What's new in PowerVC for Private Cloud

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IBM Power® Virtualization Center for Private Cloud version 2.3.0 comes with many new features and enhancements. We are more than delighted to listen to our client requirements and implement the same along with our benchmark innovation strategies that take PowerVC to the next level every release.

PowerVC high availability and scale architecture

Earlier versions of PowerVC followed the All-in-One (AIO) deployment model that involved installing packages and setting up services corresponding to stateless (OpenStack based services like nova, cinder, etc.) and stateful services (MariaDB, RabbitMQetc) on a single system; thus, not following the distributed approach that OpenStack supports. While All-in-one deployment model keeps PowerVC deployment simple and highly manageable, the model denies PowerVC the scale and high availability that it might achieve with a multinode model. For details, see PowerVC high availability and scale architecture.

PowerVC support for P10

PowerVC version 2.3.0 supports managing a Power10 host with the help of HMC or NovaLink.

Functional enhancements

PowerVC 2.3.0 features

The following features are the key features that are implemented in the PowerVC for Private Cloud 2.3.0 release.

Upgrade to 2.3.0

If you have any previous version of PowerVC 2.2.1 or 2.2.1.1 installed, take a backup, copy the backup file to a custom location, and then uninstall the existing version. After the existing version is uninstalled, run the cleanup script located at PowerVC 2.3.0 cleanup script, reboot the system, install PowerVC 2.3.0, and then perform restore. You can then upgrade to PowerVC 2.3.0. For details on the upgrade, see Upgrading to PowerVC for Private Cloud 2.3.0. For details on the backup procedure, see Backing up.

OpenStack (Caracal) and Python3.11 Support

PowerVC for Private Cloud 2.3.0 is built on OpenStack Caracal.

PowerVC non sudo user support

You can register and deregister storage controller (SVC), Hardware Management Console (HMC), and hosts by using the powervc-resource-operations command-line interface (CLI). PowerVC admin or login users without root or sudo access cannot perform host or SVC registration from the PowerVC UI, making this CLI an essential tool for managing resources in such restricted environments.

SSL support for MariaDB and MongoDB

To encrypt data, authenticate clients and servers, ensure data integrity, and protect against man-in-the-middle attacks, SSL is enabled for databases MariaDB and MongoDB that uses the server, client, and CA certificates.

Virtual serial number (VSN)

The virtual serial number (VSN) feature is introduced to address the software licensing bottlenecks for the IBM i operating system (OS). With this feature, users can deploy the VM by using VSN on HMC and NovaLink managed hosts through PowerVC. By using VSN, the hardware-tied software licensing is made more flexible in a virtualized environment because the licensing is tied to a VSN instead of a physical serial number on the host. VSNs can be moved between different physical hosts such as POWER9 servers with firmware version > 950 and Power10+ servers.

For details on VSN, see Virtual serial number (VSN). For the new APIs introduced for VSN, see Virtual serial number (VSN) APIs.

Migration across host group
PowerVC now supports migrating a virtual machine (VM) to any compatible host even if the VM is in a different host group.
Squall service integration

By using the new cloud-relay (Squall) service, PowerVC events data can be published to one of the supported external publishers. For details, see PowerVC Squall service.

Additional validators in the environment checker tool
Two additional validators are introduced in the environment checker tool validation.
HMC idle time
This validation alerts the user if the idle timeout value is set to 0, which indicates that the session never logs out, and recommends the user to set the user idle timeout value to 120 seconds, which is recommended by HMC to help ensure that the performance is not degraded. The user setting must be updated in the HMC user interface (UI).
Certificate expiry
For the SSL certificate, this validation indicates the date of expiry and the remaining number of days for the expiry if it is less than 6 months or 30 days.
Storage enhancements
Support for PowerMax (VMAX) Unisphere 10.1.0
PowerVC supports Unisphere for PowerMax 10.1.0.
Add and remove host for IPG SCG
Introduced the new CLI powervc-update-scg-ipg to add and remove host for IPG SCG.
UI enhancements
The following features are added in the PowerVC UI:
Apollo Server upgrade

Apollo Server for PowerVC for Private Cloud 2.3.0 is upgraded to Apollo Server v4.

Apollo Client upgrade

Apollo Client for PowerVC for Private Cloud 2.3.0 is upgraded to Apollo Client v3.

ReactJS upgrade

PowerVC for Private Cloud 2.3.0 user interface (UI) is built on ReactJS v18.

New UI Login page and navigation

Refreshed PowerVC GUI that features an updated login page and enhanced left navigation.

Paginated data search (ID: PVC-I-405)

The search function in the UI is enhanced in all the pages where pagination support is enabled. Now, searching in the table returns the result from all the paginated pages in the table.

Searchable dropdown across all pages

All the dropdowns in the GUI are converted to searchable dropdowns. For example, you can search and select the project instead of scrolling to the end of the page to find a project while you log in.

Active user sessions page in UI (ID: PVC-I-421)

Admins can view all the active UI sessions before planning for maintenance (start or stop or upgrade).

Restrict Simultaneous login
Admins can now manage concurrent user sessions by using a new security feature in the UI. This feature allows the admin to restrict users to a single active user session at a time. This feature strengthens access control and maintains better security.

This option is disabled by default. You can enable or disable this feature from the new user preference page based on the security requirements.

User preference Menu

A new preference page is added in the PowerVC GUI. Admins can configure the Inactivity Timeout and Reauthentication timeout values of the UI from the new preference page. These values that are set by the admin are used across the UI.

Configure default value for volume deletion while deleting VM (ID: PVC-I-429)

While deleting VMs, now you have an option to save your preference for volume deletion. The volume deletion options are Delete all boot volumes, Delete all volumes, and Delete specific volumes(for deleting the associated volumes). The saved option is used as the default value for subsequent deletions.

Changes in hardware and software support

Changes in OS support
Support for RHEL 8.10 and RHEL 9.4 OS has been added. For details, see Hardware and software requirements.