This IBM Redbooks publication offers a comprehensive guide to properly size and plan the capacity of IBM eServer pSeries systems. It discusses the major hardware, software, benchmarks, and various tools used in the sizing and capacity planning process.

This book is suitable for professionals who want to gain a better understanding of how to size pSeries products. It targets clients, sales and marketing professionals, technical support professionals, and IBM Business Partners.

Inside this book, you will find:

• An introduction to pSeries sizing and capacity planning
• A historical look at pSeries hardware components
• A discussion of software components such as AIX and Linux
• A review of industry standard benchmarks
• A description of the Balanced System Guideline
• A discussion of various sizing tools that are available
• Information about performing application-specific sizing
• A review of the various data gathering tools used for capacity planning

This book is intended as an additional source of information that, together with existing sources referenced throughout this document, enhances your knowledge of IBM solutions for the UNIX marketplace.

Part 1. Introduction to sizing and capacity planning

Chapter 1. Overview, concepts, and approach

Part 2. Components involved in sizing and capacity planning

Chapter 2. Hardware components

Chapter 3. Software components

Chapter 4. Benchmarks

Part 3. Sizing pSeries systems

Chapter 5. General sizing

Chapter 6. Application-specific sizing

Part 4. Capacity planning

Chapter 7. AIX tools for data gathering

Chapter 8. Features and tools for capacity planning

Part 5. Appendixes

Appendix A. Sanity check before upgrading

Appendix B. Sample for CPU resource usage calculation