February Storage announcements

Last week there were also some storage announcements. The most important ones were about Gen 3 of XIV : 'IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 with software release 11.1 offers optional SSD caching (ZG12-0039)' and 'IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 Software Version 11.1.0 supports SSD caching and multi-system management enhancements, and IBM XIV Storage System Software Version 10.2.4.e offers cross-generation mirroring (ZP12-0046)'.

In short for XIV Gen 3.1 there are the following new features :

• SSD Caching. Should increases read performance considerably
• XIV Mobile (monitor) Dashboard for iPhone
• Cross-generation mirroring between all XIV models
• Management UI Enhancements

The most important feature of XIV Gen 3.1 is of course the introduction of SSD read cache. You know how each XIV module contains its own disks, cache, CPU and possibly interface components. To each module you can now add 400GB of SSD cache. That means that for e.g. 6 modules you can have 400GB x 6 = 2.4TB of read cache. This should give your read performance an extra boost. The Storage Buddhist compares it to NetApp Flash Cache and I guess that's a pretty good comparison since Flash Cache is also meant to boost read performance.

Next to the XIV announcement Tony Pearson also mentions some other ones on his Inside System Storage blog. I'm not sure why, but I can't find any 'real' announcement about it. IBM Tape storage policy normally offers reading N-2 generations and writing N-1 generations. The reading part is now extended to N-3. I'm not going to sum up all possibilities. Just look at the picture below. The red box should no longer be grayed out but for the moment I have no real details about how it should be filled in.
Just click on the image for a larger version.

I already mentioned two fellow bloggers writing about these announcements. But I should add another one writing extensively about them. It's Anthony Vandewerdt on his Aussi Storage Blog with 'XIV Release 3.1 – SSD Read Cache is go!' and 'XIV Release 3.1 materials' including a video on the XIV iPhone App.

Sampling Techdocs - September-October 2011

Here I am again with my bi-monthly review of interesting TechDocs documents I came across while browsing through the latest publications.

• FAQ : Running Oracle Database 11gR2 on Linux® on IBM System z™ Servers
  This is a nice addition to the FAQ I referred to last time focusing on theOracle support for Oracle Database 11g Release 2 running on IBM System z. It also talks about upgrade paths, new features and planning for future patch set updates.
  
  
• Flash : DS8000 HyperPAV - Why is there IOSQ time with HyperPAVs
  Interesting flash on HyperPAV, why you can still have IOSQ time and how you can detect it from your RMF reports.
  
  
• Presentation : IBM z/OS + DS8800 Synergy
  This is a very recent prezsentation on System z and DS8800 synergy focusing on three key areas : Performance (zHPF, zWLM and DS8000 I/O priority Manager ...), Business Continuity (HyperPAV, HyperSwap improvements ...) and Management&Growth (1 TB EAVs, Quick Init for CKD Volumes, Dynamic Volume Expansion ...). And ... it comes with the replay of the presentation.
  

• Workshop materials : zEnterprise zManager Workshop
  This is the material from one of the Wildfire Workshops on System z Unified Resource Manager. It's mainly the presentations of course (with or without the speaker notes). Topics covered are : Introduction&Overview, Platform Performance Management and usage scenarios.
  

• FAQ : zHPF
  I think anything you want to know about the High Performance FICON feature is in there : functions, features, prereqs, monitoring . . .
  

• Presentation : TS1140 Tape Drive and Control Unit DFSMSdss Performance results
  This test shows performance results from a "DFSMSdss Full Volume Dump and Restore from disk, with the same amount of data per tape drive, to 3592 E06/C06 vs 3592 E07/C07". It also has a nice 1-page slide comparing the two controllers. The results ? Somewhat predictable ? Yes. The details ? Go and have have a look !
  

Well that's it for now. And, as I always say : just check them out !

New IBM System Storage Tape Controller 3592 Model C07

Just a couple of months ago, IBM announced a new TS1140 Tape Drive with a native data rate performance of 250MB/sec and matching uncompressed 4 TB tapes. Unfortunately, at the time, this was only announced for open systems.
Now the mainframe is catching up : 'New IBM System Storage Tape Controller 3592 Model C07 enhances performance and connectivity (ZG11-0211)'.

"Tape Controller Model C07 has up to four 4-Gbps FICON attachments. The Tape Controller Model C07 offers four 8-Gbps Fibre Channel adapters for attaching 3592 Tape Drives, and up to 16 of the IBM 3592 Tape Drives can be attached to a single Tape Controller Model C07. The controller can be installed in an IBM 3952 Tape Frame Model F05, IBM TS3500 (3584) Tape Library frames, and stand-alone racks".

The 3952 Tape Drives that are mentioned are not only the TS1140 but also the TS1130 and TS1120 Tape Drives. "An available fibre channel switch feature is required to attach more than four 3592 Tape Drives to the Tape Controller Model C07 (...) The switch may be ordered as a feature on the controller or the customer may supply the switch". The controller also still requires a TS3000 System Console.

The new thing however about this controller is that it comes with library management fuctionality. This means that you no longer need a separate 3953-L05 Library Manager. "For high availability, the first two Model C07 controllers that are connected to a common TS3500 logical library will both have the library management feature. This will allow library activity to continue during code loads and outages on any single controller".

Planned Availability Date : September 9, 2011

May 9 - Tape announcements

Monday there were 4 announcements around tape. If you've already seen some info about it, I'd say : don't get too excited when you work in a regular mainframe shop. Most (if not all) of them only apply to open systems. There's a new tape drive TS1140 (ZG11-0139), a new tape cartridge (ZG11-0152), a new TS3500 Tape Library Connector (ZG11-0138) and a new version of LTFS (ZP11-0215).

TS1140 Tape Drive Model E07
Tape Cartridge 3599
This is the successor of the TS1130 Tape Drive Model E06 and it drives up the native data rate performance from 160 MB/s to 250 MB/s. If formats uncompressed cartridges of up to 4TB, which more than doubles the capacity of the previous generation. Furthermore it has Dual 8Gb fibre channel interfaces with 650 MB/s max compressed data rate.

There are three new 3592 cartridge models :

• JC - 4 TB IBM Enterprise Advanced Data Tape
• JY - 4 TB IBM Enterprise Advanced WORM Tape
• JK - 500 GB IBM Enterprise Economy Data Tape

it's amazing how fast things evolve. Just a couple of years ago, the 500GB cartridge was the largest version. Oh well, I just looked it up, time flies, it was actually 2005. Is there some kind of Moore's law on the growth of data cartridge capacity ?

Remains the question : why only for open systems ? Is it because the TS1120 controller wouldn't be able to catch up with this speed ? If so, is there a new controller coming ? Or does IBM have something entirely new up its sleeve ? I don't know and my crystal ball doesn't seem to be working today.

Planned availability for the TS1140 is June 3, 2011. Planned availability for the cartridge is July 22, 2011. Strangely enough almost two months later than the tape drive for which it's designed.

TS3500 Tape Library enhancements
The are two things to tell about the TS3500 tape library. First of all it supports the new tape drive. Second, there's the new TS3500 Tape Library Connector Model SC1.

Click on image for larger version in new window

It "enables extreme scalability of over 300,000 LTO cartridges (or over 900 PB of uncompressed TS1140 data) in a single library image by supporting transport of cartridges from one TS3500 library string to another TS3500 library string". I guess the picture gives you a good idea if the concept.
Again, no mention of System z.

Planned availability varies. Take a look over here for more information.

Linear Tape File System
Last but not least, there was also a new version of LTFS (Linear Tape File System) which makes it available on Tape Libraries like the TS3500. In short, LTFS makes it possible to present the content of a tape as a directory and lets you simply pick the file you want to access. But for the moment it's only with LTO5 and Linux RHEL 5.5. More info on LTFS on the IBM site or on Wikipedia.