Overview of IBM Flex System Manager VMControl

This section provides an overview of IBM® Flex System Manager VMControl Express® Edition, IBM Flex System Manager VMControl Standard Edition, IBM Flex System Manager VMControl Enterprise Edition, , including accessibility and license information.

IBM Flex System Manager VMControl is a cross-platform product that assists you in rapidly deploying virtual appliances to create virtual servers that are configured with the operating system and software applications that you want. It also enables you to group resources into system pools, which enable you to centrally manage and control the different workloads in your environment.

IBM Flex System Manager VMControl Express Edition includes features that were formerly part of IBM Flex System Manager virtualization manager. With VMControl Express Edition, you can complete the following tasks:

Create virtual servers.
Edit virtual servers.
Manage virtual servers.
Relocate virtual servers.
Discover virtual server, storage, and network resources and visualize the physical-to-virtual relationships.

IBM Flex System Manager VMControl Standard Edition is a licensed feature of VMControl. With VMControl Standard Edition, you can complete the following tasks:

Create new image repositories for storing virtual appliances and discover existing image repositories in your environment.
Import external, standards-based virtual appliance packages into your image repositories as virtual appliances.
Capture a running virtual server that is configured just the way you want, complete with guest operating system, running applications, and virtual server definition. When you capture the virtual server, a virtual appliance is created in one of your image repositories with the same definitions and can be deployed multiple times in your environment.
Import virtual appliance packages that exist in the Open Virtualization Format (OVF) from the Internet or other external sources. After the virtual appliance packages are imported, you can deploy them within your data center.
Deploy virtual appliances quickly to create new virtual servers that meet the demands of your ever-changing business needs.
Create, capture, and manage workloads.

IBM Flex System Manager VMControl Enterprise Edition are also licensed features of VMControl. With VMControl Enterprise Edition, you can complete the following tasks.

Create server system pools, which enable you to consolidate your resources and workloads into distinct and manageable groups.
Deploy virtual appliances into server system pools.
Manage server system pools, including adding hosts or additional storage space and monitoring the health of the resources and the status of the workloads in them.
Group storage systems together using storage system pools to increase resource utilization and automation.
Manage storage system pools by adding storage, editing the storage system pool policy, and monitoring the health of the storage resources.

You are granted an evaluation period for VMControl Standard Edition and VMControl Enterprise Edition when you download and install VMControl. For more information, see the License Information topic.

The IBM Flex System Manager VMControl Summary page guides you through the tasks you need to complete to get started using the product: installing agents, discovering or creating image repositories, capturing or importing virtual appliances. Once you are up and running, the Summary page gives you quick access to the main tasks and views that you can use in IBM Flex System Manager VMControl. The Summary page also helps you manage your licenses for VMControl Standard Edition and VMControl Enterprise Edition. For more information, see "Navigating and managing VMControl resources."