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 Nov 2008: IBM is extending a lot of marketing effort to promote their proprietary mainframe over industry standard solution.1 Given that IBM’s mainframe is proprietary to IBM it is clear why IBM would like to lock-in x86 customers but is consolidating Linux applications running on distributed x86 servers to an IBM mainframe really a good idea?
IBM will have you believe that you can reduce your TCO through massive consolidation, but proceeding down this path is wrought with risks including application failure and higher TCO.
Before you consider consolidating x86 servers to the IBM mainframe consider the following facts on why this may not be your best option:
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Fact 1: IBM admits risks porting Linux on x86 to the Mainframe.[2] |
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Migrating Linux from x86 to the IBM mainframe can be a large undertaking with additional risk introduced in to your applications. According to IBM these include:
- Differences in running Linux on 31-bit and 64-bit mainframe environments
- Differences in running Linux under VM or directly in LPAR
- Big-endian vs. Little-endian
- EBCDIC vs. ASCII
- Platform specific libraries and calls
- Compiling, linking and debugging tools
In the byte ordering the mainframe counts bits from left to right (Big Endian), but an application running on x86 counts the bits from right to left (Little Endian). IBM states, that "This incompatibility between platforms is particularly dangerous as it might cause programs to return wrong results rather than causing a compile-time error. This is a serious matter." 3
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Fact 2: A third party benchmark showed that an x86 server with a single processor delivered similar performance to a mainframe running Linux[4] |
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IBM’s IFL (Integrated Facility for Linux) is used to run dedicated Linux applications. In this independent benchmarking, a Xeon 2.8 GHz processor had similar performance for running Linux benchmarks as the 320 MIP IFL on the z890. Even adjusting for the higher MIPS on a z10 mainframe, that is still only equivalent to three Xeon 2.8 GHz processors.
Considering the cost of an IFL on a z10 EC is $125,000 each – that is quite a premium for similar performance.
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Fact 3: HP has the EAL4+ security rating for Linux[5] |
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You can achieve your security requirements with Linux solutions from HP. HP has been awarded EAL4+, the highest level of assurance for an unmodified, commercial operating system, for Labeled Security Protection Profile (LSPP), Controlled Access Protection Profile, and Role-Based Access Control Protection Profile for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 on HP Integrity, ProLiant and BladeSystem platforms as well as select workstations and desktops.
HP worked with Red Hat and the Linux community to develop the features required for the EAL4+ certification. This included contributions to help customers integrate a Linux system into a mixed network with other trusted operating systems.
As part of HP's Secure Advantage product portfolio, this certified product offering helps companies protect data and resources across their entire IT infrastructure to achieve better business outcomes.
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Fact 4: A technical blog, analyzing IBM’s claim of consolidating 1500 x86 servers on a single mainframe wrote that it requires a, “…profound belief in magic.”[6] |
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Don’t just hear it from us; see what others have to say about IBM’s mainframe claims.
This blog questions the IBM claim that the mainframe can consolidate 1500 x86 servers and is worth a read for anyone considering Linux on the mainframe.
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Fact 5: Comparable HP Servers use Less Power, Smaller Footprint, at a fraction of the cost. |
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Comparison of the IBM mainframe to distributed x86 servers is an apples to oranges comparison. When compared to a more comparable centralized server such as an HP Integrity we see a different picture
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Z10 BC 2,760 MIPS [7] |
HP rx8640 8c [8] |
Cores
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5
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8
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List price (estimated)
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$3.6M
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$300K
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Power (kwatt)
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6.25
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3.9
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Heat (kBTU/h)
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21.27
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13.3
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Footprint (sq meters)
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1.42
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.34
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Fact 6: An independent industry analyst validated the cost, space and power savings of moving an SAP environment from an IBM system z9 model 720 to two rx8640 and two rx7640 Integrity servers running Microsoft Windows.[9] |
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