Getting Started with KVM for IBM z Systems

Getting Started with KVM for IBM z Systems

by Bill White, Marian Gasparovic, Franco Pinto, Richard Young
Released July 2016
Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
ISBN: 9780738441832

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Book description

This IBM® Redbooks® publication gives a broad explanation of the kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) for IBM z Systems™ (KVM for IBM z Systems) and how it uses the architecture of IBM z Systems platforms. It focuses on the planning of the environment and provides installation and configuration definitions that are necessary to build and manage KVM for IBM z Systems.

This publication is useful to IT architects and system administrators who plan for and install KVM for IBM z Systems. The reader is expected to have a good understanding of IBM z Systems hardware, KVM for IBM z Systems, Linux on z Systems, and virtualization concepts.

Table of contents

  1. Front cover
  2. Notices
    1. Trademarks
  3. IBM Redbooks promotions
  4. Preface
    1. Authors
    2. Now you can become a published author, too
    3. Comments welcome
    4. Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
  5. Chapter 1. KVM for IBM z Systems
    1. 1.1 Why KVM for IBM z Systems
      1. 1.1.1 Advantages of using KVM for IBM z Systems
    2. 1.2 z Systems platforms
      1. 1.2.1 z Systems platforms and KVM
      2. 1.2.2 Storage connectivity
      3. 1.2.3 Network connectivity
      4. 1.2.4 Hardware Management Console
      5. 1.2.5 Platform management
      6. 1.2.6 Open source virtualization
      7. 1.2.7 What comes with KVM for IBM z Systems
    3. 1.3 Managing and monitoring the environment
      1. 1.3.1 Libvirt management stack
      2. 1.3.2 IBM z Systems Hypervisor Performance Manager
      3. 1.3.3 Additional references
  6. Chapter 2. Planning the environment
    1. 2.1 Planning the installation of KVM for IBM z Systems
      1. 2.1.1 Hardware requirements
      2. 2.1.2 Software requirements
      3. 2.1.3 Installation considerations
      4. 2.1.4 Information for the installation
    2. 2.2 Planning virtualized resources for KVM virtual servers
      1. 2.2.1 Compute consideration
      2. 2.2.2 Storage consideration
      3. 2.2.3 Network consideration
      4. 2.2.4 Linux virtual machine considerations
      5. 2.2.5 Information for the Linux virtual machine installation
      6. 2.2.6 Linux virtual machine software consideration
      7. 2.2.7 Linux virtual machine live migration
    3. 2.3 Planning virtual machine management and monitoring
    4. 2.4 Planning KVM hypervisor management and monitoring
    5. 2.5 Planning KVM hypervisor security
      1. 2.5.1 FirewallD
      2. 2.5.2 Centralized authentication with LDAP
      3. 2.5.3 Linux Audit
      4. 2.5.4 Security Enhanced Linux
      5. 2.5.5 Cryptographic hardware
    6. 2.6 Planning KVM hypervisor and Linux backup and recovery
      1. 2.6.1 Planning for KVM hypervisor backup and recovery
      2. 2.6.2 Planning for virtual machine backup and recovery
  7. Chapter 3. Installing and configuring the environment
    1. 3.1 Defining the target configuration
      1. 3.1.1 Logical view
      2. 3.1.2 Physical resources
    2. 3.2 Preparing the infrastructure
    3. 3.3 Collecting information
      1. 3.3.1 Planning considerations for KVM for IBM z Systems
      2. 3.3.2 Information that required for the KVM for IBM z Systems installation
      3. 3.3.3 Planning considerations for virtual machines
      4. 3.3.4 Information that is required for the virtual machine installation
    4. 3.4 Preparing the installation
    5. 3.5 Installing KVM for IBM z Systems
    6. 3.6 Configuring KVM for IBM z Systems
      1. 3.6.1 Identifying the IPL device
      2. 3.6.2 Applying maintenance
      3. 3.6.3 Defining NICs
      4. 3.6.4 Defining Open vSwitches
      5. 3.6.5 Adding LUNs
    7. 3.7 Deploying virtual machines
      1. 3.7.1 Preparing the environment
      2. 3.7.2 Installing Linux on z Systems
      3. 3.7.3 Modifying domain definitions
      4. 3.7.4 Linux on z Systems configuration
  8. Chapter 4. Monitoring the environment
    1. 4.1 Availability monitoring and real-time event analytics
      1. 4.1.1 The Elastic Stack
      2. 4.1.2 Nagios monitoring and alerting
    2. 4.2 Performance monitoring
      1. 4.2.1 Collectd and Elastic Stack
      2. 4.2.2 Sysstat Sar and kSar
  9. Chapter 5. Managing the environment
    1. 5.1 Resource management
      1. 5.1.1 IBM Dynamic Partition Manager
      2. 5.1.2 Kimchi
      3. 5.1.3 virsh
      4. 5.1.4 Virtual Machine Manager
      5. 5.1.5 OpenStack
      6. 5.1.6 How to choose the correct tool
    2. 5.2 Recovery management
      1. 5.2.1 A possible backup and recovery scenario
    3. 5.3 Security management
      1. 5.3.1 LDAP authentication
      2. 5.3.2 Linux Audit
      3. 5.3.3 Firewalld: Network access control
  10. Appendix A. Installing KVM for IBM z Systems with ECKD devices
    1. Parameter file
  11. Appendix B. The IBM z Systems Hypervisor Performance Manager: Basic setup and use
  12. Back cover

Product information

  • Title: Getting Started with KVM for IBM z Systems
  • Author(s): Bill White, Marian Gasparovic, Franco Pinto, Richard Young
  • Release date: July 2016
  • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
  • ISBN: 9780738441832