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IBM PowerVM

IBM PowerVM

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What is IBM PowerVM?

IBM PowerVM provides a server virtualization environment.

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What is IBM PowerVM?

IBM PowerVM provides a server virtualization environment.

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Product Demos

Quick demo of 3 FOSS tools for IBM POWERVM LPAR/pool/cluster monitoring

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Product Details

What is IBM PowerVM?

IBM PowerVM Technical Details

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Reviews and Ratings

(23)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-4 of 4)
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Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are Using IBM PowerVM for virtualization in our organization. IBM PowerVM is used to virtualize the environment on IBM Power series hardware to utilize the hardware resources more efficiently. We are using a dual IBM PowerVM setup with the configuration of NPIV (for fiber port virtualization), SEA(for network virtualization), and VSCSI (for virtual SCSI) to host the multiple VMs on the same hardware in the environment.
  • IBM PowerVM is used for virtualization on IBM Power series hardware to utilize the hardware resources more efficiently like micro partitioning for CPU, NPIV for fibre port...etc
  • IBM PowerVM provides the feature of live partitioning mobility (LPM), which allows moving the running virtual machine from one hardware to another hardware without any disruption on a virtual machine.
  • IBM Power VM provides the feature of Integrated virtual manager (IVM), which helps to manage the single IBM Power hardware. There is no need to purchase a separate hardware management console to manage the Power hardware. This works well for small organizations having small environments.
  • The IBM PowerVM works only on Power processors, it should be also available for Intel processors.
  • IBM PowerVM is still managed through the command line to perform administration tasks. IBM PowerVM needs to be managed through Graphical Interface so that users can perform the task more easily.
  • In IBM PowerVM, padmin and root commands are different for the same task. It's a bit confusing and difficult to remember.
IBM Power VM is well suited in a large environment where we have to run multiple virtual machines on a single hardware and utilize the hardware more efficiently. It directly saves the cost of the organization. Due to the high licensing cost of IBM Power VM, it's less appropriate for smaller, less critical applications that do not need a lot of performance.
Server Virtualization (4)
75%
7.5
Virtual machine automated provisioning
70%
7.0
Management console
60%
6.0
Live virtual machine migration
80%
8.0
Hypervisor-level security
90%
9.0
  • IBM PowerVM is the best solution for the big organization having critical applications. Return wise, it's the best product.
  • IBM PowerVM helps to save the application licensing cost by assigning one CPU to multiple virtual machines (micro-partitioning).
  • IBM PowerVM provides many good features like LPM, shared-processor pool ...etc which provides a lot of flexibility at the VM level and helps to save the hardware cost.
IBM PowerVM is the best and most stable product in the virtualization market. It gives the best performance with IBM Power Server, especially its best solution, where we have to run critical applications and save applications licensing costs. It provides a lot of good features like LPM, shared processor pool...etc, which makes the environment more flexible.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
IBM Power VM is the virtualization engine used for [the] IBM Power system [architectures]. It is used to create and maintain logical partitions for IBM i OS, AIX, and Red Hat Linux. This makes it a vital part of system design and [day-to-day] system management. Because it is used in a for sale production cloud it has a direct correlation to ongoing revenue for the organization.
  • Offers a very granular virtualization of each core.
  • Provides a quick and easy environment to build and maintain.
  • Is rock solid and provides a reliable production environment.
  • The ability to run Windows. Hardware architecture does not allow this, but it is a limiting factor.
  • More performance monitoring and management could be built in.
  • Sometimes is marketed and packaged in some rather unusual ways
Again, the inability to access the intel world [limits] it. However, products like VM do not offer entry into the IBM Power processing arena. Power VM is clearly a [server-oriented] tool. It does not appear to make much of an attempt to address other market segments. Maybe some kind of "connectors" might be [feasable]? Its use is pretty much limited to products firmly in the IBM orbit.
Server Virtualization (5)
90%
9.0
Virtual machine automated provisioning
90%
9.0
Management console
90%
9.0
Live virtual machine backup
90%
9.0
Live virtual machine migration
90%
9.0
Hypervisor-level security
90%
9.0
  • Allows for very quick and efficient host provisioning.
  • Extremely stable. Does not create any downtime.
  • Provides an excellent blend for IBM OS's[.]
Very similar, just supporting different operating system environments. Both products are rock solid and well supported. Both products have a surrounding group of other management products that are tested and integrated to provide a comfortable group of system support infrastructure software. Both provide a reliable upgrade and enhancement path with vendor support and training always available.
IBM i, Syncsort Assure MIMIX, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
10
Power VM is use internally to design, support and implement multi tenant hosting environments. Some of these are seven by twenty four mission critical. Some of are small and devlopmental. These type of environments are often referred to as "sandboxes" Many of the permanent environments support vital revenue applications. In many cases they tie directly into other virtual partitions either on the same physical systems or others in a potentially global network.
10
IBM Power VM is used by a variety of proffessional support individuals. It is not an end user oriented too. It is used by individuals involved in application development, system management, security, backup and recovery, high availability, disaster recovery, data base management and just about any kind of system related activity for its supported operating systems. It is usable by all levels of technician, both entry level and senior "expert" level.
  • Maintaining a multi tentant hosting environment.
  • Providing a base for customer on prem systems.
  • Support of remote system management and managed services.
  • Offering a quick test bed for independent programmers.
  • Offering a safe and secure testing environment for large application testing.
  • Providing a means to test performance, version upgrades and other type of activities without impacting a live environment
  • An increase use of Red Hat.
  • A means to test other potential software products.
  • Offeering as a base for both internal and external training.
The product works. It provides the proven environment to support IBM's primary operating systems that run on the IBM Power processing systems. This by extension includes the IBM various storage products that work within that environment. It has proven to be seamless as the environment has grown and as various new products and version updates have been added. As with most IBM products, the support is excellent.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use IBM PowerVM across the whole organization for a variety of functions. We are currently running about 15 different IBM Power servers ranging from power7 to power9. The majority of those are running IBM PowerVM, and we have over 100 LPARs running on them.
  • IBM PowerVM is reliable and fully redundant with no single points of failure
  • Once it is set up, there is not a lot of maintenance that needs to be done on it
  • It gives you a lot flexibility by using features like LPM
  • While it does not happen often, when there is a problem it affects everything
  • The commands between padmin and root should be more in sync with each other
  • It can be tricky to set up at first
It is suited well for enterprise-level, mission critical applications because of its reliability and flexibility as well as the performance. Due to the cost, it is probably less appropriate for smaller, less critical applications that do not need a lot of performance.
Server Virtualization (5)
32%
3.2
Virtual machine automated provisioning
N/A
N/A
Management console
70%
7.0
Live virtual machine backup
N/A
N/A
Live virtual machine migration
N/A
N/A
Hypervisor-level security
90%
9.0
  • We are able to run several LPARs on one frame, which means we do not need to buy as many physical servers. That saves on floor space, power, and heating and cooling of the data center, among other things.
  • Using LPM allows us to do maintenance on a frame without impacting the LPARs, giving us greater uptime.
IBM AIX, IBM PowerHA SystemMirror, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
May 06, 2016

PowerVM Review

Kenny Perkins | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
PowerVM is used to provide virtual AIX servers for database applications, some end user applications, and infrastructure apps such as email gateways. These database applications provide data stores for applications across the enterprise. The top 10% of the databases consume 90% of the capacity and IO throughput of the enterprise.
  • PowerVM does the best job of allocating cores to VMs and allowing configuration to which you can prioritize VMs and allow VMs to borrow from shared pools.
  • PowerVM allows one to configure VMs to optimum software licensing needs.
  • PowerVM provides insight to specific VM performance and utilization.
  • We have yet to upgrade VIOs from 2.2.0 to 2.2.3 which will provide the more GUI centric management, however, making the VIO servers easier to manage would be one area. I think this is done with the latest versions of HMC and PowerVM.
  • More real-time and historical performance reporting.

PowerVM is well suited for virtual machines that need access to high performance and reliability.

It may be over engineered for smaller applications. However, if the infrastructure is in place you can utilize it to run Linux VMs as well.

Server Virtualization (5)
60%
6.0
Virtual machine automated provisioning
N/A
N/A
Management console
100%
10.0
Live virtual machine backup
N/A
N/A
Live virtual machine migration
100%
10.0
Hypervisor-level security
100%
10.0
  • It has provided the performance we need during month end and year end closing cycles.
  • It has been very reliable with little to no downtime.
  • We have been able to stretch our IT dollars because the refresh rate on IBM Power can run for years. Also, we have been able to add many more VMs to physical machines than other platforms can run.
Our company utilizes VMware and PowerVM. VMware is very user friendly from an IT support view and makes supporting Windows OS easier. PowerVM is moving in that direction. PowerVM is better in that you can prioritize workloads across different VMs and be granular in your reservation of cores and virtual CPUs. PowerVM allows you to modify VM characteristics while the VM is up and running.
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