How fast is this processor?

[dman7777777]

I am thining about buying a used AIX system to learn off of. It's processor is a IBM RS/6000 RS6000 7043-170 "44P" 333MHz". My question is, how outdated is this? how slow is this? Will it be so slow it will be hard to operate and learn off of?

 

[mrn]

Depends on how much you've got to spend, I'd go for something like a 550. I got mine from ebay for around £800. Another option is to get a free shell from one of these

http://www.red-pill.eu/freeunix.shtml

I think polar does a AIX account.

Mike

"Whenever I dwell for any length of time on my own shortcomings, they gradually begin to seem mild, harmless, rather engaging little things, not at all like the staring defects in other people's characters."

 

[p5wizard]

It is kind of slow - newest p6 processors run at 4.7 GHz so there you go. But it is a 64 bit processor so you CAN install AIX53 (not sure if AIX6 is a GO or NOGO, but you can't download it anymore from open beta program anyway).

Browse around on ebay to see if you can get something faster or newer. If you have the funds for it you could even try your hand at virtualizing (power 5), but of course you'd need a server which is licensed for it (APV: advanced power virtualization) and you need either an HMC or IVM partition on it and you'd need to get a hold of newer software media and/or licenses...


HTH,

p5wizard

 

[khalidaaa]

I recommend you go for Power 5 machines better! There you will be able to use more of the AIX5.3 features with virtualization! but ofcourse this will cost you more money!

If what you are trying to test is aix commands, then try installing a linux os! its a good place to start!

Regards,
Khalid

 

[dman7777777]

I couldn't find an AIX account on the free shell site...but it was a good idea!

Ok, here's where I'm at...I can only afford to spend at the most $300.00. Could I find something more powerfull for that much money than the RS6000/333mhz?

I need an AIX server because I want to learn it inside and out and get hands on experience. Would the 333mhz be so slow that it would be buggy and hamper my learning experience?

And what is the virtualization that comes with the Power5 processors?

 

[khalidaaa]

Depends on the RAM installed and the testing that you will carry on it! Like i know for example if you install oracle 12i application server, you would require min of 3GB of RAM! So it depends.

If you want to learn about virtualization, have a look at this link:

http://www-941.ibm.com/collaboration/wiki/display/WikiPtype/AIX+5L+and+Virtualization+Links

(mainly it is the capability of creating logical partitions on Power 5 hardware by slicing memory and CPU and possible virtualizing disks and ethernet. You can move hardware using dynamic LPAR operation on the fly with and moving CPU and memory on the fly without rebooting the partition (server))

I'm not sure how much would it cost to buy for examle p5 520 (smallest in set) so it is better to contact an IBM salesperson for that! then you can take his price and compare it in ebay and get the cheapest

Regards,
Khalid

 

[dman7777777]

This system comes with 512MB of ram.... Would this be enough to learn off of?

 

[khalidaaa]

If what you want to learn is just running commmands and playing around with LVM. Then this is more than enough!

Regards,
Khalid

 

[dman7777777]

Is it necessary...or would you recommend...spending $300.00 on a server like this just to learn the LVM and the commands?

 

[khalidaaa]

I would suggest installing linux first if all what you want is commands and LVM!

I've never used linux but i know alot of people prefer to use linux for unix command practice!!

Regards,
Khalid

 

[mrn]

Had another look at the free shell site and these guys do an AIX shell

http://www.polarhome.com/

costs 20 of what ever your local currency is but a minimum of $2. Take another look.

Mike

"Whenever I dwell for any length of time on my own shortcomings, they gradually begin to seem mild, harmless, rather engaging little things, not at all like the staring defects in other people's characters."

 

[dman7777777]

Wow!...I guessed I missed that before. On

http://www.polarhome.com,

can I also write scripts to the shell? And can I use smitty to make changes and learn the options?

 

[p5wizard]

You can run smit as any user, so I'll bet also over at polarhome, but I doubt you would be able to really run a lot of smit-generated command strings to completion (need root access).

Also some smit dialogs rely on info gathered by other commands, which may or may not run as a mere mortal user.


HTH,

p5wizard

 

[jpor2003]

I've got one of these machines running AIX5.3. With 1.2GB RAM and a couple of SCSI disks.
To answer a few questions:

- It's slow if being used with an ASCII terminal/ telnet connectivity

- If using X-windows then this is where it can be a bit painful

- It will take AIX 5.3 but only up to TL4. Anything after that and it will not support it. For example I went up to TL5-SP6 and the O/S developed faults. X-windows would not start etc...

- It will not support AIX6.1. AIX 6.1 will only work on P4,5 and the new P6 stuff.

Apart from that, I have found it useful to have a small workstation at home, only for the fact of learning how to install the O/S, perform upgrades and generally learning my way around IBM software and Hardware.

 

[p5wizard]

jpor2003: With recent microcode, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to go beyond AIX53TL4. But I have no experience with AIX53 on that type of machine, so you can ignore this comment if you know better than me. ;-)

HTH,

p5wizard

 

[jpor2003]

Hi P5wizard,

I have the latest and greatest mirocode for this workstation.
I believe these machines are now out of IBM hardware support.
And a colleague of mine also has a Power 3 workstation (Not same model) who also confirmed that he too can onlt go up-to TL4. Apparrently alot of the TL changes now reflect around higher server types.