This document discusses the benefits of using Linux on IBM Power systems servers. It claims that Power systems can reduce costs through higher performance, consolidation, and open source software like KVM and OpenStack. It seeks to dispel myths that Power systems are expensive, that virtualization is different, and that the architecture is closed. It provides examples of using Power systems with Linux to gain performance advantages for applications like SAP and databases through higher core counts, memory and bandwidth compared to x86 servers.

1. Why Linux on POWER is a game
changer ?
Thibaud Besson – IBM France
IBM Power Systems Specialist

2. My challenges for today
● Cover Linux on Power in 15 minuts
● Be relevant to every one of you at
least once in the presentation
● Inspire discovery of Linux on Power

3. Don't be too busy to
Don't be too busy to
innovate
innovate

4. Imagine : What if you could...
● Reduce server sprawl ?
● Gain competitive advantage with faster insights ?
● Host more users ?
● Reduce sofware costs ?
● Gain market shares ?

5. Achieve your business goals with IBM POWER8
2x core performance vs x86: Reduce HW/SW costs
1 TB of memory per socket: Consolidate massively
4x Memory Bandwidth vs x86: Accelerate access to data
8 threads / core: Increase throughput & users
Transactionnal Memory: Improve Java performance
> 70 % utilisation rates: Fully exploit your hardware
Open Source KVM, OpenStack: Capitalize on your skills

6. Up to TWICE the performance per core across key
workloads
compared to the top 5 Intel vendors
Java
SPECjEnterprise2010
(EjOPS)
2x Performance
POWER S824
2s/24c/192t
IBM POWER8
Oracle Sun X4-2
2s/24c/48t
Intel Xeon Ivy Bridge
ERP – SAP 2-Tier
(Users)
1.9x Performance
SPECint_rate2006
1.8x Performance
AIX LoP (RHEL)
POWER S824
2s/24c/192t
IBM POWER8
Dell PowerEdge
T620
2s/36c/72t
Intel Xeon Haswell
SPECfp_rate2006
2.1x Performance
AIX LoP (RHEL)
1) Results are based on best published results on Xeon E5-2697 v2 and E5-2699 v3 from the top 5 Intel system vendors (HP, Oracle, IBM, Dell, Fujitsu).
2) Dell PowerEdge R730, on the two-tier SAP SD standard application benchmark running SAP enhancement package 5 for the SAP ERP 6.0 application; 2 processors/36 cores/72 threads, Intel Xeon
Processor 2699v3; 2.30 GHz, 256 GB memory; 16,500 SD benchmark users, running RHEL 7 and SAP ASE 16; Certification # 2014033. Source: http://www.sap.com/benchmark.
3) IBM Power System S824 on the two-tier SAP SD standard application benchmark running SAP enhancement package 5 for the SAP ERP 6.0 application; 4 processors / 24 cores / 96 threads,
POWER8; 3.52GHz, 512 GB memory, 21,212 SD benchmark users, running AIX® 7.1 and DB2® 10.5, Certification # 2014016. Source: http://www.sap.com/benchmark All results valid as of
October 3, 2014
4) SPECjEnterprise2010 results are valid as of 9//8/2014. For more information go to http://www.specbench.org/jEnterprise2010/results/
5) SPECcpu2006 results are submitted as of 9/8/2014. For more information go to http://www.specbench.org/cpu2006/results/
POWER S824
2s/24c/192t
IBM POWER8
Nearly Equal
Performance with both
AIX and LINUX on
POWER8
Dell PowerEdge
T620
2s/36c/72t
Intel Xeon Haswell
IBM POWER S824
AIX / DB2
4p/24c/192t
Dell PowerEdge
R730
E5-2699 v3
RHEL / SAP ASE
2p/36c/72t
Nearly Equal
Performance with both
AIX and LINUX on
POWER8

7. POWER8 Scale-Out offering
S812L S822L S822 S814 S824L S824
1 SOCKET
10 or 12 cores
Max 512 GB
BE BE BE
BE BE
RHEL7.0 & 6.5 BE
7.1
6.1
2 SOCKETS
20 or 24 cores
Max 1 To
2 SOCKETS
6,12, 10 or 20 cores
Max 1 To
1 SOCKET
4, 6 or 8 cores
Max 512 Go
2 SOCKETS
20 or 24 cores
Max 1 To
2 SOCKETS
De 6 à 24 cores
Max 2 To
7.2
7.1
SLES 11 SP3 BE
SLES 12 LE
14.10 LE
BE/LE
BE/LE

8. Power Systems - POWER8 Enterprise Offerings
RHEL7.0 & 6.5 BE
1 SOCKET
10 ou 12 coeurs
Max 512 Go
E870
S812L 4 SOCKETS per node S814
4 or 4,2 GHz
1 or 2 nodes
From 32 to 80 cores installed
From 8 to 80 cores activated
Max 4 TB of memory
Maximum 800 VMs
SLES 11 SP3 BE
E880
RAS – Reliability, Availability, Serviceability
● Fully redundant
● Advanced RAS features
● Active Memory Mirroring
4 SOCKETS per node
4,35 GHz
1 or 2 nodes in 2014
1 or 4 nodes in 2015
From 32 to 192 cores installed
From 8 to 192 cores activated
Max 16 TB of memory
Maximum 1000 VMs
Advanced features
● Dedicated cores for Linux « IFL », 70 PVU
● Capacity on Demand cores and memory
● Capacity upgrade on demand cores and memory
● Power Enterprise Processor Pools

9. CAPI – an open invitation to innovate on POWER
POWER8 Processor
PPC
Core
Memory (Coherent)
CAPP
PCIe
IBM
Supplied PSL
FPGA
Coherent Attached Processor Proxy (CAPP) in processor
Coherency protocol tunneled over standard PCIe
Enables attached device to be a peer to the processor
Enables device to use same effective address as application running in processor
Eliminates the cumbersome I/O Device Driver requirements
Smart, simplified attach for accelerators: flash memory, networking & FPGAs
Improves performance, reduces latency, and provides more workload for your
dollar
Leveraged by emerging applications built on Linux
CAPI Development Platform enables
innovators to create entirely new classes
of IT solutions
9 © 2014 IBM Corp o ration

10. Too good to be true ?
Myths busting on IBM POWER servers

11. Myth n°1 : are IBM POWER servers expensive ?
● Ask the real question: how much do I pay to run my
workloads ?
● Linux-only IBM POWER servers are at the same price as Intel same
configuration
● Cores are 2x more powerful
● Hypervisor is very efficient
● You can do more with less : more VM, more users, more batches, etc.
● Open Source & Community-supported distributions / applications
available

12. Myth n°2 : virtualization is different on POWER
● KVM runs on POWER
● POWER servers are fully OpenStack compliant
● Ubuntu Juju / Chef / etc. runs on Linux on Power
● MSPs are introducing POWER in their cloud
MAAS

13. Myth n°3 – POWER Architecture is proprietary and
closed
POWER8 chip
POWER8 core
August 2013

14. +60 members and counting !
Implementation / HPC / Research
I/O / Storage / Acceleration
Boards / Systems
Chip / SOC
System / Software / Services

15. Solve your cost and response time issues with
the IBM Data Engine for NoSQL - Power Solution Edition
The solution :
• POWER8 server hosting Redis
•Connection to FlashSystem via CAPI
24:1 server
consolidation
WWW
Up to 3x
lower TCA
The issue:
• Scale-out x86 servers with limited
memory size
• Costly and complex Infrastructure
Load Balancer
500GB Cache
Node
WWW
500GB Cache
500NGoBde Cache
500NGoBde Cache
1U x8N6o sdeerver (24)
512 GB memory
24
U
Power S822L/S812L
Ubuntu 14.10
FlashSystem 840
2TB to 40 TB Flash
4U

16. How to get your hands
on this amazing technology ?
● Try it if you already have one POWER system
● Linux on Power VMs available in public clouds
● IBM PartnerWorld web site offers access
to VMs
● IBM / Business Partners can lend servers
for test purposes
● Linux Technology Centers : PSSC Montpellier
for Proof of Concept / benchmarking

17. Open Innovation to Put Data to Work
17