Linux on Power Systems servers

These are major content areas for information about using Linux™ on Power Systems™ servers and Power Systems servers running Linux.

Linux on Power overview
IBM Power Systems servers allow you to run Linux applications, while taking advantage of POWER hardware performance, availability, and reliability features.
Installing and setting up Linux on Power Systems servers
You can choose from several different methods to install Linux on your Power Systems server and set it up for your environment.
Performance for Linux on Power Systems servers
You can adjust the performance of your system and applications by tuning some of the variables on your system. For example, you can synchronize threads, disable processor-heavy services, apply new or updated patches, and so on.
PCIe3 CAPI and PCIe3 FPGA compression accelerator adapters
The Generic Work Queue Engine (GenWQE) Linux device driver supports the PCIe3 LP FPGA Accelerator Adapter (FC EJ13; CCIN 59AB) by implementing a work queue to offload tasks to the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).
Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe)
NVMe is a specification for storage access and a transport protocol for solid-state drives (SSDs). NVMe allows thousands of parallel command queues that improve storage performance. The NVMe protocol is standardized and is widely available from many SSD vendors.
Hybrid Network Virtualization
Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) allows a single I/O adapter to be shared concurrently with multiple logical partitions, providing hardware level speeds with no additional CPU usage, since the adapter virtualization is enabled by the adapter at the hardware level. This performance comes at the cost of the loss of Live Partition Mobility (LPM) functionality. Hybrid Network Virtualization (HNV) uses Linux® active-backup bonding to allow LPM for the partitions that are configured with an SR-IOV logical port.
Guest secure boot with static keys
Secure boot or verified boot is a firmware and software mechanism that protects the integrity of operating system (OS) boot components. Malicious software such as boot kits and root kits can be used to subvert bootloader and OS security during the boot process. These threats are countered by public key cryptography. The binary hash of boot components are signed by private keys and their signatures are verified by the corresponding public keys. The boot component image hash is compared with the signature hash and only if they match is the boot process allowed to continue. The verification procedure ensures that the integrity of the boot components is intact.
KVM in a PowerVM LPAR
Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) is an extra virtualization option on Power10 systems that run on PowerVM. KVM brings the power, speed, and flexibility of the KVM virtualization technology to a PowerVM logical partition (LPAR). An LPAR that runs a KVM-enabled Linux distribution can host PPC64-LE KVM guests. The KVM Guests can use the existing resources that are assigned to the LPAR.
Memory Consumption in GRUB
Linux on IBM Power Systems runs in virtualized environments that are enabled by PowerVM, which allows multiple logical partitions (LPARs) to run different operating systems on the same physical system. Each Linux LPAR uses partition firmware (PFW) as the firmware layer. During system startup, PFW initializes the startup process by loading the GRUB bootloader, which then loads the Linux kernel.
Managing your server with service and productivity tools
Linux on Power service and productivity tools are also known as RAS (reliability, availability, and serviceability) tools. This topic collection provides information about hardware service diagnostic aids, productivity tools, and installation aids for Linux operating systems on IBM servers based on POWER9, POWER8, POWER7 technology.
Related information for Linux on Power Systems servers
These resources provide related information for Linux on Power Systems servers and IBM PowerLinux™ servers running Linux.