IBM 890 manual OSA-Express2 Gigabit Ethernet, OSA-Express2 10 Gigabit Ethernet LR

A New Generation of zSeries LAN Adapters Open Systems Adapter-Express2

A new generation of zSeries LAN adapters is being deliv- ered, as well as a 10 Gigabit Ethernet feature. This update of technology, referred to as OSA-Express2, can help to satisfy the bandwidth demands of your applications. Like their pre- decessors, the OSA-Express2 features continue to be hot- pluggable, support the Multiple Image Facility (MIF) – sharing of channels across logical partitions (LPARs), and can be defi ned as a spanned channel to be shared among LPARs within and across LCSSs. The maximum combined number of OSA-Express and OSA-Express2 features supported per server is 20 on the z890 and 24 features on the z990.1

Both OSA-Express2 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GbE) support the Queued Direct Input/Out (QDIO) mode, carrying TCP/IP traffi c only. QDIO continues to be the preferred architecture on zSeries for high-speed communication, helping to reduce host interruptions and improve response time.2

Also like the predecessor features, OSA-Express2 GbE and 10 GbE support the direct SNMP subagent, all of the SNMP enhancements previously announced, Virtual Local Area Net- works3 (VLANs), Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4), IPv6 and all of the functions previously announced for QDIO mode.

The OSA-Express2 GbE and 10 GbE features support Checksum Offl oad and have the connector type, LC Duplex, like the current OSA-Express Gigabit Ethernet features.

OSA-Express2 Gigabit Ethernet

The third generation of Gigabit Ethernet features is designed to deliver improved latency and throughput up to line speed – 1 Gbps in each direction or 2 Gbps full duplex and support the following functions:

•640 TCP/IP stacks per CHPID

•Large send, for TCP/IP traffi c and CPU effi ciency,

offl oading the TCP segmentation processing from the host TCP/IP stack

•Concurrent LIC update

•Layer 2

OSA-Express2 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) operates in QDIO mode only, supports full duplex operation, and jumbo frames (8992 byte frame size).

The improved latency is expected to support additional Ethernet connections per second compared to the OSA- Express GbE features and the improved throughput is designed to support line speed in each direction up to 2 Gbps full duplex.

The new OSA-Express2 GbE features continue to be dual- port features occupying a single I/O slot and utilize one CHPID per port; two CHPIDs per feature. The new OSA- Express2 Gigabit Ethernet SX and LX features are offered on new builds and replace the current OSA-Express Giga- bit Ethernet features currently offered on z890 and z990.4

The OSA-Express2 GbE features are exclusive to z890 and z990, require the October 2004 level of Licensed Internal Code.

OSA-Express2 10 Gigabit Ethernet LR

The newest member of the OSA-Express2 family is the OSA-Express2 10 Gigabit Ethernet long reach (LR).5 It can be use in an enterprise backbone, between campuses, to consolidate fi le servers and to connect server farms with zSeries 890 and 990 servers. The OSA-Express2 10 GbE LR supports:

•Queued Direct Input/Output (QDIO)

•One port per feature

•A link data rate of 10 Gbps

•Full duplex mode

•Jumbo frames (8992 byte frame size)

•Checksum offl oad

•Layer 2 support

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