Maximizing IT with Power Systems

IBM PowerVM™ Virtualization

Complexity can work its way into your IT infrastructure. Potential culprits include introduction of new applications and unanticipated growth. You add a server each time you have a new demand, a new application. With each new server, additional floor space, power, cooling, network interfaces, data storage and administrative staff may be required.

The answer is consolidation and virtual- ization. New technologies have emerged that allow organizations to Highlights consolidate multiple operating systems and software stacks on a single plat- ■ Consolidate a diverse set of ■ Dynamically adjust server capa- form, and allocate the platform to meet applications from multiple oper- bility to meet changing work- specific business and application ating systems on a single load demands requirements in a more dynamic fash- server: AIX®, IBM i, and Linux® ion. The latest IBM advances in virtual- ■ Move running partitions ization may offer even more possibilities ■ Virtualize processor and I/O between servers to avoid than you’ve heard about before. resources increasing asset uti- planned downtime lization and reducing system costs The IBM Power™ Systems family of ● Application development and test- With PowerVM on Power Systems, you servers includes proven1 server consoli- ing in secure, independent domains have both the power and flexibility to dation platforms that help you control ● Live movement of operating envi- address multiple system requirements costs while improving overall ronments to support server migra- in a single machine. PowerVM performance, availability and energy tions, systems balancing, or to avoid Micro-Partitioning™ supports up to efficiency. With these servers and planned downtime 10 dynamic logical partitions per IBM PowerVM™ virtualization technolo- processor core. So, depending upon gies, capabilities and offerings, your Processor Virtualization the Power server, you can run up to business can consolidate applications The Power Systems family gives you 254 independent servers—each with its and servers, virtualization system the freedom to run a wide variety of own processors and memory resources resources, and provide a more flexible, applications without the costs and within a single physical Power server. dynamic IT infrastructure. complexity often associated with Processor resources can be assigned managing multiple physical servers. at a granularity of 1/100th of core. PowerVM offers a secure virtualization PowerVM can help eliminate underuti- Consolidating systems with PowerVM environment, built on the advanced lized servers because it is designed to can help cut operational costs, improve RAS features and leadership perform- pool resources and optimize their use availability, ease management and ance2 of the Power Systems platform. across multiple application environ- improve service levels, while allowing ments and operating systems. Through businesses to quickly deploy Employing Virtualization advanced dynamic logical partitioning applications. You can employ virtualization in many (LPAR) capabilities, a single partition ways to achieve improvements in can act as a completely separate AIX, Multiple Shared Processor efficiency and flexibility: i, or Linux operating environment. Pools* allows for automatic non- Partitions can have dedicated or shared disruptive balancing of processing ● Consolidation of several environ- processors resources. With shared power between partitions assigned to ments including underutilized resources, PowerVM can automatically shared pools resulting in increased servers and systems with varied adjust pooled processor resources throughput. It also provides the ability and dynamic resource requirements across multiple operating systems, bor- to cap the processor core resources ● Rapid deployment of new work- rowing processing power from idle par- used by a group of partitions to poten- loads to meet IT or business titions to handle high transaction tially reduce processor-based software demands volumes in other partitions. licensing costs. Shared Dedicated Capacity* allows for adapters and disk drives, and tape designed to support the consolidation the “donation” of spare CPU cycles adapters and tape drives in each client of x86 applications onto the Power from dedicated processor partitions to partition. With VIOS, AIX, i, and Linux platform to take advantage of advanced a Shared Processor Pool. The dedi- partitions can easily be created for test, performance, scalability, and RAS char- cated partition maintains absolute prior- development, or production purposes. acteristics. PowerVM Lx86 enables the ity for dedicated CPU cycles. Enabling dynamic execution of x86 Linux instruc- this feature may help to increase sys- N Port ID Virtualization (NPIV)* provides tions by mapping them to instructions tem utilization, without compromising direct access to Fiber Channel on a POWER processor-based system the computing power for critical work- Adapters from multiple client partitions, and caching the mapped instructions to loads in a dedicated processor. simplifying the deployment and optimize performance. management of Fibre Channel SAN PowerVM Logical Partitioning for environments. Systems Management POWER6 processor-based systems PowerVM virtualization features are has received the Common Criteria Partition Mobility managed through the Hardware Evaluation and Validation Scheme Live Partition Mobility* supports the Management Console (HMC) or the (CCEVS) EAL4+ certification3 for secu- movement of a running AIX or Linux Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM) rity capabilities. partition from one physical server to on entry systems. another compatible server without I/O Virtualization application downtime, helping avoid IVM literally allows you to point, click The Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) is a application interruption for planned sys- and consolidate workloads with its easy special-purpose partition which pro- tem maintenance, provisioning, and to use browser-based interface. IVM vides virtual I/O resources to client par- workload management. Live Partition lowers the cost of entry into POWER6 titions. The Virtual I/O Server owns the Mobility can be used to easily migrate and POWER5™ processor-based virtu- resources that are shared with clients. operating environments to new servers alization since it does not require the A physical adapter assigned to the temporarily or permanently. use of an HMC for single system parti- VIOS partition can be shared by one or tioning. With IVM, you can partition a more other partitions. VIOS is designed x86 Linux Applications single system, including the creation of to reduce costs by eliminating the need PowerVM Lx86 enables you to run a LPARs, and management of virtual stor- for dedicated network adapters, disk wide range of x86 Linux applications4 age and virtual Ethernet. on Power Systems platforms within a Linux on Power partition. This feature is IBM Systems Director also supports the PowerVM Standard Edition is sup- Enterprise increases flexibility and agility PowerVM environment. Systems ported on POWER5 and POWER6 to ensure business process integrity, Director is the IBM management tool processor based severs and blades improve service and application per- for multiple, heterogeneous servers. It and supports the features included formance, and better manage applica- supports AIX, i, Linux as well x86 oper- in Express Edition plus full micro- tion health. ating environments. Systems Director partitioning, HMC management, and supports advanced management func- Multiple Shared Processor Pools.* Help from the Experts tions such as health check and topol- IBM’s depth and breadth of expertise in ogy mappings as well as the ability to PowerVM Enterprise Edition is offered IBM Power Systems servers is virtually take action on monitored events. exclusively on POWER6™ processor- unmatched. Our IBM Global services based servers and blades and includes technical consultants not only have PowerVM Editions all the features of PowerVM Standard hands-on experience and longtime IBM PowerVM Editions offer broad vir- Edition plus Live Partition Mobility. familiarity with these state-of-the-art tualization functionality for AIX, i and servers, but they also maintain intimate Linux operating systems: Diverse Set of Workloads knowledge of emerging technologies, Many IBM Software Group offerings are software releases and hardware PowerVM Express Edition is offered optimized for a PowerVM environment enhancements through IBM develop- exclusively on the Power 520 and supporting the consolidation of a ment teams and research laboratories. Power 550 Express servers and is diverse set of workloads—from data- When your organization works with designed for users looking for an intro- base and application servers to Web IBM to implement PowerVM capabili- duction to more advanced virtualization infrastructure. For example, PowerVM ties, you can benefit from the extensive features at a highly affordable price. and WebSphere® Virtual Enterprise intellectual capital and implementation With the Express Edition, users can work together to provide a cross sys- methods that the entire IBM Global create up to three partitions on the tem virtualized application infrastructure Services team has accumulated, tested server with IVM, leverage virtualized that can lower operational and energy and proven over the years. disk and optical devices with VIOS and costs required to create, run, and man- even try out PowerVM Lx86. age your enterprise applications and SOA environment. WebSphere Virtual Feature Benefits

Hypervisor ● Supports multiple operating environments on a single system

Micro-Partitioning™ ● Enables up to 10 partitions per processor core

Dynamic Logical Partitioning ● Processor, memory, and I/O resources can be dynamically moved between partitions ● Partitions can use dedicated or shared (capped or uncapped) processor resources ● Processor resources can automatically move between partitions based on workload demands Multiple Shared Processor Pools* ● Processor resources for a group of partitions can be capped helping to reduce software license requirements

Virtual I/O Server ● Virtualizes I/O resources (disk, tape, Ethernet) for client partitions simplifying management and reducing system costs

Integrated Virtualization Manager ● Simplifies partition creation and management for entry Power servers

PowerVM Lx86 ● Supports running many x86 Linux applications in a Linux on Power partition

Live Partition Mobility* ● Running AIX and Linux partitions can be moved to another system, helping to avoid planned downtime

NPIV* ● Simplifies the management and improves performance of Fibre Channel SAN environments

System Planning Tool ● Simplifies the planning for and installation of Power servers with PowerVM For more information © Copyright IBM Corporation 2008 To learn more about PowerVM, IBM Corporation Integrated Marketing Communications please contact your IBM marketing Systems and Technology Group representative or IBM Business Partner, Route 100 Somers, NY 10589 or visit the following Web sites: Produced in the United States ibm.com/systems/power/software/ October 2008 All Rights Reserved virtualization/index.html This document was developed for products and/or services offered in the United States. IBM may not offer the products, features or services discussed in this document in other countries. The information may be subject to change without notice. Consult your local IBM business contact for information on the products, features and services available in your area. All statements regarding IBM future directions and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only. The following terms are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and/or other countries: AIX, This equipment is subject to FCC rules. It will BladeCenter, i5/OS, IBM, IBM (logo), ibm.com comply with the appropriate FCC rules before The following terms are trademarks of final delivery to the buyer. Information International Business Machines Corporation in concerning non-IBM products was obtained the United States and/or other countries: AIX from the suppliers of these products or other 5L, AIX, Micro-Partitioning, POWER, PowerVM, public sources. Questions on the capabilities of PowerVM (logo), Power Architecture, Power the non-IBM products should be addressed Family, POWER Hypervisor, Power PC, Power with the suppliers. Systems, Power Systems (logo), Power All performance information was determined in a Systems Software, Power Systems Software controlled environment. Actual results may vary. (logo), POWER5, POWER5+, POWER6, Performance information is provided “AS IS” POWER6+, System i, System i5, System p, and no warranties or guarantees are expressed System p5, System Storage. or implied by IBM. Buyers should consult other UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open sources of information, including system Group in the United States, other countries or benchmarks, to evaluate the performance of a both. system they are considering buying. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the 1 PowerVM Case Studies: ibm.com/systems/ United States, other countries or both. power/success/index.html Other company, product and service names 2 Power Systems benchmark results: may be trademarks or service marks of others. ibm.com/systems/power/hardware/ IBM hardware products are manufactured from benchmarks/index.html new parts, or new and used parts. In some 3 Common Criteria Evaluation and Validation cases, the hardware product may not be new Scheme (CCEVS) EAL4 Augmented with and may have been previously installed. ALC_FLR.2 certification: www.niap-ccevs.org/ Regardless, our warranty terms apply. cc-scheme/st/index.cfm/vid/10178 Photographs show engineering and design 4 PowerVM Lx86 application qualifications: models. Changes may be incorporated in ibm.com/systems/power/software/ production models. virtualization/editions/lx86/qual.html Copying or downloading the images contained * Supported on selected POWER6 processor- in this document is expressly prohibited without based servers the written consent of IBM.

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