Attaching 4 new tape drives to p595 frame

[tariq.kaifi]

One LPAR in p595 for TSM (2.3 processor, 5 gig memory)
IBM TS3500 tape library (2 frames) with 8 LTO-3 drives
100 Gig TSM DB with 60% utilized

We plan to add 4 more tape drives, but there is no ports available at SAN switch. There is no LAN-free backups in place, so we are thinking of avoiding SAN and directly attaching new drives to p595 frame.

So before I do anything further, will be happy to hear your views about it. Any gotchas, implications or suggestions do you think should be considered here?

Let me know in case I missed to add any obvious info.

Regards
Tariq

 

[moon-buddy]

I would not recommend attaching the tape drives directly to the p595. By doing so, you must accept the fact that you cannot use these ports for anything else. This will limit your future use for these ports and flexibility with the p595. The most prudent approach is to buy a new switch.

 

[tariq.kaifi]

Thanks Ed! I appreciate your inputs!

Yes, we have to accept the fact that it will reduce flexibility. p595's days are limited in our setup and I think we've 4 unutilized FC ports that can be used (I am not the AIX admin here, so I need to reconfirm the counts of free ports with him).

And I agree with your suggestion of new switch as well, but due to reasons, that might not be our way forward [but you never know ;-)]

Its almost certain that we would directly attach and sure it's going to be pretty straightforward. However, still bring on the points should you feel I need to look into before or during implemenation.

By the way, do you also think that we should really look to assign more resources (like memory, processor, etc.) to TSM LPAR as it would going to deal with data movement directly?

Regards

 

[moon-buddy]

Thanks Ed! I appreciate your inputs!

Yes, we have to accept the fact that it will reduce flexibility. p595's days are limited in our setup and I think we've 4 unutilized FC ports that can be used (I am not the AIX admin here, so I need to reconfirm the counts of free ports with him).

And I agree with your suggestion of new switch as well, but due to reasons, that might not be our way forward [but you never know ;-)]

Its almost certain that we would directly attach and sure it's going to be pretty straightforward. However, still bring on the points should you feel I need to look into before or during implemenation.

By the way, do you also think that we should really look to assign more resources (like memory, processor, etc.) to TSM LPAR as it would going to deal with data movement directly?

Regards

I looks like you had choosen the direction of using the HBAs on the p595 - this is fine as long as you will not be using this for anything else plus the fact the p595 is on its sunset days.

On the other issue, how much memory and processor have you assigned to the LPAR?

Pre TSM 6, with 500 nodes, 8 GB and 4 processors would be sufficient. TSM 6+, as you know requires 12 GB minimum. I say the sweet spot would be 16 GB or better and 8 processors for TSM 6+ would be OK. The other thing to look at is LAN speed. I like ether channel setups as I see good load balancing among the NICs.

I hope you are not using the hypervisor for this LPAR!

 

[tariq.kaifi]

I looks like you had choosen the direction of using the HBAs on the p595 - this is fine as long as you will not be using this for anything else plus the fact the p595 is on its sunset days.

Yep, pretty much! Now you the reasoning as well.

On the other issue, how much memory and processor have you assigned to the LPAR?

Pre TSM 6, with 500 nodes, 8 GB and 4 processors would be sufficient. TSM 6+, as you know requires 12 GB minimum. I say the sweet spot would be 16 GB or better and 8 processors for TSM 6+ would be OK. The other thing to look at is LAN speed. I like ether channel setups as I see good load balancing among the NICs.

We are on TSM 5.5. Processor 2.3 and memory 5 gig. Not many node counts (~150) but big SAP ones. We have few other LPARs which are on the verge to be decommissioned. Probably, we can acquire theirs. Just trying to learn a number that would be enough.

We have already eaten up our '1Gbit' LAN to its max!

I hope you are not using the hypervisor for this LPAR!

There you go! We are indeed using Hypervisor. This is the way we backing up our TBs of SAP databases overnight residing in same frame without setting up 'LAN-free'.