Edit: Some links no longer work.
Originally posted November 5, 2013 on AIXchange
During the recent Enterprise2013 event, IBMers Glen Corneau and Bill Miller gave a nice presentation on PowerVC, the new virtualization management product.
We were also able to see a live demo. The understanding was that this isn’t GA code that will be present once the product is actually released, but what we saw represented the functionality that’s expected to be delivered.
I noticed the following in one of the slide decks: “with PowerVC you can register physical hosts, a storage subsystem, and network resources and use them to create a virtual environment. You can create, resize and attach volumes to virtual machines. You can monitor the utilization of the resources in your environment, and you can migrate virtual machines while they are running. You can capture a virtual machine that is configured the way you want it to be.”
PowerVC is designed to be simple to install and configure, while providing an intuitive user interface. What we saw in Orlando reminded me of the V7000 or XIV interfaces (perhaps you’re familiar with them).
PowerVC is built on OpenStack, which includes open APIs that are designed to provide flexibility and agility. There are two editions, Express and Standard. Express is meant for IVM-managed servers, while standard is intended to be used on HMC managed servers. POWER6, POWER7 and POWER7+ are all supported. On the OS side, AIX and PowerLinux are currently supported, while IBM says IBM i will be supported in a future PowerVC release.
PowerVC is run on top of a RHEL 6.4 OS image running on Power or x86 with a minimum of 8 GB of memory, two virtual uncapped CPUs with a minimum of one entitled CPU (two entitled CPUs are recommended) along with 40 GB of disk (or more if you plan on importing many .iso images). For now, the IBM SVC storage family — SVC, V7000, V3700, V3500 — with V6.4 or later code must be used. PowerVC is currently is limited to one managed storage subsystem.
The PowerVC server must be able to talk across the network to the storage, fabric and IVM/VIOS LPARs. This product does not install VIOS for you; it assumes that IVM/VIOS is already configured and installed.
With the Express edition, IVM 2.2.1.5 or later is required. You can run Virtual SCSI only, and your storage must be pre-zoned. This edition has a limit of five managed hosts and a maximum of 100 LPARs.
Standard edition requires HMC V7.7.8 or later running on CR5/C08 or later HMC models. You must be running VIOS V2.2.3 or later. It supports NPIV only, and Brocade switches only. (Note: Hopefully more vendors’ storage and network products will be supported in future releases, but we need to be sure to let those vendors know that they need to provide APIs to OpenStack.) Ten managed hosts and 40 LPARs per host are allowed, for a maximum of 400 LPARs.
The charts from the presentation in Orlando also detail the differences between VMControl V2.4.3 and PowerVC V1.2.
VMControl:
_ Supports AIX, Linux and IBM i
_ Supports IVM and HMC
_ Suspend/Resume workloads
_ Remote Restart workloads
_ LPM to host or pool
_ Virtual SCSI and NPIV (with appropriate storage+SAN)
_ VIOS Shared Storage Pool support
_ Requires IBM Systems Director
_ Supports NIM-based, SCS-based and SSP capture/deploy
_ Supports IBM DS8000-family, XIV, SVC-family, DS storage
_ Limited third party disk support
Use VMControl if you are looking for the following capabilities across multiple platforms:
• Cross-platform management, navigation and look and feel
• Management of multi-workload system pools, Virtual Image Versioning management
• System Pool creation and Manage workload availability end to end
• Supports NIM, SCS and Shared Storage Pool deployment environments
• Supports NPIV and VSCI environments for XIV, SVC, V7000, and DS8000
• Requires IBM Systems Director as a base
PowerVC
_ Supports AIX, Linux
_ IBM i is a statement of direction
_ Supports IVM and HMC
_ LPM to host
_ Virtual SCSI and NPIV (with appropriate storage+SAN)
_ Built on OpenStack, no IBM Systems Director dependency
_ Supports SCS-type image capture/deploy
_ Supports ISO images
_ Supports SVC-family storage
_ Modify resources during deploy
Use PowerVC if you want to manage Virtual Machines on Power running Linux or AIX:
• PowerVC is advanced virtualization management for Power Systems
• Fast time to value and quick integration with SmartCloud bundle
• PowerVC initial offering supports NPIV, V7000 or SVC and Brocade switches
• Virtual Machine Image management, deployment, relocation, capture and creation
• Create and manage virtual machines, automate workload and resource provisioning
• Offered standalone or as part of SmartCloud bundle and AIX Enterprise Edition
Learn more about PowerVC:
PowerVC on Service Management Connect
On another note, I saw this on a mailing list:
Flex System Manager v1.3.1: for Android and iOS1.3.1
This release went live Friday, October 12, 2013.
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ibm.msm.android
iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibm-flex-system-manager-for/id576901013?ls=1&mt=8
And finally, more Twitter discussion from @robmcnelly:
@chromeaix 9h #Oracle documented their policies for software licensing See http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/pricing/software-investment-guide/index …
RT @cgibbo RT @mymindspace: “Best Practice” recommendation for #AIX Virtual Memory Manager settings for #DB2: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21328602 …
RT @chromeaix IBM Software PVU value for any Power Systems core running Linux is now set to 70 #powerSystems #linux http://ow.ly/qnJD9
@IBMRedbooks 22h IBM Power Systems – it is all made by one company! Read our new blog post here: http://ibm.co/16NxOSd #PowerSystems
RT @BreakingNews FAA: Airlines can safely expand passenger use of portable electronic devices during all phases of flight – @NBCNews
@IBMPowereSupp 30 Oct This is what we were showing at #Enterprise2013 RT @IBMPowereSupp: Support Portal is out and it’s not scary at all! http://support.ibm.com
@attritionorg 29 Oct Telnet of the Day: 107.21.219.86
@IBMRedbooks 29 Oct William Lowe, the ‘father of the IBM PC,’ dies at 72: http://cnet.co/1irimjS
@UnixToolTip 29 Oct “Pointing and clicking does not scale.”