Server virtualization with IBM PowerVM

PowerVM® Standard Edition

For users ready to get the full value out of their server, IBM offers PowerVM Standard Edition providing the most complete virtualization functionality for AIX®, IBM i and Linux® operating systems in the industry. PowerVM Standard Edition is supported on Power™ Systems servers and includes features designed to allow businesses to increase system utilization; while helping to ensure applications continue to get the resources they need.

Features:

Micro-Partitioning Support: Micro-Partitioning™ technology helps lower costs by allowing the system to be finely tuned to consolidate multiple independent workloads. Micro-partitions can be defined as small as 1/20th of a processor and be changed in increments as small as 1/100th of a processor. Up to 20 micro-partitions may be created per core.

Integrated Virtualization Manager: Manage your virtualized environment with the click of a button. The Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM) literally allows you to point, click and consolidate workloads with its easy to use browser-based interface.

Virtual I/O Server: Save money by sharing I/O resources. The Virtual I/O Server is a special-purpose partition which provides virtual I/O resources to client partitions. The Virtual I/O Server owns the resources that are shared with clients. A physical adapter assigned to a partition can be shared by one or more other partitions. The Virtual I/O Server is designed to reduce costs by eliminating the need for dedicated network adapters, disk adapters and disk drives.

Shared Dedicated Capacity: The benefits of dedicated resources without the waste. This feature allows for the "donation" of spare CPU cycles for dedicated processor partitions to be utilized by the shared pool, thus increasing overall system performance. The dedicated partition maintains absolute priority for dedicated CPU cycles, and sharing will only occur when the dedicated partition has not consumed all its resources. This feature is supported on POWER6™ and POWER7™ processor-based servers.

Multiple Shared Processor Pools: Let the system do the administration for you. Simply assign priorities to partitions and let the Hypervisor allocate processing power as needed by your applications. This feature allows for automatic non-disruptive balancing of processing power between partitions assigned to shared pools resulting in increased throughput and the potential to reduce processor-based software licensing costs. This feature is supported on POWER6 and POWER7 processor-based servers.

N Port ID Virtualization: NPIV provides direct access to Fiber Channel adapters from multiple client partitions, simplifying the management of Fibre Channel SAN environments. NPIV support is included with PowerVM Express, Standard, and Enterprise Edition and supports AIX V5.3, AIX V6.1, AIX V7.1, IBM i 6.1.1, IBM i 7.1, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11, and Red Hat Enterprise Server 5.4 or 6 partitions on all POWER6 and POWER7 processor-based servers, including blades.

Virtual Tape: PowerVM has two virtualization methods for using tape devices on POWER6 and POWER7 processor-based servers, simplifying backup and restore operations. Both methods are supported with PowerVM Express, Standard, or Enterprise Edition.

• NPIV enables PowerVM LPARs to access SAN tape libraries using shared physical HBA resources for AIX V5.3, AIX V6.1, AIX V7.1, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 and Red Hat Enterprise Server 5.4 or 6 partitions on POWER6 and POWER7 processor-based servers.
• Virtual tape support allows serial sharing of selected SAS tape devices for AIX V5.3, AIX V6.1, AIX V7.1, IBM i 6.1, IBM i 7.1, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 and Red Hat Enterprise Server 5.4 or 6 partitions on POWER6 and POWER7 processor-based servers.

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