Logical Partitions - Tech Tips

Many of us who have been around a while will know that partitions in an IT environment are nothing new, particularly in a mainframe environment.

However in the past few years the concept of Logical Partitioning has made a resurgence. The benefits to users are many, including:

• Reduces floor area, reducing real estate usage
• Ability to share resources therefore reducing costs
• Attractive Presentation
• Fewer cables therefore fewer potential faults and costs
• Multiple Environments and Operating Systems in one Frame

We recently built and setup a System i Power 6 machine with 5 Partitions, 4 CPUs (22,000 CPW) and more than 5 TB of disk requiring RAID and Mirroring for a client of ours in PNG. This also included installation of OS400 V5R4M5, licenced products, and PTFs to all 5 partitions. Our engineer Richard, disassembled the system, so it could be sent to PNG, where he met up with it again and rebuilt it.

It was HUGE as far as projects go, but it went without any problems because everything was done right, by the right people. It was literally a matter of Richard reassembling and powering on the server when he arrived in PNG. In fact the System and all 5 Partitions were up and running in the customer’s computer room on the first day!

As with any equipment supplied by us it must pass all diagnostics and performance benchmarks. In PNG it was no different, in fact Richard was required to run diagnostics to all the storage down to individual blocks on the disks, and like I said, not one hitch!

It all went smoothly, but NOT because it was easy. As anyone who has sent nearly two tonnes of IT equipment in three international shipping crates overseas will tell you it isn’t easy, but our production team here has decades of experience, a genuine enthusiasm about what we do and the quality of what you receive from us.

If you are planning on any services work please contact your rep to discuss whether Computer Merchants can do it for you. Some of
what we can do on-site is:

• LPARs setup and implementation
• Installation of new equipment
• Operating System installation
• System migrations and upgrades
• *noMAX installations
• Equipment re-locations