Virtualization is a term that refers to the
various techniques and approaches of creating a virtual version of
something. In an IT context, most people associate the concept of
virtualization with the idea of running several operating systems on the
same physical server. This is certainly the most broadly known type of
virtualization, but it can also refer to the hardware platform, storage
device, network resources or even applications virtualization.
Virtualization is a hot topic for companies trying to achieve
increased leverage and efficiency of IT resources. This type of
technology can help companies consolidate multiple workloads onto fewer
systems, increasing server utilization and reducing costs. Lately, many
companies have been adopting virtualization solutions to reduce hardware
expenditures, giving them more time and money to concentrate their
efforts on driving innovation and becoming competitive.
One of the IBM's solutions to virtualization is the IBM PowerVM, a very robust virtualization solution for Linux environments on IBM Power processor-based system, IBM i and IBM AIX. It provides the industrial-strength virtualization solution for IBM Power Systems servers and blades on a secure and resilient virtualization environment. It is currently available in three editions, namely IBM PowerVM Express, IBM PowerVM Standard and IBM PowerVM Enterprise, and they all deliver higher quality service by improving virtual resources.
The IBM PowerVM solution delivers many features with aggregated benefits, such as:
- Shared processor pools
- Shared storage pools
- Dynamic Logical Partitioning
- Live Partition Mobility
- Active Memory Sharing
In a previous blog spot,
my colleague Philippe Lamarche wrote about Live Partition Mobility, one
very interesting feature in this solution. And in this post, I will
briefly mention the Active Memory Sharing (AMS)
functionality, a memory virtualization technology that provides system
memory virtualization capabilities and allows multiple logical
partitions to share a common pool of physical memory.
AMS is an intelligent solution that dynamically optimizes the memory
of the system by flowing memory from one partition to another, resulting
in an increased memory utilization. This functionality automatically
adjusts the memory available across multiple virtual images based on
their workload levels, resulting in efficient memory utilization.
The system administrator can either assign dedicated memory to a
single virtual image or create a memory pool that can be shared among a
set of virtual images.
Shared and dedicated memory logical partitions (LPARs)
Image source: IBM Redbooks.
As a result, the AMS feature enables an increased overall memory utilization and drives down system costs.
For further details about this feature, you can take a look at an IBM Redbooks publication that talks specifically about it.
Smarter computing is about smarter solutions. What do you think about
this intelligent solution to manage your available memory? Please leave
a comment below.
By: Renato Stoffalette Joao
Link: http://www.smartercomputingblog.com/power-systems/powervm-virtualization/
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