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OSA-Express2 concurrent LIC update – an availability
enhancement
The OSA-Express2 features have increased memory
in comparison to the OSA-Express features and are
designed to be able to facilitate concurrent application of
Licensed Internal Code (LIC) updates, allowing the appli-
cation of LIC updates without requiring a confi guration
off/on of the features. This can help minimize the disruption
to network traffi c during the update.
For example, applying a patch could have up to x minutes
of impact on the network traffi c for the affected adapters
prior to this enhancement.
OSA-Express2 concurrent LIC update is exclusive to the
z890 and z990 with the October 2004 level of Licensed
Internal Code and requires the OSA-Express2 features.
Layer 2 support – ideal for server consolidation
The OSA-Express2
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Ethernet features with the Layer 2
support in z/VM for Linux images can be protocol inde-
pendence and simplify the communication with different
platforms when using IPX, NetBIOS, SNA, IPv4, or IPv6
protocols. In combination with the OSA-Express2 Ethernet
features, Layer 2 can assist in reducing: the effort to set
up Linux images in a guest LAN environment, the number
of router guests providing connection between guest
LANs and OSA, and the CPU consumption of these router
guests.
With the Layer 2 interface, packet forwarding decisions
can be based upon Link Layer (Layer 2) information,
instead of Network Layer (Layer 3) information. Each oper-
ating system attached to the Layer 2 interface uses its own
Medium Access Control (MAC) address. Therefore traffi c
can be either IP (IPv4 or IPv6) or non-IP traffi c such as
IPX, NetBIOS, or SNA. Also, datagrams can be fi ltered by
VLAN identifi cation
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, and/or the Ethernet destination MAC
address. This fi ltering can help reduce both the amount of
inbound traffi c being processed by the operating system,
and z890 or z990 CPU requirements.
Another mechanism for reducing z890 or z990 CPU utiliza-
tion with the OSA-Express2 features and the Layer 2 sup-
port is the z/VM Virtual Switch (VSWITCH). The VSWITCH
can eliminate the requirement for router virtual machines.
With z/VM 5.1, VSWITCH exploits the Layer 2 support
within the z/VM Control Program. The z/VM Control Pro-
gram owns the connection to the OSA-Express2 feature
and manages the MAC addresses and VLAN connectivity
of the attached guests. Linux on zSeries can exploit the
Layer 2 support and the z/VM VSWITCH in z/VM 5.1.
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Layer 2 support, reducing CPU consumption for non-IP
workloads, is exclusive to z890 and z990, requires the
May 2004 level of Licensed Internal Code with the October
2004 maintenance levels, and is supported by z/VM and
Linux on zSeries. It is available on the OSA-Express2
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Eth-
ernet features supporting QDIO mode only.