Introduction to IBM PowerVM

Introduction to IBM PowerVM

by Turgut Genc, Ivaylo Bozhinov, Muhammad Mahmood, Ahmed Mashhour, Ayman Mostafa, Vivek Shukla, Prerna Upmanyu
Released March 2023
Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
ISBN: 9780738461021

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Book description

Virtualization plays an important role in resource efficiency by optimizing performance, reducing costs, and improving business continuity. IBM PowerVM® provides a secure and scalable server virtualization environment for IBM AIX®, IBM® i, and Linux applications. PowerVM is built on the advanced reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) features and leading performance of IBM Power servers.

This IBM Redbooks® publication introduces PowerVM virtualization technologies on Power servers. This publication targets clients who are new to Power servers and introduces the available capabilities of the PowerVM platform. This publication includes the following chapters:


  • Chapter 1, "IBM PowerVM overview" introduces PowerVM and provides a high-level overview of the capabilities and benefits of the platform.
  • Chapter 2, "IBM PowerVM features in details" provides a more in-depth review of PowerVM capabilities for system administrators and architects to familiarize themselves with its features.
  • Chapter 3, "Planning for IBM PowerVM" provides planning guidance about PowerVM to prepare for the implementation of the solution.
  • Chapter 4, "Implementing IBM PowerVM" describes and details configuration steps to implement PowerVM, starting from implementing the Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) to storage and network I/O virtualization configurations.
  • Chapter 5, "Managing the PowerVM environment" focuses on systems management, day-to-day operations, monitoring, and maintenance.
  • Chapter 6, "Automation on IBM Power servers" explains available techniques, utilities, and benefits of modern automation solutions.

Table of contents

  1. Front cover
  2. Notices
    1. Trademarks
  3. Preface
    1. Authors
    2. Now you can become a published author, too!
    3. Comments welcome
    4. Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
  4. Chapter 1. IBM PowerVM overview
    1. 1.1 PowerVM introduction
    2. 1.2 IBM Power
      1. 1.2.1 OpenPOWER
      2. 1.2.2 Operating systems support on IBM Power servers
    3. 1.3 PowerVM facts and features
      1. 1.3.1 PowerVM hypervisor
      2. 1.3.2 Virtual I/O Server
      3. 1.3.3 Hardware Management Console
      4. 1.3.4 PowerVM NovaLink
      5. 1.3.5 Service processor
      6. 1.3.6 Virtualization Management Interface
      7. 1.3.7 Logical partitioning
      8. 1.3.8 Dynamic logical partitioning
      9. 1.3.9 Capacity on Demand
      10. 1.3.10 Power Enterprise Pools
      11. 1.3.11 Live Partition Mobility
      12. 1.3.12 Simplified Remote Restart
      13. 1.3.13 AIX Workload Partitions
      14. 1.3.14 IBM System Planning Tool
      15. 1.3.15 Micro-Partitioning
      16. 1.3.16 POWER processor compatibility modes
      17. 1.3.17 Simultaneous multithreading
      18. 1.3.18 Shared processor pools
      19. 1.3.19 Active Memory Mirroring
      20. 1.3.20 Active Memory Expansion
      21. 1.3.21 Shared storage pools
      22. 1.3.22 Virtual SCSI
      23. 1.3.23 Virtual Fibre Channel
      24. 1.3.24 Virtual optical device and tape
      25. 1.3.25 Virtual Ethernet Adapters
      26. 1.3.26 Shared Ethernet Adapter
      27. 1.3.27 Single-root I/O virtualization
      28. 1.3.28 Hybrid Network Virtualization
    4. 1.4 PowerVM resiliency and availability
    5. 1.5 PowerVM scalability
    6. 1.6 PowerVM security
    7. 1.7 PowerVM and the cloud
    8. 1.8 PowerVC enhanced benefits
  5. Chapter 2. IBM PowerVM features in details
    1. 2.1 Processor virtualization
      1. 2.1.1 Dedicated processors
      2. 2.1.2 Dedicated donating
      3. 2.1.3 Shared processors
      4. 2.1.4 Virtual processors
      5. 2.1.5 Multiple shared processor pools
    2. 2.2 Memory virtualization
      1. 2.2.1 Logical memory block
      2. 2.2.2 Active Memory Expansion
    3. 2.3 Storage virtualization
      1. 2.3.1 Virtual SCSI
      2. 2.3.2 Virtual Fibre Channel
      3. 2.3.3 Shared storage pools
    4. 2.4 Network virtualization
      1. 2.4.1 Virtual Ethernet Adapter
      2. 2.4.2 Shared Ethernet Adapter
      3. 2.4.3 Single-root I/O virtualization
      4. 2.4.4 SR-IOV with virtual Network Interface Controller
      5. 2.4.5 Hybrid Network Virtualization
    5. 2.5 Dynamic logical partitioning
    6. 2.6 Partition mobility
      1. 2.6.1 Live Partition Mobility
    7. 2.7 Simplified Remote Restart
      1. 2.7.1 PowerVC automated remote restart
    8. 2.8 VM Recovery Manager
      1. 2.8.1 VM Recovery Manager HA
      2. 2.8.2 VM Recovery Manager DR
    9. 2.9 Capacity on Demand
      1. 2.9.1 CoD offerings
    10. 2.10 Power Enterprise Pools
      1. 2.10.1 Power Enterprise Pools 1.0
      2. 2.10.2 Power Enterprise Pools 2.0 (IBM Power Systems Private Cloud with Shared Utility Capacity)
      3. 2.10.3 Comparing PEP 1.0 and PEP 2.0
      4. 2.10.4 Migrating from PEP 1.0 to PEP 2.0
  6. Chapter 3. Planning for IBM PowerVM
    1. 3.1 PowerVM prerequisites
      1. 3.1.1 Hardware requirements
      2. 3.1.2 Software requirements
    2. 3.2 Processor virtualization planning
      1. 3.2.1 Dedicated processors planning
      2. 3.2.2 Shared processors planning
      3. 3.2.3 Virtual processors planning
      4. 3.2.4 Shared processor pools capacity planning
      5. 3.2.5 Software licensing in a virtualized environment
    3. 3.3 Memory virtualization planning
      1. 3.3.1 Hypervisor memory planning
      2. 3.3.2 Active Memory Expansion planning
    4. 3.4 Virtual I/O Server planning
      1. 3.4.1 Specifications that are required to create the VIOS
      2. 3.4.2 Redundancy considerations
    5. 3.5 Storage virtualization planning
      1. 3.5.1 Virtual SCSI planning
      2. 3.5.2 Virtual Fibre Channel planning
      3. 3.5.3 Redundancy configurations for virtual Fibre Channel adapters
      4. 3.5.4 Virtual SCSI and Virtual Fibre Channel comparison
      5. 3.5.5 Availability planning for virtual storage
      6. 3.5.6 Shared storage pools planning
    6. 3.6 Network virtualization planning
      1. 3.6.1 Virtual Ethernet planning
      2. 3.6.2 Virtual LAN planning
      3. 3.6.3 Virtual switches planning
      4. 3.6.4 Shared Ethernet Adapter planning
      5. 3.6.5 SR-IOV planning
      6. 3.6.6 SR-IOV with vNIC planning
    7. 3.7 Further considerations
  7. Chapter 4. Implementing IBM PowerVM
    1. 4.1 Adding the managed system to the Hardware Management Console
      1. 4.1.1 eBMC and Virtualization Management Interface configuration
    2. 4.2 Creating, installing, and configuring a Virtual I/O Server logical partition
      1. 4.2.1 HMC versus PowerVM NovaLink managed environment
      2. 4.2.2 Creating the VIOS LPAR on an HMC-managed environment
      3. 4.2.3 VIOS installation methods
      4. 4.2.4 VIOS initial configuration
    3. 4.3 Network configuration
      1. 4.3.1 Virtual network configuration
      2. 4.3.2 Single-root I/O virtualization configuration
    4. 4.4 Creating and installing a client LPAR
      1. 4.4.1 Creating a client LPAR
      2. 4.4.2 Capturing and deploying VMs with PowerVC
      3. 4.4.3 Client LPAR storage configuration
      4. 4.4.4 Client LPAR network configuration
      5. 4.4.5 Installing the client operating system
    5. 4.5 VIOS security implementation
      1. 4.5.1 VIOS user types and role-based access control configuration
      2. 4.5.2 Configuring security hardening (viosecure)
    6. 4.6 Shared processor pools
    7. 4.7 Active Memory Expansion implementation
      1. 4.7.1 Activating AME
    8. 4.8 Active Memory Mirroring implementation
    9. 4.9 Live Partition Mobility implementation
    10. 4.10 PowerVC Implementation
  8. Chapter 5. Managing the IBM PowerVM environment
    1. 5.1 Hardware Management Console management best practices
      1. 5.1.1 HMC upgrades
      2. 5.1.2 HMC backup and restore
      3. 5.1.3 HMC monitoring capabilities
    2. 5.2 Firmware management best practices
      1. 5.2.1 Firmware terminology
      2. 5.2.2 Determining the type of firmware installation
      3. 5.2.3 Planning firmware updates and upgrades
      4. 5.2.4 System firmware maintenance best practices
      5. 5.2.5 I/O adapter firmware management
    3. 5.3 VIOS management best practices
      1. 5.3.1 Single VIOS
      2. 5.3.2 Dual or multiple VIOSs
      3. 5.3.3 VIOS backup and restore
      4. 5.3.4 VIOS upgrade
      5. 5.3.5 VIOS monitoring
    4. 5.4 LPAR management best practices
      1. 5.4.1 LPAR configuration management
      2. 5.4.2 LPAR performance management
      3. 5.4.3 Operating systems monitoring
    5. 5.5 Management solutions on PowerVM
      1. 5.5.1 Migration solutions
      2. 5.5.2 Availability solutions
      3. 5.5.3 Security solutions
      4. 5.5.4 Workload optimization solutions
    6. 5.6 Management tools on Power servers
      1. 5.6.1 Performance and Capacity Monitor
      2. 5.6.2 The nmon analyzer
      3. 5.6.3 Microcode Discovery Service
      4. 5.6.4 Fix Level Recommendation Tool
    7. 5.7 PowerVC
  9. Chapter 6. Automation on IBM Power servers
    1. 6.1 Automation tools for Power servers
      1. 6.1.1 Puppet
      2. 6.1.2 Chef
      3. 6.1.3 Ansible
      4. 6.1.4 Terraform
    2. 6.2 Ansible automation for Power servers
      1. 6.2.1 Ansible Content Collections
      2. 6.2.2 Ansible Automation Platform 2 for IBM Power Systems
    3. 6.3 Automating IBM Power Virtualization Center with Ansible
  10. Related publications
    1. IBM Redbooks
    2. Online resources
    3. Help from IBM
  11. Back cover

Product information

  • Title: Introduction to IBM PowerVM
  • Author(s): Turgut Genc, Ivaylo Bozhinov, Muhammad Mahmood, Ahmed Mashhour, Ayman Mostafa, Vivek Shukla, Prerna Upmanyu
  • Release date: March 2023
  • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
  • ISBN: 9780738461021