Physical Ports And System Integration - IBM Power 570 Technical Overview And Introduction

Draft Document for Review May 28, 2009 1:59 pm
Virtual Ethernet resources without the Virtual I/O Server
Designed to operate at media speeds
The IVE is a physical Ethernet adapter that is connected directly to the GX+ bus instead of
being connected to a PCIe or PCI-X bus, either as an optional or integrated PCI adapter. This
provides IVE high throughput, and low latency. IVE also includes special hardware features to
provide logical Ethernet adapters that can communicate to logical partitions (LPAR) reducing
the use of POWER Hypervisor™ (PHYP).
IVE design provides a direct connection for multiple LPARs to share its resources. This allows
LPARs to access external networks through the IVE without having to go through an Ethernet
bridge on another logical partition, such as a Virtual I/O Server. Therefore, this eliminates the
need to move packets (using virtual Ethernet) between partitions and then through a shared
Ethernet adapter (SEA) to an Ethernet port. LPARs can share IVE ports with improved
performance.
Hosting
Partition
Packet
Forwarder
Network Adapters
Figure 2-10 Integrated Virtual Ethernet compared to Virtual I/O Server Shared Ethernet Adapter
IVE supports 2 or 4 Ethernet ports running at 1 Gbps and 2 ports running at 10 Gbps
depending on the IVE feature ordered. In the case of a 570 server, clients that are using
1 Gbps connection bandwidth in their IT infrastructure could move up to 10 Gbps
infrastructure by adding a new 570 enclosure with the Integrated 2-ports 10 Gbps virtual
Ethernet.
After any IBM System p initial order, you must use the MES
the system configuration.
For more information on IVE features read Integrated Virtual Ethernet Technical Overview
and Introduction, REDP-4340.

2.7.1 Physical ports and system integration

The following sections discuss the physical ports and the features available at the time of
writing on a 570.
Each 570 enclosure can have unique Integrated Virtual Ethernet adapters, so a fully
configured 570 server can be comprised of several different IVE feature codes.
1
MES stands for Miscellaneous Equipment Shipment. It is the IBM process for IBM system upgrade
Using Virtual I/O Server Shared Ethernet Adapter
AIX AIX
Virtual Virtual
Ethernet Ethernet
Driver Driver
Virtual Ethernet Switch
Hypervisor
4405ch02 Architecture and technical overview.fm
Linux
Virtual
Ethernet
Ethernet
Driver
LAN, WAN, ...
1
Chapter 2. Architecture and technical overview
Using Integrated Virtual Ethernet
AIX AIX Linux
Virtual Virtual Virtual
Ethernet Ethernet
Driver Driver Driver
Integrated Virtual Ethernet
process to make any changes in
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