Planning Volume 2, Control Workstation and Software Environment

Question 2: Do you want a preloaded SP or the default version?

You have the option of ordering your SP with default software that you must load or you can order one that IBM has preloaded with software to meet your organization's specific needs. There are manufacturing-based services available from which you can choose when you decide to order an SP.

Standard default order service

|By default, every SP system is delivered with the most current |software level, including Program Temporary Fixes (PTF), of AIX 5L or AIX and |PSSP. You will receive a MKSYSB backup on installation media for the control workstation and nodes. You will also receive a node image on tape for backup purposes. These are delivered with your SP system. The MKSYSB for the control workstation contains installed versions of AIX 5L or AIX and PSSP and can have a LoadLeveler install image.

The versions installed are determined by one of the following feature codes:

• |FC #9534: AIX 5L 5.1 (or later) and PSSP 3.4
• |FC #9435: AIX 4.3.3 (or later) and PSSP 3.4
• |FC #9433: AIX 4.3.3 (or later) and PSSP 3.2

Note:

|If you do not specify a feature code, IBM will provide AIX 5L |5.1 (or later) and PSSP 3.4. |

You have to do the loading and customizing work including network configuration and the installation of any additional licensed programs. You have to do a complete installation of all MKSYSB images for both the nodes and the control workstation.

SP customizing services

|Customizing services based on cost-recovery charges are |available. The Customized Solutions Group has a team of professionals who are skilled in the delivery of the following services:

• |Pre-install review which includes a review of the control |workstation, frame, network, and node configurations.
• Design reviews focused on how to implement application suites on specific SP hardware configuration.
• High Availability Control Workstation (HACWS) customizing.
• High Availability Cluster Multi-Processing (HACMP) customizing and integrating. This includes a complete integration from pre-sales consulting and design sessions through on-site integration.
• Oracle Parallel Query installing, customizing, and integrating.
• Lotus Notes server integrating and implementing Lotus Notes with HACMP.
• Implementing DB/2 Parallel Edition.

What you get as a package

Backup tapes, installation media, and instructions that simplify installation are shipped with your SP system. They are in clear plastic inside the wooden shipping container. The contents and the instructions vary depending on your order:

• With the standard default order service the SP nodes are not preloaded. You receive installation media that contains the PSSP and AIX software with instructions for you to load the workstation and the nodes. Use the MKSYSB backup for the control workstation and nodes. You also receive a node image on tape for backup purposes.
• With customized service, the SP nodes might be preloaded with the software and networking parameters you order or you might have onsite service. In any case, you receive a customized MKSYSB for the control workstation and the instructions to load the workstation. You also receive a node image on tape for backup purposes.

If you plan to further modify or customize your nodes, also read the books PSSP: Installation and Migration Guide and PSSP: Administration Guide.

Contacting the Customized Solution Organization

|If you have questions about these preload services, please contact |the World Wide Customized Solution Organization. You can call or send a |note. In any messages you send or leave on the phone include your name, phone number, user ID, and order number. A member of the Customized Solution Department will then work with you to help make your installation a success.

To contact the Customized Solution Organization:

• from the US, do any of the following:
  • call 1-800-426-4955 and select option 2
  • |have your IBM representative send a note to JUST |ASK/Poughkeepsie/IBM
• from EMEA, do any of the following:
  • call 33-4-6734-4679
  • have your IBM representative send a note to VM userid SP2LOAD at MOPVMA
  • have your IBM representative request instruction files by typing on the command line of a VM session:

    REQUEST SP2INST FROM SP2INST AT MOPVMA
    

• from any other location, call your IBM representative.

Listing your applications

Though you've only just started considering the software, begin a list of the applications you want on your SP system. If you already know that you want the services of the Customized Solution Organization, contact them. Whether or not you use the custom service, use the worksheets in this book as you progress in the planning process.

List the applications you are considering on your copy of Worksheet 1, "Preliminary list of applications" in Table 57. Indicate that you want parallel processing or that you need a switch for better application performance by marking the Parallel and Need Switch columns respectively. Use a "?" if you are not sure yet. If you think of additional applications, you can add them to this list at any time.

The hypothetical customer, the ABC Corporation, considered their application requirements and filled in Table 2.

Table 2. Preliminary list of applications for the ABC Corporation

Save your list. You'll use it again in the planning process.