IBM Power Virtualization Center (IBM PowerVC) is an advanced virtualization and cloud management offering for Power Systems servers based on OpenStack technology. This comprehensive virtualization and cloud management offering is simple to install and use, and enables virtual machine (VM) setup and management. IBM PowerVC simplifies the management of the virtualization for Power Systems servers that run on IBM AIX, Linux, and IBM i operating systems.

IBM PowerVC Version 1.3.1 introduces a new offering that is designed for Power Systems private cloud deployments that is called the IBM Cloud PowerVC Manager. IBM Cloud PowerVC Manager includes all the functions of the IBM PowerVC Standard Edition plus new features that are described in this book.

This book provides introductory and configuration information for IBM PowerVC. After it presents an overview of IBM PowerVC in this chapter, it covers the following topics in subsequent chapters:

This publication also includes an interesting overview about IBM PowerVM Novalink and its interaction with IBM PowerVC.

This publication is for system administrators who are familiar with the concepts that are included in these IBM Redbooks publications:

IBM PowerVC is an advanced virtualization management offering for Power Systems servers based on OpenStack technology. This comprehensive virtualization management offering is simple to install and use, and enables VM setup and management. Besides the features that were introduced in past versions and described in previous publications, IBM PowerVC helps the user to achieve the following goals:

IBM PowerVC can manage AIX, Linux, and IBM i VMs running under PowerVM virtualization and Linux VMs running under PowerKVM virtualization. This release supports the enterprise Power Systems servers that are built on IBM POWER7® and IBM POWER8® technologies.

Why IBM PowerVC? Why do you need another virtualization management offering? When more than 70% of IT budgets is spent on operations and maintenance, IT clients legitimately expect vendors to focus their new development efforts to reduce this cost and foster innovation within IT departments.

IBM PowerVC gives IBM Power Systems clients the following advantages:

IBM PowerVC is an addition to the existing PowerVM set of enterprise virtualization technologies that provide virtualization management. It is based on open standards and integrates server management with storage and network management.

Because IBM PowerVC is based on the OpenStack initiative, Power Systems can be managed by tools that are compatible with OpenStack standards. When a system is controlled by IBM PowerVC, it can be managed in one of three ways:

IBM PowerVC is an option that is between the Hardware Management Console (HMC) and IBM Cloud management tools for Power Systems, such as:

It provides a systems management product that enterprise clients require to manage effectively the advanced features that are offered by IBM premium hardware and OpenPower based hardware. It reduces resource use and manages workloads for performance and availability.

PowerVM Novalink is a new in 2016 virtualization management paradigm for PowerVM systems and allows for dramatic scale improvements for PowerVM based IBM PowerVC environments. For more information about PowerVM Novalink and its benefits, see IBM developerWorks®:

Leveraging the PowerVM Novalink architecture, IBM PowerVC can significantly increase its scaling for PowerVM based systems. In an existing HMC managed environment, IBM PowerVC can manage up to 30 hosts and up to 3000 VMs. In a PowerVM Novalink based environment, IBM PowerVC can manage up to 200 hosts and 5000 VMs. Do not worry, though: You can use IBM PowerVC to manage your new PowerVM Novalink systems while still managing your HMC managed systems.

PowerVM Novalink enables highly scalable modern cloud management and deployment for critical enterprise workloads by using a proven PowerVM infrastructure and OpenStack technology. The PowerVM Hypervisor and Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) provide an infrastructure that is second to none in running enterprise workloads. These items, combined with POWER8 hardware, provide an excellent base on which to build a cloud. However, you cannot operate a cloud without great management tools, which is where IBM PowerVC comes into play. This OpenStack-based management offering integrates with PowerVM Novalink to deliver a PowerVM cloud that is truly scalable, efficient, and simple to manage.

The PowerVM Novalink architecture changes the virtualization management point for IBM PowerVC. With PowerVM Novalink, a thin “management” VM exists on the system. You can see the thin PowerVM Novalink partition in Figure 1-1, which is denoted as NVL.

Figure 1-1 shows that the architecture between IBM PowerVC and a PowerVM system is dramatically simplified. The Nova compute processes now run directly on the PowerVM Novalink thin VM so that the IBM PowerVC can dramatically scale out the number of hosts that it can manage by using this one-to-one link. It also reduces the load on an administrator’s HMC, allowing the hosts to connect significantly more systems to a given HMC than they would otherwise.

Also, the PowerVM Novalink code is tuned directly for IBM PowerVC and OpenStack use. This increased efficiency allows IBM PowerVC to scale a single system to 1,000 VMs, double the current 500 VMs per system limitation that exists today. More important, it is aligned with the capabilities of the PowerVM platform itself.

The integration of PowerVM Novalink provides a unified PowerVM experience. Whether you choose to have IBM PowerVC manage through PowerVM Novalink (to take advantage of the scale and speed) or by using the traditional HMC path, IBM PowerVC provides you with a consistent experience.

As shown, the experience within the interface is similar. In Figure 1-2, the home window looks identical, although IBM PowerVC is managing PowerVM Novalink systems. However, note the dramatic increase in hosts.

There are some areas where changes are evident in the user interface. The most obvious one is the Host Registration window. Although host registration for an HMC managed system remains unchanged, there is a new path for PowerVM Novalink host registration. Administrators provide the IP address and credentials of the PowerVM Novalink VM, which IBM PowerVC uses to register the system. This window is similar to the window that is used for PowerKVM system registration. Figure 1-3 shows the Host Registration window.

Beyond this item, few other differences exist. The Host window does not show through which HMC the IBM PowerVC is managing (because it manages through PowerVM Novalink).

In addition, to ensure a unified experience, a single IBM PowerVC can mix the management types, which means that a single IBM PowerVC can manage some systems through an HMC and others through PowerVM Novalink.

Figure 1-4 shows the PowerVM Novalink diagrams.

As shown, the same HMC can be used for IBM PowerVC traditional management, or PowerVM Novalink management. However, if a system has PowerVM Novalink installed, IBM PowerVC must be pointed to the PowerVM Novalink on the system. This mixed mode provides a good path for existing customers that want to start taking advantage of PowerVM Novalink without too much disruption.

For IBM PowerVC, the key prerequisites are as follows:

For IBM PowerVM, the key prerequisites are as follows:

PowerVM Novalink provides significant advantages for PowerVM users who want to scale up their environments. It is highly concurrent and highly scalable, and can reduce infrastructure complexity. Concurrently, the existing IBM PowerVC experience is preserved, enabling administrators to take advantage of these benefits quickly.

IBM offers two different editions for this product:

IBM PowerVC Standard Edition manages PowerVM systems that run either IBM POWER6®, POWER7, or POWER8 processors that are controlled by an HMC. In addition, IBM PowerVC can manage PowerKVM Linux scale-out servers.

During installation, IBM PowerVC Standard Edition can be configured to manage VMs that are virtualized on top of either PowerVM or PowerKVM.

On PowerVM, dual VIOSs for each host are supported to access storage and the network. VMs can be either N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV)-attached storage or shared storage pool (SSP) back-end storage and virtual SCSI (vSCSI), which were introduced in IBM PowerVC V1.2.2. The following hardware products are supported for NPIV:

For storage on an SSP, any VIOS-supported storage area network (SAN) storage devices are supported by the SSP and supported by IBM PowerVC.

For more information, see 3.1, “IBM PowerVC requirements” on page 22.

For the latest list of requirements, see the following website:

IBM Cloud PowerVC Manager has all the functions of IBM PowerVC Standard plus the new self-service portal functions in the familiar IBM PowerVC user interface.

A key component of the new cloud self-service portal is the deploy template. Deploy templates allow a cloud administrator to determine a set of fixed VM options that the self-service users can select to deploy repeatedly to a VM with just a few clicks.

These templates include all the deployment details, such as the target host, storage template, and storage connectivity group, so that users do not need to worry about any of that (and administrators do not need to worry about VMs being created with incorrect settings).

IBM Cloud PowerVC Manager also gives administrators the ability to set policies on projects. These policies specify what self-service users can do without additional approval and what actions require administrator approval. When a self-service user tries to perform an action that requires administrator approval, such as extending the expiration date of a VM, a request is created. If the administrator approves that request, then the action completes.

Two features are useful for a smooth adoption of IBM PowerVC in an existing environment:

Therefore, the adoption of IBM PowerVC in an existing environment does not require a major change. It can be a smooth transition that is planned over several days or more.

IBM PowerVC offers the chance to move from Standard Edition to Cloud Manager solution by running a script. For more information, see 4.2, “Installing IBM PowerVC” on page 79.