IBM POWER 710 Installation guide

ibm.com/redbooks Redpaper
Front cover
IBMPower710and730
Technical Overview
and Introduction
Alexandre Bicas Caldeira
Carlo Costantini
Steve Harnett
Volker Haug
Craig Watson
Fabien Willmann
The 8231-E1C and 8231-E2C based on the latest
POWER7 processor technology
PowerVM, enterprise-level RAS all
in an entry server package
2U rack-mount design for
midrange performance

International Technical Support Organization
IBM Power 710 and 730 Technical Overview and
Introduction
November 2011
REDP-4796-00

© Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2011. All rights reserved.
Note to U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights -- Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule
Contract with IBM Corp.
First Edition (November 2011)
This edition applies to the IBM Power 710 (8231-E1C) and Power 730 (8231-E2C) Power Systems servers.
Note: Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in “Notices” on
page vii.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011. All rights reserved. iii
Contents
Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
The team who wrote this paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Now you can become a published author, too! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Comments welcome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Stay connected to IBM Redbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Chapter 1. General description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Systems overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.1 The Power 710 server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.2 The Power 730 server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Operating environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Physical package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 System features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4.1 Power 710 system features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4.2 Power 730 system features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4.3 Minimum features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4.4 Power supply features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.4.5 Processor module features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.4.6 Memory features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.5 Disk and media features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.6 I/O drawers for Power 710 and Power 730 servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.6.1 12X I/O drawer PCIe expansion units. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.6.2 EXP 12S SAS drawer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.6.3 EXP24S SFF Gen2-bay drawer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.6.4 I/O drawers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.7 Build to order. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.8 IBM Editions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.9 Server and virtualization management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.10 System racks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.10.1 IBM 7014 Model S25 rack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.10.2 IBM 7014 Model T00 rack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.10.3 IBM 7014 Model T42 rack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.10.4 Feature code 0555 rack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.10.5 Feature code 0551 rack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.10.6 Feature code 0553 rack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.10.7 The ac power distribution unit and rack content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.10.8 Rack-mounting rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.10.9 Useful rack additions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.10.10 OEM rack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Chapter 2. Architecture and technical overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.1 The IBM POWER7 Processor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.1.1 POWER7 processor overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.1.2 POWER7 processor core . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.1.3 Simultaneous multithreading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.1.4 Memory access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

iv IBM Power 710 and 730 Technical Overview and Introduction
2.1.5 Flexible POWER7 processor packaging and offerings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.1.6 On-chip L3 cache innovation and Intelligent Cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.1.7 POWER7 processor and Intelligent Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.1.8 Comparison of the POWER7 and POWER6 processors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.2 POWER7 processor modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.2.1 Modules and cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.2.2 Power 710 and Power 730 systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.3 Memory subsystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.3.1 Registered DIMM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.3.2 Memory placement rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.3.3 Memory bandwidth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.4 Capacity on Demand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.5 Factory deconfiguration of processor cores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.6 System bus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.7 Internal I/O subsystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.7.1 Slot configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.7.2 System ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.8 PCI adapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.8.1 PCIe Gen1 and Gen2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.8.2 PCIe adapter form factors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.8.3 LAN adapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.8.4 Graphics accelerator adapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.8.5 SAS adapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.8.6 PCIe RAID and SSD SAS adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.8.7 Fibre Channel adapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.8.8 Fibre Channel over Ethernet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
2.8.9 InfiniBand Host Channel adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.8.10 Asynchronous adapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2.9 Internal storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2.9.1 RAID support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
2.9.2 External SAS port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.9.3 Media bays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.10 External I/O subsystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.10.1 12X I/O Drawer PCIe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.10.2 Dividing SFF drive bays in a 12X I/O drawer PCIe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
2.10.3 12X I/O drawer PCIe and PCI-DDR 12X Expansion Drawer 12X cabling . . . . . 58
2.10.4 12X I/O Drawer PCIe and PCI-DDR 12X Expansion Drawer SPCN cabling . . . 59
2.11 External disk subsystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.11.1 EXP 12S SAS Expansion Drawer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.11.2 EXP24S SFF Gen2-bay Drawer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
2.11.3 IBM System Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
2.12 Hardware Management Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
2.12.1 HMC functional overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
2.12.2 HMC connectivity to the POWER7 processor-based systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
2.12.3 High availability using the HMC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
2.12.4 HMC code level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
2.13 IBM Systems Director Management Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
2.14 Operating system support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
2.14.1 Virtual I/O Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
2.14.2 IBM AIX operating system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
2.14.3 IBM i operating system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
2.14.4 Linux operating system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
2.14.5 Java Supported versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Contents v
2.14.6 Boost performance and productivity with IBM compilers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
2.15 Energy management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
2.15.1 IBM EnergyScale technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
2.15.2 Thermal power management device card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Chapter 3. Virtualization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
3.1 POWER Hypervisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
3.2 POWER processor modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
3.3 Active Memory Expansion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
3.4 PowerVM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
3.4.1 PowerVM editions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
3.4.2 Logical partitions (LPARs). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
3.4.3 Multiple Shared Processor Pools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
3.4.4 Virtual I/O Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
3.4.5 PowerVM Live Partition Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
3.4.6 Active Memory Sharing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
3.4.7 Active Memory Deduplication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
3.4.8 N_Port ID virtualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
3.4.9 Operating system support for PowerVM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
3.4.10 POWER7 Linux programming support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
3.5 System Planning Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Chapter 4. Continuous availability and manageability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
4.1 Reliability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
4.1.1 Designed for reliability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
4.1.2 Placement of components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
4.1.3 Redundant components and concurrent repair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
4.2 Availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
4.2.1 Partition availability priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
4.2.2 General detection and deallocation of failing components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
4.2.3 Memory protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
4.2.4 Cache protection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
4.2.5 Special Uncorrectable Error handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
4.2.6 PCI extended error handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
4.3 Serviceability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
4.3.1 Detecting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
4.3.2 Diagnosing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
4.3.3 Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
4.3.4 Notifying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
4.3.5 Locating and servicing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
4.4 Manageability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
4.4.1 Service user interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
4.4.2 IBM Power Systems firmware maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
4.4.3 Electronic Services and Electronic Service Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
4.5 Operating system support for RAS features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Related publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
IBM Redbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Other publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Online resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Help from IBM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

vi IBM Power 710 and 730 Technical Overview and Introduction

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011. All rights reserved. vii
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viii IBM Power 710 and 730 Technical Overview and Introduction
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© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011. All rights reserved. ix
Preface
This IBM® Redpaper™ publication is a comprehensive guide covering the IBM Power 710
(8231-E1C) and Power 730 (8231-E2C) servers supporting IBM AIX®, IBM i, and Linux
operating systems. The goal of this paper is to introduce the innovative Power 710 and
Power 730 offerings and their major functions, including these:
򐂰The IBM POWER7™ processor available at frequencies of 3.0 GHz, 3.55 GHz, and
3.7 GHz.
򐂰The specialized POWER7 Level 3 cache that provides greater bandwidth, capacity,
and reliability.
򐂰The 2-port 10/100/1000 Base-TX Ethernet PCI Express adapter included in the base
configuration and installed in a PCIe Gen2 x4 slot.
򐂰The integrated SAS/SATA controller for HDD, SSD, tape, and DVD. This controller
supports built-in hardware RAID 0, 1, and 10.
򐂰The latest IBM PowerVM™ virtualization, including PowerVM Live Partition Mobility and
PowerVM IBM Active Memory™ Sharing.
򐂰Active Memory Expansion technology that provides more usable memory than is
physically installed in the system.
򐂰IBM EnergyScale™ technology that provides features such as power trending,
power-saving, capping of power, and thermal measurement.
Professionals who want to acquire a better understanding of IBM Power Systems™
products can benefit from reading this Redpaper publication. The intended audience includes
these roles:
򐂰Clients
򐂰Sales and marketing professionals
򐂰Technical support professionals
򐂰IBM Business Partners
򐂰Independent software vendors
This paper complements the available set of IBM Power Systems documentation by providing
a desktop reference that offers a detailed technical description of the Power 710 and
Power 730 systems.
This paper does not replace the latest marketing materials and configuration tools. It is
intended as an additional source of information that, together with existing sources, can be
used to enhance your knowledge of IBM server solutions.
The team who wrote this paper
This paper was produced by a team of specialists from around the world working at the
International Technical Support Organization, Poughkeepsie Center.
Alexandre Bicas Caldeira works on the Power Systems Field Technical Sales Support team
for IBM Brazil. He holds a degree in Computer Science from the Universidade Estadual
Paulista (UNESP). Alexandre has more than 11 years of experience working with IBM and
IBM Business Partners on Power Systems hardware, AIX, and PowerVM virtualization

xIBM Power 710 and 730 Technical Overview and Introduction
products. He is also skilled with IBM System Storage®, IBM Tivoli® Storage Manager, IBM
System x® and VMware.
Carlo Costantini is a Certified IT Specialist for IBM and has over 33 years of experience with
IBM and IBM Business Partners. He currently works in Italy Power Systems Platforms as
Presales Field Technical Sales Support for IBM Sales Representatives and IBM Business
Partners. Carlo has broad marketing experience and his current major areas of focus are
competition, sales, and technical sales support. He is a certified specialist for Power Systems
servers. He holds a master’s degree in Electronic Engineering from Rome University.
Steve Harnett is a Senior Accredited Professional, Chartered IT Professional, and member
of the British Computing Society. He currently works as a pre-sales Technical Consultant in
the IBM Server and Technology Group in the UK. Steve has over 16 years of experience
working in post sales supporting Power Systems. He is a product Topgun and a recognized
SME in Electronic Service Agent™, Hardware Management Console, and High end Power
Systems. He also has several years of experience developing and delivering education to
clients, business partners, and IBMers.
Volker Haug is a certified Consulting IT Specialist within IBM Systems and Technology
Group, based in Ehningen, Germany. He holds a bachelor's degree in Business Management
from the University of Applied Studies in Stuttgart. His career has included more than 24
years working in the IBM PLM and Power Systems divisions as a RISC and AIX Systems
Engineer. Volker is an expert in Power Systems hardware, AIX, and PowerVM virtualization.
He is POWER7 Champion and also a member of the German Technical Expert Council, an
affiliate of the IBM Academy of Technology. He has written several books and white papers
about AIX, workstations, servers, and PowerVM virtualization.
Craig Watson has 15 years of experience working with UNIX-based systems in roles
including field support, systems administration, and technical sales. He has worked in the
IBM Systems and Technology group since 2003 and is currently working as a Systems
Architect, designing complex solutions for customers that include Power Systems, System x,
and System Storage. He holds a master’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering
from the University of Auckland.
Fabien Willmann is an IT Specialist working with Techline Power Europe in France. He has
10 years of experience with Power Systems, AIX, and PowerVM virtualization. After teaching
hardware courses about Power Systems servers, he joined ITS as an AIX consultant, where
he developed his competencies in AIX, HMC management, and PowerVM virtualization.
Building new Power Systems configurations for STG pre-sales is his major area of expertise
today. Recently he also gave a workshop on the econfig configuration tool, focused on
POWER7 processor-based BladeCenters during the symposium for French Business
Partners in Montpellier.
The project that produced this publication was managed by:
Scott Vetter,IBM Certified Project Manager and PMP.
Thanks to the following people for their contributions to this project:
Larry Amy, Gary Anderson, Sue Beck, Terry Brennan, Pat Buckland, Paul D. Carey,
Pete Heyrman, John Hilburn, Dan Hurlimann, Kevin Kehne, James Keniston, Jay Kruemcke,
Robert Lowden, Hilary Melville, Thoi Nguyen, Denis C. Nizinski, Pat O’Rourke, Jan Palmer,
Ed Prosser, Robb Romans, Audrey Romonosky, Todd Rosedahl, Melanie Steckham,
Ken Trusits, Al Yanes
IBM U.S.A.

Preface xi
Stephen Lutz
IBM Germany
Tamikia Barrow
International Technical Support Organization, Poughkeepsie Center
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Comments welcome
Your comments are important to us!
We want our papers to be as helpful as possible. Send us your comments about this paper or
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򐂰Use the online Contact us review Redbooks form found at:
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© Copyright IBM Corp. 2011. All rights reserved. 1
Chapter 1. General description
The IBM Power 710 (8231-E1C) and IBM Power 730 servers (8231-E2C) utilize the latest
POWER7 processor technology designed to deliver unprecedented performance, scalability,
reliability, and manageability for demanding commercial workloads.
The high data transfer rates offered by the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI
Express) Gen2 slots can allow higher I/O performance or consolidation of the I/O demands on
to fewer adapters running at higher rates. This can result in better system performance at a
lower cost when I/O demands are high.
The Power 710 server is a high-performance, energy efficient, reliable, and secure
infrastructure and application server in a dense form factor. It contains innovative
workload-optimizing technologies that maximize performance based on client computing
needs and intelligent energy features that help maximize performance and optimize
energy efficiency resulting in one of the most cost-efficient solutions for AIX, IBM i, and
Linux deployments.
The IBM Power 730 server delivers the outstanding performance of the POWER7 processor
in a dense, rack-optimized form factor and is ideal for running multiple application and
infrastructure workloads in a virtualized environment. You can take advantage of the
Power 730 server’s scalability and capacity by making use of the IBM industrial strength
PowerVM technology to fully utilize the server’s capability.
1

2IBM Power 710 and 730 Technical Overview and Introduction
1.1 Systems overview
The following sections provide detailed information about the Power 710 and
Power 730 systems.
1.1.1 The Power 710 server
The IBM Power 710 server is a 2U rack-mount server with one processor socket offering
4-core 3.0 GHz, 6-core 3.7 GHz, and 8-core 3.55 GHz configurations. The POWER7
processor chips in this server are 64-bit, 4-core, 6-core, and 8-core modules with 4 MB of L3
cache per core and 256 KB of L2 cache per core.
The Power 710 server supports a maximum of eight DDR3 DIMM slots, with four DIMM slots
included in the base configuration and four DIMM slots available with an optional memory
riser card. This allows for a maximum system memory of 128 GB.
The Power 710 server offers three storage backplane options. The first supports three SFF
SAS HDDs or SSDs, an SATA DVD, and a half-high tape drive. The second supports six
SFF SAS HDDs or SSDs and an SATA DVD. These choices both provide an integrated SAS
controller offering RAID 0, 1, and 10 support. The third option supports six SFF SAS HDDs or
SSDs, an SATA DVD, and adds support for Dual Write Cache RAID 5 or 6, and an external
SAS port. HDDs and SSDs are hot-swap and front accessible with each of the alternatives.
The Power 710 comes with five PCI Express (PCIe) Gen2 low profile (LP) slots for installing
adapters in the system. The system also comes with a PCIe x4 Gen2 Low Profile expansion
slot containing a 2-port 10/100/1000 Base-TX Ethernet PCI Express adapter.
Figure 1-1 shows the Power 710 server containing six SFF disk drives and a DVD drive.
Figure 1-1 IBM Power 710 server
1.1.2 The Power 730 server
The IBM Power 730 server is a 2U rack-mount server with two processor sockets offering
8-core 3.0 GHz and 3.7 GHz, 12-core 3.7 GHz, and 16-core 3.55 GHz configurations. The
POWER7 processor chips in this server are 64-bit, 4-core, 6-core, and 8-core modules with
4 MB of L3 cache per core and 256 KB of L2 cache per core. The new Power 730 also
provides expanded I/O capabilities using the high-performance Gen2 PCIe interfaces, and
adds the capability of additional I/O via the 12x PCIe I/O expansion drawers.
Remember: The Integrated Virtual Ethernet (IVE) adapter is not available for the
Power 710.

Chapter 1. General description 3
The Power 730 server supports a maximum of 16 DDR3 DIMM slots, with four DIMM slots
included in the base configuration. A maximum of three additional memory riser cards, each
containing four DIMM slots, can be installed, allowing maximum system memory of 256 GB.
The Power 730 server offers three storage backplane options. The first supports three SFF
SAS hard disk drives (HDDs) or solid-state drives (SSDs), an SATA DVD, and a half-high tape
drive. The second supports six SFF SAS HDDs or SSDs and an SATA DVD. These choices
both provide an integrated SAS controller, offering RAID 0, 1, and 10 support. The third option
supports six SFF SAS HDDs or SSDs, an SATA DVD, and adds support for Dual Write Cache
RAID 5, 6, and an external SAS port. HDDs and SSDs are hot-swap and front accessible with
each of the alternatives.
The Power 730 comes with five PCI Express (PCIe) Gen2 low profile (LP) slots for installing
adapters in the system. The system also comes with a PCIe x4 Gen2 Low Profile expansion
slot containing a 2-port 10/100/1000 Base-TX Ethernet PCI Express adapter.
Figure 1-2 shows the Power 710 server containing three SFF disk drives, a DVD drive, and a
tape drive.
Figure 1-2 IBM Power 730
1.2 Operating environment
Table 1-1 provides the operating environment specifications for the servers.
Table 1-1 Operating environment for Power 710 and Power 730
Remember: The Integrated Virtual Ethernet (IVE) adapter is not available for the
Power 730.
Power 710 and Power 730 operating environment
Description Operating Non-operating
Power 710 Power 730 Power 710 Power 730
Temperature 5 - 35 degrees C (41 - 95
degrees F)
Recommended: 18 to 27 degrees C
(64 to 80 degrees F)
5 - 45 degrees C (41 - 113
degrees F)
Relative humidity 8 - 80% 8 - 80%
Maximum dew point 28 degrees C (84 degrees F) N/A

4IBM Power 710 and 730 Technical Overview and Introduction
1.3 Physical package
Table 1-2 shows the physical dimensions of the Power 710 and Power 730 chassis. Both
servers are available only in a rack-mounted form factor. Each takes 2U (2 EIA units) of
rack space.
Table 1-2 Physical dimensions
Operating voltage 100 - 127 V ac
or 200 - 240
Vac
200 - 240 V ac N/A
Operating frequency 47 - 63 Hz N/A
Power consumption 750 watts
maximum
1,260 watts
maximum
N/A
Power source loading 0.765 kVA
maximum
1.286 kVA
maximum
N/A
Thermal output 2,560 BTU/hour
maximum
4,300 BTU/hour
maximum
N/A
Maximum altitude 3,050 m
(10,000 ft)
N/A
Noise level reference point
(operating/idle)
6.0 bels 6.6 bels N/A
Tip: The maximum measured value is expected from a fully populated server under an
intensive workload. The maximum measured value also accounts for component tolerance
and non ideal operating conditions. Power consumption and heat load vary greatly by
server configuration and utilization. Use the IBM Systems Energy Estimator to obtain a
heat output estimate based on a specific configuration, available at this webiste:
http://www-912.ibm.com/see/EnergyEstimator
Power 710 and Power 730 operating environment
Description Operating Non-operating
Power 710 Power 730 Power 710 Power 730
Dimension Power 710 (8231-E1C) Power 730 (8231-E2C)
Width 440 mm (19.0 in) 440 mm (19.0 in)
Depth 706 mm (27.8 in) 706 mm (27.8 in)
Height 89 mm (3.5 in) 89 mm (3.5 in)
Weight (maximum configuration) 28.2 kg (62 lbs) 28.2 kg (62 lbs)

Chapter 1. General description 5
Figure 1-3 shows the rear view of a Power 730 system.
Figure 1-3 Rear view of a Power 730 system
1.4 System features
The system chassis contains one processor module (Power 710) or two processor modules
(Power 730). Each POWER7 processor module has either 4 cores, 6 cores, or 8 cores. Each
of the POWER7 processors in the server has a 64-bit architecture, up to 2 MB of L2 cache
(256 KB per core), and up to 32 MB of L3 cache (4 MB per core).
1.4.1 Power 710 system features
This summary describes the standard features of the Power 710:
򐂰Rack-mount (2U) chassis
򐂰Single processor module:
– Four-core configuration using one 4-core 3.0 GHz processor module
– Six-core configuration using one 6-core 3.7 GHz processor module
– Eight-core configuration using one 8-core 3.55 GHz processor module
򐂰Up to 128 GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC memory
򐂰Choice of three disk/media backplanes:
– Six 2.5-inch SAS HDDs or SSDs and one DVD bay, and an integrated SAS controller,
offering RAID 0, 1, and 10 support
– Six 2.5-inch SAS HDDs or SSDs, an SATA DVD, and adds support for Dual Write
Cache RAID 5, 6, and an external SAS port
– Three 2.5-inch HDD/SSD/Media backplane with one tape drive bay and one DVD bay,
an integrated SAS controller, offering RAID 0, 1, and 10 support
򐂰A PCIe x4 Gen2 Low Profile expansion slot containing a 2-port 10/100/1000 Base-TX
Ethernet PCI Express adapter
򐂰Five PCIe x8 low profile slots
򐂰One GX++ slot
GX++ Slot 1 PCIe x8 Slots
External
SAS Port
Power
Supplies
System
Ports
HMC
Ports
USB
Ports
1 Gb Ethernet
or
GX++ Slot 2

6IBM Power 710 and 730 Technical Overview and Introduction
򐂰Integrated:
– Service Processor
– EnergyScale technology
– Hot-swap and redundant cooling
– Three USB ports
– Two system ports
– Two HMC ports
򐂰Optional redundant, 1725 watt ac hot-swap power supplies
1.4.2 Power 730 system features
This summary describes the standard features of the Power 730:
򐂰Rack-mount (2U) chassis
򐂰Two processor modules:
– Eight-core configuration using two 4-core 3.0 GHz processor modules
– Eight-core configuration using two 4-core 3.7 GHz processor modules
– Twelve-core configuration using two 6-core 3.7 GHz processor modules
– Sixteen-core configuration using two 8-core 3.55 GHz processor modules
򐂰Up to 256 GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC memory
򐂰Choice of three disk/media backplanes:
– Six 2.5-inch SAS HDDs or SSDs and one DVD bay, and an integrated SAS controller,
offering RAID 0, 1, and 10 support
– Six 2.5-inch SAS HDDs or SSDs, an SATA DVD, and adds support for Dual Write
Cache RAID 5, 6, and an external SAS port
– Three 2.5-inch HDD/SSD/Media backplane with one tape drive bay and one DVD bay,
and an integrated SAS controller, offering RAID 0, 1, and 10 support
򐂰A PCIe x4 Gen2 Low Profile expansion slot with either a 2-port 10/100/1000 Base-TX
Ethernet PCI Express adapter or a GX++ dual-port 12x Channel Attach adapter
򐂰Five PCIe x8 low profile slots
򐂰Two GX++ slots
򐂰Integrated:
– Service Processor
– EnergyScale technology
– Hot-swap and redundant cooling
– Three USB ports
– Two system ports
– Two HMC ports
򐂰Two power supplies, 1725 Watt ac, hot-swap
1.4.3 Minimum features
Each system has a minimum feature-set in order to be valid.
The minimum Power 710 initial order must include a processor module, processor activations,
memory, one HDD/SSD, a storage backplane, a power supply and power cord, an operating
system indicator, a chassis indicator, and a Language Group Specify.