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IBM United States Hardware Announcement
110-009
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based server, this allows that capacity to be first obtained from, for example, a test
partition instead of a financial accounting system.
POWER7 cache availability
The POWER® processor-based line of servers continues to be at the forefront of
cache availability enhancements. The L3 cache is now integrated on the POWER7
processor. The POWER7 processor provides both L2 and L3 cache line delete
functions.
Special uncorrectable error handling
Uncorrectable errors are difficult for any system to tolerate, although there are
some situations where they can be shown to be irrelevant. For example, if an
uncorrectable error occurs in cached data that will never again be read or where
a fresh write of the data is imminent, it would be unwise to "protect" the user by
forcing an immediate reboot.
Special Uncorrectable Error (SUE) handling was an IBM innovation introduced for
POWER5
TM
processors, where an uncorrectable error in memory or cache does not
immediately cause the system to terminate. Rather, the system tags the data and
determines whether it will ever be used again. If the error is irrelevant, it will not
force a checkstop.
PCI extended error handling
PCI extended error handling (EEH) enabled adapters respond to a special data
packet generated from the affected PCI slot hardware by calling system firmware,
which will examine the affected bus, allow the device driver to reset it, and continue
without a system reboot. For Linux, EEH support extends to the majority of
frequently used devices, although some third-party PCI devices may not provide
native EEH support.
Predictive failure and dynamic component deallocation
Servers with POWER processors have long had the capability to perform predictive
failure analysis on certain critical components such as processors and memory.
When these components exhibit symptoms that would indicate a failure is imminent,
the system can dynamically deallocate and call home about the failing part before
the error is propagated system-wide. In many cases, the system will first attempt to
reallocate resources in such a way that will avoid unplanned outages. In the event
that insufficient resources exist to maintain full system availability, these servers will
attempt to maintain partition availability by user-defined priority.
Uncorrectable error recovery
When the auto-restart option is enabled, the system can automatically restart
following an unrecoverable software error, hardware failure, or environmentally
induced (ac power) failure.
Serviceability
The purpose of serviceability is to repair the system while attempting to minimize
or eliminate service cost (within budget objectives), while maintaining high
customer satisfaction. Serviceability includes system installation, MES (system
upgrades/downgrades), and system maintenance/repair. Depending upon the
system and warranty contract, service may be performed by the customer, an IBM
representative, or an authorized warranty service provider.
The serviceability features delivered in this system provide a highly efficient service
environment by incorporating the following attributes
• Design for Customer Set Up (CSU), Customer Installed Features (CIF), and
Customer Replaceable Units (CRU)
• Error detection and Fault Isolation (ED/FI)