IBM Z® has a close and unique relationship to its storage. Over the years, improvements to the IBM zSystems® processors and storage software, the disk storage systems, and their communication architecture consistently reinforced this synergy. This IBM® RedpaperTM publication summarizes and highlights the various aspects, advanced functions, and technologies that are often pioneered by IBM and make IBM Z and IBM DS8000® products an ideal combination. This paper is intended for users who have some familiarity with IBM Z and the IBM DS8000 series and want a condensed but comprehensive overview of the synergy items up to the IBM z16 server with IBM z/OS® V2.5 and the IBM DS8900 Release 9.3 firmware.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication describes the concepts, architecture, and implementation of the IBM Storage DS8900F family. The book provides reference information to assist readers who need to plan for, install, and configure the DS8900F systems. This edition applies to DS8900F systems with IBM Storage DS8000® Licensed Machine Code (LMC) 7.9.30 (bundle version 89.30.xx.x), referred to as Release 9.3. The DS8900F systems are all-flash exclusively, and they are offered as three classes: DS8980F: Analytic Class: The DS8980F Analytic Class offers best performance for organizations that want to expand their workload possibilities to artificial intelligence (AI), Business Intelligence (BI), and machine learning (ML). IBM DS8950F: Agility Class: The Agility Class consolidates all your mission-critical workloads for IBM Z®, IBM LinuxONE, IBM Power, and distributed environments under a single all-flash storage solution. IBM DS8910F: Flexibility Class: The Flexibility Class reduces complexity while addressing various workloads at the lowest DS8900F family entry cost. The DS8900F architecture relies on powerful IBM POWER9TM processor-based servers that manage the cache to streamline disk input/output (I/O), which maximizes performance and throughput. These capabilities are further enhanced by High-Performance Flash Enclosures (HPFE) Gen2. Like its predecessors, the DS8900F supports advanced disaster recovery (DR) solutions, business continuity solutions, and thin provisioning.

This IBM® Redbooks Product Guide provides an overview of the features and functions that are available with the IBM Storage DS8900F models that run microcode Release 9.3.2 (Bundle 89.32/Licensed Machine Code 7.9.32). As of February 2023, the DS8900F with DS8000 Release 9.3.2 is the latest addition. The DS8900F is an all-flash system exclusively, and it offers three classes: IBM DS8980F: Analytic Class: The DS8980F Analytic Class offers best performance for organizations that want to expand their workload possibilities to artificial intelligence (AI), Business Intelligence, and Machine Learning. IBM DS8950F: Agility Class: The agility class is efficiently designed to consolidate all your mission-critical workloads for IBM zSystems, IBM LinuxONE, IBM Power Systems, and distributed environments under a single all-flash storage solution. IBM DS8910F: Flexibility Class: The flexibility class delivers significant performance for midrange organizations that are looking to meet storage challenges with advanced functionality delivered as a single rack solution.

IBM® Z has a close and unique relationship to its storage. Over the years, improvements to the Z processors and storage software, the disk storage systems, and their communication architecture consistently reinforced this synergy. This IBM Redpaper publication summarizes and highlights the various aspects, advanced functions, and technologies that are often pioneered by IBM, and that make the IBM Z® and the IBM DS8000 products an ideal combination. This paper is intended for users who have some familiarity with IBM Z and the IBM DS8000® series and want a condensed but comprehensive overview of the synergy items up to the IBM z15TM server with z/OS v2.5 and the IBM DS8900 Release 9.2 firmware.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication is intended for individuals who want to maximize the performance of their DS8900 storage systems and investigate the planning and monitoring tools that are available.