Lenovo Distributed Storage Solution for IBM Spectrum Scale (DSS-G) on ThinkSystem V1

Lenovo Distributed Storage Solution for IBM Spectrum Scale (DSS-G) is a software-defined storage (SDS) solution for dense scalable file and object storage suitable for high-performance and data-intensive environments. Enterprises or organizations running HPC, Big Data or cloud workloads will benefit the most from the DSS-G implementation.

DSS-G combines the performance of Lenovo ThinkSystem servers, Lenovo storage enclosures, and industry leading IBM Spectrum Scale software to offer a high performance, scalable building block approach to modern storage needs.

Lenovo DSS-G is delivered as a pre-integrated, easy-to-deploy rack-level engineered solution that dramatically reduces time-to-value and total cost of ownership (TCO).

There are two DSS-G solution types described in this product guide. The traditional storage enclosure based solution is built on Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 servers, Lenovo Storage D1224 Drive Enclosures with high-performance 2.5-inch SAS solid-state drives, and Lenovo Storage D3284 High-Density Drive Enclosures with large capacity 3.5-inch NL SAS HDDs. The NVMe based solution is built on Lenovo ThinkSystem SR630 servers with internal NVMe solid state drives.

Combined with IBM Spectrum Scale (formerly IBM General Parallel File System, GPFS), an industry leader in high-performance clustered file system, you have an ideal solution for the ultimate file and object storage solution for HPC and Big Data.

Lenovo DSS-G can be licensed by the number of drives installed or alternatively the usable capacity, rather than the number of processor cores or the number of connected clients, so there are no added licenses for other servers or clients that mount and work with the file system.

Lenovo DSS-G with storage enclosures supports online enclosure expansion. This enables a customer to grow the number of enclosures in an existing DSS-G building block without bringing down the file system, maximizing flexibility to scale storage capacity based on need.

With available Lenovo Premier Support Services, Lenovo provides a single point of entry for supporting the entire DSS-G solution, including the IBM Spectrum Scale software, for quicker problem determination and minimized downtime.

IBM Spectrum Scale

IBM Spectrum Scale, based on IBM General Parallel File System (GPFS) technology, is a high-performance and highly scalable parallel file system with an extensive suite of enterprise class data management features.

Lenovo is a strategic alliance partner of IBM, and combines IBM Spectrum Scale software with Lenovo servers, storage and networking components for integrated and customized solutions.

IBM Spectrum Scale offers access to a single file system or set of filesystems from multiple nodes that can be SAN-attached, network attached or a mix of both or even in a shared nothing cluster configuration. It provides a global namespace, shared file system access among IBM Spectrum Scale clusters, simultaneous file access from multiple nodes, high recoverability and data availability through replication, the ability to make changes while a file system is mounted, and simplified administration even in large environments.

Lenovo DSS-G supports three editions of IBM Spectrum Scale:

• IBM Spectrum Scale Data Access Edition (DAE) provides base GPFS functions including Information Lifecycle Management (ILM), Active File Management (AFM), and Clustered NFS (CNFS) in Linux environments.

• IBM Spectrum Scale Data Management Edition (DME) provides all the features of the Data Access Edition plus advanced features like asynchronous multi-site disaster recovery, native encryption support, Transparent Cloud Tiering.

• IBM Spectrum Scale Erasure Code Edition (ECE) provides all the features of the Data Management Edition plus support for storage rich servers with network-dispersed erasure coding, distributing data and metadata across the internal disks of a cluster of servers.

Information about licensing is in the IBM Spectrum Scale licensing section.

For more information about IBM Spectrum Scale, see the following web pages:

• IBM Spectrum Scale product page:
  https://www.ibm.com/products/scale-out-file-and-object-storage
• IBM Spectrum Scale FAQ:
  https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/STXKQY/gpfsclustersfaq.html

Spectrum Scale RAID on Data Access and Data Management Edition

IBM Spectrum Scale RAID integrates the functionality of an advanced storage controller into the GPFS NSD server. Unlike an external storage controller, where configuration, LUN definition, and maintenance are beyond the control of IBM Spectrum Scale, IBM Spectrum Scale RAID itself takes on the role of controlling, managing, and maintaining physical disks - hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs).

Sophisticated data placement and error correction algorithms deliver high levels of storage reliability, availability, serviceability, and performance. IBM Spectrum Scale RAID provides a variation of the GPFS network shared disk (NSD) called a virtual disk, or vdisk. Standard NSD clients transparently access the vdisk NSDs of a file system using the conventional NSD protocol.

The features of IBM Spectrum Scale RAID include:

• Software RAID

  IBM Spectrum Scale RAID, which runs on standard Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) disks in a dual-ported JBOD array, does not require external RAID storage controllers or other custom hardware RAID acceleration.

• Declustering

  IBM Spectrum Scale RAID distributes client data, redundancy information, and spare space uniformly across all disks of a JBOD. This approach reduces the rebuild (disk failure recovery process) overhead and improves application performance compared to conventional RAID.

• Pdisk-group fault tolerance

  In addition to declustering data across disks, IBM Spectrum Scale RAID can place data and parity information to protect against groups of disks that, based on characteristics of a disk enclosure and system, could possibly fail together due to a common fault. The data placement algorithm ensures that even if all members of a disk group fail, the error correction codes will still be capable of recovering erased data.

• Checksum

  An end-to-end data integrity check, using checksums and version numbers, is maintained between the disk surface and NSD clients. The checksum algorithm uses version numbers to detect silent data corruption and lost disk writes.

• Data redundancy

  IBM Spectrum Scale RAID supports highly reliable 2-fault-tolerant and 3-fault-tolerant Reed-Solomon-based parity codes and 3-way and 4-way replication.

• Large cache

  A large cache improves read and write performance, particularly for small I/O operations.

• Arbitrarily-sized disk arrays

  The number of disks is not restricted to a multiple of the RAID redundancy code width, which allows flexibility in the number of disks in the RAID array.

• Multiple redundancy schemes

  One disk array can support vdisks with different redundancy schemes, for example Reed-Solomon and replication codes.

• Disk hospital

  A disk hospital asynchronously diagnoses faulty disks and paths, and requests replacement of disks by using past health records.

• Automatic recovery

  Seamlessly and automatically recovers from primary server failure.

• Disk scrubbing

  A disk scrubber automatically detects and repairs latent sector errors in the background.

• Familiar interface

  Standard IBM Spectrum Scale command syntax is used for all configuration commands, including maintaining and replacing failed disks.

• Flexible hardware configuration

  Support of JBOD enclosures with multiple disks physically mounted together on removable carriers.

• Journaling

  For improved performance and recovery after a node failure, internal configuration and small-write data are journaled to solid-state disks (SSDs) in the JBOD or to non-volatile random-access memory (NVRAM) that is internal to the IBM Spectrum Scale RAID servers.

For more information about IBM Spectrum Scale RAID see the following documents:

• IBM Spectrum Scale RAID: Administration
• Lenovo DSS-G Declustered RAID Technology and Rebuild Performance

Spectrum Scale Erasure Code Edition

Spectrum Scale Erasure Code Edition brings the IBM Spectrum Scale RAID functionality to the next level, supporting the creation of scale-out network-dispersed Spectrum Scale clusters on storage rich servers. You get the same benefits of IBM Spectrum Scale and IBM Spectrum Scale RAID without the need for storage enclosures:

• Reed-Solomon highly fault tolerant declustered RAID, protecting against drive and node failures.
• Disk Hospital to identify abnormal behavior and mitigate issues preventively.
• End-to-end checksum to identify and correct errors from the client over the network down to the block on the device.

DSS-G G100 models with IBM Spectrum Scale Erasure Code Edition use the same software and most of the same concepts that are used in DSS-G G2xx models with IBM Spectrum Scale Data Access or Data Management Edition. The G2xx models are a solution that consists of two I/O (storage) servers and between one and several JBOD disk enclosures, with each storage device (pdisk) attached to both servers. The G2xx models have two recovery groups (RGs). Each RG takes half of each enclosure among all enclosures. Under normal conditions, each I/O server supports one of the two RGs. If either I/O server fails, the remaining I/O server takes over and supports both RGs.

IBM Spectrum Scale Erasure Code Edition, in contrast, can have one or more recovery groups, but each RG is associated with 6 - 32 storage servers, and each storage server belongs to only one RG. All of the storage servers in a recovery group must have a matching configuration, including identical CPU, memory, network, and storage device configurations. The storage devices (pdisks) are directly attached to only one storage server. Each storage server typically serves 2 log groups and each log group manages one half of the virtual disks (vdisk NSDs) assigned to a server. If a storage server fails, the log groups (and vdisk NSDs) it was serving are distributed to the remaining storage servers; any storage server failure causes the remaining storage servers to serve at most one more log group.

In both G2xx models and G100 ECE models, the placement of data is topology aware using a failure domain hierarchy of rack, node, enclosure, and storage device (pdisk). The RAID code makes placement decisions to maximize fault tolerance, depending on the RAID level you choose. IBM Spectrum Scale Erasure Code Edition supports the following erasure codes and replication levels: 8+2p, 8+3p, 4+2p, 4+3p, 3WayReplication, and 4WayReplication.

With IBM Spectrum Scale Erasure Code Edition it is possible for either IBM Spectrum Scale Cluster Export Services with protocol software or customer applications to run directly on the storage servers if sufficient hardware resources are available. Customer applications must run in a constrained environment by using Linux cgroups or Docker containers. For protocol workloads with high-performance requirements, the Cluster Export Services must run on separate nodes.

In both G2xx models and G100 ECE models the IBM Spectrum Scale file system, and file system features are independent of the storage configuration. A file system can be composed of NSDs provided by more than one recovery group, and the recovery groups can be from G2xx models or G100 ECE models or a combination of both. All of the IBM Spectrum Scale file system features can be used in a cluster with IBM Spectrum Scale Erasure Code Edition storage servers, but there are strict guidelines as to where the various components might run.

For more information about IBM Spectrum Scale Erase Code Edition please visit the IBM Spectrum Scale Erasure Code Edition documentation.

Lenovo DSS-G is fulfilled through Lenovo Scalable Infrastructure (LeSI), which offers a flexible framework for the development, configuration, build, delivery and support of engineered and integrated data center solutions. Lenovo thoroughly tests and optimizes all LeSI components for reliability, interoperability and maximum performance, so clients can quickly deploy the system and get to work achieving their business goals.

The major hardware components of a DSS-G solution are:

• DSS-G G2xx models
  • 2x ThinkSystem SR650 servers
  • Choice of direct-attach storage enclosures - D1224 and D3284 enclosures
    • 1x-4x Lenovo Storage D1224 Drive Enclosures each holding 24x 2.5-inch SSDs (small form factor configuration DSS-G20x)
    • 1x-8x Lenovo Storage D3284 External High Density Drive Expansion Enclosure, each holding 84x 3.5-inch HDDs (large form factor configuration DSS-G2x0)
    • 1x-2x D1224 Enclosure plus 1x-7x D3284 Enclosure (max 8x enclosures total, hybrid configuration DSS-G2xx)
• DSS-G G100 models
  • 1x ThinkSystem SR630 server (minimum 6 per configuration for Erasure Code Edition)
  • Up to 8x 2.5-inch NVMe drives
  • Installed and cabled in the factory in a 42U or 48U rack cabinet, or shipped with the Client Site Integration Kit that provides Lenovo installation into the customer’s choice of rack
  • Optional management node and management network, for example a ThinkSystem SR630 server and Mellanox AS4610 Gigabit Ethernet switch

Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 servers

Figure 2. Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 servers

Lenovo System SR650 servers have the following key features:

• The SR650 server features a unique AnyBay design that allows a choice of drive interface types in the same drive bay: SAS drives, SATA drives, or U.2 NVMe PCIe drives.
• The SR650 server offers onboard NVMe PCIe ports that allow direct connections to the U.2 NVMe PCIe SSDs, which frees up I/O slots and helps lower NVMe solution acquisition costs. DSS-G100 utilizes the NVMe drives
• The SR650 server delivers impressive compute power per watt, featuring 80 PLUS Titanium and Platinum redundant power supplies that can deliver 96% (Titanium) or 94% (Platinum) efficiency at 50% load when connected to a 200 - 240 V AC power source.
• The SR650 server is designed to meet ASHRAE A4 standards (up to 45 °C or 113 °F) in select configurations, which enable customers to lower energy costs, while still maintaining world-class reliability.
• Improves productivity by offering superior system performance with the Intel Xeon Processor Scalable Family with up to 28-core processors, up to 38.5 MB of last level cache (LLC), up to 2933 MHz memory speeds, and up to 10.4 GT/s Ultra Path Interconnect (UPI) links.
• Support for up to two processors, 56 cores, and 112 threads allows to maximize the concurrent execution of multithreaded applications.
• Helps maximize system performance for data intensive applications with up to 2933 MHz memory speeds and up to 3.0 TB of memory capacity.
• Offers flexible and scalable internal storage in a 2U rack form factor with up to 24x 2.5-inch drives for performance-optimized configurations or up to 14x 3.5-inch drives for capacity-optimized configurations, providing a wide selection of SAS/SATA HDD/SSD and PCIe NVMe SSD types and capacities.
• Provides I/O scalability with the LOM slot, PCIe 3.0 slot for an internal storage controller, and up to six PCI Express (PCIe) 3.0 I/O expansion slots in a 2U rack form factor.
• Reduces I/O latency and increases overall system performance with Intel Integrated I/O Technology that embeds the PCI Express 3.0 controller into the Intel Xeon Processor Scalable Family.

Lenovo ThinkSystem SR630 servers

Figure 3. Lenovo ThinkSystem SR630

Lenovo ThinkSystem SR630 servers have the following key features:

• The SR630 server features a unique AnyBay design that allows a choice of drive interface types in the same drive bay: SAS drives, SATA drives, or U.2 NVMe PCIe drives.
• The SR630 server offers onboard NVMe PCIe ports that allow direct connections to the U.2 NVMe PCIe SSDs, which frees up I/O slots and helps lower NVMe solution acquisition costs.
• The SR630 server delivers impressive compute power per watt, featuring 80 PLUS Titanium and Platinum redundant power supplies that can deliver 96% (Titanium) or 94% (Platinum) efficiency at 50% load when connected to a 200 - 240 V AC power source.
• The SR630 server is designed to meet ASHRAE A4 standards (up to 45 °C [113 °F]) in select configurations, which enable customers to lower energy costs, while still maintaining world-class reliability.
• Improves productivity by offering superior system performance with the Intel Xeon Processor Scalable Family with up to 28-core processors, up to 38.5 MB of last level cache (LLC), up to 2933 MHz memory speeds, and up to 10.4 GT/s Ultra Path Interconnect (UPI) links.
• Support for up to two processors, 56 cores, and 112 threads allows to maximize the concurrent execution of multithreaded applications.
• Helps maximize system performance for data intensive applications with up to 2933 MHz memory speeds and up to 3 TB of memory capacity (with the processors that support 1.5 TB per socket).
• Offers flexible and scalable internal storage in a 1U rack form factor with up to 12x 2.5-inch drives for performance-optimized configurations or up to 4x 3.5-inch drives for capacity-optimized configurations, providing a wide selection of SAS/SATA HDD/SSD and PCIe NVMe SSD types and capacities.
• Provides I/O scalability with the LOM slot, PCIe 3.0 slot for an internal storage controller, and up to three PCI Express (PCIe) 3.0 I/O expansion slots in a 1U rack form factor.

Lenovo Storage D1224 Drive Enclosures

Figure 4. Lenovo Storage D1224 Drive Enclosure

Lenovo Storage D1224 Drive Enclosures have the following key features:

• 2U rack mount enclosure with 12 Gbps SAS direct-attached storage connectivity, designed to provide simplicity, speed, scalability, security, and high availability
• Holds 24x 2.5-inch small form factor (SFF) drives
• Dual Environmental Service Module (ESM) configurations for high availability and performance
• Flexibility in storing data on high performance SAS SSDs, performance-optimized enterprise SAS HDDs, or capacity-optimized enterprise NL SAS HDDs; mixing and matching drive types and form factors on a single RAID adapter or HBA to perfectly meet performance and capacity requirements for various workloads
• Support multiple host attachments and SAS zoning for storage partitioning

For more information about the Lenovo Storage D1224 Drive Enclosure, see the Lenovo Press product guide: https://lenovopress.com/lp0512

The following figure show the D3284 drive expansion enclosure with the lower drawer open.

Figure 6. Front view of the D3284 drive enclosure

For more information about the Lenovo Storage Drive Expansion Enclosure, see the Lenovo Press product guide: https://lenovopress.com/lp0513

Infrastructure and rack installation

The solution arrives at the customer location installed in the Lenovo 1410 Rack, tested, components and cables labeled and ready to deploy for quick productivity.

• Factory-integrated, pre-configured ready-to-go solution that is delivered in a rack with all the hardware you need for your workloads: servers, storage, and network switches, plus essential software tools.
• IBM Spectrum Scale software is preinstalled on all servers.
• Optional ThinkSystem SR630 server and Mellanox AS4610 Gigabit Ethernet switch for xCAT cluster administration software and to act as the Spectrum Scale quorum.
• Designed for effortless integration into existing infrastructures, thereby reducing deployment time and saving money.
• Lenovo deployment services are available with the solution help get customers up and running quickly by allowing to begin deploying workloads in hours — not weeks — and realize substantial savings.
• Available NVIDIA Ethernet switches for a management network deliver exceptional performance and low latency, along with cost savings, and are designed to perform seamlessly with other vendors' upstream switches.
• All the components of the solution are available through Lenovo, which provides a single point of entry for all support issues that you might encounter with the server, networking, storage, and software used in the solution, for quicker problem determination and minimized downtime.

This section lists the system specifications of the components used in the Lenovo DSS-G offerings.

• SR650 server specifications
• SR630 server specifications
• D1224 External Enclosure specifications
• D3284 External Enclosure specifications
• Rack cabinet specifications
• Optional management components

Lenovo DSS-G is available in the configurations listed in the following table. Each configuration is installed in a 42U rack, although multiple DSS-G configurations can share the same rack.

* Capacity is based on using 7.68TB 2.5-inch SSDs.
** Capacity is based on using 18TB 3.5-inch HDDs in all but 2 of the drive bays in the first drive enclosure; the remaining 2 bays must have 2x SSDs for Spectrum Scale internal use.
† These models are a hybrid configuration that combines HDDs and SSDs in one building block. The number of drives and capacities are given in terms of HDD and SSD count.

Configurations are built using the x-config configurator tool:
https://lesc.lenovo.com/products/hardware/configurator/worldwide/bhui/asit/index.html

The configuration process includes the following steps:

• Select the drive and drive enclosure, as listed in the previous table.
• Node configuration, as described in the next subsections:
  • Memory
  • Network adapter
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) subscription
  • Enterprise Software Support (ESS) subscription
• xCAT management network selection
• IBM Spectrum Scale license selection
• Power distribution infrastructure selection
• Professional Services selection

The following sections provide information about these configuration steps.

All drives used in all the enclosures in a DSS-G configuration are identical. The only exception to this is a pair of 800 GB SSDs that are required in the first drive enclosure for any configuration using HDDs. These SSDs are for logtip use by the IBM Spectrum Scale software and are not for user data.

The drive requirement are as follows:

• For configurations that use HDDs (D3284 only), two 800GB logtip SSDs must also be selected in the first drive enclosure in the DSS-G configuration.
• All subsequent enclosures in HDD-based DSS-G configuration do not require these logtip SSDs.
• Configurations using SSDs do not require the pair of logtip SSDs.
• Only one drive size & type is selectable per DSS-G configuration.
• All drive enclosures must be fully populated with drives. Partially filled enclosures are not supported.

The following table lists the drives available for selection in a D1224 enclosure. D1224 configurations are all SSDs and do not require separate logtip drives.

The Lenovo DSS-G configurations described in this product guide use the ThinkSystem SR650 server, which features the Intel Xeon Scalable Family processors. Details about the configurations are in the Specifications section.

The following tables indicates memory requirements on the DSS-G configurations containing D3284 enclosures for different drive capacities. This table assumes a 1MB block size and RAID level of 8+2P. If your use configuration deviates from these parameters, please check with your Lenovo sales representative for the required memory.

The following table lists the memory options that are available for selection.

Network adapter

The following table lists the adapters that are available for use for cluster fabric.

For details about these adapters, see the following product guides:

• Mellanox ConnectX-4 Adapter, https://lenovopress.com/lp0098
• Intel Omni-Path Architecture 100 Series HFA, https://lenovopress.com/lp0550

The transceivers and optical cables, or the DAC cables needed to connect the adapters to the customer-supplied network switches can be configured together with the system in x-config. Consult the product guides for the adapters for details.

The Lenovo DSS-G configurations described in this product guide use the ThinkSystem SR630 server, which features the Intel Xeon Scalable Family processors. Details about the configurations are in the Specifications section.

The following table lists the memory options that are available for selection.

Network adapter

The SR630 server for the DSS-G100 configuration has the following Ethernet interfaces:

• Two or four 1 and 10 GbE ports with RJ-45 connectors (10GBaseT) or 10GbE with SFP+ connectors via a LOM adapter
• One 10/100/1000 Mb Ethernet systems management port with an RJ-45 connector

In addition, the following table lists the adapters that are available for use for cluster traffic.

The transceivers and optical cables, or the DAC cables needed to connect the adapters to the customer-supplied network switches can be configured together with the system in x-config. Consult the product guides for the adapters for details.

The Lenovo DSS-G offering connects as a storage block to the customer's Spectrum Scale cluster network using the high-speed network adapters installed in the servers. Each pair of servers has two or three network adapters, which are either Ethernet, InfiniBand or Omni-Fabric Architecture (OPA). Each DSS-G storage block connects to the cluster network.

In concert with the cluster network is the xCAT management network. In lieu of a customer-supplied management network, the Lenovo DSS-G offering includes a ThinkSystem SR630 server running xCAT and a Mellanox AS4610 48-port Gigabit Ethernet switch.

These components are shown in the following figure.

Figure 8. Lenovo DSS-G storage blocks in a Spectrum Scale client network

The SR650 and SR630 servers run Red Hat Enterprise Linux which is preinstalled on the RAID-1 pair of 300 GB drives installed in the servers.

Each server requires a Lenovo RHEL Premium Support subscription. The subscription provides Level 1 and Level 2 support, with 24x7 for Severity 1 situations.

• Per managed capacity

  The number of licenses needed is based on the storage capacity being managed in an IBM Spectrum Scale cluster and will also be derived automatically by the configurator based on the selection of parity level made. The storage capacity to be licensed is the capacity in Tebibytes (TiB) from all Network Shared Disk (NSDs) in the IBM Spectrum Scale cluster after applying IBM Spectrum Scale RAID. The capacity to be licensed is not affected by using functions such as replication or compression or by doing tasks such as creating or deleting files, file systems, or snapshots.

  This License model is available for the Data Access Edition, the Data Management Edition, and the Erasure Code Edition.

Each of these is offered in 1, 3, 4 and 5-year support periods. The total number of Spectrum Scale licenses needed will be split between the two DSS-G servers. Half will appear on one server and half will appear on the other server. The license however relates to the total solution and storage drives/capacity within.

Additional licensing information:

• No additional licenses (for example, client or server) are needed for Spectrum Scale for DSS. Only licenses based on the number of drives (non-logtip) or capacity in TebiBytes (TiB) after applying IBM Spectrum Scale RAID are needed.
• Capacity licensing is measured on Binary format (1 TiB = 2^40 Bytes), which means that you must multiply the nominal Decimal format (1TB = 10^12 Bytes) chosen by drive vendors with 0.9185 to get to the actual capacity to be licensed. For DSS-G the Lenovo configurator will take care of that for you.
• For non-DSS Lenovo storage in the same Cluster (for example, separated metadata on traditional controller-based storage), you have the same options of capacity-based per Disk/Flash drive or per TiB licenses.
• It is not supported to mix Data Access Edition and Data Management Edition licensing within a cluster.
• You can expand a Data Access Edition or a Data Management Edition cluster with Erasure Code Edition systems. The limitations of Data Access Edition features apply if expanding a Data Access Edition cluster.
• Disk/Flash drive-based Spectrum Scale licenses can only be transferred from the existing Lenovo storage solution that is being decommissioned and re-used on its equivalent future or replacement Lenovo storage solution.
• Existing capacity licenses through for example an Enterprise License Agreement with IBM can be applied to Lenovo DSS-G after providing Proof of Entitlement. While Lenovo provides the solution level support, software support needs to be requested from IBM directly in such a case.

Lenovo manufacturing implements a robust testing and integration program to insure LeSI components are fully operational when shipped out of the factory. In addition to the standard component level validation performed on all hardware components produced by Lenovo, LeSI performs rack level testing to verify that the LeSI cluster operates as a solution. The rack level testing and validation includes the following:

• Performing a power on test. Assure device power is present, with no error indicators
• Set up RAID (when required)
• Set up storage devices and verify functionality
• Validate network connectivity and functionality
• Verify functionality of server hardware, network infrastructure, and server configuration correctness. Verify health of components
• Configure all devices per Best Recipe software settings
• Perform stress testing of server CPU and memory via software and power cycling
• Data collection for quality records and test results

Lenovo experts will manage the physical installation of your pre-integrated Racks so you can quickly benefit from your investment. Working at a time convenient to you, the technician will unpack and inspect the systems at your site, finalize the cabling, verify operation, and dispose of the packaging at the on-site location.

Any racked EveryScale solution comes with this basic Lenovo Hardware Installation services included, automatically sized and configured based on the solution scope detailed in the Lenovo EveryScale Hardware Installation Statement of Work.

Customized installation services beyond the basic Lenovo Hardware Installation services are also available to meet the specific needs of the client and for solutions with Client Site Integration Kit.

Additional client requirements beyond the basic Lenovo Hardware Installation services scope, can be offered with customized installation services sized specifically to the client’s needs.

To get operational a final onsite software installation and configuration for the specific environment is required. Lenovo can also provide comprehensive onsite configuration of software, including integration and validation for operating systems and software, virtualization and high-availability configurations.

For additional information, see the Services section.

Besides shipping fully integrated into the Lenovo 1410 rack cabinet, DSS-G solution gives clients the choice of shipping with the Lenovo Client Site Integration Kit (7X74) which allows clients to have Lenovo or a business partner install the solution in a rack of their own choosing. The Lenovo Client Site Integration Kit enables clients to gain the interoperability warranty benefit of an integrated DSS-G solution while also providing them flexibility in custom-fitting into the client datacenter.

With the Lenovo Client Site Integration Kit, the DSS-G solution is built and tested at the rack level in Lenovo manufacturing just like described for factory integration above. Afterwards it is disassembled again, and Servers, switches and other items are packaged in individual boxes with a ship group box for cables, publications, labeling, and other rack documentation. Clients are required to purchase installation services from Lenovo or a business partner for the physical setup. The installation team will install the solution at the customer site into the customer provided rack per racking diagrams and point-to-point instructions.

To get operational a final onsite software installation and configuration for the specific environment is required. Lenovo can also provide comprehensive onsite configuration of software, including integration and validation for operating systems and software, virtualization and high-availability configurations.

For additional information, see the Services section.

Lenovo Distributed Storage Solution for Spectrum Scale does fully comply with ASHRAE class A2 specifications for the air-cooled data center. Please find more details in the product guides of the individual components.

• Air temperature:
  • Operating:
    • ASHRAE Class A2: 10 °C - 35 °C (50 °F - 95 °F); for altitudes above 900 m (2,953 ft), decrease the maximum ambient temperature by 1 °C for every 300-m (984-ft) increase in altitude
  • Non-operating: 5 °C - 45 °C (41 °F - 113 °F)
  • Storage: -40 °C - +60 °C (-40 °F - 140 °F)
• Maximum altitude: 3,050 m (10,000 ft)
• Humidity:
  • Operating:
    • ASHRAE Class A2: 8% - 80% (non-condensing); maximum dew point: 21 °C (70 °F)
  • Storage: 8% - 90% (non-condensing)
• Electrical:
  • 100 - 127 (nominal) V AC; 50 Hz / 60 Hz
  • 200 - 240 (nominal) V AC; 50 Hz / 60 Hz

Lenovo Distributed Storage Solution for Spectrum Scale adopts the conformity of its individual components to international standards, which for the server and storage enclosures are listed below:

SR650 / SR630

• United States: FCC Part 15, Class A; UL 60950-1
• Canada: ICES-003/NMB-03, Class A; CAN/CSA-C22.2 60950-1
• Mexico: NOM-19
• Argentina: IEC60950-1
• European Union: CE Mark (EN55022 Class A, IEC/EN60950-1, EN55024, EN61000-3-2, EN61000-3-3)
• Germany: TUV-GS (IEC/EN 60950-1, EK1-ITB2000)
• Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus: EAC (TR CU 004/2011, TR CU 020/2011)
• China: CCC GB4943.1, GB9254 Class A, GB17625.1
• India: BIS
• Japan: VCCI, Class A
• Taiwan: BSMI CNS13438, Class A; CNS14336-1
• Korea: KN22, Class A; KN24
• Australia/New Zealand: AS/NZS CISPR 22 Class A
• Reduction of Hazardous Substances (ROHS)
• Energy Star 3.0 (excluding configurations with Bronze 3204, Gold 5222, or Platinum 8256 processors)

D1224 / D3284

• BSMI CNS 13438, Class A; CNS 14336 (Taiwan)
• CCC GB 4943.1, GB 17625.1, GB 9254 Class A (China)
• CE Mark (European Union)
• CISPR 22, Class A
• EAC (Russia)
• EN55022, Class A
• EN55024
• FCC Part 15, Class A (United States)
• ICES-003/NMB-03, Class A (Canada)
• IEC/EN60950-1
• D1224: KC Mark (Korea); D3284: MSIP (Korea)
• NOM-019 (Mexico)
• D3284: RCM (Australia)
• Reduction of Hazardous Substances (ROHS)
• UL/CSA IEC 60950-1
• D1224: VCCI, Class A (Japan); D3284: VCCI, Class B (Japan)

Find more details on the regulatory compliance for the individual components in their respective product guides.

LeSI exclusive components (Machine Types 1410, 7X74, 0724, 0449, 7D5F; for the other Hardware and Software components configured within LeSI their respective warranty terms apply) have a three-year customer replaceable unit (CRU) and onsite limited (for field-replaceable units (FRUs) only) warranty with standard call center support during normal business hours and 9x5 Next Business Day Parts Delivered.

Some markets might have different warranty terms and conditions than the standard warranty. This is due to local business practices or laws in the specific market. Local service teams can assist in explaining market-specific terms when needed. Examples of market-specific warranty terms are second or longer business day parts delivery or parts-only base warranty.

If warranty terms and conditions include onsite labor for repair or replacement of parts, Lenovo will dispatch a service technician to the customer site to perform the replacement. Onsite labor under base warranty is limited to labor for replacement of parts that have been determined to be field-replaceable units (FRUs). Parts that are determined to be customer-replaceable units (CRUs) do not include onsite labor under base warranty.

If warranty terms include parts-only base warranty, Lenovo is responsible for delivering only replacement parts that are under base warranty (including FRUs) that will be sent to a requested location for self-service. Parts-only service does not include a service technician being dispatched onsite. Parts must be changed at customer’s own cost and labor and defective parts must be returned following the instructions supplied with the spares parts.

Lenovo’s additional support services provide a sophisticated, unified support structure for your data center, with an experience consistently ranked number one in customer satisfaction worldwide. Available offerings include:

• Premier Support

  Premier Support provides a Lenovo-owned customer experience and delivers direct access to technicians skilled in hardware, software, and advanced troubleshooting, in addition to the following:

  • Direct technician-to-technician access through a dedicated phone line
  • 24x7x365 remote support
  • Single point of contact service
  • End to end case management
  • Third-party collaborative software support
  • Online case tools and live chat support
  • On-demand remote system analysis
• Warranty Upgrade (Preconfigured Support)

  Services are available to meet the on-site response time targets that match the criticality of your systems.

  • 3, 4, or 5 years of service coverage
  • 1-year or 2-year post-warranty extensions
  • Foundation Service: 9x5 service coverage with next business day onsite response. YourDrive YourData is an optional extra (see below).
  • Essential Service: 24x7 service coverage with 4-hour onsite response or 24-hour committed repair (available only in select markets). Bundled with YourDrive YourData.
  • Advanced Service: 24x7 service coverage with 2-hour onsite response or 6-hour committed repair (available only in select markets). Bundled with YourDrive YourData.
• Managed Services

  Lenovo Managed Services provides continuous 24x7 remote monitoring (plus 24x7 call center availability) and proactive management of your data center using state-of-the-art tools, systems, and practices by a team of highly skilled and experienced Lenovo services professionals.

  Quarterly reviews check error logs, verify firmware & OS device driver levels, and software as needed. We’ll also maintain records of latest patches, critical updates, and firmware levels, to ensure you systems are providing business value through optimized performance.

• Technical Account Management (TAM)

  A Lenovo Technical Account Manager helps you optimize the operation of your data center based on a deep understanding of your business. You gain direct access to your Lenovo TAM, who serves as your single point of contact to expedite service requests, provide status updates, and furnish reports to track incidents over time. In addition, your TAM will help proactively make service recommendations and manage your service relationship with Lenovo to make certain your needs are met.

• Enterprise Server Software Support

  Enterprise Software Support is an additional support service providing customers with software support on Microsoft, Red Hat, SUSE, and VMware applications and systems. Around the clock availability for critical problems plus unlimited calls and incidents helps customers address challenges fast, without incremental costs. Support staff can answer troubleshooting and diagnostic questions, address product comparability and interoperability issues, isolate causes of problems, report defects to software vendors, and more.

• YourDrive YourData

  Lenovo’s YourDrive YourData is a multi-drive retention offering that ensures your data is always under your control, regardless of the number of drives that are installed in your Lenovo server. In the unlikely event of a drive failure, you retain possession of your drive while Lenovo replaces the failed drive part. Your data stays safely on your premises, in your hands. The YourDrive YourData service can be purchased in convenient bundles and is optional with Foundation Service. It is bundled with Essential Service and Advanced Service.

• Health Check

  Having a trusted partner who can perform regular and detailed health checks is central to maintaining efficiency and ensuring that your systems and business are always running at their best. Health Check supports Lenovo-branded server, storage, and networking devices, as well as select Lenovo-supported products from other vendors that are sold by Lenovo or a Lenovo-Authorized Reseller.

Examples of region-specific warranty terms are second or longer business day parts delivery or parts-only base warranty.

If warranty terms and conditions include onsite labor for repair or replacement of parts, Lenovo will dispatch a service technician to the customer site to perform the replacement. Onsite labor under base warranty is limited to labor for replacement of parts that have been determined to be field-replaceable units (FRUs). Parts that are determined to be customer-replaceable units (CRUs) do not include onsite labor under base warranty.

If warranty terms include parts-only base warranty, Lenovo is responsible for delivering only replacement parts that are under base warranty (including FRUs) that will be sent to a requested location for self-service. Parts-only service does not include a service technician being dispatched onsite. Parts must be changed at customer’s own cost and labor and defective parts must be returned following the instructions supplied with the spare parts.

On top of their individual warranty and maintenance scope or support entitlement, LeSI offers solution-level interoperability support for HPC and AI configurations based on the above selection of Lenovo ThinkSystem portfolio and OEM components.

The extensive testing results in a “Best Recipe” release of software and firmware levels Lenovo warrants to work seamlessly together as a fully integrated data center solution instead of a collection of individual components at the time of implementation.

To see the latest Best Recipe for Scalable Infrastructure at Lenovo, see the following link:
https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/HT505184#5

The Solution Support is engaged by opening a hardware ticket based on the LeSI Rack (Model 1410) or LeSI Client Site Integration Kit (Model 7X74). The LeSI Support team then will triage the issue and recommend next steps for you, including potentially to open tickets with other components of the solution.

For issues that require debugging beyond hardware and firmware (Driver, UEFI, IMM/XCC) an additional ticket will have to be opened with the software vendor (e.g. Lenovo SW Support or 3rd party SW vendor) to assist working towards a fix. The LeSI Support team will then work with the SW Support team in isolating root cause and fixing the defect.

For more information about opening tickets, as well as the scope of support for different LeSI components, see the Lenovo Scalable Infrastructure Support Plan information page.

When a cluster ships the most recent Best Recipe is its compliant version, which is always defined exactly for that specific Scalable Infrastructure release and the cluster is delivered as a solution of that specific release. Using a Support call clients can request a review if their solution is also compatible with a newer Best Recipe release and if it is, are able to upgrade to that while maintaining solution interoperability support.

As long as a cluster (Model 1410, 7X74) is under Lenovo warranty or maintenance entitlement, full solution interoperability support will be provided for the original Best Recipes. Even when newer Best Recipes are available the previous Recipe will remain valid and supported.

Of course, any client is free to choose to not adhere to the Best Recipe and instead deploy different software and firmware versions or integrate other components that were not tested for interoperability. While Lenovo cannot warrant interoperability with those deviations from the tested scope, a client continues to receive full break & fix support for the components based on the individual warranty and maintenance entitlement of the components. This is comparable to the level of support clients will receive when not buying it as a LeSI solution, but building the solution from individual components – so-called “roll your own” (RYO).

In those cases, to minimize risk we suggest still staying as close as possible to the Best Recipe even when deviating. We also suggest when deviating first to test it on a small portion of the cluster and only roll it out completely if this test was stable.

For clients who need to upgrade the firmware or software of a component – for example due to OS entitlement support issues or Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) fixes – that is part of the best recipe, a support call should be placed on the 1410/7X74 rack and serial number. Lenovo product engineering will review the proposed changes, and advise the client on the viability of an upgrade path. If an upgrade can be supported and is performed, LeSI will note the change in the support records for the solution.

Lenovo Services is a dedicated partner to your success. Our goal is to reduce your capital outlays, mitigate your IT risks, and accelerate your time to productivity.

Here’s a more in-depth look at what we can do for you:

• Asset Recovery Services

  Asset Recovery Services (ARS) helps customers recover the maximum value from their end-of-life equipment in a cost-effective and secure way. On top of simplifying the transition from old to new equipment, ARS mitigates environmental and data security risks associated with data center equipment disposal. Lenovo ARS is a cash-back solution for equipment based on its remaining market value, yielding maximum value from aging assets and lowering total cost of ownership for your customers. For more information, see the ARS page, https://lenovopress.com/lp1266-reduce-e-waste-and-grow-your-bottom-line-with-lenovo-ars.

• Assessment Services

  An Assessment helps solve your IT challenges through an onsite, multi-day session with a Lenovo technology expert. We perform a tools-based assessment which provides a comprehensive and thorough review of a company's environment and technology systems. In addition to the technology based functional requirements, the consultant also discusses and records the non-functional business requirements, challenges, and constraints. Assessments help organizations like yours, no matter how large or small, get a better return on your IT investment and overcome challenges in the ever-changing technology landscape.

• Design Services

  Professional Services consultants perform infrastructure design and implementation planning to support your strategy. The high-level architectures provided by the assessment service are turned into low level designs and wiring diagrams, which are reviewed and approved prior to implementation. The implementation plan will demonstrate an outcome-based proposal to provide business capabilities through infrastructure with a risk-mitigated project plan.

• Basic Hardware Installation

  Lenovo experts can seamlessly manage the physical installation of your server, storage, or networking hardware. Working at a time convenient for you (business hours or off shift), the technician will unpack and inspect the systems on your site, install options, mount in a rack cabinet, connect to power and network, check and update firmware to the latest levels, verify operation, and dispose of the packaging, allowing your team to focus on other priorities.

• Deployment Services

  When investing in new IT infrastructures, you need to ensure your business will see quick time to value with little to no disruption. Lenovo deployments are designed by development and engineering teams who know our Products & Solutions better than anyone else, and our technicians own the process from delivery to completion. Lenovo will conduct remote preparation and planning, configure & integrate systems, validate systems, verify and update appliance firmware, train on administrative tasks, and provide post-deployment documentation. Customer’s IT teams leverage our skills to enable IT staff to transform with higher level roles and tasks.

• Integration, Migration, and Expansion Services

  Move existing physical & virtual workloads easily, or determine technical requirements to support increased workloads while maximizing performance. Includes tuning, validation, and documenting ongoing run processes. Leverage migration assessment planning documents to perform necessary migrations.

• Data Center Power and Cooling Services

  The Data Center Infrastructure team will provide solution design and implementation services to support the power and cooling needs of the multi-node chassis and multi-rack solutions. This includes designing for various levels of power redundancy and integration into the customer power infrastructure. The Infrastructure team will work with site engineers to design an effective cooling strategy based on facility constraints or customer goals and optimize a cooling solution to ensure high efficiency and availability. The Infrastructure team will provide the detailed solution design and complete integration of the cooling solution into the customer data center. In addition, the Infrastructure team will provide rack and chassis level commissioning and stand-up of the water-cooled solution which includes setting and tuning of the flow rates based on water temperature and heat recovery targets. Lastly, the Infrastructure team will provide cooling solution optimization and performance validation to ensure the highest overall operational efficiency of the solution.

Installation Services

To get operational a final onsite software installation and configuration for the specific environment is required. Five days of Lenovo Professional Services are included by default with the DSS-G solutions to get customers up and running quickly. This selection can be removed if so desired when for example an experienced channel partner of Lenovo will provide those services.

Services are tailored to the customer need and typically include:

• Conduct a preparation and planning call
• Configure xCAT on the SR630 quorum/management server
• Verify, and update if needed, firmware and software versions to implement the DSS-G
• Configure the network settings specific to the customer environment for
  • XClarity Controller (XCC) service processors on the SR650 and SR630 servers
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux on the SR650 and SR630 servers
• Configure IBM Spectrum Scale on the DSS-G servers
• Create file and exporting systems from the DSS-G storage
• Provide skills transfer to customer personnel
• Develop post-installation documentation describing the specifics of the firmware/software versions and network and file system configuration work that was done

Lenovo Financial Services reinforces Lenovo’s commitment to deliver pioneering products and services that are recognized for their quality, excellence, and trustworthiness. Lenovo Financial Services offers financing solutions and services that complement your technology solution anywhere in the world.

We are dedicated to delivering a positive finance experience for customers like you who want to maximize your purchase power by obtaining the technology you need today, protect against technology obsolescence, and preserve your capital for other uses.

We work with businesses, non-profit organizations, governments and educational institutions to finance their entire technology solution. We focus on making it easy to do business with us. Our highly experienced team of finance professionals operates in a work culture that emphasizes the importance of providing outstanding customer service. Our systems, processes and flexible policies support our goal of providing customers with a positive experience.

We finance your entire solution. Unlike others, we allow you to bundle everything you need from hardware and software to service contracts, installation costs, training fees, and sales tax. If you decide weeks or months later to add to your solution, we can consolidate everything into a single invoice.

Our Premier Client services provide large accounts with special handling services to ensure these complex transactions are serviced properly. As a premier client, you have a dedicated finance specialist who manages your account through its life, from first invoice through asset return or purchase. This specialist develops an in-depth understanding of your invoice and payment requirements. For you, this dedication provides a high-quality, easy, and positive financing experience.

For more information, see these resources:

• Lenovo DSS-G product page
  https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/data-center/servers/high-density/Distributed-Storage-Solution-for-IBM-Spectrum-Scale/p/WMD00000275
• Lenovo high-density offerings page
  https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/c/data-center/servers/high-density
• Paper, "DSS-G Declustered RAID Technology and Rebuild Performance"
  https://lenovopress.com/lp1227-dss-g-declustered-raid-technology-and-rebuild-performance
• ThinkSystem SR650 Product Guide
  https://lenovopress.com/LP0644
• Thinksystem SR630 Product Guide
  https://lenovopress.com/LP0643
• x-config configurator:
  https://lesc.lenovo.com/products/hardware/configurator/worldwide/bhui/asit/index.html
• Lenovo DSS-G datasheet:
  https://lenovopress.com/DS0026