an NFS monitoring utility that monitors GPFS and the NFS and networking components on the node. After failure detection, and based on customer configuration, the monitoring utility may invoke a failover.
- Failover: The automatic failover procedure transfers the NFS serving load from the failing node to another node in the NFS cluster. The failure is managed by the GPFS cluster, including lock and state recovery.
- Load balancing: The IP address is the load unit that can be moved from one node to another because of failure or load balancing needs. This solution supports a failover of all the node's load (all NFS IP addresses) as one unit to another node. However, if no locks are outstanding, individual IP addresses can be moved to other nodes for load balancing purposes.
GPFS can use the SCSI-3 Persistent Reserve standard to provide fast failover with improved recovery times. To exploit this functionality the file system has to be created on SCSI-3-capable disks.
Monitoring is enabled with the SNMP-based management application Net-SNMP. SNMP requires a Linux node installed in order to collect the data. Monitoring involves gaining a view of the GPFS system. Monitored information can be roughly grouped into the categories of configuration, status, and performance.
- Configuration denotes the initially customized aspects of the system's current state.
- Status information is dynamic information that expresses the current health of nodes, disks, and other hardware, including any reported error conditions, disk utilization, and fragmentation.
- Performance information includes quantitative measurement of the workings of a system.
Performance enhancements include support for parallel defragmentation of a file system, larger pagepool support, and directory-locking:
- Defragmentation of a filesystem can now be run in parallel on all nodes in a cluster.
- Pagepool support is increased to 256 GB.
- Directory-locking improvements for concurrent file creates and deletes from multiple nodes (function will be available in APAR IZ01431).
When a socket connection breaks due to a network failure, GPFS now tries to re-establish the connection rather than immediately initiating node expulsion procedures.
Mount up to 256 file systems.
GPFS V3.2 extends information lifecycle management functionality to integrate with HSM products. A single set of policies can be used to move data across different storage pools of a file system and to move data from GPFS to HSM storage and from HSM storage to GPFS storage. Additional enhancements include the ability to use policies while restoring data.
GPFS V3.2 enables the policy code to run in parallel across all nodes in the home cluster that have the file system mounted. The policy evaluation can then scale with the size of the cluster.
Tracing is improved to increase the reliability of trace data gathering from customers. It enhances the ability of getting accurate and reliable problem determination information. The new trace command mmtracectl contains the following functions:
- Turn trace on or off on next session to automatically start trace when GPFS starts
- Allow for predefined trace levels: I/O, all, def, same (do not change), and user-specified trace levels
- Enable changing size of trace buffers
- Allow a user-defined dictionary for keeping raw trace files and internal dumps
- Specify whether to perform internal dumps on abnormal GPFS shutdowns or both local and global shutdowns
Accessibility by people with disabilities
A U.S. Section 508 Voluntary Product Accessibility Template containing details on accessibility compliance can be requested at
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| Product positioning |
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GPFS is ideal for several different roles in clustered computing and shared storage:
- A multicluster file system for parallel processing on compute clusters, featuring extreme scalability and throughput optimized for streaming workloads such as those common in Web 2.0, digital media, scientific, and engineering applications. Users are allowed shared access to files in either the cluster where the file system was created or other GPFS clusters. Each site in the network is managed as a separate cluster, while allowing shared file system access.
- An information lifecycle management file system, enabling multiple tiers of storage, including tape, with powerful policy-driven file placement, migration, archival, and deletion. The unique GPFS policy engine enables file migration scalable to billions of files and multiple petabytes of data.
- A scalable, shared storage file system for storage consolidation and virtualization. This includes Clustered NFS support, providing a scalable shared namespace, enabling horizontally scalable file serving. Additionally, GPFS includes many data/SAN management features, including storage hardware-agnostic snapshots/mirroring.
- A high availability file system for any business application or database that may benefit from very rapid failover of a consistent application data environment.
- A distributed file system, providing a global, cross-platform coherent namespace across an enterprise for around-the-world, around-the-clock operations.
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| Reference information |
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Refer to 207-178 , dated August 7, 2007.
Business Partner information
If you are a Direct Reseller - System Reseller acquiring products from IBM, you may link directly to Business Partner information for this announcement. A PartnerWorld ID and password are required (use IBM ID).
BP Attachment for Announcement Letter 207-179
Trademarks
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| Offering Information |
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Product information is available via the Offering Information Web site
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| Publications |
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No publications are shipped with this program; however, the following publications are available from the Web:
IBM General Parallel File System:
- Concepts, Planning and Installation Guide (GA76-0413)
- Administration and Programming Reference (SA23-2221)
- Problem Determination Guide (GA76-0415)
- Data Management API Guide (GA76-0414)
- Advanced Administration Guide (SC23-5182)
You can view the manuals by selecting the GPFS™ Library link from the IBM Cluster Information Center at
The IBM Publications Center
The Publications Center is a worldwide central repository for IBM product
publications and marketing material with a catalog of 70,000 items.
Extensive search facilities are provided. Payment options for orders are
via credit card (in the U.S.) or customer number for 50 countries. A
large number of publications are available online in various file
formats, and they can all be downloaded by all countries, free of charge.
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| Technical information |
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Specified operating environment
Hardware requirements
Any of the following IBM servers:
- IBM System p™ 570
- IBM System p5™ servers
- IBM pSeries® servers
- IBM Cluster 1600 (with supported network interconnect)
- IBM BladeCenter® servers
- IBM OpenPower®
Any of the following connectivity and storage:
- 100 Mb Ethernet, 1 Gb Ethernet, Myrinet (IP only), or InfiniBand (IP only)
- IBM System Storage™ DS4000™ disk subsystems
- IBM System Storage ESS subsystems
- IBM pSeries High Performance Switch (HPS)
Note: Refer to the GPFS FAQ available from the following Web site for an updated list of formally qualified disk subsystems and servers
Software requirements
For GPFS for AIX®, V3.2:
- AIX for POWER™ 5.2 or V5.3
- GPFS service level 3.2.0.1 (APAR IY99639)
For GPFS for Linux™ on POWER, V3.2, any of the following Linux distributions:
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 or 10
- GPFS service level 3.2.0-1
For service information, visit
Companion products
Related products to GPFS are:
- IBM DS and DCS disk arrays
- Tivoli® Storage Manager
- Tivoli Provisioning Manager
- HPSS (High Performance Storage System)
- IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller
Compatibility: GPFS V3.2 supports:
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Rolling migration within a cluster:
- You may now install new GPFS code one node at a time without shutting down GPFS on other nodes.
- The availability of new features in GPFS is staged until all nodes in the cluster have been upgraded:
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Backward compatibility between clusters:
- You may now upgrade the local cluster to GPFS V3.2 while still allowing remote clusters at the V3.1 level to mount local file systems.
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The mmchfs -V command has new options in support of rolling migration and
backward compatibility:
- full enables all upgradeable format changes for the file system, and remote cluster running GPFS V3.1 will no longer be able to mount the file system.
- compat enables backward-compatible format changes for the file system, allowing remote clusters running GPFS V3.1 to continue to mount the file system.
Limitations: For complete and up-to-date information regarding GPFS specifications and capacities, refer to the GPFS for POWER (5765-G66) Sales Manual, and to the GPFS FAQ available at
For additional information, refer to usage restrictions in the Terms and conditions section of this announcement, or to the License Information document that is available on the IBM Software License Agreement Web site at
Planning information
The following enhancements will not be available at planned availability, but will be available in a service update:
- Snapshots can be created in a DMAPI-enabled file system. This enhancement will permit the Data Storage Management (XDSM) API to read data files in an online GPFS snapshot for point-in-time backup and recovery. Function will be available in APAR 1Z00523.
- Further support will be added for backup and restore policy attributes. A SHOW clause will be added to the policy language to support aggregation of smaller files into larger units. File aggregation is beneficial on high-speed tapes where the marks between files become expensive. To reduce this expense, the SHOW clause will allow you to aggregate small files into larger units and reduce the number of tape marks. Function will be available in APAR 1Z00524.
- A performance enhancement will include directory-locking improvements for concurrent file creates and deletes from multiple nodes. This will be available in APAR IZ01431.
Installability: For installation information, refer to the GPFS Installation Guide.
Packaging: This program is distributed as a single package available via CD-ROM media. There is a separate CD for each platform (one for GPFS on AIX and one for GPFS for Linux).
A product README file and License Information is shipped with the product (L-KFIR-727L64 or LC23-5016-00). Publications are available online.
Security, auditability, and control
GPFS for POWER uses the security and auditability features of the operating system in which it is installed. The customer is responsible for evaluation, selection, and implementation of security features, administrative procedures, and appropriate controls in application systems and communication facilities.
Software Services
IBM Software Services has the breadth, depth, and reach to manage your services needs. You can leverage the deep technical skills of our lab-based software services team and the business consulting, project management, and infrastructure expertise of our IBM Global Services team. Also, we extend our IBM Software Services reach through IBM Business Partners to provide an unmatched portfolio of capabilities. Together, we provide the global reach, intellectual capital, industry insight, and technology leadership to support any critical business need.
All distributed software licenses include Software Maintenance (Software Subscription and Technical Support) for a period of 12 months from the date of acquisition, providing a streamlined way to acquire IBM software and assure technical support coverage for all licenses. Extending coverage for a total of three years from date of acquisition may be elected.
While your Software Maintenance is in effect, IBM provides you assistance for your routine, short duration installation and usage (how-to) questions, and code-related questions. IBM provides assistance via telephone and, if available, electronic access, only to your IS technical support personnel during the normal business hours (published prime shift hours) of your IBM support center. (This assistance is not available to your end users.) IBM provides Severity 1 assistance 24 hours a day, every day of the year. For additional details, consult your IBM Software Support Guide at
Software Maintenance does not include assistance for the design and development of applications, your use of programs in other than their specified operating environment, or failures caused by products for which IBM is not responsible under this agreement.
To learn more about IBM Software Services or to contact a Software Services sales specialist, visit
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| Ordering information |
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Charge metric
Part number or
Program name PID number Charge metric
GPFS 5765-G66 Per processor --
for POWER 5660-GPF small, medium, large
5661-GPF
5662-GPF
5663-GPF
5664-GPF
Sub-capacity processor
A processor (commonly called a CPU or core) is a functional unit within a computing device that interprets and executes instructions. A processor consists of at least an instruction control unit and one or more arithmetic or logic unit. With multicore technology, each core is considered a processor. For programs eligible for sub-capacity licensing, a Proof of Entitlement (PoE) must be acquired for all activated processors available for use in each partition (utilizing eligible partitioning technologies) where the program runs. Refer to the International Passport Advantage® Agreement Attachment for Sub-Capacity Terms or the program's license information to determine applicable sub-capacity terms.
Ordering and billing for GPFS for POWER, V3.2 includes licenses for GPFS for AIX, V3.1 and V3.2 as well as licenses for GPFS for Linux on POWER, V3.1 and V3.2.
5765-G66 General Parallel File System for POWER, V3.2
Basic license one-time charge (OTC)
Small Medium Large
OTC OTC OTC
Program feature feature feature
Description number number number number
Per processor 5765-G66 0013 0015 0017
Block of 250 processors(1) 5765-G66 0014 0016 0018
(1) The feature for a block of 250 active processors is provided for
convenience with large orders. A quantity of one for this
feature will order a license for 250 processors.
Note: Configurator support for ordering GPFS will not be available until August 14, 2007.
This software license includes one-year Software Maintenance, previously referred to as Software Subscription and Technical Support.
Extending coverage for a total of three years from the date of acquisition may be elected. Order the program number, feature number, and quantity to extend coverage for your software licenses. If maintenance has expired, specify the after-license feature number.
Current licensees of GPFS for Linux on POWER (5765-G67) who have active Software Maintenance (5660-GLP or 5662-GLP) are entitled to GPFS for POWER (5765-G66). SWMA renewals should be processed against GPFS for POWER SWMA at the time of renewal; no prior action is required.
5765-G66 General Parallel File System for POWER
OTC
Billing
Feature feature
description number
5660-GPF GPFS Software Maintenance Agreement 3445
5661-GPF GPFS Software Maintenance Agreement 3445
5662-GPF GPFS Software Maintenance Agreement 3445
5664-GPF GPFS Software Maintenance Agreement 3445
5660-GPF Maintenance No-Charge 1-year Registration
Small per processor 0836
Small per block of 250 processors 0837
Medium per processor 0840
Medium per block of 250 processors 0841
Large per processor 0844
Large per block of 250 processors 0845
5660-GPF Maintenance 1-year 24 x 7 support
Small per processor 0838
Small per block of 250 processors 0839
Medium per processor 0842
Medium per block of 250 processors 0843
Large per processor 0846
Large per block of 250 processors 0847
5661-GPF 1-year Software Maintenance After License
Small per processor 0120
Small per block of 250 processors 0121
Medium per processor 0124
Medium per block of 250 processors 0125
Large per processor 0128
Large per block of 250 processors 0129
5661-GPF After License 1-year 24 x 7 support
Small per processor 0122
Small per block of 250 processors 0123
Medium per processor 0126
Medium per block of 250 processors 0127
Large per processor 0130
Large per block of 250 processors 0131
5662-GPF Maintenance 3-year Registration (2-year uplift)
Small per processor 0180
Small per block of 250 processors 0181
Medium per processor 0184
Medium per block of 250 processors 0185
Large per processor 0188
Large per block of 250 processors 0189
5662-GPF Maintenance 3-year 24 x 7 support
Small per processor 0182
Small per block of 250 processors 0183
Medium per processor 0186
Medium per block of 250 processors 0187
Large per processor 0190
Large per block of 250 processors 0191
5664-GPF 3-year Software Maintenance After License
Small per processor 0001
Small per block of 250 processors 0002
Medium per processor 0005
Medium per block of 250 processors 0006
Large per processor 0009
Large per block of 250 processors 0010
5664-GPF After License 3-year 24 x 7 support
Small per processor 0003
Small per block of 250 processors 0004
Medium per processor 0007
Medium per block of 250 processors 0008
Large per processor 0011
Large per block of 250 processors 0012
System Program Order (SPO): An order for 5692-A5L SPO is mandatory for shipments of program distribution. The individual licensed program orders are for registration and billing purposes only. No shipment occurs under these orders.
Specify feature number 3410.
Machine-readable materials are only available on CD-ROM. To receive shipment of machine-readable materials the order needs to include SPO 5692-A5L for either GPFS for AIX or GPFS for Linux on POWER. The individual licensed program order (for example, 5765-G66) must still be ordered but will be for registration and billing purposes only and will not result in shipment of materials.
Feature
Program number Program/Function name number
5692-A5L GPFS for AIX 5L(TM), V3.1 1485
GPFS for AIX 5L, V3.2 1483
GPFS for Linux, V3.1 2203
GPFS for Linux, V3.2 1484
Under SPO 5692-A5L, feature number 3470 can be used to suppress hardcopy documentation.
On/Off Capacity on Demand (CoD)
Small Medium Large
OTC OTC OTC
Program feature feature feature
Description number number number number
Per Processor Day OOCoD 5765-G66 0019 0021 0023
Temp Use Chrg
block of 250 processors(1) 5765-G66 0020 0022 0024
(1) The feature for a block of 250 active processors is provided
for convenience with large orders. A quantity of one for this
feature will order a license for 250 processors.
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| Terms and conditions |
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The information provided in this announcement letter is for reference and convenience purposes only. The terms and conditions that govern any transaction with IBM are contained in the applicable contract documents such as the IBM International Program License Agreement (IPLA) and the IBM Agreement for Acquisition of Software Maintenance.
Licensing: IPLA including the License Information document and PoE govern your use of the program. PoEs are required for all authorized use.
This software license includes Software Maintenance, previously referred to as Software Subscription and Technical Support.
Agreement for Acquisition of Software Maintenance: The IBM Agreement for Acquisition of Software Maintenance (Z125-6011) agreement applies for maintenance and does not require customer signatures.
Limited warranty applies: Yes
Limited warranty: IBM warrants that when the program is used in the specified operating environment, it will conform to its specifications. The warranty applies only to the unmodified portion of the program. IBM does not warrant uninterrupted or error-free operation of the program or that IBM will correct all program defects. You are responsible for the results obtained from the use of the program.
IBM provides you with access to IBM databases containing information on known program defects, defect corrections, restrictions, and bypasses at no additional charge. Consult the IBM Software Support Guide for further information at
IBM will maintain this information for at least one year after the original licensee acquires the program (warranty period).
Program technical support: Technical support of a program product will be available for a minimum of three years from the general availability date, as long as your Software Maintenance is in effect. This technical support allows you to obtain assistance (via telephone or electronic means) from IBM for product-specific, task-oriented questions regarding the installation and operation of the program product. Software Maintenance also provides you with access to updates, releases, and versions of the program. You will be notified, via announcement letter, of discontinuance of support with 12 months' notice. If you require additional technical support from IBM, including an extension of support beyond the discontinuance date, contact your IBM representative or IBM Business Partner. This extension may be available for a fee.
Money-back guarantee: If for any reason you are dissatisfied with the program and you are the original licensee, you may obtain a refund of the amount you paid for it, if within 30 days of your invoice date you return the program and its PoE to the party from whom you obtained it. If you downloaded the program, you may contact the party from whom you acquired it for instructions on how to obtain the refund.
For clarification, note that for programs acquired under any of IBM's On/Off Capacity on Demand (On/Off CoD) software offerings, this term does not apply because these offerings apply to programs already acquired and in use by you.
Authorization for use on home/portable computer: You may not copy and use this program on another computer without paying additional license fees.
Volume orders (IVO): Yes. Contact your IBM representative.
Passport Advantage applies: No
Software Maintenance applies: Yes. All distributed software licenses include Software Maintenance (Software Subscription and Technical Support) for a period of 12 months from the date of acquisition, providing a streamlined way to acquire IBM software and assure technical support coverage for all licenses. Extending coverage for a total of three years from date of acquisition may be elected.
While your Software Maintenance is in effect, IBM provides you assistance for your routine, short duration installation and usage (how-to) questions, and code-related questions. IBM provides assistance via telephone and, if available, electronic access, only to your IS technical support personnel during the normal business hours (published prime shift hours) of your IBM support center. (This assistance is not available to your end users.) IBM provides Severity 1 assistance 24 hours a day, every day of the year. For additional details, consult your IBM Software Support Guide at
Software Maintenance does not include assistance for the design and development of applications, your use of programs in other than their specified operating environment, or failures caused by products for which IBM is not responsible under this agreement.
Customers may elect not to receive Software Maintenance via a special bid.
IBM Operational Support Services — SoftwareXcel: No
Other support: System p SWMA
System i™ Software Maintenance applies: No
Variable charges apply: Yes
Educational allowance available:
Yes. A 15% education allowance applies to qualified education institution customers.
Sub-capacity pricing terms and conditions
To be eligible for sub-capacity pricing, the machine on which the eligible products are installed and running must be eligible for sub-capacity pricing terms and conditions. Software pricing, at less than full-machine capacity for eligible products, apply when running:
- AIX 5.1, or later, on an IBM pSeries 690 or equivalent partition-capable operating system and machine
- OS/400® V5R1, or later, running on an IBM System i
- Linux running in an LPAR under AIX 5.1, OS/400 V5.1, or in a partition on an equivalent partition-capable operating system and server
Sub-capacity pricing for eligible products is based on the current program pricing methodology, but the number of processors will be determined based on the sum of processors for all partitions where the program is defined (used). To obtain pricing at less than full machine capacity for eligible products, you are required to:
- Install and use, when available, IBM's license use management program, which installs with eligible IBM programs.
- Install available updates to the operating system and eligible products such that license use can be accurately managed.
- Determine if the use of sub-capacity pricing terms results in a reduced requirement for entitlements; you can reallocate the entitlement difference by distributing entitlements across a larger or different set of systems, or reserve them for future growth. There will be no refunds for these freed-up entitlements. Subscription, Software Maintenance and support volumes, and entitlements for existing contracts will continue at the same levels as the acquired licenses.
On/Off Capacity on Demand (CoD)
To be eligible for On/Off CoD pricing, you must be enabled for temporary capacity on the
corresponding hardware, and the required contract, Amendment for iSeries™ and pSeries Temporary
Capacity On Demand — Software (Z125-6907), must be signed before use.
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| IBM Electronic Services |
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IBM has transformed its delivery of hardware and software support services to help you achieve higher system availability. Electronic Services is a Web-enabled solution that offers an exclusive, no-additional-charge enhancement to the service and support available for IBM servers. These services are designed to provide the opportunity for greater system availability with faster problem resolution and preemptive monitoring. Electronic Services comprises two separate, but complementary, elements: Electronic Services news page and Electronic Services Agent.
The Electronic Services news page is a single Internet entry point that replaces the multiple entry points traditionally used to access IBM Internet services and support. The news page enables you to gain easier access to IBM resources for assistance in resolving technical problems.
The Electronic Service Agent™ is no-additional-charge software that resides on your server. It monitors events and transmits system inventory information to IBM on a periodic, client-defined timetable. The Electronic Service Agent automatically reports hardware problems to IBM. Early knowledge about potential problems enables IBM to deliver proactive service that may result in higher system availability and performance. In addition, information collected through the Service Agent is made available to IBM service support representatives when they help answer your questions or diagnose problems. Installation and use of IBM Electronic Service Agent for problem reporting enables IBM to provide better support and service for your IBM server.
To learn how Electronic Services can work for you, visit
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| Prices |
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The prices provided in this announcement are suggested retail prices for the U.S. only and are provided for your information only. Dealer prices may vary, and prices may also vary by country. Prices are subject to change without notice. For additional information and current prices, contact your local IBM representative.
For current prices visit
Or contact us at 888-Shop-IBM.
Variable charges:
The applicable processor-based one-time charge will be based on the
group of the designated machine on which the program is licensed for use.
If the program is designated to a processor in a group for which no
charge is listed, the charge of the next higher group listed applies.
For movement to a machine in a higher group, an upgrade charge equal to
the difference in the then-current charges between the two groups will
apply. For movement to a machine in a lower group, there will be no
adjustment or refund of charges paid.
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| Order now |
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To order, contact the Americas Call Centers or your local IBM representative.
To identify your local IBM representative, call 800-IBM-4YOU (426-4968).
Phone: 800-IBM-CALL (426-2255)
Fax: 800-2IBM-FAX (242-6329)
Internet: callserv@ca.ibm.com
Mail: IBM Americas Call Centers
Dept. Teleweb Customer Support, 9th floor
105 Moatfield Drive
North York, Ontario
Canada M3B 3R1
Reference: RE001
The Americas Call Centers, our national direct marketing organization, can add your name to the mailing list for catalogs of IBM products.
Note: Shipments will begin after the planned availability date.
Trademarks
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