IBM operating systems supported as guests of z/VM

This topic provides information about the IBM® operating systems supported as guests of current z/VM releases.

In general, an operating system is supported as a guest of z/VM only where support has been announced for that operating system to run on the server. For example, if an operating system is not supported to run in a LINUX only LPAR, that operating system is not supported as a guest of z/VM running in a LINUX only LPAR.

This topic is not intended to completely cover the complex issues involved in hardware support. For server considerations, see IBM servers supported by z/VM.

The following general notes apply to the support matrix:
  • End of service (EoS) for z/VM® 5.4, 6.2, 6.3, and 6.4
    • z/VM 6.2 achieved EoS on June 30, 2017.
    • z/VM 5.4 and 6.3 achieved EoS on December 31, 2017.
    • z/VM 6.4 achieved EoS on March 31, 2021.
    Those releases have been removed from the matrix.
    Note: z/VM 7.1 is withdrawn from marketing as of March 7, 2022 and EoS is announced for March 31, 2023.
  • All listed guests are supported in ESA virtual machines. XA virtual machines are supported for compatibility and are functionally equivalent to ESA virtual machines.
  • ESA/390 DAT-on operating systems are not supported as guests of z/VM when running on an IBM z14® family or later server.
  • Guests may be uniprocessor or multiprocessor.
  • For information about product releases not listed, see the previous editions of this document.
Table 1. Guest support
Guest z/VM host Support notes
Linux® on IBM Z® 7.2 1
7.1 1
Support notes for Linux guests:
  1. Tested platforms for Linux shows IBM tested and supported Linux environments on IBM servers. A supported Linux distribution is also supported as a guest of z/VM if the z/VM release supports that server.
z/OS® V2.1 or later 7.2 1, 2, 3
7.1 1, 2, 3
Support notes for z/OS guests:
  1. Exploitation of hardware function by z/OS might require specific levels of z/VM. For details, see z/OS: Planning for Installation, GA22-7504.
  2. z/VM supports only virtual coupling.
  3. Exploiting zCX in a z/OS virtual machine (zCX on z/OS as a guest of z/VM, similar to "second-level") is functionally supported but is intended only for testing purposes for the guest z/OS system and its zCX containers. Performance of the containerized applications will not compare favorably to what would be achieved running those workloads on native z/OS.
z/TPF V1.1 7.2 1, 2
7.1 1, 2
Support notes for z/TPF guests:
  1. z/TPF is supported as a guest of z/VM in environments where TPF-specific server and DASD control unit RPQs are not required. Use of the Emulation Program for 37xx communication controllers is not supported.
  2. z/VM System Recovery Boost support benefits the z/TPF guest environment when running on IBM z15® and later servers.
z/VSE® 5.2 or later 7.2 1
7.1 1
Support notes for z/VSE guests:
  1. z/VM System Recovery Boost support benefits the z/VSE guest environment when running on IBM z15 and later servers.
z/VM 7.2 7.2 1, 2
7.1 1, 2
z/VM 7.1 7.2 1, 2
7.1 1, 2
Support notes for z/VM guests:
  1. Running z/VM in a virtual machine (z/VM as a guest of z/VM, also known as second-level) is functionally supported but is intended only for testing purposes for the second-level z/VM system and its guests (called third-level guests). Performance of the third-level guests will not compare favorably to what would be achieved running those guest workloads second-level.
  2. z/VM Guest Coupling Simulation will not work in the z/VM guest.