Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2

The x3950 M2 server is the System x™ flagship server and implements the fourth generation of the IBM® X-Architecture®. It delivers innovation with enhanced reliability and availability features to enable optimal performance for databases, enterprise applications, and virtualized environments.

The x3950 M2 features make the server ideal for handling complex, business-critical On Demand Business applications such as database serving, business intelligence, transaction processing, enterprise resource planning, collaboration applications, and server consolidation.

Up to four x3950 M2 servers can be connected to form a single-system image comprising of up to 16 six-core processors, up to 1 TB of high speed memory and support for up to 28 PCI Express adapters. The capacity gives you the ultimate in processing power, ideally suited for very large relational databases.

This IBM Redbooks® publication describes the technical details of the x3950 M2 scalable server as well as the x3850 M2 server. We explain the configuration options, how 2-node, 3-node and 4-node complexes are cabled and implemented, how to install key server operating systems, and the management tools available to systems administrators.

Chapter 1. Technical overview
Chapter 2. Product positioning
Chapter 3. Hardware configuration
Chapter 4. Multinode hardware configurations
Chapter 5. Installation
Chapter 6. Management

Related product families

Product families related to this document are the following:

• 4-Socket Rack Servers
• Mission Critical Servers