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What is a Power Systems Virtual Server?

IBM Power Systems Virtual Server is a Power Systems enterprise infrastructure as a service (IaaS) offering. Power Systems Virtual Servers are physically located with low-latency connectivity to the IBM Cloud infrastructure. In the data centers, the Power Systems Virtual Servers are separated from the rest of the IBM Cloud servers with separate networks and direct-attached storage. The internal networks are fenced but offer connectivity options to IBM Cloud infrastructure or on-premises environments. This infrastructure design enables Power Systems Virtual Server to maintain key enterprise software certification and support as the Power Systems Virtual Server architecture is identical to certified on-premises infrastructure. The virtual servers, also known as logical partitions (LPAR), run on IBM Power Systems hardware with the PowerVM hypervisor.

With the Power Systems Virtual Server service, we can create and deploy one or more virtual servers (that are running either the AIX, IBM i, or Linux operating systems). After provisioning the Power Systems Virtual Server, it is your responsibility to make sure that your operating system is secure.

Current AIX, IBM i, and Linux clients can use the Power Systems Virtual Server service for a number of workload scenarios, including disaster recovery, development environments, and partial IT infrastructure moves. Power Systems Virtual Server clients can stay competitive with the scaling of their infrastructure and remain flexible with their workload management and capacity both on- and off-premise. And since the infrastructure layer is identical, system administrators who run on-premises AIX, IBM i, and Linux systems today can use their same tools, workflows, and enhancements in the Power Systems Virtual Server.


Key features

The following are some of the key features for the Power Systems Virtual Server service.


Straightforward billing

The Power Systems Virtual Server service uses a monthly billing rate that includes the licenses for the AIX and IBM i operating systems. The monthly billing rate is pro-rated by the hour based on the resources deployed to the Power Systems Virtual Server instance for the month. When you create the Power Systems Virtual Server instance, you can see the total cost for your configuration based on the options specified. We can identify what configuration options provide you with the best value for your business needs. See Pricing.

The Power Systems Virtual Server service does not provide Linux stock images. You must bring your own Linux image (OVA format) and subscription. Only SLES OVA images are currently supported. Learn more


Infrastructure customization

We can configure and customize the following options when you create a Power Systems Virtual Server:


Bring your own image

IBM provides you with stock AIX and IBM i images when you create a Power Systems Virtual Server. However, you can always bring your own custom AIX, IBM i or Linux image that you've tested and deployed.


Support for SAP NetWeaver or SAP HANA applications

When you provision a Power Systems Virtual Server instance to support SAP NetWeaver applications, select a version of the IBM-provided AIX or Linux stock operating system image. When you provision a Power Systems Virtual Server instance to support the SAP HANA applications, select a version of the IBM provided SUSE Enterprise Linux server (SLES) stock image. IBM i operating system and custom AIX and Linux images are not supported for SAP workloads. For information about the supported operating system versions, see FAQ.


Hardware specifications

The following IBM Power Systems can host a Power Systems Virtual Server: IBM Power System E880 (9119-MHE) (Dallas and Washington only), IBM Power System S922 (9009-22A), and IBM Power System E980 (9080-M9S) (Data centers other than Dallas and Washington). For more information about these systems and how they're used inside the Power Systems Virtual Server service, see their data sheets and the hardware overview table.

If you'd like to compare your current environment's performance to what's available through the Power Systems Virtual Server service, see the IBM Power Systems performance report. For a more condensed comparison, see IBM Power Systems CPW performance data comparison.

Data sheets

Washington, D.C. (WDC04)Dallas (DAL13)Frankfurt and London (FRA04/FRA05/LON06)

Compute Storage Network
  • Power e880 (9080-MHE)
  • Power s922 (9009-22A)
  • Storwize V7000F(2076-AF6) dual controller
  • Storwize V7000 (2076-624) dual controller
  • IBM SAN64B-6 (Brocade)
  • Cisco Nexus9000 93180YC-EX (10G)
  • Cisco Nexus9000 C9348GC-FXP (1G)
  • Avocent ACS8048

Compute Storage Network
  • Power e880 (9080-MHE)
  • Power s922 (9009-22A)
  • Storwize V7000F(2076-AF6) dual controller
  • Storwize V7000 (2076-624) dual controller
  • Tier-1 9846-AF8 FlashSystem 9150 dual controller
  • Tier-3 9846-AF8 FlashSystem 9150 dual controller
  • IBM SAN64B-6 (Brocade)
  • IBM SAN256B-6 (Brocade)
  • Cisco Nexus9000 C9336PQ (Spine 10G)
  • Cisco Nexus9000 C93180YC (10G)
  • Cisco Nexus9000 C93108TC-EX (1G)
  • Cisco UCS - APIC controller
  • Cisco ASR1001-HX Router
  • Avocent ACS8016

Compute Storage Network
  • Power E980 (9080-M9S)
  • Power s922 (9009-22A)
  • Tier-1 9846-AF8 FlashSystem 9150 dual controller
  • Tier-3 9846-AF8 FlashSystem 9150 dual controller
  • IBM SAN64B-6 (Brocade)
  • IBM SAN256B-6 (Brocade)
  • IBM SAN64B-6 (Brocade)
  • Cisco Nexus9000 N9K-C9364C (Spine 10G)
  • Cisco Nexus9000 9348GC-FXP (Leaf 1G)
  • Cisco Nexus9000 93180YC-FX (Leaf 25G)
  • Cisco UCS - APIC controller
  • Cisco ASR1001-HX Router
  • Avocent ACS8032DAC-400


Storage tiers

For each Power Systems Virtual Server instance, you must select a storage tier - Tier 1 or Tier 3. The storage tiers in Power Systems Virtual Server are based on I/O operations per second (IOPS). It means that the performance of your storage volumes is limited to the maximum number of IOPS based on volume size and storage tier. Although, the exact numbers might change over time, the Tier 3 storage is currently set to 3 IOPS/GB, and the Tier 1 storage is currently set to 10 IOPS/GB. For example, a 100 GB Tier 3 storage volume can receive up to 300 IOPs, and a 100 GB Tier 1 storage volume can receive up to 1000 IOPS. After the IOPS limit is reached for the storage volume, the I/O latency increases.

Currently, the IOPS-based storage tiers are available only in TOK04 data center.


Public and private networks

When you create a Power Systems Virtual Server, you can select a private or public network interface.

Public network

Private network