IBM Power Systems Announces Software Updates to Key Products

October 17th, 2018 IBM Power Systems Announces Software Updates to Key Products

Ron Gordon
Director » Power Systems

On October 9, 2018, IBM Power Systems announced several significant updates and new software to support Power Systems management, operations, and security. This is an overview of those announcements.

1. New Enterprise Cloud Editions for AIX and Linux

Power Systems clients are moving towards a (multi» )cloud environment. To simplify this journey to cloud, IBM is announcing new software bundles

» IBM Power Enterprise Cloud Edition 1.1
» IBM Power Enterprise Cloud Edition with AIX 1.1

The new Power Enterprise Cloud Editions provide value for customers using both AIX and Linux on Power, with simplified licensing models and advanced features. They provide bundles of key cloud-enabling components that enable customers to seamlessly deploy and manage private clouds, simplify management of security, compliance and high availability, as well as accelerate file transfers across cloud environments.

The cloud editions are available in two flavors: Enterprise Cloud edition, which can be deployed on top of any OS on Power, primarily benefitting AIX and Linux on Power; and the Enterprise Cloud Edition with AIX, which includes AIX Std. Ed. 7.2 enabling smooth upgrades from AIX EE. Planned availability is November 9, 2018.

2. VM Recovery Manager for HA/DR

Organizations looking for an economical and easy-to-implement high-availability solution for AIX, IBM i and Linux environments need to look no further. VM Recovery Manager for HA and VM Recovery Manager for DR are easy to deploy and manage HA/DR solutions that enables VMs to be moved between systems using Live Partition Mobility (LPM) for planned events, or restarted on another system for unplanned outage events. This is a follow-on to the existing GDR solution with several enhancement, such as agents.

Unlike traditional clustering solutions, which are operating system aware, VMR -HA/DR are operating system agnostic solutions, enabling a consistent HA/DR solution across AIX, IBM i and Linux environments. This solution also avoids the cost of duplicate software licenses on the recovery server, as well as the added complexity of implementing and managing traditional clusters using LPM. Planned availability is November 9, 2018

3. PowerVM 3.1

PowerVM is the virtualization foundation of Power Systems. The latest version, PowerVM 3.1, improves the security and speed of moving live workloads between servers by exploiting POWER9 on-chip NX encryption/compression capabilities, for seamless cloud provisioning, workload optimization and improved productivity. Several other features are new, such as iSCSI support and the use of AIX 7.2 as the VIOS engine. Planned availability is November 9, 2018.

4. PowerVC 1.4.2

PowerVC provides comprehensive lifecycle management for virtualized resources on IBM Power Systems, including compute, storage, network management and a portal that allows self-service provisioning of VMs. PowerVC also serves as the integration point for deploying IBM Power Systems within multi-cloud architectures. PowerVC 1.4.2 works with the complete range of POWER9 servers and adds support for HMC managed SR-IOV adapters, AIX Trusted Boot and PAYG Enterprise Pools. Planned availability is November 9, 2018.

5. PowerSC MFA 1.2

PowerSC MFA raises the assurance level of Power Systems by requiring users to log in with multiple authentication factors. It grants access only after users have successfully presented several separate pieces of evidence to an authentication mechanism sourced from:

» Something they know: A password or security question
» Something they have: An ID badge, a token device or cryptographic key
» Something they are: Such as a fingerprint or other biometric data

IBM PowerSC Multi-Factor Authentication V1.2 extends platform and stack support to Linux on Power and the HMC, as well as additional authentication factors. Planned availability is December 14, 2018.

6. PowerHA 7.2.3 for AIX

IBM PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX protects against most outage types, including software updates, and provides near-continuous application availability with advanced failure detection, failover and recovery capabilities. Cluster Aware AIX was introduced with version 7.1, making IBM PowerHA an integrated extension of IBM AIX. PowerHA SystemMirror V7.2.3 uses the same clustering foundation as PowerHA SystemMirror V7.1 and supports a non-disruptive upgrade from version 7.1 to version 7.2.3. PowerHA SystemMirror V7.2.3 has a planned availability of December 14, 2018 and will include:

» Availability metrics and workload monitoring
» Backup management (including cloud-based options)
» Graphical management updates
» Snapshot/restore support
» Cluster reports
» Non-root-based UI administration
» Graphical cluster administration updates

7. Redhat has announced OpenStack Platform 13 for Power Systems

OpenStack is a combination of open source software services that work together in unison to create pooled resources, to run and manage private clouds. Six of these projects handle the core cloud-computing services of compute, networking, storage, identity, and image services, while more than a dozen optional services can be added to create unique, deployable clouds.
Red Hat® OpenStack Platform gives enterprises an open foundation to deploy, scale, and manage a private cloud. It combines Red Hat Enterprise Linux® Server and Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) into a secure infrastructure—a combination that allows users to run OpenStack nodes (such as compute, storage, and management) like a public cloud, but in a private environment.

This is a rather brief overview of the newly announced support for Power Systems. I will be providing more details about these new features on a Mainline webinar scheduled for Oct 31, 2018 at 12noon. See details below.

Please contact your Mainline Account Executive directly for additional information, or click here to contact us with any questions..

Webinar
New IBM POWER Software: Simplify and Accelerate Private Cloud, Security and Operations

Oct 31, 2018
12noon – 1pm ET
» Register Now

Mainline