New RS/6000 SP systems come with |PSSP 3.4 and AIX 5L 5.1 or AIX |4.3.3 on installation media. The following sections briefly describe selected functions in AIX as well as the latest modifications in PSSP 3.4. The AIX features included are only those of significant general interest or that relate particularly to the PSSP licensed program. These might help you decide which level of the system you need.
|AIX 5L Version 5.1 represents the next generation of AIX.
|Fortified with open technologies from some of the world's top providers,
|AIX 5L builds on a solid heritage of supplying integrated, enterprise-class
|support for IBM RS/6000 and 
pSeries systems. It provides
|an industrial-strength UNIX operating system with increased levels of
|integration, flexibility, and performance for meeting the high demands of
|today's mission-critical applications. It offers an advanced
|operating system with a strong affinity with Linux and built-in capabilities
|designed to accommodate IBM POWER-based nodes.
|AIX 5L 5.1 can run on any of the following POWER-based |systems: |
|That qualifies all the nodes currently available for SP systems, which
|includes any IBM or RS/6000 server supported for running the
|PSSP software.
|The following are some of the features in AIX 5L 5.1: |
|Additional technology is available with Bonus Packs.
|AIX 4.3 has reliability, scalability, application binary |compatibility across all AIX Version 4 releases, and concurrent 32 and 64-bit |functionality. The following are some of the newer and relevant |features in AIX 4.3.3: |
pSeries systems, RS/6000
|Enterprise Server systems, switches, adapters, and I/O products.
Additional technology is available with Bonus Packs.
|The PSSP 3.4 licensed program provides enhanced quality and support |for the enablement of new nodes on which it can operate and the AIX 5L |5.1 and AIX 4.3.3 operating systems. Functional |enhancements include new or expanded support in the following areas: |
|Support has been added for the following hardware: |
pSeries 690 is a high-end 32-way Giga processor
|POWER4 system. The physical components can be assigned to separate
|logical partitions (LPARs) within one physical frame. You can have from
|one to sixteen LPARs. Each LPAR functions as an individual node within
|that frame and each is fully functional like any SP node in the system.
|These nodes require AIX 5L 5.1 or later and PSSP 3.4. The
|p690 is supported as SP-attached or in a clustered enterprise server
|configuration with the SP Switch2, the SP Switch, or no switch.
pSeries 660 models 6H0, 6H1, and 6M1, the
| pSeries 680, and the RS/6000 models H80 and M80 are other
|servers of varied capacities that have been introduced since the release of
|PSSP 3.2. These PCI-based 64-bit SMP systems are supported as
|SP-attached servers or in a system of clustered enterprise servers in a one
|node per frame relationship. They can connect to the SP Switch2 or the
|SP Switch.
|See Hardware overview for introduction and links to planning information
|with respect to the software support of new nodes. See the book
|IBM RS/6000 SP: Planning Volume 1, Hardware and Physical
|Environment for hardware planning information. See also Related hardware publications for where to find other hardware publications about IBM
| pSeries servers.
|The PSSP 3.4 software includes the following enhancements for the SP |Switch2: |
|Support has been added to PSSP for boot and NIM installs from Direct Access |Storage Devices (DASD) attached by Fibre Channel in a Storage Area Network |(SAN) environment. This support incorporates new function developed in |system firmware, AIX 5L, AIX, and Fibre Channel adapter firmware to natively |support Fibre Channel SAN DASD as AIX 5L or AIX installation and boot |devices.
|PSSP 3.4 provides the ability to have the PSSP installation, |configuration, and system management software, hereafter called simply the |PSSP system management software, use a secure remote command |process in place of the AIX rsh and rcp |commands. You can acquire, install, and configure any secure remote |command software of your choice that conforms to the Internet Engineering Task |Force (IETF) Secure Shell working group protocol. With the required |restricted root access option enabled and a secure remote command process |enabled, the PSSP system management software has no dependency to internally |issue rsh and rcp commands as a root user from the |control workstation to nodes, from nodes to nodes, nor from nodes to the |control workstation.
|PSSP 3.4 includes the following enhancements to the performance of |the LAPI software: |
|The IBM Virtual Shared Disk now supports the Subsystem Device Driver (SDD), |an ESS device driver that provides: |
|PSSP 3.4 provides support for 64-bit parallel applications that use |MPI or LAPI, and run on POWER nodes with AIX 5L 5.1. This 64-bit |support is essential for running applications with large virtual memory |requirements. The full 64-bit kernel, device drivers, and application |environment is not yet used by PSSP.
|Support is provided for upgrading to PSSP 3.4 running on AIX 5L |5.1 or AIX 4.3.3.
|Support is provided for the coexistence of earlier, but still supported, |releases of PSSP and some PSSP-related licensed programs in a system partition |with PSSP 3.4.
|The following PSSP-related programs have been enhanced: |
|See the Bibliography for a listing of publications for these PSSP-related |licensed programs.