Virtualization with IBM i, PowerVM and Power Systems

Virtualization technologies support IBM i, AIX, Linux, Windows, and VMware ESX applications

IBM Power Systems can help your business grow by simplifying the IT infrastructure needed to support today's diverse applications. In addition to running applications built for IBM i, Power Systems also support business applications built for AIX, Linux and Windows.

You can run IBM i, AIX, and Linux applications in logical partitions on a single server while connecting one or more BladeCenter® or System x™ servers via iSCSI, allowing you to optimize your investments by leveraging virtualization technologies to share processors and memory resources, move resources where they are needed, exploit the IBM i storage subsystem, and leverage your existing skills and best practices.

Virtualization technologies can be used to consolidate management of resources utilized across multiple operating systems and applications.

Logical Partitions (IBM i LPAR and PowerVM)

• IBM i
• IBM AIX®
• Linux® on POWER™

iSCSI Interface (IBM i integration with BladeCenter and System x)

• Microsoft® Windows®
• VMware® ESX

• AIX

  AIX® is an open, UNIX® operating system that allows you to run applications, on IBM Power Systems. AIX provides you with new levels of flexibility and performance. AIX delivers high levels of security, integration, flexibility and reliability—essential for meeting the demands of today's information technology environments. Using IBM's virtualization technologies, AIX can run in the same environments as IBM i.

  • Learn more about AIX

  Using virtualization technologies to consolidate/deploy IBM i and AIX applications on a single Power System

  IBM Power Systems are designed to pool resources and optimize the use of those resources across multiple applications and operating systems. Through advanced Micro-Partitioning capabilities, IBM i and AIX can be supported on a single IBM Power System — giving companies the freedom to run a wide variety of business applications without the cost and complexity often associated with managing multiple physical servers.

  A single partition acts as a completely separate installation of IBM i or AIX, with all of its required resources. With the capacity to support up to ten dynamic LPARs (Logical Partitions) per processor, PowerVM helps simplify IT infrastructures by allowing companies to deploy new applications and consolidate operations on a single, highly flexible, resilient server. PowerVM enables you to adjust pooled processor resources automatically across operating systems by borrowing processing power from idle partitions to help handle high transaction volumes in other partitions. Consolidating your systems with PowerVM can help cut operational costs, improve availability management and service levels, quickly deploy applications, increase your ability to cost justify the modernization of networks and centralize international operations.

  Logical partitions can also use virtual Ethernet technology on the IBM i offering. Thousands of individual virtual networks can be defined to provide fast and secure connections among the multiple operating systems, for effective application-to-application communications.

  IBM i on Power Systems deliver an advanced storage architecture that provides more flexibility than conventional UNIX, Windows and Linux server implementations. With IBM i on Power Systems, all disks can be managed as a single pool of RAID or mirrored, protected storage—helping to simplify data administration and improve productivity by boosting storage utilization rates. One pool of disk drives can be managed by IBM i and space can be allocated to each of the multiple operating systems.

  One consolidated backup can greatly reduce the costs and effort to protect company data stored in applications on a variety of servers. Through storage virtualization, IBM i on Power Systems, can deliver excellent performance to multiple applications, maximize the utilization of the storage resources, and reduce the storage management costs typically associated with server farms.

  Applications

  Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) provide a breadth of cross-industry applications for the IBM i operating system, a focus which began with the AS/400® and continues today. Having available business applications for both the IBM i and AIX operating systems that can be running/supported simultaneously on a single Power System, provides customers with the flexibility to choose the right application to satisfy their business needs.

  Choosing an application should be about finding the best solution to meet your business demands, not just the ones that fit a single operating system. With the growing complexities of business, many customers find that no single operating system has all the solutions to meet their business requirements. How can your server infrastructure support solutions running on diverse operating systems while maintaining infrastructure simplicity? If you license the IBM i operating system for an IBM Power System, it's easy. Choose from the vast selection of IBM i, Windows, Linux and, AIX applications and deploy on a IBM i platform while making use of virtualization and systems management technologies which simplify the management of applications and the associated resources across all four operating systems.

  • Search for an application to meet your business requirements

  Application Integration

  You can integrate your AIX applications with your business applications and data running in IBM i. There are several methods to access information in DB2 for i from AIX partitions including the IBM Toolbox for Java™ and DB2 Connect.

  IBM System Planning Tool

  The System Planning Tool (SPT) helps you plan and configure a Power System with both IBM i and AIX in logical partitions. The SPT is available to assist the user in system planning, design, validation and to provide a system validation report that reflects the user’s system requirements while not exceeding system recommendations.

  • Learn more
• Linux on Power

  Both Red Hat and Novell SUSE Linux run natively on Power Systems, offering a scalable alternative for your open source applications.

  • Learn more about Linux

  Using virtualization technologies to consolidate/deploy IBM i and Linux applications on a single Power System

  IBM Power Systems are designed to pool resources and optimize the use of those pooled resources across multiple application and operating systems. Through advanced Micro-Partitioning capabilities, IBM i and Linux can be supported on a single IBM Power System — giving companies the freedom to run a wide variety of business applications without the costs and complexity often associated with managing multiple physical servers.

  A single partition acts as a completely separate installation of IBM i or Linux, with all of its required resources. With the capacity to support up to ten dynamic LPARs (Logical Partition) per processor, PowerVM can help simplify IT infrastructures by allowing companies to deploy new applications and consolidate operations on a single, highly flexible, resilient server. PowerVM enables you to adjust pooled processor resources automatically across operating systems by borrowing processing power from idle partitions to help handle high transaction volumes in other partitions. Consolidating your systems with PowerVM can help cut operational costs, improve availability management and service levels, quickly deploy applications, increase your ability to cost justify the modernization of networks, and centralize international operations.

  Logical partitions can also use virtual Ethernet technology on the IBM i offering. Thousands of individual virtual networks can be defined to provide fast and secure connections among the multiple operating systems, for effective application-to-application communications.

  IBM i on Power Systems deliver an advanced storage architecture that provides more flexibility than conventional UNIX, Windows and Linux server implementations. With IBM i on Power Systems, all disks can be managed as a single pool of RAID-5 or mirrored, protected storage—helping to simplify data administration and improve productivity by boosting storage utilization rates. One pool of disk drives can be managed by IBM i and space can be allocated to each of the multiple operating systems.

  One consolidated backup can greatly reduce the costs and effort to protect company data stored in applications on a variety of servers. Through storage virtualization, IBM i on Power Systems, can deliver excellent performance to multiple applications, maximize the utilization of the storage resources, and reduce the storage management costs typically associated with server farms.

  Applications

  Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) provide a breadth of cross-industry applications for the IBM i operating system, a focus which began with the AS/400® and continues today. Having available business applications for both the IBM i and Linux operating systems that can be running/supported simultaneously on a single Power System, provides customers with the flexibility to choose the right application to satisfy their business needs.

  Choosing an application should be about finding the best solution to meet your business demands, not just the ones that fit a single operating system. With the growing complexities of business, many customers find that no single operating system has all the solutions to meet their business requirements. How can your server infrastructure support solutions running on diverse operating systems while maintaining infrastructure simplicity? If you license the IBM i operating system for a IBM Power System, it's easy. Choose from the vast selection of IBM i, Windows, Linux and, AIX applications and deploy on a IBM i platform while making use of virtualization and systems management technologies which simplify the management of applications and the associated resources across all four operating systems.

  • Search for an application to meet your business requirements

  Application Integration

  You can integrate your Linux applications with your business applications and data running in IBM i. There are several methods to access information in DB2 for i from AIX partitions including the IBM Toolbox for Java™ and DB2 Connect.

  IBM System Planning Tool

  The System Planning Tool (SPT) helps you plan and configure a Power System with both IBM i and Linux in logical partitions. The SPT is available to assist the user in system planning, design, validation and to provide a system validation report that reflects the user’s system requirements while not exceeding system recommendations.

  • Learn more
• Windows

  IBM i integration with BladeCenter® and System x™ allows businesses to operate heterogeneous environments that include Intel®-compatible servers running Microsoft® Windows® applications in addition to core business applications on a Power System with IBM i.

  Windows is supported on BladeCenter and System x models that are attached to a Power System with IBM i via an iSCSI network.

  • Learn more about Windows on integrated servers
• VMWare

  IBM i integration with BladeCenter® and System x™ allows businesses to operate heterogeneous environments that include Intel®-compatible servers running VMware® ESX Server in addition to core business applications on a Power System with IBM i.

  VMware ESX is supported on BladeCenter and System x models that are attached to a Power System with IBM i via an iSCSI network

  VMware ESX Server is one of the leading virtualization products for x86 processor based servers. It enables the reduction of the number of physical servers through virtualization by supporting multiple virtual machines, each with an installed operating system, running on a single server. VMware ESX supports Windows®, Linux®, NetWare®, and Solaris® virtual machines. This support enables IBM i customers to install ESX server on an iSCSI attached BladeCenter or System x server and use the IBM i disks for all of the storage for the ESX server, extending the value of the IBM i storage management.

  • Learn more about VMware ESX on integrated servers