Re: p570 LPARs and PCI Slot Assignments

From: Mills, John T (9814) (John.T.Mills_at_ERAC.COM)
Date: 12/30/04

  • Next message: Steve Stamper: "AIX-L List Problem - slightly off subject" 
    Date:         Thu, 30 Dec 2004 08:10:11 -0600
To: aix-l@Princeton.EDU

    I believe you may be limited to 27 slots. Generally the IO drawer and
    the front loaded disk are run by a SCSI card in the PCI tray. That may
    grab 1 slot per drawer. Load balance may also be an issue. I believe
    your set-up is possible but not ideal, but, performance may not be a
    concern.
     
    sys0
    1,2 || 3,4,5,6
    sys1
    1,2 || 3,4,5,6
    sys2
    1,2 || 3,4,5,6
    d20-0
    1,2,3,4 || 5,6,7
    d20-1
    1,2,3,4 || 5,6,7
     
    The placement guide would most likely recommend high capacity cards for
    the shorter bus. In my experience that's mainly FC HBA's and dual gig
    cards, but, there are several more. You are going to allocate 5 slots
    to each LPAR, and, probably two internal drives for the OS. That's not
    an issue, but, I'd be concerned to whether this will support 6 LPAR's or
    only 5. Unless they've integrated the IO, you will probably only have
    capacity for 5. The other concern is the disk assignment to the LPAR's.
    I know on the 4 series LPAR's I can only allocate an entire scsi bus.
    That would mean you would need 2 single cards or 1 dual card to split a
    single d20.
     
    More directly the "p570 PCI-X limitations" are documented in the Adapter
    Placement Guide, chapter 20.
    http://publib16.boulder.ibm.com/pseries/en_US/infocenter/base/hardware_d
    ocs/pdf/380538.pdf
     
    John T. Mills

      _____

    From: IBM AIX Discussion List [mailto:aix-l@Princeton.EDU] On Behalf Of
    Raj Atwal
    Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 4:21 PM
    To: aix-l@Princeton.EDU
    Subject: Re: [aix-l] p570 LPARs and PCI Slot Assignments

    So in my scenario, you believe that the following would not be
    possible...
     
    "..I believe I could carve a single LPAR and assign one PCI slot to that
    single LPAR from each of the system drawers and each of the D20s (total
    of 5 PCI-X slots) without restriction. Is what I am saying correct or
    are there indeed PCI-X assignment limitations when using multiple system
    drawers and a couple of D20s?"
     
    So are you implying that this depends on my set-up or flatly that this
    is not possible? I am unsure exactly what the special p570 PCI-X
    limiatations are because I cannot find them documented
    anywhere....Thanks.

    JOSEPH KREMBLAS <JKREMBLAS@REDHEARTGIFTS.COM> wrote:

            There are, indeed, PCI-X limitations . . . in case there is any
    doubt amongst . . .. Refer to the P670 planning guide for more details.
             
                --joseph

            

            -----Original Message-----
            From: IBM AIX Discussion List [mailto:aix-l@Princeton.EDU] On
    Behalf Of Raj Atwal
            Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 8:48 AM
            To: aix-l@Princeton.EDU
            Subject: p570 LPARs and PCI Slot Assignments
            
            
            Hi all,
             
            I have two p570s made up of 3 system drawers and 2 D20s I/O
    drawers each. I am still awaiting delivery of these servers but I have
    began the planning of the installs. I will be configuring multiple
    LPARs.
             
            A senior consultant at my company has told me that there are
    special rules on p570 regarding PCI Adapter assignments to LPARs. I have
    looked at the p570 Technical Guide and many of the p5 redbooks and I
    cannot find any special rules for the p570 compared to other Regatta
    systems.
             
            I have calculated a total of 32 PCI slot per p570. We do not
    have the additinal RIO card, and therefore slot 6 is open on the system
    drawers. I calculate 6 PCI slots per system drawer (6*3 =18) and 7 PCI
    slots per D20 (7*2 =14), for a total of 32 (18 + 14 =32) . Do you
    concur?
             
            Secon question and more importantly, I believe I could carve a
    single LPAR and assign one PCI slot to that single LPAR from each of the
    system drawers and each of the D20s (total of 5 PCI-X slots) without
    restriction. But this other guy is making me second guess myself. Is
    what I am saying correct or are there indeed PCI-X assignment
    limitations when using multiple system drawers and a couple of D20s?
             
            I look forward to any opinions and experiences. TIA

            ______________________________
            Raj Atwal
            
            ______________________________

            
      _____

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