At SIXE we love Solaris, and have worked with many SPARC machines for many years. Unfortunately, its life cycle is coming to an end, but not that of its Oracle databases (nor its not at all cheap per-processor licenses). What are the alternatives? This is what we thinkbased on our experience. As a systems integrator, we specialize in mission-critical environments. We work hard to design them, configure them and keep them secure and available 24x7x365. Our natural choice is IBM Power with AIX (for Oracle, DB2 or Informix) and Linux for new workloads with open source databases. Within proprietary environments, Oracle 19c and 21c databases form a large part of our customers’ installed base. Legacy SAP environments and a wide variety of applications depend on them.

Why choose IBM Power for Oracle?

We are going to give you five reasons to try, if not to convince you, at least to make you want to talk to us and discuss it in more detail. Those of you who know us know that we are generally better engineers than sales people. For those who don’t, you will soon find out why. Here we go!

1. It is a better long-term investment

As long term as SPARC machines have been with so many customers. When you have a Power20 you will be able to prove us right. It is a robust, secure, high-performance architecture with full support for UNIX (AIX) and Linux environments. In fact, before Oracle bought Sun, the Power-AIX-Oracle combination was even in TV commercials. Much of IBM’s UNIX server technology was designed for large Oracle, DB2 and Informix databases. Oracle marketing says their bet is Exadatas based on OracleLinux , but more than 80,000 customers worldwide use Power. There must be a reason.

2. If you want, you can keep or switch to UNIX (and this is not a joke).

Although we love Linux, containers, free software and all this world, we think that there is no more stable environment for a critical database (other than HOST / IBM Z) and secure than AIX. It is a modern UNIX, flexible, compatible with hundreds of free software packages and extremely easy to use. If you come from Solaris, you’ll see that they are first cousins and at SIXE we give you the Training you need, or a L2 and L3 support for the entire infrastructure throughout the lifecycle of the machines so that you only have to worry about the database or your applications. Many are surprised that we execute Oracle Linux to AIX migration projects, but it’s all advantages for customers and their system administrators. AIX is a UNIX will remain with us, just like FreeBSD or MacOS for many reasons. Even so, if for whatever reason you prefer Red Hat or SUSE, they also work perfectly well, although Oracle only supports them on its Z systems (LinuxOne). But the other Oracle alternatives like PostgreSQL / EnterpriseDB, MongoDB or MariaDB work great and have full support for all Linux distributions running on Power (ppc64le). Also free ones such as Alma, Rocky Linux and OpenSUSE.

You are going to save many, many thousands or hundreds of thousands of Euros.

IBM has for many years migrated to Power the micro-partitioning technologies of processors from Mainframe environments. This means that you can allocate the portions of processors you need with extreme flexibility and reliability. For example you can buy 10 Oracle licenses and run 20 virtual machines on a 24-core physical machine. You do not have to license the entire machine. In addition, each IBM Power core performs approximately 3 to 4 times as well as an equivalent generation x86 core. Oracle’s Exadatas are (in our opinion) more expensive, less reliable and less secure.

4. You radically reduce the attack surface.

We have many customers who have been attacked with ransomware (and worse). No Power system upgraded, maintained and with our PowerSC-based cybersecurity solution has been affected. And we’re going to state the obvious, but most malicious code is not compiled for Power environments :P Just as your money is safer in a Z / s390 environment, your database will probably live more peacefully in ppc64. And don’t worry, we are heading towards a multi-architecture world, where there will be more and more freedom to choose whether you want ARM, x86, ppc64le or RISC-V. Or don’t you know anyone with a MAC?

5. It is very well documented, works by default and you can automate it.

There are hundreds of guides for architecture, deployment, administration, problem determination and general day 2 operations. Also in the case of AIX, the default kernel setting is optimized for large databases such as Oracle. In addition, the Power architecture has no bottlenecks between processor and memory, with very good performance on SMT-4 and SMT-8. You can also automate most administration tasks with Ansible. There is
updated collections
developed by IBM and Red Hat.

Services for Oracle on AIX / Power by SIXE

SIXE offers specialized Oracle services in IBM Power
providing a smooth and efficient transition, with full support and resource optimization, ensuring a successful migration and operation, taking into account the needs of availability, performance and security. We can help you with:

• System architecture services, proposing IBM Power Servers and storage
• Sales, deployment and configuration of IBM Power infrastructure
• IBM, Red Hat and SUSE training to minimize your dependency and (possible) technical debt with managed service providers.
• Preventive maintenance and support L3. So that if anything happens where you need help, you can call us. Whenever.
• Monitoring, backups, hardening, integration with SIEM tools, etc. Ask us!

In conclusion: migrating Oracle from SPARC / Solaris to IBM Power with AIX (or Linux) is not only a smart decision in terms of performance and support, but also an investment and strategic decision. Contact us!

The challenge of end-of-support and end-of-life products

With the announcement of the end of support for IBM Power 8, V7000, V5000, AIX 7.1, and IBM i 7.1, many companies face uncertainty about how to maintain their critical operations. This scenario presents a significant challenge in terms of IT infrastructure, software lifecycle management and, above all, budget.

SIXE’s comprehensive solution

At SIXE Ingeniería, with our extensive experience in IBM systems, we offer customized solutions to overcome these challenges, starting with a free, no-obligation audit of your current systems. Spoiler: we are not always going to try to sell you or recommend a new machine or system.

Obsolescence? Yes and no!

The fact that servers end their life cycle after 10 years does not mean that they stop working, nor that we necessarily need to buy new ones. With good preventive maintenance and adequate contingency policies (backup systems, spare parts, high availability) the life cycle can be extended for a few more years, always aligned with the licensing, availability and performance needs that we audit at the beginning of each project.

Design and migration to new systems (Power10, Flash System, etc.)

Sooner or later, at once or in several phases, it will be time to migrate (Power8 to Power10, V7000 to FS7300, etc). Migration to new environments while maintaining full compatibility with our customers’ applications, databases and processes is a key project. SIXE Ingeniería will assist and accompany you in this process, ensuring a seamless transition with maximum efficiency. In the process, we will help you save a lot of money on licenses and put in place a new infrastructure that will last 5 or 10 years more. Always avoiding the most common mistakes in hardware upgrades.

Consolidation of existing systems

With the new generations of IBM servers and enclosures, we will reduce the footprint in the data center by requiring fewer systems, less power and less space to do the same things. We will help you to consolidate the environments and achieve a smooth utilization of more than 80% performance. Something that in the case of servers
we always achieve with Power10

Lifecycle Extension: IBM technical support and preventive maintenance

Regardless of the life cycle of the machines and their software, SIXE Ingeniería provides technical support and preventive maintenance, thus prolonging the useful life of the systems and ensuring their optimal operation. We believe in the right to repair, but we prefer that good preventive maintenance avoids having to do so.

License Compliance: IBM License Audits

A crucial aspect is license compliance. SIXE Ingeniería offers the following serviceslicense audits IBM, ensuring that companies comply with all legal requirements and avoid risks associated with manufacturer audits.

Conclusion

The end of support for IBM Power 8, V7000, V5000, AIX 7.1 and IBM i 7.1 does not have to be a path to obsolescence. With SIXE Ingeniería’s expertise and services, our clients can surf these changes with confidence and ensure a solid and sustainable technological future. All this with a predictable and contained cost 3, 5, 7 or 10 years ahead.

In this article we tell you how we migrated in SIXE HPC environments from LUSTRE to GPFS, well, now called IBM Storage Scale (and not long ago Spectrum Scale). As you know, High-Performance Computing (HPC) environments play a critical role in scientific research, engineering and innovation in a wide variety of fields. To take full advantage of the potential of these infrastructures, an efficient, high-performance storage system is essential. One of the most widely used parallel file systems in HPC environments is Lustre FS, but sometimes migrating to more advanced and versatile solutions becomes a necessity. In this article, we will explore the migration process from Lustre FS to IBM Storage Scale (formerly known as GPFS) in an HPC infrastructure composed of hundreds of compute nodes with internal or external storage, connected to a high-performance network, such as InfiniBand or 10G Ethernet.

Why migrate to IBM Storage Scale (GPFS)?

IBM Storage Scale, formerly known as GPFS (General Parallel File System), is a highly scalable and robust parallel file system designed for high-performance applications, including HPC environments. As storage and performance needs continue to grow in HPC environments, migrating to a solution like IBM Storage Scale can offer significant benefits:

1. Scalability: IBM Storage Scale can scale horizontally to accommodate an increase in the amount of data and compute nodes seamlessly. This is essential in HPC environments where workloads can be extremely storage demanding.
2. High performance: IBM Storage Scale is designed for high read and write performance, making it ideal for HPC applications that require fast and efficient access to large data sets.
3. Stability and security: IBM Storage Scale is known for its reliability and security. It offers fault tolerance features that ensure the availability of critical data at all times. Data that can be protected with encryption when necessary.
4. Integration with HPC environments: IBM Storage Scale integrates well with high-performance networks used in HPC environments, such as InfiniBand or 10G Ethernet, simplifying the transition.
5. Support: SIXE provides ongoing support and maintenance for Storage Scale, ensuring that your storage system is backed by a company with over 20 years of experience in this technology. We do this through IBM, of which we are a value-added business partner.
6. Easier architecture to deploy, scale and maintain. For us, this is the key point that makes us recommend to undertake this migration. Lustre FS from a certain scale becomes complex to manage, monitor and update, while GPFS works perfectly in 90% of the scenarios with few additional adjustments.

Planning the migration from Lustre FS

Migrating a parallel file system in an HPC infrastructure is a complex and critical task that requires careful planning. Here are some key steps to consider:

1. Requirements assessment: Before beginning the migration, it is essential to understand the storage and performance requirements of your HPC workload. This will help determine the optimal IBM Storage Scale configuration. We need to understand the use cases and the specific needs of the environment. Also those points where Lustre FS worked particularly well or poorly :)
2. Architecture design: We design the best possible architecture for IBM Storage Scale taking into account the topology of your high-performance network, storage and compute node distribution. This should be done in a manner that minimizes or eliminates downtime during migration. It is in this phase where we will decide whether to use IBM COS (Cloud Object Storage), ESS (Elastic Storage) or Spectrum Scale (GPFS) deployed directly on the storage servers, compute, or both.
3. Data preparation: We make sure your data is organized and ready for migration. This may involve cleaning up unwanted data or reorganizing existing data.
4. Development environment testing: Before migration to production, we perform extensive testing in a development environment to identify potential issues and adjust the configuration as needed.
5. Hot migration planning: We determine the best time to perform the live migration, minimizing the impact on HPC operations. This may require scheduling the migration during periods of low activity. Storage Scale has several functionalities that enable a non-stop migration of environments. This is essential as data movement can take days to complete.
6. Migration execution: We carry out the migration following the elaborated plan. This may include data transfer and IBM Storage Scale configuration.
7. Testing and validation: We perform extensive testing to ensure that all data has been successfully migrated and that the new storage system meets performance requirements.
8. Training: We provide training to users and IT staff to enable them to adapt to the new file system.
9. Ongoing maintenance and support: Develop an ongoing maintenance plan to ensure that your storage system performs optimally over time.

Conclusions

Migrating from Lustre FS to IBM Storage Scale (formerly GPFS) in an HPC infrastructure can be a challenging but rewarding task. In doing so, research centers and organizations can take advantage of a highly scalable, reliable and high-performance parallel file system. However, thorough planning, testing and proper training are critical to ensure a successful migration and minimize any disruption to HPC operations.

If you are considering a migration to IBM Storage Scale, we offer you to do it in close collaboration with SIXE. We are storage experts and specialist HPC consultants to ensure that the transition is as smooth and effective as possible. With the right approach and the right investment of time and resources, you can significantly improve the ability of your HPC infrastructure to support high-performance research and applications in the future.

Do you work with AIX, Linux and IBM i? Are you an IBM Power user?

Common Europe, a federation of IBM technology user associations in Europe, has been at the forefront of fostering growth and knowledge in this field for several decades. As we prepare for the Prague 2023 Congress, it is an ideal time to review the history of this magnificent institution and highlight the importance of attending this event.

History of Common Europe

Common Europe began more than six decades ago, in 1955. It began its work as a federation of IBM system user associations, and over the years, has grown into an international community. Common Europe’s goal has always been to provide a platform for learning, networking and collaboration, resulting in a steady and progressive growth in the technical skills and knowledge of its members.

Throughout its history, Common Europe has demonstrated a tireless commitment to carrying out its mission. They have worked closely with IBM and other industry leaders to provide their members with the training and support they need to take full advantage of emerging technologies and industry best practices.

Why attend the Prague 2023 Congress?

If you work with AIX, Linux and IBM i on Power, the relevance and value of the Prague 2023 Congress cannot be overemphasized. At this event, you will have the opportunity to learn from the best in the field, expand your skills and knowledge, and connect with other like-minded professionals.

The Prague 2023 Congress will feature a wide variety of workshops, training sessions and presentations addressing all aspects of these technologies, from implementation and management to the latest innovations.

We are excited to announce that several members of Common Iberia, an association of IBM users in Spain and Portugal of which SIXE is a member, will participate in the congress as speakers. His presence guarantees a valuable perspective, sharing innovative ideas and experiences in the use of AIX, Linux and IBM i on Power with many other experts from Europe and America.

In addition to us, there will also be a multitude of other experts and industry leaders present, making the Prague 2023 Congress a real opportunity for any professional looking to improve their skills and knowledge in these technologies… and above all, to strengthen and expand our large community of users.