IBM PowerVM Virtualization Introduction and Configuration

This IBM® Redbooks® publication provides an introduction to PowerVM™ virtualization technologies on Power System servers.

PowerVM is a combination of hardware, firmware, and software that provides CPU, network, and disk virtualization. These are the main virtualization technologies:

POWER7, POWER6, and POWER5 hardware
POWER Hypervisor
Virtual I/O Server

Though the PowerVM brand includes partitioning, management software, and other offerings, this publication focuses on the virtualization technologies that are part of the PowerVM Standard and Enterprise Editions.

This publication is also designed to be an introduction guide for system administrators, providing instructions for these tasks:

Configuration and creation of partitions and resources on the HMC
Installation and configuration of the Virtual I/O Server
Creation and installation of virtualized partitions
Examples using AIX, IBM i, and Linux

This edition has been updated with the latest updates available and an improved content organization.