PowerVM NovaLink system requirements
For successful operation, PowerVM® NovaLink requires hardware and software to meet specific criteria.
Server requirements
PowerVM NovaLink can be installed on POWER8® processor-based servers with firmware level FW840, or later and POWER9™ processor-based servers with firmware level FW910, or later. For systems that are co-managed by a Hardware Management Console (HMC), firmware level FW840.11, or later, is required for POWER8 servers and firmware level FW910, or later, is required for POWER9™ servers. If the server does not have the required firmware level you must update the server firmware before you install PowerVM NovaLink. If you are planning to use Software Defined Networking (SDN) Technology Preview with PowerVM NovaLink, firmware level FW860, or later is required or POWER8 servers and firmware level FW910, or later, is required for POWER9™ servers.
PowerVM NovaLink partition requirements
| System requirements | Standard VIOS-based environment | PowerVM Open I/O (SDN and SDE) |
|---|---|---|
| Processors | 0.5 shared processors that are uncapped with a nonzero weight and two virtual processors | |
| Memory | 6.5 GB adjusted to 2.5 GB after installation | 8 GB - 64 GB, depending on the number of partitions that are hosted |
| Storage | >= 30 GB vSCSI storage (LV, PV, NPIV) | SDN Only: >= 30 GB vSCSI storage (LV, PV, NPIV) SDN + Storage: Local SAS disk |
| Physical I/O | None | Physical network adapters (SDN and SDE), SAS devices (SDE) |
| Network | Virtual Ethernet | |
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 already 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.
Supported operating systems for hosted logical partitions
PowerVM NovaLink supports all operating systems that are supported on the machine type and model of the managed system.
Virtual I/O Server partition requirements
PowerVM NovaLink version 2.0.3.1 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.