POWER7 Performance Best Practices

A brief checklist
This document is intended as a short summary for POWER7 support and customers on key items that should be looked at when planning a migration to the
POWER7 platform. For a more in-depth and complete set of recommendations, please refer to the documents links on the second page.
Description Instructions Description Instructions
Ensure Fix Central provides latest updates, which address optimal placement for Databases on  AIX 6.1 TL7 and above only: Enable TB segment aliasing
firmware is partitions. The recommended F/W levels per FLRT as of this writing : AIX NOTE1: AIX 7.1 is enabled by default
current 780 F/W for 795, 780+ (MHD) / 770+ (MMD) models NOTE2: Must have installed IV23851(6.1 TL7) / IV23859(7.1 TL1) or
770 F/W for 780 (MHC) / 770 (MMC) models related APAR
730 F/W for 780 (MHB) / 770 (MMB) models  Some database workloads can benefit from disabling hardware prefetching.
Recommend the customer evaluates their workload under both settings to
NOTE: Ensure required HMC level is installed when updating F/W. Consult the evaluate benefits.
FLRT tool specific level recommendations. To disable: dscrctl –n –s 1 To enable: dscrct -n -s 0
Ensure OS AIX: AIX 6.1 TL9 SP3 / AIX 7.1 TL3 SP3 VIOS  Right-size the VIOS as well as VIO client LPARs, especially with regards to
level is current IBM i: IBM i 7.1 TR7 configuration RAM. Use the new VIOS CLI part to evaluate sizing; best to run it under
VIOS: VIOS 2.2.3.2 ( FP27 SP02 ) load, and/or after any VIOS migration.
NOTE: Older VIOS levels will require VIOS Advisor.
NOTE: Ensure required HMC and F/W levels are updated first. The above  Set the uncapped shared weight capacity of the VIOS profiles higher than
levels are FLRT recommendations at the time of this writing. any of the LPARs being serviced by the VIOS.
Partition POWER7 795/770+/780+  For vFC, ensure no more than 64 client connections total per physical fcs
Placement Use DPO to optimize placement (F/W 760 or above required ) adapter on the VIOS. Also, ensure no more than 64 storage ports configured
Ensure LPARs are installed at DPO-aware levels: per vFC adapter on the client. These are physical limits; practical limits may
 AIX 6.1 TL8 SP3 / AIX 7.1 TL2 SP3 differ based on workload.
 IBM i 7.1 TR7 (for best performance)  For vSCSI disks, ensure the queue_depth for virtual disks is less than or
 VIOS: VIOS 2.2.2.3 (FP26 SP02) equal the queue_depth of the physical disk in the VIOS.
NOTE: Current versions of Linux on POWER7 are not DPO-aware  For vSCSI adapters, ensure you configure VTDs based on the following
formula:
POWER7 780 (MHB)/770 (MMB) Max VTDs = ( 512 -2 ) / (virtual_q_depth + 3)
F/W 780 (available) is required for DPO. If this update is not desired, see the  Only enable the largesend attribute on the SEA if all LPARs serviced by the
“POWER7 Virtualization Best Practices” document for manual placement. VIOS are AIX partitions.
Use ASO on To enable on AIX : asoo –po aso_active=1 NOTE: For this to work correctly, large_send must be enabled on
large partitions the physical adapter backing the SEA.
Sizing a Use Workload Estimator (WLE) rather than benchmark metrics for sizing LPARs Virtual  Increase the virtual Ethernet device driver buffers if the partition is dropping
system for CPU consumption as it provides better sizing results. Ethernet packets on the virtual interface even when running with entitled CPU
adapters on capacity:
Right-size  Assign the entitlement based on the average CPU utilization and the number AIX e.g. chdev -l ent# -a max_buf_xxx=NNNN
your LPARs of virtual processors based on peak CPU usage. NOTE: For desired buffer size adjustments, refer to “AIX on Power -
 Avoid running over-entitled for long periods of time to prevent a performance Performance FAQ”.
impact.  Set largesend on virtual Ethernet adapter to improve performance:
IBMi Ensure Technology Updates are current (see link reference) chdev –l en# -a mtu_bypass=on ( persistent across reboot )
AIX CPU POWER7 is optimized for best raw throughput. Customers wanting to reduce or
utilization CPU usage from AIX partitions can weigh the benefits of raw throughput Ifconfig en# largesend ( non-persistent )
performance vs. CPU usage by evaluating their workload using the Java on AIX  Use of medium size pages (64k pages) increases application performance
vpm_throughput_mode schedo tunable.  For applications that do not scale well with the number of CPUs might benefit
Prereq: AIX 6.1 TL8 / AIX 7.1 TL2 if a lower number of CPUs are available. Reducing the SMT mode from
AIX/VIOS  Tunables should not be migrated across AIX levels SMT4 to SMT2 might benefit the application.
Tunables  Tuning a VIOS is not recommended unless directed by VIOS/AIX support.  IBM Java applications (e.g. WebSphere) can benefit from disabling hardware
 Restricted tunables must not be modified unless directed by AIX prefetching. Recommend the customer evaluates their workload under both
development. settings before deciding to change it.
 All tunables (VMM, network, etc.) are configured for best performance. If To disable: dscrctl –n –s 1 To enable: dscrctl -n -s 0
adjustments are desired, review the “AIX on Power – Performance FAQ”

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Best Practices documents and References: Advisor Tools:
 Workload Estimator
POWER  PowerVM Virtualization Performance LPAR Advisor
 POWER7 Virtualization Best Practices  VIOS Advisor
 Active Memory Expansion Performance  Java Performance Advisor
IBM i
 Performance Management on IBM i Redbooks:
 IBM i on Power – Performance FAQ  PowerVM Best Practices
 Under the Hood: POWER7 Logical Partitions  PowerVM Managing and Monitoring
 PowerVM Virtualization Introduction and Configuration
AIX and VIOS
 AIX on Power – Performance FAQ
 PowerVM Documentation – Planning Software Updates:
 IBM i Technology Updates
Java  Fix Central ( for Firmware, and OS updates )
 Java Performance on POWER7  Fix Level Recommendation Tool (FLRT)

Databases
 AIX and Oracle Database Performance Considerations (ICC)
 PowerVM Active Memory Expansion and Oracle Database

The latest copy of this document can be found under the “Service and Support Best Practices” website:
http://www.ibm.com/systems/support/p/bestpractices.html
For suggestions/changes to this document, please contact abraham1@us.ibm.com

02/12/15