z/VM overview

z/VM® virtualization technology is designed to run hundreds to thousands of guest servers on a single IBM Z® server (where guests may include Linux® and others) or IBM® LinuxONE server (where only Linux and z/VM guests are supported), with the highest degrees of efficiency and elasticity.

A fundamental strength of z/VM is the ability for virtual machines to share system resources with very high levels of resource utilization. z/VM provides extreme scalability, security, and efficiency to create opportunities for cost savings, while providing a robust foundation for cognitive computing on the IBM Z and LinuxONE platforms.

z/VM provides support for IBM Z and LinuxONE servers, as well as Red Hat®, SUSE, and Ubuntu Linux distributions. Support for simultaneous multithreading (SMT) technology extends per-processor, core capacity growth beyond single-thread performance for Linux on IBM Z running on an IBM Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL) specialty engine on an IBM Z or LinuxONE server. z/VM multithreading technology support, along with 4TB real memory support, can enable additional price/performance benefits over previous hardware generations and can meet workload requirements transparently. Improvements made in the areas of reliability, availability, and serviceability allow low-end devices such as IBM Storwize® V7000, V840, and V9000 to be attached to a z/VM host, removing the need for a SAN Volume Controller.

z/VM is a supported environment using IBM Dynamic Partition Manager for Linux-only systems with SCSI or ECKD storage. This simplifies system administration tasks for a more positive experience by those with limited mainframe skills.

z/VM can help you extend the business value of IBM Z and LinuxONE technology across the enterprise by integrating applications and data, while providing exceptional levels of availability, security, and operational ease. World-class virtualization technology offered by z/VM can provide the ability to host a large number of virtual servers running different operating systems on IBM Z servers or a large number of virtual Linux servers on LinuxONE servers.

While cloud computing has become the standard use model for IT services, an IT infrastructure continues to be the foundation for every IT service. Realizing the benefits of cloud computing requires an infrastructure that delivers availability, reliability, security, and performance, while also providing strong virtualization technology, such as z/VM.