Ron Gordon
Director – Power Systems
Those of us with Power Systems are aware of AIX, IBM i, and Linux, as well as management and support tools like PowerVM and PowerHA System Mirror. However, I see that many of the Power Systems users are not familiar with tools like PowerVP, PowerVC, and PowerSC. Let me give a couple of short descriptions of each.
PowerVP provides real-time performance information, which can identify performance bottlenecks via graphical displays. PowerVP also shows the performance health of virtualized workload, mapping VMs to physical resources. PowerVP operates with a collection agent on each Power Server and a system manager on a single node. While there are many performance tools available for Power Systems, PowerVP provides a unique ability to view the physical placement of memory and cores on systems which can then be managed to optimize affinity. PowerVP is included in PowerVM Enterprise Edition. Many customers are not aware they have it already, and just need to install and start using it as a performance management aid. PowerVP is also available separately.
PowerVC is a management tool that provides for the capture and deployments of workloads, and can improve the productivity of system administrators in the management of VMs. It is based on OpenStack, and can provision workloads via PowerVM (KVM not supported at this time). Some people call this private cloud, and through the product called IBM Cloud PowerVC Manager, PowerVC is extended with a user-provisioning interface and management. Also, PowerVC can be managed at a higher level by VMware vRealize for a cloud-consistent portal of both x86 and Power Systems. IBM Cloud PowerVC Manager is included in Power Enterprise Edition, and is also available separately.
PowerSC is a security and compliance tool that can complement BigFix LifeCycle to provide enhanced protection of AIX systems (there is an additional tool for IBM i). PowerSC provides facilities like Trusted Boot, Trusted Firewall, Trusted Logging, and Trusted Network Connect, as well as industry specific compliance profiles. Trusted Survey is also available to provide network security information. Again, PowerSC is included with AIX Enterprise Edition, as well as separately.
In my opinion, these tools from IBM provide capabilities that are somewhat unique; many of you already have them, and I believe these provide capabilities that can enhance the operations of Power Systems.
If you’re interested in having Mainline assist you in evaluating this or any other technology, please contact your Mainline Account Executive, or contact Mainline directly.