Integrating an IBM PureApplication Environment

IBM Redbooks Solution Guide

Published 02 September 2015

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Authors: Addison Goering, Alan Booth

Abstract

The decision to integrate an IBM® PureApplication® System or IBM PureApplication Software into an existing data center is a disruptive event that affects many teams. This IBM Redbooks® Solution Guide provides a quick look at integrating a PureApplication System or PureApplication Software in to your data center.

Contents

The decision to integrate an IBM® PureApplication® System or IBM PureApplication Software into an existing data center is a disruptive event that affects many teams. This IBM Redbooks® Solution Guide provides a quick look at integrating a PureApplication System or PureApplication Software in to your data center. Figure 1 shows an overview of this process.

This figure shows the integration of a PureApplication System and PureApplication Software into a data center.
Figure 1. PureApplication products can integrate into your data center


Did you know?

Both PureApplication System or PureApplication Software offer on-premises solutions that use proven patterns to extend your applications, reduce cost and complexity, and ease management.


Business value

Integrating either solution into your data center can provide the following benefits:

  • Improve efficiency and economics with next-generation technology that maximizes utilization and lowers cost.
  • Ease procurement, design, and management with factory-integrated systems and patterns of expertise.
  • Increase capacity in real time for high-density virtualization and fluctuating demands.
  • Leverage comprehensive resource pooling, automated provisioning, and a single point of management.

PureApplication System is a platform system that is delivered on a single rack that is designed and tuned specifically for transactional web and database applications. It includes integrated technologies, built-in expertise, cloud capabilities, and virtualization capabilities. The platform includes compute nodes, storage nodes, and networking. PureApplication System includes virtualization and management technology. It also includes a library of components, such as operating systems, application servers, database servers, and integration software. These components are built into reusable patterns.

IBM provides patterns for many of the IBM middleware and database products. These patterns can be used as-is, or enhanced to add the required customization. Some of these offerings, such as IBM WebSphere® Application Server and IBM DB2®, are included in PureApplication System, and other middleware offerings can be purchased and installed on the system.

PureApplication Software can be installed on your existing hardware and VMware infrastructure. Unlike PureApplication System, PureApplication Software does not include any hardware, OS images, or middleware. It requires existing hardware components, such as compute nodes, storage nodes, and networking, to be installed in your data center.

Although the PureApplication Software does not include middleware patterns, after it is purchased and installed, these patterns work the same way as in the PureApplication System.


Solution overview

The architecture of your integration project varies depending on your decision to integrate PureApplication System or PureApplication Software.

The integration solutions that are provided by PureApplication System and PureApplication Software are described in Integrating PureApplication System into an Existing Data Center, SG24-8285.


Solution architecture

PureApplication System is sometimes referred to as a cloud solution “on a rack”. All of the aspects of a cloud solution are included on the rack, as shown in Figure 2:
  • Networking: Includes an Ethernet and Fibre Channel network.
  • Storage nodes and expansion: Developed for virtualized environments. The IBM Storwize® V7000 enables highly efficient and policy-based management of files.
  • Compute nodes: Contain components, such as microprocessors, memory, and Ethernet controllers. Virtual machines are deployed to compute nodes.
  • Virtualization management to control the virtualized environment.
  • System management to control workloads and other important components.

This figure shows a simplified architecture of a PureApplication System
Figure 2. Simplified architecture of PureApplication System (W2500-384)

Solution architecture: PureApplication Software

In general, PureApplication Software can be installed and configured on either a virtual machine running in vCenter 5.1, as shown in Figure 3, or on bare metal, as shown in Figure 4.

PureApplication Software on a VM in vCenter 5.1

In this configuration scenario, PureApplication Software and the virtualized compute nodes, networking, and storage are on data centers that are managed by vCenter.

This figure shows the implmentation of PureApplication Software on a virtual machine.
Figure 3. PureApplication Software on a virtual machine

PureApplication Software on bare metal

In this configuration, PureApplication Software is hosted on x86 hardware, and the virtualized compute nodes, networking, and storage are hosted in a data center that is managed by vCenter.

This figure shows the implementation of PureApplication Software on bare metal.
Figure 4. PureApplication Software on bare metal


Usage scenarios

Integration and usage scenarios are described in detail in Integrating PureApplication System into an Existing Data Center, SG24-8285. The publication describes integration points and scenarios for PureApplication System and PureApplication Software. The roadmap in Figure 5 aligns specific roles and chapters to provide guidance for an integration project.

This figures shows the roles roadmap for Integrating PureApplication System into an existing data center.
Figure 5. Roles roadmap for Integrating PureApplication System into an existing data center


Integration

If you have existing installations of PureApplication System or PureApplication Software, they can be integrated by joining them into a single management domain, as shown in Figure 6.

This figure shows the integration of PureApplication System or PureApplication Software into a single management domain.
Figure 6. Single management domain


Supported platforms

Tables 1, 2, 3, and 4 show the supported platforms for PureApplication System and PureApplication Software.

Table 1. Intel - x86 Mini systems
ModelComputeMemory per coreStorage
W2500-32m32 cores16 GB2.4 TB SSD
24 TB HDD
W2500-64m64 cores16 GB2.4 TB SSD
24 TB HDD
W2500-96m96 cores16 GB2.4 TB SSD
24 TB HDD
W2500-128m128 cores16 GB2.4 TB SSD
24 TB HDD

Table 2. Intel - x86 Enterprise systems
ModelComputeMemory per coreStorage
W2500-3232 cores32 GB6.4 TB SSD
48 TB HDD
W2500-6464 cores32 GB6.4 TB SSD
48 TB HDD
W2500-9696 cores32 GB6.4 TB SSD
48 TB HDD
W2500-128128 cores32 GB6.4 TB SSD
48 TB HDD
W2500-160160 cores32 GB6.4 TB SSD
48 TB HDD
W2500-192192 cores32 GB6.4 TB SSD
48 TB HDD
W2500-224224 cores32 GB6.4 TB SSD
48 TB HDD
W2500-320320 cores32 GB6.4 TB SSD
48 TB HDD
W2500-384384 cores32 GB6.4 TB SSD
48 TB HDD

Table 3. IBM POWER® Mini systems
ModelComputeMemory per coreStorage
W2700-32m32 cores16 GB2.4 TB SSD
24 TB HDD
W2700-64m64 cores16 GB2.4 TB SSD
24 TB HDD
W2700-96m96 cores16 GB2.4 TB SSD
24 TB HDD
W2700-128m128 cores16 GB2.4 TB SSD
24 TB HDD

Table 4. IBM POWER Enterprise systems
ModelComputeMemory per coreStorage
W2700-3232 cores32 GB6.4 TB SSD
48 TB HDD
W2700-6464 cores32 GB6.4 TB SSD
48 TB HDD
W2700-9696 cores32 GB6.4 TB SSD
48 TB HDD
W2700-128128 cores32 GB6.4 TB SSD
48 TB HDD
W2700-160160 cores32 GB6.4 TB SSD
48 TB HDD
W2700-192192 cores32 GB6.4 TB SSD
48 TB HDD
W2700-224224 cores32 GB6.4 TB SSD
48 TB HDD
W2700-320320 cores32 GB6.4 TB SSD
48 TB HDD
W2700-384384 cores32 GB6.4 TB SSD
48 TB HDD

For detailed PureApplication System requirements, see the IBM Knowledge Center article found at the following website:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSCR9A_2.1.0/doc/iwd/gsr_prerequs.dita

PureApplication Software

With PureApplication Software, you can use your own hardware and VMware platform. PureApplication Software can be installed in a virtualized or non-virtualized (bare metal) environments. Table 5 provides a generalized list of requirements:

Table 5. Overview of PureApplication Software requirements
RequirementNotes
CPUMinimum of 8 cores.
MemoryMinimum of 80 GB.
Partitions3 disks.
Red Hat YUMConfigured YUM repositories for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 6.6 and extra packages for Enterprise Linux.
RPM packagesSeveral packages are automatically installed from YUM repositories.
Inbound portsSeveral are required for inbound traffic.
Ports for internal communicationSeveral are required for communication between components.
Compute nodesNo more than 32.

The key ingredient to using PureApplication Software is the virtualization environment. It must be configured before installing PureApplication Software. Table 6 and Table 7 outline those requirements.

Table 6 Installation requirements for PureApplication Software Version 2.1.0.1
PureSystem Manager Red Hat Enterprise Linux versionvCenter versionESXi version
x86 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 6.6 with the latest updatesvCenter server V5.1U2a
or
vCenter server V5.5 U2
ESXi V5.1 U2
or
ESXi V5.5 U2

Table 7 Installation requirements for PureApplication Software Version 2.1.0.0
PureSystem Manager Red Hat Enterprise Linux versionvCenter versionESXi version
x86 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 6.6 with the latest updatesvCenter server V5.1U2aESXi V5.1 U2

For detailed PureApplication Software requirements, see the IBM Knowledge Center article found at the following website:

https://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSL5ES_2.1.0/doc/getstart/sysreqs.dita


Ordering information

These products are available only through IBM Passport Advantage®. For more information, contact your PureApplication sales representative or organizational Passport Advantage representative.

Ordering information is shown in Table 8.

Table 8. PureApplication System part numbers
Program namePID numberCharge unit description
PureApplication System W25005725-Q93Per appliance installation
PureApplication System W27005725-Q94Per appliance installation

Ordering information for PureApplication Software is shown in Table 9.

Table 9 PureApplication Software
Program namePID numberCharge unit description
PureApplication Software5725-Q52Per 12-month software subscription


Related information

For more information, see the following documents:


Special Notices

This material has not been submitted to any formal IBM test and is published AS IS. It has not been the subject of rigorous review. IBM assumes no responsibility for its accuracy or completeness. The use of this information or the implementation of any of these techniques is a client responsibility and depends upon the client's ability to evaluate and integrate them into the client's operational environment.

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