What is IBMi Single Level Storage? And Why You Should Care about It?

What is IBMi Single Level Storage? And Why You Should Care about It?

Single-level Storage is one of the unique and most attractive architectural features underlying the IBM iSeries server and its other business hardware. But what does it look like to work with a supercomputer or deep learning system?

It is one of IBM’s crown jewels and can display all volumes – memory, solid-state, and turntable – as a single address space. The OS only sees an extensive set of default addresses (64-bit eligible since 1991 and 48-bit eligible since 1978!). This means system administrators and application developers don’t have to worry about existing storage systems.

To complete the concept of single-level Storage, IBM iSeries has another valuable mechanism known as integrated storage management. Simply, the storage manager is responsible for the retention of objects on the disk, memory, and handling bits and bytes in the disk. There are many advantages to this unique method of addressing and warehousing.

But before moving ahead, let’s get to know in detail about it.

What is Single-Level Storage?

Single-level Storage specifies “two-dimensional” levels of “unlimited” computer storage to addresses, pages, or objects. Pages can be in primary Storage (RAM) or secondary Storage (disk). The current location of the address is not essential for processing. IBM iSeries is responsible for finding and processing pages on a computer system rather than a system engineer or programmer. If the page is in primary storage, it will be available immediately.

IBMi brings the page to the primary volume if the page is on disk. I/O processes do no explicit secondary storage.

When the system/38 was being engineered, it was recognized that unexpected changes were taking place in the basic hardware technology. While it doesn’t take a crystal ball to realize that change is inevitable, it would be nice to have someone who can predict the future of storage technology. But as we all know, there is no crystal ball. This reality led to the development of individual-level stores.

The main advantage of a single-level storage (SLS) architecture is that it distinguishes toplevel code from the storage technology. The technology-independent machine interface is combined with TIMI, SLS and is a crucial design element that has allowed IBMi to take full advantage of new capabilities. Single-level storage memory and disk space form a single entity; You do not need to know where your programs or files are stored. You ask for it by name when you enter something, and IBM iSeries will find it automatically. If it is already in memory? Excellent!

If not, the storage manager component will find it anywhere on disk and store it in memory.

You don’t have to worry about where or what type of disk is used. You can easily add additional storage space to your existing disk configuration with a solid-state drive. Disk distributes seamlessly to storage management support systems regardless of their capabilities or technical framework.

Features of IBMi Single-level Storage Let’s have a look at some of the technology features, including integrated storage management with IBMi, including:

1. You can Optimize the Use of Solid-state Drives This capability is an extension of automatic storage management. IBMi can automatically store frequently accessed data on solid-state drives; IBMi manages your Storage with SLS. But did you know that with the magic of SLS, you can also get instant benefits of very fast IPL by putting your load source on SSD? Many IBM iSeries customers have gone from spinning discs to solid-state drives entirely. And shortening the IPL time was one of the many benefits.

Read More: https://www.integrativesystems.com/ibmi-single-level-storage/