Creating the management virtual machine

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If you want to run IBM® Power® Virtualization Center in a virtual machine, follow these steps to create a virtual machine on the host. This is the virtual machine into which you will install PowerVC.

Read the following information before you create the virtual machine on your management server.

Installing other software
It is recommended that PowerVC is the only server application hosted on the virtual machine. However, PowerVC can generally coexist with other software on the same instance, assuming that there is no resource or dependency conflict between PowerVC and the other software. Potential conflicts include port contention, user namespace, file system capacity, firewall settings, and so on. It is not recommended that you version lock any RPMs except when directed to do so by IBM support.

You should also consider performance implications to PowerVC and to the other software when installing other software on the same instance. For example, PowerVC memory usage may grow and cause problems with applications that coexist with PowerVC.

PowerVC resource requirements are sized assuming that PowerVC is the only workload that is running on the management instance. If other applications are using resources, adjust the sizing accordingly.

Creating the management virtual machine on PowerVM

Ensure that you are familiar with the performance and scale considerations for your environment. For details, see the planning topics for your environment.

The virtual machine that you create for PowerVC should have the following resources, at a minimum:

Note: Processor capacity refers to either the number of processor units of entitled capacity or the number of dedicated processors.
Table 1. Minimum space and processor requirements for PowerVC management server
    Minimum Recommended
Number of managed virtual machines or volumes (whichever is larger)     Up to 500 501-1000 1001-2000 2001-3000 3001-6000
Processor capacity   1 2 4 8 8 12
Virtual CPUs1   2 2 4 8 8 12
No Spectrum Scale used (GB) Memory and swap space 10 10 12 20 28 44
Disk 40 100 120 140 160 180
Spectrum Scale used (GB) Memory and swap space 16 16 16 32 32 64
Disk 45 105 124 152 164 200

1: These can be shared or dedicated. For larger environments or to minimize the "noisy neighbor" effect, you should consider using dedicated processors.
PowerVC has the following space requirements:
  • /tmp: 250 MB
  • /usr: 250 MB
  • /opt: 5 GB
  • /srv: 2 GB
  • /var: 3 GB
It is recommended that 20% of the disk space is assigned to /var. Examples: When no Spectrum Scale is used, for 500 virtual machines, 20 GB are recommended; for 1000 virtual machines, 24 GB are recommended; for 2000 virtual machines, 28 GB are recommended. Additional space might be required for backups, images, fix packs, and so on.
To create the virtual machine on a PowerVM® host by using the Hardware Management Console (HMC), complete the following steps:
  1. In the navigation pane, open Systems Management and click Servers.
  2. In the work pane, select the managed system, click the Tasks button, and click Configuration > Create Partition.
  3. Follow the steps in the Create Partition wizard to create a logical partition and a partition profile.

After the virtual machine is created, you need to install the operating system into the management virtual machine.

Creating the management virtual machine on x86

Ensure that you are familiar with the performance and scale considerations for your environment. For details, see the planning topics for your environment.

The virtual machine that you create for PowerVC should have the following resources, at a minimum:

Note: Processor capacity refers to the number of physical cores.
Table 2. Minimum space and processor requirements for PowerVC management server
    Minimum Recommended
Number of managed virtual machines or volumes (whichever is larger)     Up to 500 501-1000 1001-2000 2001-3000 3001-6000
Processor capacity   1 2 4 8 8 12
Virtual CPUs1   2 2 4 8 8 12
No Spectrum Scale used (GB) Memory and swap space 10 10 12 20 28 44
Disk 40 100 120 140 160 180
Spectrum Scale used (GB) Memory and swap space 16 16 16 32 32 64
Disk 45 105 124 152 164 200

1: These can be shared or dedicated. For larger environments or to minimize the "noisy neighbor" effect, you should consider using dedicated processors.
To create the management virtual machine on a System x server, follow the instructions for your server.

After the virtual machine is created, you need to install the operating system into the management virtual machine.

PowerVC has the following space requirements:
  • /tmp: 250 MB
  • /usr: 250 MB
  • /opt: 5 GB
  • /srv: 2 GB
  • /var: 3 GB
It is recommended that 20% of the disk space is assigned to /var. Examples: When no Spectrum Scale is used, for 500 virtual machines, 20 GB are recommended; for 1000 virtual machines, 24 GB are recommended; for 2000 virtual machines, 28 GB are recommended. Additional space might be required for backups, images, fix packs, and so on.