PSF for AIX with AIX 4.1 on an SP system : S/370 Channel Emulator/A questions

ITEM: RTA000094186



Q:                                                                              
ABSTRACT:     PSF for AIX with AIX 4.1 on an SP system : Is the                 
              S/370 channel emulator card now supported ?                       
SEARCH ARG:   AIX 4.1 S/370 channel                                             
TOPIC THREAD: PRINT                                                             
              AFP                                                               
              PSF6000                                                           
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I have a PSF for AIX customer who is running on a 7012 model 34H with           
AIX 3.2.5.  They have a S/370 channel emulator card in the 34H, and             
are driving a 3900-001 and a 3829.  This customer is about to migrate to        
an SP system running AIX 4.1.  Does AIX 4.1 running on an SP system now         
support the S/370 channel emulator card ?  Also, are there any other            
gotchas I should be aware of in helping my customer plan for this               
move ?                                                                         
                                                                                
Thanks.                                                                         
                                                                                
A:                                                                              
Here are some considerations you should review with your customer.              
                                                                                
1) PSF for AIX Version 2.1 (5765-505) uses the S/370 Channel Emulator/A         
adapter to communicate with selected printers (the IBM 3825, 3827, 3828,        
3829, 3835, and 3900-001 printers).  On non-SP RISC System/6000 models,         
the S/370 Channel Emulator/A adapter is available as feature code 2759;         
for SP systems, you may order the adapter as RPQ 8K1922.                        
                                                                                
** IMPORTANT NOTE **  The S/370 Channel Emulator/A adapter is a                 
microchannel adapter, so any SP nodes or RS/6000s where you want to             
install this adapter *must* support microchannel.                              
                                                                                
2) For printers, the device driver for the S/370 Channel Emulator/A             
adapter is supplied with PSF for AIX:                                           
                                                                                
- For support under AIX Version 4, it is MANDATORY that you obtain and          
  install the latest PTFs for PSF, shutdown and restart your system,            
  and then load the latest device driver onto the S/370 card through            
  the smit panels, as described in the instructions that ship with the          
  PTF for psf.base.                                                             
                                                                                
- For systems running AIX Version 3.2.5, it is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that        
  you install the latest PTFs for PSF as well, as there have been               
  enhancements made to the S/370 device driver in PSF since the product         
  first became available in June 1995.  The device drivers for many             
  adapters, including the S/370 Channel Emulator/A adapter, require            
  blocks of system memory.  The blocks must fall within a range defined         
  in the configuration for the adapter.  An adapter cannot be made              
  available for use if all the memory blocks within its predefined range        
  are already assigned to other devices.  The fix for APAR IX60715              
  increases the range in the configuration for the S/370 Channel                
  Emulator/A adapter.                                                           
                                                                                
The installation process for the PTF will check the level of AIX on the         
system on which you'll be installing (3.2.5 or 4.1.x), and automatically        
install the correct version of the driver.                                      
                                                                                
3) PSF for AIX can physically support up to four S/370 Channel Emulator/A       
adapters in one RISC System/6000; in practice, however, sizing and              
performance considerations may dictate fewer than the maximum number of         
adapters.  Note that each printer will require a dedicated S/370 Channel       
Emulator/A adapter; daisy chaining of multiple printers on a single             
adapter is not supported by PSF for AIX.                                        
                                                                                
4) You must install all S/370 channel emulator adapters used by PSF for         
AIX in bus0 of your RISC System/6000.  On some RISC System/6000 models,         
bus0 contains eight microchannel slots; on the new SP wide notes, bus0          
contains four microchannel slots.                                               
                                                                                
The device driver software used by PSF for AIX only supports S/370              
Channel Emulator/A adapters installed in bus0; it does not support              
S/370 Channel Emulator/A adapters installed in bus1.  Likewise, the             
device driver software used by PSF for AIX does not support S/370               
Channel Emulator/A adapters installed in expansion units.                       
                                                                                
5) If customers running AIX Version 4 have more than one SCSI adapter in       
the RS/6000 to which they wish to add the S/370 Channel Emulator/A              
adapter, they will need to work with the AIX Support Center on the              
procedure to make available all the needed adapters on their system.            
There is a specific order in which the adapters must be added to the            
system, and the channel adapter must be added before the second or              
subsequent SCSI adapters.                                                       
                                                                                
I hope this helps.                                                              
                                                                                
(Revised July 21, 1997)                                                         
                                                                                
S e a r c h - k e y w o r d s:                                                  
AIX PSF/6000 PSF FOR AIX CHANNEL 2759 4.1 SUPPORTED ADAPTER 2.1 chna0           
PSF/AIX SP 9076 8k1922 RPQ SP2 upgrade daisy chain bus0 SCSI bus                
psf/aix microchannel multiple expansion slot                                   


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