IBM NeXtScale Solution for SUSE Cloud Reference Architecture

Transcription

1 IBM NeXtScale Solution for SUSE Cloud Reference Architecture Contents Introduction... 2 Business problem and business value...2 Business problem... 2 Business value... 2 Architectural overview... 4 SUSE Cloud Component model... 7 IBM NeXtScale n1200 Enclosure Chassis...7 IBM NeXtScale nx360 M IBM System Networking RackSwitch G Deployment considerations...10 Racking and power distribution Networking and VLANs Storage Setup of the IBM NeXtScale nx360 M Setup of SUSE Cloud Summary Appendix Related links Bill of materials Author Stay connected to IBM Redbooks Notices

2 Introduction The NeXtScale Solution for SUSE Cloud Reference Architecture provides a cost effective, easy to use, turnkey offering for customers interested in deploying their own cloud environment. This system is based on the IBM NeXtScale high density hyperscale computing platform. In combination with SUSE Cloud software based on OpenStack, this reference architecture removes the complexity from setup by providing a step by step implementation guide. This highly customizable solution leverages the power and scalability of the NeXtScale platform to create a cloud offering capable of supporting hundreds of VM's per chassis, all with an easy to manage user interface. This Reference Architecture provides ordering, setup and configuration details for the IBM NeXtScale cloud environment. This design consists of, but is not limited to, one IBM NeXtScale n1200 Enclosure Chassis, two IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 nodes with Storage NeX expansion trays, and eight standard IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 nodes. Networking capabilities are provided by an IBM System Networking RackSwitch G8052. This hardware configuration uses SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 3 as the physical operating system with SUSE Cloud running on top of it. Business problem and business value This section briefly describes the business problem that deploying and maintaining a custom built cloud environment with SUSE Cloud software and IBM NeXtScale hardware helps to solve. Business problem Cloud computing is at the forefront of new and exciting trends in enterprise IT today. By utilizing cloud computing capabilities in the public cloud, businesses are able to leverage IT resources as they're needed without having to make drastic preparations for peak load. However, many companies would prefer to store their data privately to reduce security risk, as opposed to storing their data on the servers of a cloud service provider. The solution to this is to build a private cloud for your business behind your firewall. Previously, deploying and maintaining a cloud was difficult to do and required extensive knowledge of clustering and virtualization. Now, as new management and implementation technologies are being offered, the difficulty associated with owning your own private cloud has dropped dramatically. Business value Owning and managing a private cloud has proved to be extremely valuable to companies that choose to implement them. By rapidly provisioning and deprovisioning 2

3 IT resources based on business requirements, a private cloud increases the speed that these companies can react to new market opportunities and customer needs. Additionally, providing a centralized, internal location for company data, a private cloud allows these companies to control and secure data using their standard processes.. SUSE Cloud offers an affordable solution that simplifies the implementation and operation of a private cloud. Based on the OpenStack cloud computing management software, SUSE Cloud enables the dynamic allocation of resources across the private cloud infrastructure deploying roles to bare metal IBM NeXtScale systems and virtual instances to those nodes, all while monitoring performance and resource usage. This automation is attractive to businesses because it helps reduce data center costs by maximizing server utilization and increasing workload performance. 3

4 Architectural overview The configuration of SUSE Cloud and IBM NeXtScale provides the management and deployment of OS images and virtual instances onto bare metal machines for a scalable solution of at least eight compute nodes. The design consists of ten IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 compute nodes, two of which have Storage NeX expansion trays. The networking design leverages the IBM System Networking RackSwitch G8052. This configuration uses SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 3 as the physical operating system with SUSE Cloud running on top of it. A short summary of the Reference Architecture software and hardware components is listed below, followed by preferred practice implementation guidelines. The Reference Architecture Configuration is composed of the following enterprise class components: One IBM NeXtScale n1200 Enclosure Chassis Two IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 compute nodes with Storage NeX expansion tray attached Eight IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 compute nodes One IBM System Networking RackSwitch G8052 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 SUSE Cloud 3 Together, these components combine to create an easy to use, cost effective private cloud cloud environment capable of running the most demanding enterprise applications. Figure 1 shows the overall configuration. 4

5 Figure 1 IBM NeXtScale System and IBM System Networking RackSwitch G8052 This IBM Redpaper publication is for IT architects who are familiar with the necessary components of cloud environments and want to begin with a small, yet scalable, SUSE Cloud environment that is compatible with KVM, Xen, Microsoft Hyper V, and VMware vsphere hypervisors. Advanced comprehensive experience with the various Reference Architecture components is advised. 5

6 SUSE Cloud 3 SUSE Cloud is a cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS) solution that can be easily deployed and managed. It offers a cloud management solution that helps organizations to centralize virtual machine deployment consistent with the core characteristics of cloud computing. This third release of SUSE Cloud provides the following features and enhancements: Open source software that is based on the OpenStack Havana release. Support for KVM, Xen, Microsoft Hyper V, and VMware vsphere hypervisor based compute nodes. A template driven orchestration service allowing the coordinated deployment of applications and services from the Orchestration module of OpenStack (Heat). Centralized resource tracking providing insight into activities and capacity of the cloud infrastructure for optimized automated deployment of services via the Telemetry module of OpenStack (Ceilometer). A self service portal enabling end users to configure and deploy services as necessary and also offering the ability to track resource consumption OpenStack Dashboard (Horizon). An image repository from which standardized, pre configured virtual machines can be published OpenStack Image Service (Glance). Automated installation framework via Crowbar utilizing predefined scripts for configuring and deploying Control, Compute and Storage Nodes. Multi tenant, role based provisioning and access control for multiple departments and users within your organization OpenStack Identity Service (Keystone). APIs enabling the integration of third party software, such as management, monitoring, security and billing solutions. The creation of workload virtual machines or software appliances can be facilitated through the use of SUSE Studio with its convenient web user interface. In SUSE Studio, a user can create a complete software appliance, iterating as much as needed to provide a known working solution. Each build, through API interaction between SUSE Studio and the image repository of SUSE Cloud, seamlessly shows up in the SUSE Cloud Dashboard as a workload guest image. These images are then ready for testing, qualification or production deployment onto the various cloud infrastructure compute node resources. To manage and report on the status of resources and the workloads over their useful life, SUSE Manager can be set up to automatically incorporate them. This ensures monitoring, compliance and other service management practices are maintained over their entire life cycle, including modules for patch and update management. With a simple post installation hook, the new resources and 6

7 workloads automatically register with the SUSE Manager server, becoming a managed entity. As desired, this same SUSE Manager console may help you manage other system resources in your environment and is also extensible through various APIs. Component model This IBM NeXtScale SUSE Cloud architecture consists of the IBM NeXtScale n1200 Enclosure Chassis with IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 compute nodes that run SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3, and an IBM System Networking RackSwitch G8052. Each component provides a key element to the overall solution. IBM NeXtScale n1200 Enclosure Chassis The IBM NeXtScale n1200 Enclosure Chassis is a dense 6U chassis that contains 12 bays for compute, storage and acceleration servers. Six power supplies and 10 hot swap fans are shared across the rear of the chassis. More chassis can be added easily as workloads scale. Figure 2 shows the IBM NeXtScale n1200 Enclosure Chassis with compute nodes that are installed in the front and with power supplies and fans that are installed in the rear. Figure 2 IBM NeXtScale n1200 Enclosure Chassis (left image front, right image rear) 7

8 IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 At the core of this configuration is the IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 compute node. These compute nodes deliver low cost, high density performance that is optimal for cloud computing environments. Designed with industry standard, off the shelf components, this general purpose platform enables users to create a flexible, mix and match offering with compute, storage, and acceleration via graphics processing unit (GPU) or Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor. Customized solutions can be configured to provide an application appropriate platform with choice of servers, networking switches, adapters, and racks. To provide the expected virtualization performance to handle any production cloud environment, each IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 compute node can be equipped with up to two 12 core Intel Xeon E5 2600v2 processors and up to 256GB of memory. For storage the IBM NextScale nx360 M4 can include either a 3.5 HDD RAID storage NeX, a 1.8 SSD cage assembly, a 2.5 HDD cage assembly, or a 3.5 HDD cage assembly. Figure 3 shows the front of the nx360 M4. Power button and information LED PCIe 3.0 Slot Dual-port mezzanine card (IB/Ethernet) KVM connector Labeling 1 GbE IMM v2 ports port tag Figure 3 IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 Two PCIe slots provide expansion for both data and storage connections. The server also supports remote management through the IBM Integrated Management Module II (IMM2), which enables continuous management capabilities. The use of the IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 nodes in this configuration ensures compatibility between the hardware and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 since this platform is SUSE YES certified as a supported combination, Further, by virtualizing with SUSE Cloud on IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 compute nodes, businesses reduce 8

9 physical server sprawl, power consumption, and total cost of ownership (TCO). Splitting workload across virtual instances allows for dynamic allocation of computing resources which reduces underutilization of systems. SUSE Cloud 3 also lowers administrative impact and gives IT managers the capability to manage more systems than exclusive physical environments. IBM System Networking RackSwitch G8052 The IBM System Networking RackSwitch G8052 enables administrators to offer full Layer 2 and 3 switching and routing capability with combined 1Gb and 10Gb uplinks in a NeXtScale hardware environment. Switches can also be combined for further scalability as server density increases. In addition, the next generation switch hardware supports IPv6 Layer 3 frame forwarding protocols. This scalable switch delivers port flexibility, efficient traffic management, increased uplink bandwidth, and strong Ethernet switching price/performance. The IBM System Networking RackSwitch G8052 is shown in Figure 4. Figure 4 IBM System Networking RackSwitch G8052 1Gb Ethernet Switch 9

10 Deployment considerations Successful SUSE Cloud deployment and operation can be attributed to a set of test proven planning and deployment techniques. Proper planning includes sizing the needed server resources (CPU and memory), storage (space and IOPS), and networking bandwidth to support the infrastructure. This information can then be implemented by using industry preferred practices to achieve optimal performance and the growth headroom that is necessary for the solution. The preferred practices and implementation guidelines for the SUSE Cloud Reference Architecture Configuration are broken down into the following topics: Racking and power distribution Networking and VLANs Storage Setup of the IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 Optional multi chassis configuration Racking and power distribution Perform the installation of power distribution units (PDUs) and their cabling before any system is racked. When cabling the PDUs, remember the following information: Ensure that you have sufficient and separate electrical circuits and receptacles to support the required PDUs. To minimize the chance of a single electrical circuit failure taking down a device, ensure that sufficient PDUs exist to feed redundant power supplies that use separate electrical circuits. For devices that have redundant power supplies, plan for individual electrical cords from separate PDUs. Maintain appropriate shielding and surge suppression practices. Employ the appropriate battery backup techniques. Networking and VLANs Combinations of physical and isolated virtual local area networks (VLANs) are configured at the host, switch, and storage layers to satisfy isolation requirements. At the physical layer, each node will use 1Gb Ethernet connection. At the physical switch layer, the RackSwitch G8052 has 48 1GbE ports and four 10GbE uplink ports. VLANs are used to provide logical isolation between the various networks that are used for storage and data traffic. A key element is configuring the switch correctly to maximize the available bandwidth and reduce congestion. However, based on individual environment preferences, flexibility is available regarding how many separate networks 10

11 are created and whether or not these networks allow access to other external networks such as the Internet or a company intranet. Much of the networking configuration is handled automatically by the SUSE Cloud installation script, but there is still the option to manually tie the cloud network to another existing network. Figure 5 shows a high level network overview of the configuration. Figure 5 Cloud Reference network configuration 11

12 Administration/BMC network This is a private network to access the SUSE Cloud Administration Server and all nodes for administration purposes. The default setup lets you also access the BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) data via IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) from this network. If required, BMC access can be swapped to a separate network. Access to this network can either be completely separated, allowed from a single network via a bastion network, or allowed from one or more networks via a gateway. (Note: If done as part of a VLAN implementation, this should be the untagged or base network within the switch configuration, since resource nodes will use PXE boot methods in this address space.) Storage network This is a private, internal, virtual network used by the Ceph and OpenStack Object Storage (Swift) storage nodes that are deployed by SUSE Cloud. It is deployed automatically and should not be accessed by users. Private network (nova fixed) This network is private, internal, and virtual and is used for network communication between virtual instances. The required gateway for this network is automatically provided by SUSE Cloud. Public network (nova floating) This is the only public network provided by SUSE Cloud. OpenStack Dashboard (Horizon) as well as instances equipped with a floating IP address can be accessed on this network. This network can only be accessed via a gateway, which needs to be provided externally. All SUSE Cloud users and administrators need to be able to access the public network. Software defined network (os_sdn) This is a private, internal, virtual network used by OpenStack Networking (Neutron), which provides network connectivity between interface devices managed by other OpenStack services. IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 network ports Each NeXtScale node has a total of two 1GbE network ports and one IMMv2 Ethernet port. Only one network port is required for all of the networks that SUSE Cloud deploys, although the other ports may be used in custom configurations. When the IMMv2 network port is set to Shared in UEFI as opposed to Dedicated, all network activity for the cloud can take place over the first network port. The SUSE Cloud software can automatically create configurations for various network modes. In single mode, one Ethernet port, or a manually bonded set of ports, is used for all traffic via VLANs. Dual mode uses one port for the private administration 12

13 network, and the other port is used for the public network. In teaming network mode, at least two Ethernet ports are bonded together to act as one in order to increase performance and redundancy. IBM System Networking RackSwitch G8052 Ethernet configuration The IBM NeXtScale configuration requires a managed top of rack switch to provide networking for the nodes. The RackSwitch provides 48 1Gb Ethernet ports and four 10Gb Ethernet ports for network connectivity across up to four fully loaded NeXtScale chassis. The switch can also act as a router in order to provide a convergence point for multiple networks and VLANs. Management of the G8052 switch can be performed either by the command line interface (CLI) or a web based user interface. The default user name and password for the IBM G8052 switch is admin/admin. Change the default user name and password to a non default password that meets the security requirements of each organization. Spanning tree must be enabled on all switches according to the requirements of your organization. By default, the switch is assigned a management IP address of Exact port configurations will vary depending on networking preferences and the number of nodes that will be used in the setup. Storage Storage for this solution will be provided by two IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 nodes with Storage NeX expansion trays attached (pictured in Figure 6). One of these nodes can provide up to 32TB of storage capacity for the cloud. The Storage NeX expansion tray supports up to seven 3.5 HDDs when used in conjunction with a ServeRAID M1115 SAS/SATA Controller for IBM System x or a N2115 SAS/SATA HBA for IBM System x. Figure 6 IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 with Storage NeX 13

14 Cabling One 1Gb Ethernet connection, or a bonded pair of ports, from the switch to the storage node is all that is required to provide storage to the cloud. The storage networking will take place on VLAN 200 using the /24 network. Management The SUSE Cloud Administration Server will automatically deploy and configure storage settings on the storage nodes once the HDDs on the node have been configured. The HDDs can be configured for a RAID through the onboard storage controller's UEFI configuration utility. For this Reference Configuration, it is recommended for each storage node that the first two disks are configured into a virtual drive using RAID 1, and the remaining drives are configured into a virtual drive using RAID 5. The RAID 1 virtual drive will serve as the operating system drive for the node, and the RAID 5 virtual drive will provide volumes of either OpenStack Object Storage (Swift), Ceph, or OpenStack Block Storage (Cinder) for the cloud. This configuration allows for redundancy in the event of hard drive failure. Setup of the IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 This IBM NeXtScale SUSE Cloud consists of ten dual socket IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 compute nodes with 64GB of RAM and two 1GbE NIC ports each. Pre operating system installation steps Before you install the operating system, complete the following steps: 1. Install the latest firmware on the nx360 M4 by using a Bootable Media Creator image. Bootable Media Creator creates a bootable image of the latest IBM nx360 M4 updates (download in advance). An external DVD drive is required, or the updates can be deployed to a PXE server if one is already in place. The Bootable Media Creator (BoMC) can be downloaded from this website: BOMC IBM Fast Setup is an optional tool that can be downloaded and used to configure multiple NeXtScale, System x, BladeCenter, or Flex systems simultaneously. A link to this tool is at this website: FASTSET 2. By default, the nx360 M4 compute node is set to balance power consumption performance. To change this setting, boot to the UEFI setup menu and select System Settings > Operating Mode and change the selection to what best fits your organizational parameters. 14

15 3. By default, the nx360 M4 compute node's IMM2 Ethernet interface is set to dedicated. If you plan to have SUSE Cloud manage the IMM2 interface and you only plan on using one network interface port, it is necessary to set the IMM2 interface to shared. To change this setting, boot to the UEFI setup menu and select System Settings > Integrated Management Module > Network Configuration > Network Port and change the selection to Shared. 4. By default, the nx360 M4 compute node is set to boot in both UEFI and legacy modes. However, it is recommended that the system boot in Legacy Only mode. To change this, boot to the UEFI setup menu and select Boot Manager > Boot Modes > System Boot Mode and change the selection to Legacy Only. A reboot will be required after the preceding settings are saved. 15

16 Setup of SUSE Cloud SUSE Cloud is based on open source components like OpenStack, Crowbar, and many others and runs on top of the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server operating system. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is used as the underlying operating system for all cloud infrastructure machines, whereas SUSE Cloud uses the capabilities of OpenStack to provide the cloud management framework for the IaaS private cloud. Crowbar and other components are used by SUSE Cloud to automatically deploy and manage the resource nodes from a central Administration Server. This node provides an abstraction over all of the complexity and interactions of the various software components, yielding an easy way to set up a private cloud implementation. The Control Node is where the core OpenStack services are deployed. Compute Nodes provide the foundation on which the various workload instances are deployed, while the Storage Nodes can provide persistent storage volumes for any needed data. The various nodes that comprise a private cloud instance are shown in Figure 7 below: Figure 7 SUSE Cloud instance nodes 16

17 High Level Overview of SUSE Cloud installation and configuration Install SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 on the Administration Server with the add on products Subscription Management Tool (optional) and SUSE Cloud. Setup the product and update repositories, configure the SUSE Cloud network settings, and then run the Cloud Installation script Once the Administration Server is set up, PXE boot all the nodes that the OpenStack components should be deployed and allocate them in the Crowbar web interface. Next, sequentially configure and deploy the core OpenStack services via the Crowbar web interface or command line tools onto the respective Control, Compute, and Storage nodes. When all OpenStack services are up and running, SUSE Cloud is ready. The cloud administrator can now upload images to enable users to start deploying instances from the OpenStack Dashboard as described in the SUSE Cloud Admin and User Guides. The complete step by step setup process is documented in the SUSE Cloud 3 Deployment Guide. With this Redpaper's component information and your local deployment environment considerations, abide by and adjust accordingly any of the prerequisite considerations and requirements. Administration Server installation and configuration The first system to set up is the Administration Server. It provides all services needed to set up and deploy all other nodes in the cloud. The cloud deployment engine helps guide and automate all the required installation and configuration tasks. Among the services provided by the Administration Server are DHCP, DNS, NTP, PXE, and TFTP. The Administration Server also commonly hosts the necessary software repositories for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and SUSE Cloud since they are needed for the other node's deployment. Optionally (if no other sources for the software repositories are available), it hosts the Subscription Management Tool (SMT), providing up to date package repositories with updates and patches for all nodes. Using direct or virtual console access for one of the IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 nodes, complete the process, taking care to heed the important notes and decision points, such as: 1. Install SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 x86_64 according to the deployment guide 2. If the target operating system volume exceeds 4TB in size, remember to first create a smaller partition for /boot to prevent issues with the grub bootloader and volumes greater than 2TB. 17

18 3. Be sure to disable the firewall, match the IP address to the intended admin network and set the hostname of the server using a fully qualified domain name. 4. After the OS is installed, install the SUSE Cloud 3 software using the Add On DVD 5. Verify that all network settings for the various networks are as desired in the Crowbar setup. 6. After repositories are properly configured, and the Administration Server has the most up to date patches, run screen install suse cloud to deploy the administration role on the Administration Server (Note: No network changes may be made after this script has been run). 7. Upon successful completion of the previous script, ensure that the items listed in the section for OpenStack node preparations are addressed before moving on with other nodes in the installation. Remaining nodes installation and configuration The remaining IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 nodes of the SUSE Cloud infrastructure can be set up, configured, and managed from the administration node web interface. The major prerequisite is to be able to PXE boot each of the systems against the Administration Server via the admin VLAN subnet. This includes the Control, Compute, and Storage Nodes. Each resource node will become visible to the Administration Server after PXE booting, at which point basic system information is returned to the administration web interface in a "Discovered" mode. As each node is "Discovered," it is advisable to group the nodes by functional type, providing a handle to arrange and manage all your nodes or minimally assigning an intended role to the node. Alias names can also be used to make identifying the node easier. The node then can be Allocated for use in the various type of nodes. In most deployments, the Control Node is a designated system, where the core OpenStack services are setup. From the Administration Server's Crowbar web interface, you can deploy each of these services. By proceeding from top to bottom on the Barclamps > OpenStack menu, sequentially create a proposal for each service and apply it to the respective nodes. Further descriptions and guidance can be found in the SUSE Cloud deployment guide. At any point in the future, as more physical nodes become available as resources, simply refer to and perform the deployment considerations in this Redpaper to setup the hardware and networking aspects. Then PXE boot the new system to the Administration Server at the beginning of this section, repeating the steps to Discovery, Allocate, and apply the desired Barclamps to complete the node's inclusion into the SUSE Cloud instance. (Note: Once the system is incorporated into the SUSE 18

19 Cloud instance, the IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 IMM2 will have the access credentials reset to a login of root with a password of cr0wbar!) Using SUSE Cloud The tasks associated with the life cycle management of the SUSE Cloud resources is documented in the SUSE Cloud 3 Admin User Guide. This includes the setup for each of the various tenants of the cloud instance, along with quotas and images that end users may deploy upon demand. Users of this SUSE Cloud self service portal will find instructions in the SUSE Cloud End User Guide. Summary Upon completing the implementation steps, an operational, easy to use IBM NeXtScale SUSE Cloud deployment allows you to deploy custom virtual instances as required.. This high performance private cloud with enterprise class multi level software and hardware promotes standardized, supported, and highly manageable cloud environments, which help satisfy even the most challenging business critical virtualization demands. 19

20 Appendix Related links IBM Bootable Media Creator: BOMC IBM Fast Setup: FASTSET IBM Firmware Update and Best Practices Guide: IBM NeXtScale nx360 M4 Documentation IBM Server Guide: guide IBM Support: IBM System Networking RackSwitch G8052 Documentation SUSE Cloud 3 Documentation cloud3/ SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 3 Documentation Bill of materials Table 1 Bill of materials SBB part number Description Quantity PX IBM 42U 1100mm Enterprise V2 Dynamic Rack 1 46M4005 IBM 1U 12 C13 Switched and Monitored 60A 3 phase PDU 2 IBM NeXtScale n1200 Enclosure 1 Includes 1300W PSU 6 Includes Fan and Power Controller (FPC) 1 Rack configuration Chassis configuration 5456 A4x 20

21 49Y m Black Cat5e Cable 11 Networking configuration F IBM System Networking RackSwitch G Compute node configuration 5455 AC1 IBM NeXtScale nx360 M Y HDD RAID cage for nx360 M4 Storage Native Expansion Tray 2 46C8988 N2115 SAS/SATA HBA for IBM System x 2 00D5044 8GB (1x8GB, 2Rx8, 1.35V) PC3L CL11 ECC DDR3 1600MHz LP RDIMM 80 nx360 M4 3.5 inch HDD Cage Assembly 10 00AD025 IBM 4TB 7.2K 6Gbps SATA 3.5 for NeXtScale System 24 00Y8546 IBM NeXtScale Storage Native Expansion Tray 2 46W2721 Additional Intel Xeon E v2 12C 2.7GHz 30MB 1866MHz 130W 10 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 3 for AMD64/EM64T 1 SUSE Cloud 3 1 Operating system Author This paper was produced by technical specialists from IBM and SUSE. Michael Echavarría SUSE Linux Technical Lead, PureFlex/System x OS Enablement IBM Bryan Gartner IHV Technical Architect SUSE Now you can become a published author, too! Here s an opportunity to spotlight your skills, grow your career, and become a published author all at the same time! Join an ITSO residency project and help write a book in your area of expertise, while honing your experience using leading edge technologies. Your efforts will help to increase product acceptance and customer satisfaction, as you expand your network of technical contacts and relationships. Residencies run from two to six weeks in length, and you can participate either in person or as a remote resident working from your home base. Find out more about the residency program, browse the residency index, and apply online at: 21

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24 here to communicate IBM's current investment and development activities as a good faith effort to help with our customers' future planning. Performance is based on measurements and projections using standard IBM benchmarks in a controlled environment. The actual throughput or performance that any user will experience will vary depending upon considerations such as the amount of multiprogramming in the user's job stream, the I/O configuration, the storage configuration, and the workload processed. Therefore, no assurance can be given that an individual user will achieve throughput or performance improvements equivalent to the ratios stated here. Photographs shown are of engineering prototypes. Changes may be incorporated in production models. Any references in this information to non-ibm websites are provided for convenience only and do not in any manner serve as an endorsement of those websites. The materials at those websites are not part of the materials for this IBM product and use of those websites is at your own risk. 24