PowerVM NovaLink system requirements

For successful operation, PowerVM® NovaLink requires hardware and software to meet specific criteria.

POWER8 server requirements

PowerVM NovaLink can be installed on POWER8® processor-based servers with firmware level FW840.11, or later. However, it is highly recommend to have an installation of the most recent firmware, and all Software Defined Environment capabilities are supported only when the firmware is at level FW860.12, or later.

PowerVM NovaLink partition requirements

PowerVM NovaLink requires its own partition on its managed system. The table lists the system resources that are required by the PowerVM NovaLink partition.

Table 1. System requirements of the PowerVM NovaLink partition
System requirements	Standard VIOS-based environment	PowerVM Open I/O (SDN and SDE)
Processors	0.5 shared processors that are uncapped with a nonzero weight and two virtual processors
Memory	6.5 GB adjusted to 2.5 GB after installation	8 GB - 64 GB, depending on the number of partitions that are hosted
Storage	>= 30 GB vSCSI storage (LV, PV, NPIV)	SDN Only: >= 30 GB vSCSI storage (LV, PV, NPIV) SDN + Storage: Local SAS disk
Physical I/O	None	Physical network adapters (SDN and SDE), SAS devices (SDE)
Network	Virtual Ethernet

If you install the PowerVM NovaLink environment on a new managed system, the PowerVM NovaLink installer creates the PowerVM NovaLink partition automatically. When the PowerVM NovaLink installer creates the PowerVM NovaLink partition on a new managed system, the PowerVM NovaLink installer always uses virtualized storage that is provisioned from the Virtual I/O Server, except when the installation is done with the SDE mode. . The installer creates logical volumes from the VIOS rootvg for the PowerVM NovaLink partition. If you set the PowerVM NovaLink installer to use I/O redundancy, the storage for the PowerVM NovaLink partition is automatically mirrored for redundancy by using RAID 1.

When you install PowerVM NovaLink in the Open I/O Software Defined Environment (SDE) mode, the PowerVM NovaLink installer uses the local storage that is available on the PowerVM server for the PowerVM NovaLink partition.

If you install the PowerVM NovaLink software on a system that is already managed by a HMC, use the HMC to create a Linux logical partition that has the required amount of resources. When you use the HMC to create the Linux logical partition, set the powervm_mgmt_capable flag to true.

PowerVM NovaLink by default installs Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS, but also supports Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 7.3, or later. The installer provides an option to install RHEL after the required setup or configuration of the system completes.

PowerVM Open I/O Software Defined Environment (SDE)

In the Open I/O SDE mode, the PowerVM NovaLink installer does not install the VIOS as part of the installation process because the PowerVM NovaLink partition hosts the storage and network for the client logical partitions.

In the Open I/O SDE mode, the PowerVM NovaLink partition must be running the Ubuntu Linux operating system. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system is not currently supported because the kernel level must be at version 4.4, or later. To support the Live Partition Mobility operation in SDE mode, a Mover Service Partition (MSP) is required. To install an MSP on the PowerVM system, you can run the following command:

sudo apt install pvm-msp

Supported operating systems for hosted logical partitions

PowerVM NovaLink supports all operating systems that are supported on the machine type and model of the managed system.

Virtual I/O Server partition requirements

PowerVM NovaLink requires Virtual I/O Server version 2.2.5.0 or later.

If you install the PowerVM NovaLink environment on a new managed system, configure one disk with at least 60 GB of storage for each Virtual I/O Server instance that you plan to create on the system. You can configure the disks in your local serial-attached Small Computer System Interface (SAS) storage or on your storage area network (SAN). If you create two instances of Virtual I/O Server, create each disk on a separate SAS controller or Fibre Channel (FC) card for redundancy. Otherwise, the resource requirements for Virtual I/O Servers that are installed by the PowerVM NovaLink installer are the same as the resource requirements for Virtual I/O Servers that are not installed by the PowerVM NovaLink.

For more information about the requirements for Virtual I/O Server logical partitions, see Planning for the Virtual I/O Server.

Reliable Scalable Cluster Technology (RSCT) for Resource Monitoring Control (RMC) connections

To enable IPv6 link-local address support for Resource Monitoring Control (RMC) connections, update the Reliable Scalable Cluster Technology (RSCT) packages on AIX® and Linux logical partitions to be at version 3.2.1.0 or later.

For information about updating RSCT packages, see Updating RSCT packages for PowerVM NovaLink.

PowerVC requirement

PowerVC version 1.3 or later is required to manage a PowerVM NovaLink host. PowerVC version 1.3.2 or later is required to manage a host that has PowerVM NovaLink version 1.0.0.4 or later, whether the Software Defined Networking (SDN) used or not.

Hardware Management Console (HMC) requirement

HMC version 8.4.0, service pack 1, or later, is required to co-manage a system with PowerVM NovaLink.

Last updated: Fri, December 06, 2019