The xSeries development team, the IBM Linux Technology Center, and other parts of IBM are working with the Linux community, Red Hat, SuSE, and other Linux alliance partners to develop advanced Enterprise X-Architecture features in upcoming releases of Linux. These features will include memory optimization, additional hot-swap/hot-add capabilities, dynamic partitioning, and additional scalability improvements.

Refer to 4.3.2, “Red Hat Linux installation” on page 119 for more detailed information on installing Linux on the x440.

3.5.7 VMware ESX Server

VMware ESX Server is virtual machine software for consolidating and partitioning servers. It is a cost-effective, highly scalable virtual machine platform with advanced resource management capabilities. VMware ESX Server is used to minimize the total cost of ownership (TCO) of server infrastructure by maximizing server manageability, flexibility, and efficiency across the enterprise.

There are three 16-way ESX Server models currently (or soon to be) available:

Table 3-4 New models for the 16-way fixed configurations running VMware ESX Server

Model

Standard processors

L2 cache

L3 cache

Std memory

 

 

 

 

 

8687-4RX

16 x 1.4 GHz Intel Xeon MP

256 KB

512 KB

8 GB(*)

 

 

 

 

 

8687-5RX

16 x 1.5 GHz Intel Xeon MP

256 KB

512 KB

8 GB(*)

 

 

 

 

 

8687-6RX

16 x 1.6 GHz Intel Xeon MP

256 KB

1 MB

8 GB(*)

 

 

 

 

 

(*) Extra memory/storage and options will be included as defined by customer requirements through the Special Bid process.

These models also have a ServeRAID-4Mx adapter installed as standard.

ESX Server works by letting you transform physical computers into a pool of logical computing resources. Physical servers are partitioned into secure virtual servers. Operating systems and applications are isolated in these multiple virtual servers that reside on a single piece of hardware. These resources can then be distributed to any operating system or application as needed.

ESX Server provides dynamic logical partitioning. It runs directly on the hardware to partition and isolate server resources, using advanced resource management controls to let you remotely manage, automate, and standardize these server resources.

98 IBM ^xSeries 440 Planning and Installation Guide

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IBM 440 manual VMware ESX Server, Model Standard processors L2 cache L3 cache Std memory