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IBM Announces z/VM v5.3 - more virtual servers |
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Article by William Hoffman, mainframe-upgrade.com
Published February 2007, Copyright © 2007 mainframe-upgrade.com
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IBM Announces z/VM v5.3 |
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On 6th February 2007 IBM unveiled the scalability enhancements to it's
virtualization technology big hitter z/VM. Version 5.3 of z/VM (due for
release on June 29th 2007) will now be able to service over 1000 virtual
servers on one copy, with also increased CPU capacity (up to 32 Processor
Units from 24 previously). IBM has revealed internal testing results to back
up the claim, and this is sure to excite data center managers struggling to
reduce their energy outgoings (the theory is that vitualization should
reduce energy costs) and map their multiple single application physical
servers (hundreds or thousands even) onto their new "virtual homes". IBM say
memory management in z/VM has been improved, significantly improving its
interaction with Linux on system z, thereby freeing up more memory for the
additional virtual servers.
Security improvements
IBM also announced a more solid security framework for z/VM with a
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server plus associated client
services and use of password phrases giving revamped user authentication,
authorization and audit capabilities. The IBM System Storage TS1120 (IBM's
tape encryption) will also provide extra data protection.
System z consolidation
This consolidates the market lead position for z/VM and I believe analysts
will put this in the context of IBM's big mainframe push last year and
recognise good strategy when they see it. System z had great growth last
year on the partly on the back of virtualization as well as SOA apparently
coming of age. This technology is designed to give clients what they want -
the ability to have thousands of Linux servers on one mainframe running
System z operating systems like z/OS, or even as a large-scale dedicated
Linux enterprise server solution. V5.3 is designed also to improve
productivity by for non-Linux workloads including z/VSE and z/TPF and of
course z/OS.
z/VM background
z/VM is the latest version in IBM's VM family of virtual machine operating
systems. It is built from concepts started in the 1960's. z/VM runs on
IBM's zSeries and System z9 computers. It can be used to support large
numbers (thousands) of Linux virtual machines. z/VM is effectively a
mainframe operating system itself, which acts as a hypervisor, enabling
users to run multiple operating systems on a single machine.
There are two main components of z/VM - the hypervisor (CP), which provides
the resources to the virtual machines, and CMS1, which provides
conversational and timesharing facilities. It is designed to help clients
extend the business value of mainframe technology across the enterprise by
integrating applications and data while providing exceptional levels of
availability, security, and operational ease.
z/VM Redbook
The IBM Redbook
explains how to setup Linux virtual servers on IBM zSeries and System z9
under z/VM.
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