IBM i Series Handbook

iSeries Architecture: Fundamental Strength of the iSeries 17
iSeries Architecture: Fundamental Strength of the iSeries
Hot-plugging in the iSeries
is made possible by power
control to individual card
slots, so that PCI IOPs or
IOAs can be added,
removed, or replaced
while the system remains
active. In most cases, IOA
configurations can be
changed while other IOAs
on the same IOP remain
operational. Hot-plug
implementation for the
iSeries with OS/400 V4R5
or later is illustrated in the
figure on the right.
Beginning in OS/400
V4R5, the interface for hot-plugging actions uses the Hardware Service Manager in the
System Service Tools, or a subset of Dedicated Service Tools (depending on which tool you
have started). In limited paging environment, Dedicated Service Tools communicates directly
with System Licensed Internal Code (SLIC).
Operating System OS/400
One of the single most dramatic points about the iSeries servers is that the operating system,
OS/400, is a single entity. This section describes the meaning of this concept.
Once you buy an iSeries server, you do not have to continue shopping for system software
components before it is ready to run your business. All of the software components for a
relational database, comprehensive security, communications with a broad range of diverse
systems, including Internet capabilities, and many more are already there in the operating
system. They are all fully integrated into OS/400. By “fully integrated”, we mean fully tested,
too. All components and prerequisites for running business applications in the 2000s work
together, and are fully tested together. OS/400 operates as a single entity.
A customary machine does not have this approach to its operating system design. A
customary operating system, which does the basic system housekeeping, needs a range of
software products added before the environment is ready to support modern business
applications. Examples of this are software for the relational database, support for various
communications environments, software for security, support for an interactive environment,
for multimedia, for availability, recoverability, and so on.
OS/400
User Interface
SST / DST
Hardware
Service
Manager
functions
iSeries V4R5
SLIC/ HW drivers
SYSTEM HW
P C I B U S
Standard
Hot-Plug Hardware
Interface
P O W E R C O N T R O L

IBM i Series Specifications

General

Operating System	IBM i
Form Factor	Rack, Tower
Storage	SSD and HDD options
Security	compliance
Virtualization	IBM PowerVM
CPU	POWER processors
Scalability	Scale-up