Introduction

IBM Power Virtual Server (PowerVS) is all about deploying and managing virtual server instances (VSIs) running AIX, IBM i, or Linux. A VSI is also referred to as a virtual machines (VM) or a logical partition (LPAR). The key parameters for provisioning a PowerVS VSI are:

  • Instance name: The PowerVS instance name appears in the IBM Cloud Portal under the list of instances within a service. Specify a name that is easily understood and recognized.

  • User tags (optional): Tags are custom labels that aid in organization, identification, and management. User tags are added to resources or service IDs by an authorized user in the account. Add user tags to your resources to organize, track, and manage costs for related resources. For example, env:dev, env:test tags can be used to identify different development environments. For more information on tags, refer to this document.

  • Server placement group: Server placement groups provide control over the host or server on which a new VM is placed. By using server placement groups, high availability solutions can be created within a data center. Apply an affinity or anti-affinity policy to each VM instance within a server placement group. All VMs in a placement group with an affinity policy are started on the same server. All VMs in a placement group with an anti-affinity policy are started on different servers. Learn more about placement groups.

  • Shared processor pool: Shared processor pools (SPP) can be used to split cores between a set of VSIs and provides a better overall ability to manage processor resources. SPP helps reduce software licensing costs by limiting the number of processors an uncapped partition can use. For more information on SPP, refer to this document.

  • Virtual server pinning: Virtual server pinning controls the movement of VMs during disasters and other restart events. Learn more about hard and soft pinning here.

  • SSH key: An SSH public and private key pair is required to access the instance. An SSH key must be created and loaded into the IBM Cloud Portal before an instance can be provisioned. Learn more about using and generating SSH keys here.

  • Operating system: IBM Power Virtual Server supports Linux, IBM i, and IBM AIX operating systems (OS). Under linux, both RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Suse Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) distributions are supported. With the support of these operating systems you can deploy several applications, including SAP HANA, SAP S/4HANA, and SAP NetWeaver. Clients can also run Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform to accelerate their application modernization efforts by using new cloud-native applications.
    IBM provides stock AIX, Linux and IBM i images when creating a Power Virtual Server. However, clients can always bring their own custom AIX, IBM i, or Linux image that is tested and deployed. For more information on supported OSes and Bring your own image options, refer to the below:

    • For PowerVS in IBM data center, refer to this document.
    • For PowerVS in client location (PowerVS private cloud), refer to this document.

  • OS image: Users can choose an operating system image from the PowerVS image catalog or users can bring their own image. Each supported OS has a specific set of images in the PowerVS catalog for supported OS versions. Each instance is provisioned with a boot volume that uses the storage tier selected.

  • Configure for Epic workloads (Applicable for AIX OS only): Clients can configure virtual machine (VM) instance to deploy Epic workloads when they select AIX as their operating system. For more information on configuring a VM for Epic workloads, refer to this document.

    What are Epic systems?

    Epic Systems, also known simply as Epic, is one of the largest providers of health information technology, used primarily by large U.S. hospitals and health systems to access, organize, store and share electronic medical records. Epic remains one of the largest electronic health record (EHR) vendors in the United States.

  • Deploy empty virtual server instance: Clients can create or provision a virtual server instance (VM) without any initial boot image volume. VMs without boot volume are helpful in high availability and disaster recovery use cases. A VM can be created without a boot volume and the volume that is cloned or replicated can be attached to a VM to bring the backed-up VM. For more information, refer to this document.

  • Virtual serial number (VSN) (Applicable for IBM i OS only): A VSN keeps track of installation, support entitlements, and licensing compliance for IBM i software. For more information, refer to this document.

  • IBM i Licenses (Applicable for IBM i OS only): When IBM i OS is selected, the IBM Power Virtual Server offering encompasses not only the IBM i OS but also additional Licensed Program Products (LPP) and various IBM i operating system features. For a complete list of included LPPs and OS features, refer to this document. Additional LPPs for IBM i are available for purchase and can be included in VM instances. To incorporate one or more of these LPPs, select the desired licenses for inclusion in the VM instance. As of Apr. 2025, the following licenses can be purchased through the Power Virtual Server offering: IBM i Cloud Storage Solutions (5773-ICC), IBM i Power HA (5770-HAS), and Rational Development Studio for IBM i (5770-WDS).

  • Storage tier: PowerVS supports 4 tiers of storage. Tier 3 provides a maximum of 3 input/output operations per second (IOPs) per gigabyte (GB). Tier 1 provides a maximum of 10 IOPs/GB. Tier 0 provides a maximum of 25 IOPs/GB. The Fixed IOPs tier provides 5,000 IOPs regardless of size; however, the Fixed IOPs tier is limited to volumes with a size of 200 GB or less. For more information, refer to this document.

  • Storage pool affinity: Three storage pool affinity options are available: auto-select, affinity, and anti-affinity. The affinity option requires the boot volume to be placed in the same pool as another existing instance or existing boot volume. New storage volumes for the instance are placed in the same storage pool as the affinity object. The anti-affinity policy specifies a different pool must be used from existing instance or existing boot volume. For more information, refer to this document.

  • Cloud-init user data: Cloud-init user data is utilized during the boot process of a virtual machine (VM) to automate initial configurations. This includes setting up user accounts, SSH keys, installing packages, configuring network settings, and other system settings. Essentially, it allows for the customization of the VM environment without manual intervention, ensuring that the VM is ready for use immediately after boot. Power Virtual Server user interface provides an option to pass in user data or scripts during the first boot runtime. To finalize the user data for Linux images, validation checks must be completed as required. Validation checks are not performed for AIX and Bring Your Own License (BYOL) images.

  • Boot volume replication: Boot volume replication in IBM Power Virtual Server involves creating replicated volumes to ensure data availability and disaster recovery. This process uses Global Replication Services (GRS), which provides asynchronous volume-level replication. For more information, refer to this document.

  • Deploy to dedicated host: Using the dedicated host capability on IBM Power® Virtual Server, clients can provision an entire server for their sole use, significantly expanding their computing options. Clients can handle mission-critical workloads with complete isolation, control, and security. For more information, refer to this document.

  • Machine type: As of April 2025, IBM Power9 and IBM Power10 machine types are supported. Availability of machine types vary by data center. Learn more about the hardware specifications available here.

  • Core type: PowerVS supports shared uncapped, shared capped, and dedicated cores. Shared uncapped cores are shared among other clients. Shared capped cores are shared, but resources do not expand beyond what is requested (used mostly for licensing). Dedicated cores are allocated for a specific client (used for specific third-party licensing considerations). Learn more about core types here.

  • Number of cores: The option for the number of cores assigned to an instance depends on the core type. Shared capped and unshared capped cores support 0.25 core increments, while dedicated cores must be assigned a full core. The maximum number of cores depends on the machine type and availability in the selected location.

  • Virtual cores: Virtual cores in IBM Power Virtual Server refer to units of virtual processor resources allocated to a partition or virtual machine. These virtual cores can be mapped to physical processor cores or time-sliced across them, allowing for flexible resource management. For more information on virtual cores concept and how it works in the context of shared processor pools, refer to this document. For more information on how to manage core to virtual core ratio, refer to this document.

  • Amount of memory: PowerVS instances must be provisioned with a minimum of 2 GB of random access memory (RAM). The maximum amount of memory varies based on machine type and availability in the selected location. If greater than 64 GB RAM per core is specified, a higher price is charged.

  • Additional storage volumes: Storage volumes in IBM Power Virtual Server are virtual storage devices that can be attached to virtual machines (VMs) to provide persistent storage. Clients can either create a new data volume or attach an existing one that they defined in their account. A new data volume can be created when an instance is provisioned. The size of a volume cannot be decreased after it is created. The maximum size of a volume that can be created is 238,193 GB. A storage tier can be specified. The volume can also be marked as shareable or nonshareable (default). Volume replication (using GRS) for data volumes can be enabled (default is off). Additional volumes created when the VM is created, use the same storage pool as the boot volume for the VM uses. For more information on creating data volumes, refer to the section "Table 4. Provisioning a VM with or without a boot volume." in this link.

  • Configure for large quantity volumes: Enable the Configure for large quantity volumes toggle button to support more than 127 (up to 500) volumes. This setting is at a VM-level that remains unmodifiable upon provisioning. For more information, refer to this document.

  • Networking: PowerVS instances are attached to a private network and can optionally be attached to a public, internet accessible network. Use private networks to connect to existing subnets. A new subnet can be created also. Learn more about PowerVS networking here.

Three click through demonstrations are provided in the next chapters. One for each of the supported operating systems: AIX, Linux, and IBM i. While each is similar, a few minor differences exist. You are encouraged to go through each of these demonstrations and read the step-by-step guidance provided.