Moving IBM i to POWER9

It’s always exciting when IBM announces new hardware and today is no exception! We have been hearing about the new POWER9 Chip for several months. In December IBM released the first set of LINUX machines powered by P9.  Now the next set of servers on the POWER9 chip is announced – the Scale-out line.  IBM i has been running POWER chips since the POWER5 introduction in 2004 and the roadmap below illustrates the history and future of this powerful technology. Welcome POWER9!

While the new servers are similar to the POWER8 Scale-out from a model perspective these new babies are all about performance.  The estimated performance is approximately 1.5x theperformance of their POWER8 counterparts.  This is the infrastructure needed to move into the future.  IBM is describing these as Cloud and Artificial Intelligence ready meaning the hardware is ready for IBM i to take advantage of crucial business directions.  Security is at the forefront of everyone’s mind and POWER9s are pre-loaded with the firmware and operating system security patches that mitigate known Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities. This combination makes POWER9 running IBM i the best option for mission critical operations. For those currently on a POWER6 or POWER7 server the POWER9 is going to be like greased lightning. In fact, I recommend ordering a seatbelt with your new server as you are going to need to be strapped in when you start running your IBM i on POWER9. Here is your first look at this beauty, below you see a S924. Quite impressive, personally I’m ready to move my partitions. Now, let’s see how easy doing so can be.

We know integration is what IBM i on POWER is all about. Starting with the hardware and progressing through firmware, license internal code, operating system, security, and database. With all of this designed and delivered by IBM the IBM i on POWER9 is the most integrated data platform for business. Truly apart from the rest. Moving IBM i environments from POWER7 or POWER8 servers to the new POWER9 machines reflects this in the ease of migration. Yes, this is easy, truly. Let’s get into the details.

There are going to be various ways to accomplish moving onto a POWER9, let’s start with…(click here to read the rest of the blog post).

Pete Massiello
iTech Solutions
http://www.itechsol.com
http://www.iInTheCloud.com