PowerVM NovaLink system requirements

PowerVM NovaLink partition requirements

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. 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.

If you install the PowerVM NovaLink software on a system that is 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 2.0.0, or later supports Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2, or later. The installer provides an option to install RHEL after the required setup or configuration of the system completes.

Logical Memory Block sizes of logical partitions

Power10 processor-based servers, or later, support partitions with Logical Memory Block (LMB) sizes upto 4 GB. You can change the system performance settings of the managed system to efficiently use its resources. Effective performance management enables quick response to system updates and saves expenses by postponing upgrades and service fees. You can also improve performance by setting appropriate values for the Logical Memory Block and Huge Page Count parameters, and also by specifying the Power-On and Power-Off configuration.

The supported LMB sizes are 128 MB, 256 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB, and 4 GB. However, the minimum LMB size requirements for the supported operating systems are greater than 256 MB. Physical memory is assigned to partitions in increments of LMB sizes.

The minimum amount of physical memory that is required to create a partition is equal to the size of the LMB on the managed system. The default LMB size varies according to the amount of physical memory that is configured in the Central Electronics Complex (CEC). The total LMB size depends upon the granularity and internal management of the quantity of LMBs. For more information about memory requirements for logical partitions, see Memory.

Supported operating systems and programming languages for hosted logical partitions

The PowerVM NovaLink software supports all operating systems and programming languages that are supported on the machine type and model of the IBM® Power systems.

Programming languages that support PowerVM NovaLink

The Python versions that are compatible with the PowerVM NovaLink software versions are listed in the following table:

Table 2. Python versions compatible with PowerVM NovaLink

IBM Power systems	Python version	Compatible with PowerVM NovaLink version 2.1.1	Compatible with PowerVM NovaLink version 2.2.1.1	Compatible with PowerVM NovaLink version 2.3.0
POWER9	Python 3.9	Yes	Yes	No Note: Ubuntu 20.04 is supported on POWER9 systems.
POWER9 and Power10	Python 3.11	No	No	Yes

Operating system support for PowerVM NovaLink in IBM Power systems

The PowerVM NovaLink software versions that are compatible with various operating systems such as Red Hat® Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Ubuntu are listed in the following table:

Table 3. Operating systems compatible with PowerVM NovaLink

IBM Power systems	Operating system	Compatible with PowerVM NovaLink version 2.1.1	Compatible with PowerVM NovaLink version 2.2.1.1	Compatible with PowerVM NovaLink version 2.3.0
POWER8	RHEL 8.8	Yes	Yes	No
	Ubuntu 20.04	Yes	Yes	No
POWER9	RHEL 8.8	Yes	Yes	No
	RHEL 8.10	No	No	Yes
	RHEL 9.2	Yes	Yes	No
	RHEL 9.4	No	No	Yes
	Ubuntu 20.04	Yes	Yes	No
Power10	RHEL 8.8	Yes	Yes	No
	RHEL 8.10	No	No	Yes
	RHEL 9.2	Yes	Yes	No
	RHEL 9.4	No	No	Yes

Virtual I/O Server partition requirements

PowerVM NovaLink version 2.0.2 requires Virtual I/O Server version 3.1.3 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.