Physical planning: floor, power, cables, WWPNs

You’re the storage admin, two months before delivery. First you check the site with a calculator built on the Redbook numbers, and then, as if IBM had just powered the system on, you pull the port list from the practice shell and decode every WWPN for the SAN team.

Practice shell note: the practice shell is our own teaching tool, not IBM software. Its WWNN, WWPNs and adapter serial numbers are made up for the lab, though they follow the real DS8000 WWPN pattern, and real DS CLI output looks similar but not identical.

1Write the site calculator

Save this as site_calc.py in C:\ds8k-lab. The numbers at the top all come from the Redbook tables in the Engineer’s View, and the room line holds your building’s limits.

It’s a planning tool that runs on your laptop months before delivery, with no DS8000 anywhere near it. Only the optional --check part talks to the DS8000, once IBM has installed it, and you’ll use that in step 4.

Save this as site_calc.py:

# site_calc.py - SaatVedha DS8000 site check (numbers from IBM Redbook SG24-8559-01, chapter 5)
# Planning tool: runs on your laptop, not on the DS8000. The site check needs no DS8000.
# Optional --check (after install) compares the plan with the box through the DS CLI (auto.profile).
import sys
import csv, subprocess
DSCLI = ["python", "ds8sim.py", "-cfg", "auto.profile"]   # at work: ["dscli", "-cfg", "auto.profile"]

def dscli(*args):
    """Run one DS CLI command and return its rows as dictionaries."""
    out = subprocess.run(DSCLI + list(args), capture_output=True, text=True).stdout
    lines = [l for l in out.splitlines() if l and not l.startswith("SaatVedha") and not l.startswith("CMUC")]
    return list(csv.DictReader(lines))

FRAME = {  # packed height m, packed width m, packed weight kg, peak power kW
    "A01": (2.22, 1.00, 924, 7.9),   # DS8A10 racked
    "A05": (2.22, 1.00, 924, 9.1),   # DS8A50
    "A08": (2.22, 1.00, 924, 9.1),   # DS8A80
    "E05": (2.22, 1.00, 603, 10.2),  # expansion frame (power is "up to")
}
WIDTH_CM, DEPTH_CM = 62, 124          # unpacked frame with covers
FRONT_CM, REAR_CM = 121.92, 76.2      # minimum service clearance
BTU_PER_FRAME = 34800                 # thermal load, upper limit

# your room - change these
room = {"lift_kg": 1000, "door_h_m": 2.40, "door_w_m": 1.20, "power_kw": 25.0}
frames = [a for a in sys.argv[1:] if a != "--check"] or ["A05", "E05"]

print("Frames:", " + ".join(frames))
if frames.count("E05") > 1:
    sys.exit("STOP: a DS8A00 has at most one expansion frame")
stop = 0
for f in frames:
    h, w, kg, kw = FRAME[f]
    why = []
    if kg > room["lift_kg"]:
        why.append(f"lift takes {room['lift_kg']} kg")
    if h > room["door_h_m"]:
        why.append(f"door is {room['door_h_m']} m high")
    if w > room["door_w_m"]:
        why.append(f"door is {room['door_w_m']} m wide")
    stop += bool(why)
    print(f"  {f}: packed {h} x {w} m, {kg} kg -> {'OK' if not why else 'STOP: ' + ', '.join(why)}")

kw = sum(FRAME[f][3] for f in frames)
area = (WIDTH_CM * len(frames)) * (DEPTH_CM + FRONT_CM + REAR_CM) / 10000
print(f"Peak power: {kw:.1f} kW of {room['power_kw']} kW -> {'OK' if kw <= room['power_kw'] else 'NOT ENOUGH'}")
print(f"Heat for the cooling team: up to {BTU_PER_FRAME * len(frames):,} BTU/h")
print(f"Floor incl. service clearance: {area:.2f} m2")
print("RESULT:", "fix the site before delivery" if stop or kw > room["power_kw"] else "site ready")

if "--check" in sys.argv:                 # only after IBM has installed the system
    model = dscli("lssi")[0]["Model"]
    used = {r["Frame"] for r in dscli("lsstgencl") + dscli("lsioenclosure")}
    print()
    print(f"DS8000 says: model {model}, enclosures in {len(used)} frame(s)")
    print(f"  base frame: plan {frames[0]}, box {model} -> {'OK' if frames[0] == model else 'DIFFERENT'}")
    print(f"  frames: plan {len(frames)}, box {len(used)} -> "
          f"{'OK' if len(frames) == len(used) else 'DIFFERENT: check the order and the install'}")

✅ Checkpoint: site_calc.py is saved in the lab folder.

2Check a DS8A50 with one expansion frame

Run this:

python site_calc.py

You should see this:

Frames: A05 + E05
  A05: packed 2.22 x 1.0 m, 924 kg -> OK
  E05: packed 2.22 x 1.0 m, 603 kg -> OK
Peak power: 19.3 kW of 25.0 kW -> OK
Heat for the cooling team: up to 69,600 BTU/h
Floor incl. service clearance: 3.99 m2
RESULT: site ready

Two frames need 19.3 kW at peak and up to 69,600 BTU/h of cooling, and with service clearance front and back they take about 4 m² of floor. The data centre manager needs that last number to book the space.

✅ Checkpoint: RESULT says “site ready” for A05 + E05.

3Try a configuration that isn’t allowed

A sales sheet says “two expansion frames”, so check it.

Run this:

python site_calc.py A05 E05 E05

You should see this:

Frames: A05 + E05 + E05
STOP: a DS8A00 has at most one expansion frame

A DS8A00 can have one expansion frame at most, so two frames in total. Catching this on paper costs nothing, but catching it when the truck arrives costs a lot.

✅ Checkpoint: The calculator stops on a second E05.

4Check the plan against the box and export the ports

IBM has now powered the system on. Scripts get a profile of their own, so save auto.profile in the lab folder. It uses the security.dat from Lesson 2 (copy it into the lab folder if it’s somewhere else).

Save this as auto.profile:

hmc1: 10.0.0.1
username: admin
pwfile: security.dat
devid: IBM.2107-78SV001
banner: off
header: on
format: delim
delim: ,

With the banner off, the header on and format delim, every DS CLI list prints one header row followed by plain comma-separated rows, which is easy for Python to read.

Run this:

python site_calc.py --check
python ds8sim.py -cfg auto.profile lsioport | Out-File -Encoding ascii ports.csv
Get-Content ports.csv -TotalCount 2

You should see this (after the site check lines you know from step 2):

DS8000 says: model A05, enclosures in 1 frame(s)
  base frame: plan A05, box A05 -> OK
  frames: plan 2, box 1 -> DIFFERENT: check the order and the install
ID,WWPN,State,Type,topo,portgrp,Security
I0010,50050763030130DD,Offline,Fibre Channel-LW,-,0,Disabled

--check asked the DS8000 for its model (lssi) and for the frames its enclosures sit in (lsstgencl, lsioenclosure). The base frame matches your plan. The practice DS8A50 has only one frame, so the check flags the E05; on a real install that line means either the expansion frame is missing or the plan was written for a different order.

The practice shell prints its one-line notice to the error stream, so it stays out of the file. On macOS and Linux use > ports.csv and head -2 ports.csv. In Windows PowerShell 5.1 a plain > saves the file as UTF-16, and that’s why the line above uses Out-File -Encoding ascii.

✅ Checkpoint: The check shows base frame OK, and ports.csv starts with the ID,WWPN header and has 16 port rows.

5Decode and verify every WWPN

Save this as wwpn.py next to ds8sim.py. It runs there on your laptop, not on the DS8000: it asks the DS8000 for the WWNN (lssi) and the port list (lsioport), then checks that each WWPN carries the same z and x:xx digits and that its YY:Y part matches the port ID.

If you give it a file name, it checks that sheet against the live WWNN instead of the live port list. You’ll need this in the break lab.

Save this as wwpn.py:

# wwpn.py - decode DS8000 port WWPNs (pattern from IBM Redbook SG24-8559-01, section 5.2.10)
# Runs on your workstation or jump server, not on the DS8000.
# It talks to the DS8000 only through the DS CLI (auto.profile: banner off, header on, format delim).
import sys
import csv, subprocess
DSCLI = ["python", "ds8sim.py", "-cfg", "auto.profile"]   # at work: ["dscli", "-cfg", "auto.profile"]

def dscli(*args):
    """Run one DS CLI command and return its rows as dictionaries."""
    out = subprocess.run(DSCLI + list(args), capture_output=True, text=True).stdout
    lines = [l for l in out.splitlines() if l and not l.startswith("SaatVedha") and not l.startswith("CMUC")]
    return list(csv.DictReader(lines))

def decode(wwpn):
    w = wwpn.replace(":", "").upper()
    if len(w) != 16 or not w.startswith("50050763"):
        return None
    yyy = int(w[10:13], 16) - 3          # YY:Y part = port location
    return {"z": w[9], "x": w[13:], "encl": yyy // 0x80,
            "card": yyy % 0x80 // 0x10, "port": yyy % 0x10 // 4}

wwnn = dscli("lssi")[0]["WWNN"].upper()   # storage image WWNN, straight from lssi
if len(sys.argv) > 1:                       # check a sheet someone sent you
    with open(sys.argv[1], newline="") as f:
        rows = list(csv.DictReader(f))
else:                                       # or the live port list
    rows = dscli("lsioport")
print(f"Storage image WWNN {wwnn}: z={wwnn[9]}, x:xx={wwnn[13:]}")
count = {}
print(f"{'ID':<6} {'WWPN':<17} {'Encl':>4} {'Card':>4} {'Port':>4}  Check")
for row in rows:
    d = decode(row["WWPN"])
    if d is None:
        print(f"{row['ID']:<6} {row['WWPN']:<17}  not a DS8000 WWPN (16 hex digits, starts 50050763)")
        continue
    same = d["z"] == wwnn[9] and d["x"] == wwnn[13:]
    name = f"I{d['encl']:02X}{d['card']:X}{d['port']:X}"
    check = "OK" if same and name == row["ID"] else (
        "WRONG SYSTEM" if not same else f"ID should be {name}")
    print(f"{row['ID']:<6} {row['WWPN']:<17} {d['encl']:>4} {d['card']:>4} {d['port']:>4}  {check}")
    topo = row["topo"] if row["topo"] != "-" else "not set"
    count[topo] = count.get(topo, 0) + 1
print()
print("Ports by topology:", ", ".join(f"{t} {n}" for t, n in sorted(count.items())))

Run this:

python wwpn.py

You should see this:

Storage image WWNN 5005076303FFF0DD: z=3, x:xx=0DD
ID     WWPN              Encl Card Port  Check
I0010  50050763030130DD     0    1    0  OK
I0011  50050763030170DD     0    1    1  OK
I0012  500507630301B0DD     0    1    2  OK
I0013  500507630301F0DD     0    1    3  OK
I0030  50050763030330DD     0    3    0  OK
I0031  50050763030370DD     0    3    1  OK
I0032  500507630303B0DD     0    3    2  OK
I0033  500507630303F0DD     0    3    3  OK
I0040  50050763030430DD     0    4    0  OK
I0041  50050763030470DD     0    4    1  OK
I0042  500507630304B0DD     0    4    2  OK
I0043  500507630304F0DD     0    4    3  OK
I0050  50050763030530DD     0    5    0  OK
I0051  50050763030570DD     0    5    1  OK
I0052  500507630305B0DD     0    5    2  OK
I0053  500507630305F0DD     0    5    3  OK

Ports by topology: FICON 1, SCSI-FCP 6, not set 9

Every port belongs to this system and every ID matches its WWPN. The port ID reads the same way: in I0032, 00 is the enclosure number, 3 the card and 2 the port, and the decoder pulls those same numbers back out of the WWPN. The summary tells the SAN team how many ports are ready for open systems (6 FCP), how many are for the mainframe (1 FICON) and how many still need a topology (9).

At work you’d run it from the jump server after every adapter change and send the list on to the SAN team, so nobody has to type a WWPN by hand. Topologies get set in Lesson 10.

✅ Checkpoint: All 16 rows say OK and the summary shows FICON 1, SCSI-FCP 6, not set 9.

6Look at the adapters behind the ports

One more check for the plan: which host adapters are installed, and is each one shortwave or longwave?

Run this:

python ds8sim.py -cfg lab.profile lshacard

You should see this (columns shortened):

ID                           I/O enclosure      Frame State  Type  Speed   Fibre Channel ports
=================================================================================================
IBM.1400-1B1-78SV0/R-1-P1-C1 IBM.1400-1B1-78SV0 1     Online FC-LW 32 Gb/s 4
IBM.1400-1B2-78SV0/R-1-P1-C3 IBM.1400-1B2-78SV0 1     Online FC-SW 32 Gb/s 4
IBM.1400-1B2-78SV0/R-1-P1-C4 IBM.1400-1B2-78SV0 1     Online FC-SW 32 Gb/s 4
IBM.1400-1B3-78SV0/R-1-P1-C5 IBM.1400-1B3-78SV0 1     Online FC-SW 32 Gb/s 4

There are four 4-port 32 Gb/s adapters. One is longwave, so its ports I0010 to I0013 can reach a switch up to 10 km away on single-mode fibre, and the other three are shortwave (OM4 up to 100 m at 32 Gbps). On a real order you’d also look at how the adapters are spread, because IBM advises one adapter in every I/O enclosure before any enclosure gets a second.

✅ Checkpoint: You can say which ports need single-mode fibre.