Linux distributions and virtualization options for POWER8 and POWER9 Linux on Power systems
Use this topic to find the Linux® distributions and virtualization options that are optimized for POWER8® servers and POWER9™ servers running Linux.
Note: Big endian (BE) operating systems support 32-bit and 64-bit applications. Little endian (LE)
operating systems exclusively support 64-bit applications
- Linux distributions for POWER9 processor-based servers
- Linux distributions for POWER8 processor-based servers
- Linux distributions for POWER8 IBM® Hyperconverged Systems powered by Nutanix
| IBM POWER9 processor-based servers | PowerVM® LPARs | KVM 4 | Non-virtualized OS (Baremetal) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Little Endian:
|
N/A | N/A |
|
Little Endian:
|
N/A | N/A |
|
N/A | N/A | Little Endian:
|
|
N/A | N/A | Little Endian:
|
|
N/A | N/A | Little Endian:
|
|
N/A |
|
Little Endian:
|
|
N/A | Red Hat
virtualization1
|
Little Endian:
|
|
Little Endian:
|
N/A | N/A |
|
Little Endian:
|
N/A | N/A |
Notes:
- Red Hat offers KVM on Power in two different streams: 1) Integrated into Red Hat Enterprise Linux and 2) as part of RHV and derivative products (for example, Red Hat OpenStack). Both of these are supported on POWER9 and POWER8 systems that support Red Hat virtualization. See Red Hat Virtualization for more details.
- If you are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x for POWER9, you must upgrade to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.x no later than May 31, 2021.
- If you are using graphics processing unit (GPU) on IBM Power® System AC922, you must not upgrade from Ubuntu 18.04 to Ubuntu 20.04. CUDA is not supported for Ubuntu 20.04 on IBM Power Systems.
- For more information on KVM guests, see Certified guest operating systems for Red Hat Enterprise Linux with KVM.
- Ubuntu on Power support is available directly from Canonical.
- If you are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux on AC922, IC922, LC922, or LC921, you must not upgrade from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 is not supported on these systems.
- CoreOS is supported as a part of OpenShift Container Platform (OCP). For more information, you can see Getting started with Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud® and Service architecture and dependencies.
| IBM POWER8 processor-based servers | PowerVM LPARs1 | KVM | Non-virtualized OS (Baremetal) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
N/A | N/A | Little Endian:
|
|
N/A | N/A | Little Endian:
|
|
N/A | Little Endian:
Red
Hat virtualization
|
Little Endian:
|
|
Little Endian:
|
Red Hat virtualization
|
Little Endian:
|
|
Little Endian:
|
Red Hat virtualization
|
Little Endian:
|
|
Little Endian:
|
N/A | N/A |
|
Little Endian:
|
N/A | N/A |
|
Little Endian:
|
N/A | N/A |
|
Little Endian:
|
N/A | N/A |
|
Little Endian:
|
N/A | N/A |
Note:
- 1 Little endian (LE) support requires firmware level FW830 or later. For systems that are running firmware level FW830 or later, partitions can be a combination of big endian and little endian.
- 2 Starting with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1, Red Hat provides separate builds and licenses for big endian and little endian versions for Power.
- 3 Beginning with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12, the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Linux distribution supports little endian mode only. In prior versions, only big endian mode was supported. Because of this change in Power architecture, there is no direct migration path from prior versions of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12. Contact SUSE for more information.
- 4 Starting with firmware 840.10, PowerVM is the only option for new customers on the S822. Existing customers for the S822 at 840.10 and later can switch between OPAL and PowerVM modes as needed.
- CoreOS is supported as a part of OpenShift Container Platform (OCP). You can refer to Getting started with Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud and Service architecture and dependencies for more information.
| POWER8 IBM Hyperconverged Systems powered by Nutanix | PowerVM LPARs | KVM guests1 | Non-virtualized OS (Baremetal) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
N/A | Nutanix AHV hypervisor Little Endian:
|
N/A |
Note:
- Community supported Linux distributions such as CentOS 7.x, Fedora® 20 and subsequent releases, and Debian 8 and subsequent releases are also available.
- Before installing SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4, you need to first install a special installation kit, available from SUSE. See Installation Kit: LILO Update for IBM Power Systems for more details.
For more information about Nutanix and Hyperconverged systems, see IBM Hyperconverged Systems powered by Nutanix topic in IBM Docs and Software Documents in the Nutanix portal.
See the following distribution web sites for detailed information about the distributions:
The recommended Linux distribution for a particular
server is always the latest level distribution that is optimized for the server. The listed
distributions are the operating system versions that are supported for the specific hardware. For
information about the product lifecycles for the Linux
distributions, refer to the distribution's support site:
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server: SUSE Product Support Lifecycle (https://www.suse.com/lifecycle/ )
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle (https://access.redhat.com/site/support/policy/updates/errata/)
- Ubuntu: Ubuntu Release Life Cycle (http://www.ubuntu.com/info/release-end-of-life)
If you are interested in migrating Linux on Power applications from big endian to little endian mode, try using the IBM Software Development Kit for Linux on Power tools. Other information about packages and migration assistance can be found in the Find packages built for POWER® in the IBM Linux on Power developer portal.
- CoreOS is supported as a part of OpenShift Container Platform (OCP). You can refer to Getting started with Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud and Service architecture and dependencies for more information.