[Info-vax] Multiple OpenVMS instances on HPVM?

[Kerry Main]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Info-vax [mailto:info-vax-bounces at rbnsn.com] On Behalf
> Of Camiel Vanderhoeven via Info-vax
> Sent: 06-Oct-16 9:23 AM
> To: info-vax at rbnsn.com
> Cc: Camiel Vanderhoeven <iamcamiel at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Info-vax] Multiple OpenVMS instances on HPVM?
> 
> Op zaterdag 1 oktober 2016 22:20:06 UTC+2 schreef Kerry Main:
> > If looking for something that costs a bit more initially, but
is
> > likely more strategic if you have Windows/Linux in your
> environment as
> > well:
> >
> > Invest in HPE C3000/C7000 blade enclosures infrastructure as
> they can
> > host both IA64 and X86-64 blades in the same enclosure.
> > Hence, you can run Windows/Linux on some blades, OpenVMS
> on the
> > IA64 blades - all in the same blade infrastructure. In a few
years,
> > you could have OpenVMS, Windows and Linux all running on
> the same
> > X86-64 blade servers.
> >
> > Ideally, all the legacy Windows/Linux servers would be
> converted to
> > OpenVMS V9+ on X86-64 blades.
> 
> I'm not so sure I would recommend that; the C3000/C7000 blade
> form factor is getting near EOL (Google "HPE Synergy" if you
want
> to have a look at its successor), and mixing x86 and Itanium
blades
> is generally discouraged because getting the firmware versions
to
> match properly in such a mixed environment can be a real
> nightmare. Given that OpenVMS on x86 won't be ready before
> 2019 (2018 for ISVs and early adopters), I wouldn't place my
bets
> on running it on current C7000 generation blades.
> 
> Camiel.
>

Camiel - good point on managing the blade FW versions. That
definitely can be a challenge.

In retrospect, given how little the blade/rack server HW can be
obtained for off the grey market these days (basically same cost
as a new laptop), the choice of blades vs. rack servers is
dependent more on whether you already have a blade C7000
infrastructure (familiar already with how to maintain FW
versions) and/or personal preferences of rack vs blades.

On the C7000 support aspect, there are Customers that literally
have hundreds+ of HPE blades running in C7000's, so I do not
expect the support for C7000's to go away anytime in the next 5
years. The HPE C7000 based blades are very popular for VMware
farms.

Note - While I am personally not a big fan of Gartner, many
Customers do make purchasing decisions based on Gartner, so here
is a link to their latest (May 2016) "Magic Quadrant for Modular
Servers" that shows HPE way out front.

http://gtnr.it/2dLrcTU 

I definitely do like the new Synergy X86-64 server designs -
especially some of the new features like HW based, platform
neutral OS provisioning (HPE Image Streamer). 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj61EV977s8 


Regards,

Kerry Main
Kerry dot main at starkgaming dot com