IBM 890 manual OSA-Express2 concurrent LIC update - an availability enhancement

OSA-Express2 concurrent LIC update – an availability

enhancement

The OSA-Express2 features have increased memory in comparison to the OSA-Express features and are designed to be able to facilitate concurrent application of Licensed Internal Code (LIC) updates, allowing the appli- cation of LIC updates without requiring a confi guration off/on of the features. This can help minimize the disruption to network traffi c during the update.

For example, applying a patch could have up to x minutes of impact on the network traffi c for the affected adapters prior to this enhancement.

OSA-Express2 concurrent LIC update is exclusive to the z890 and z990 with the October 2004 level of Licensed Internal Code and requires the OSA-Express2 features.

Layer 2 support – ideal for server consolidation

The OSA-Express26Ethernet features with the Layer 2 support in z/VM for Linux images can be protocol inde- pendence and simplify the communication with different platforms when using IPX, NetBIOS, SNA, IPv4, or IPv6 protocols. In combination with the OSA-Express2 Ethernet features, Layer 2 can assist in reducing: the effort to set up Linux images in a guest LAN environment, the number of router guests providing connection between guest LANs and OSA, and the CPU consumption of these router guests.

With the Layer 2 interface, packet forwarding decisions can be based upon Link Layer (Layer 2) information, instead of Network Layer (Layer 3) information. Each oper- ating system attached to the Layer 2 interface uses its own Medium Access Control (MAC) address. Therefore traffi c can be either IP (IPv4 or IPv6) or non-IP traffi c such as IPX, NetBIOS, or SNA. Also, datagrams can be fi ltered by

VLAN identifi cation7, and/or the Ethernet destination MAC address. This fi ltering can help reduce both the amount of inbound traffi c being processed by the operating system, and z890 or z990 CPU requirements.

Another mechanism for reducing z890 or z990 CPU utiliza- tion with the OSA-Express2 features and the Layer 2 sup- port is the z/VM Virtual Switch (VSWITCH). The VSWITCH can eliminate the requirement for router virtual machines. With z/VM 5.1, VSWITCH exploits the Layer 2 support within the z/VM Control Program. The z/VM Control Pro- gram owns the connection to the OSA-Express2 feature and manages the MAC addresses and VLAN connectivity of the attached guests. Linux on zSeries can exploit the Layer 2 support and the z/VM VSWITCH in z/VM 5.1.8

Layer 2 support, reducing CPU consumption for non-IP workloads, is exclusive to z890 and z990, requires the May 2004 level of Licensed Internal Code with the October 2004 maintenance levels, and is supported by z/VM and Linux on zSeries. It is available on the OSA-Express29Eth- ernet features supporting QDIO mode only.

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