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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
| Model | Compute | Memory per core | Storage |
| W2500-32m | 32 cores | 16 GB | 2.4 TB SSD 24 TB HDD |
| W2500-64m | 64 cores | 16 GB | 2.4 TB SSD 24 TB HDD |
| W2500-96m | 96 cores | 16 GB | 2.4 TB SSD 24 TB HDD |
| W2500-128m | 128 cores | 16 GB | 2.4 TB SSD 24 TB HDD |
Table 2. Intel - x86 Enterprise systems
| Model | Compute | Memory per core | Storage |
| W2500-32 | 32 cores | 32 GB | 6.4 TB SSD 48 TB HDD |
| W2500-64 | 64 cores | 32 GB | 6.4 TB SSD 48 TB HDD |
| W2500-96 | 96 cores | 32 GB | 6.4 TB SSD 48 TB HDD |
| W2500-128 | 128 cores | 32 GB | 6.4 TB SSD 48 TB HDD |
| W2500-160 | 160 cores | 32 GB | 6.4 TB SSD 48 TB HDD |
| W2500-192 | 192 cores | 32 GB | 6.4 TB SSD 48 TB HDD |
| W2500-224 | 224 cores | 32 GB | 6.4 TB SSD 48 TB HDD |
| W2500-320 | 320 cores | 32 GB | 6.4 TB SSD 48 TB HDD |
| W2500-384 | 384 cores | 32 GB | 6.4 TB SSD 48 TB HDD |
Table 3. IBM POWER® Mini systems
| Model | Compute | Memory per core | Storage |
| W2700-32m | 32 cores | 16 GB | 2.4 TB SSD 24 TB HDD |
| W2700-64m | 64 cores | 16 GB | 2.4 TB SSD 24 TB HDD |
| W2700-96m | 96 cores | 16 GB | 2.4 TB SSD 24 TB HDD |
| W2700-128m | 128 cores | 16 GB | 2.4 TB SSD 24 TB HDD |
Table 4. IBM POWER Enterprise systems
| Model | Compute | Memory per core | Storage |
| W2700-32 | 32 cores | 32 GB | 6.4 TB SSD 48 TB HDD |
| W2700-64 | 64 cores | 32 GB | 6.4 TB SSD 48 TB HDD |
| W2700-96 | 96 cores | 32 GB | 6.4 TB SSD 48 TB HDD |
| W2700-128 | 128 cores | 32 GB | 6.4 TB SSD 48 TB HDD |
| W2700-160 | 160 cores | 32 GB | 6.4 TB SSD 48 TB HDD |
| W2700-192 | 192 cores | 32 GB | 6.4 TB SSD 48 TB HDD |
| W2700-224 | 224 cores | 32 GB | 6.4 TB SSD 48 TB HDD |
| W2700-320 | 320 cores | 32 GB | 6.4 TB SSD 48 TB HDD |
| W2700-384 | 384 cores | 32 GB | 6.4 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
| Requirement | Notes |
| CPU | Minimum of 8 cores. |
| Memory | Minimum of 80 GB. |
| Partitions | 3 disks. |
| Red Hat YUM | Configured YUM repositories for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 6.6 and extra packages for Enterprise Linux. |
| RPM packages | Several packages are automatically installed from YUM repositories. |
| Inbound ports | Several are required for inbound traffic. |
| Ports for internal communication | Several are required for communication between components. |
| Compute nodes | No 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 version | vCenter version | ESXi version |
| x86 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 6.6 with the latest updates | vCenter 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 version | vCenter version | ESXi version |
| x86 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 6.6 with the latest updates | vCenter server V5.1U2a | ESXi 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 name | PID number | Charge unit description |
| PureApplication System W2500 | 5725-Q93 | Per appliance installation |
| PureApplication System W2700 | 5725-Q94 | Per appliance installation |
Ordering information for PureApplication Software is shown in Table 9.
Table 9 PureApplication Software
| Program name | PID number | Charge unit description |
| PureApplication Software | 5725-Q52 | Per 12-month software subscription |
Related information
For more information, see the following documents:
- IBM PureApplication System and IBM PureApplication Software product page
http://www.ibm.com/ibm/puresystems/us/en/pf_pureapplication.html
- IBM Offering Information page (announcement letters and sales manuals)
http://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/index.wss?request_locale=en
- IBM PureSystems® Centre:
http://www.ibm.com/ibm/puresystems/us/en/puresystemscentre.html
Special Notices
The material included in this document is in DRAFT form and is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind. IBM is not responsible for the accuracy or completeness of the material, and may update the document at any time. The final, published document may not include any, or all, of the material included herein. Client assumes all risks associated with Client's use of this document.