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Comparing Virtualization Platforms - PowerVM and VMWare

This document provides an overview of key virtualization concepts and compares PowerVM and VMware virtualization platforms. It defines common terms like physical capacity, accessible capacity, guaranteed capacity, and mobility. It also highlights differences between the platforms in areas like CPU, memory, storage, and performance measurement. The goal is to discuss concepts that apply to multiple virtualization platforms while noting important distinctions between PowerVM and VMware.

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Bart Simson
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221 views26 pages

Comparing Virtualization Platforms - PowerVM and VMWare

This document provides an overview of key virtualization concepts and compares PowerVM and VMware virtualization platforms. It defines common terms like physical capacity, accessible capacity, guaranteed capacity, and mobility. It also highlights differences between the platforms in areas like CPU, memory, storage, and performance measurement. The goal is to discuss concepts that apply to multiple virtualization platforms while noting important distinctions between PowerVM and VMware.

Uploaded by

Bart Simson
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PowerVM and VMware

What this presentation is


Basic Terms that can be used to discuss multiple forms
of virtualization
Concepts common to virtualization platforms that
make planning easier
Notable differences between virtualization platforms
that should be understood when planning

IMHO
What this presentation is not
In anyway comprehensive
Basic Terms and Common Things
Virtualization Basics
Virtualization Basics
Physical Capacity
The amount of resources physically present

Virtual systems have little or no visibility
Virtualization Basics
Hypervisor
Abstraction layer between physical hardware and virtual
systems

PowerVM Firmware
VMWare - Software
Virtualization Basics
Accessible Capacity
Amount of resource that a virtual system can potentially
have access to
Also the amount of resource that a virtual system thinks
it has access to

PowerVM Virtual CPUs
VMWare Virtual CPUs
Virtualization Basics
Guaranteed Capacity
Amount of resource that a virtual system can have no
matter what other demands are placed on the physical
resources
Limiting factor that determines how many virtual
systems can be started
Cannot guarantee more resources than physically
present

PowerVM Entitlement
VMWare - Reservation

Virtualization Basics
Limit
Maximum amount of resources that a virtual system can
access

PowerVM Cap Tied to guaranteed capacity
VMWare - Limit Not tied to guaranteed capacity
Virtualization Basics
Priority
How resources are divided when demand is greater than
physical capacity
Only affects access to accessible resources above the
amount guaranteed

PowerVM Priority Weight
VMWare Shares
Virtualization Basics
Mobility
Ability to move virtual systems from one physical
hardware device to another with no disruption in service
to the virtual system
Independence from physical hardware

PowerVM Live Partition Mobility (LPM)
VMWare - vMotion
Cluster vs. Host
VMWare Cluster centric focus

PowerVM Host centric focus
CPU
Scalability
Number of vCPUs supported for a single virtual system
Performance rating of physical hardware
Coscheduling and Processor Folding
Configuration flexibility
Adding/removing resources
Hot Add/Hot Plug
Threading Differences

Memory
Committed vs. Not Committed

VMWare
Transparent Page Sharing
Balloon Driver

PowerVM
Active Memory Sharing
Active Memory Expansion
Storage - Space
VMWare Cluster/Pool Storage
Storage allocations are presented to all of the hosts
within a cluster and formatted with a proprietary file
Virtual system is a set of files within the filesystem
controlled by the hypervisor.
PowerVM Direct Storage
Storage allocations are presented to VIO servers which
then proxy them to the virtual system (vscsi) or storage
allocations are presented directly to the virtual system
(npiv)
Virtual system directly formats and manages storage



Storage - Throughput
Multipathing support
Quality of Service (Storage IO Control)

Priority vs. Guarantee
Reverse order of application
PowerVM Guarantee applied first then Priority Weight
VMWare Shares applied first then Reservations
Performance Measurement
CPU
Contention for physical resources

PowerVM Involuntary Context Switches
VMWare CPU Ready

Performance Measurement
CPU
Measurements from inside the virtual system

PowerVM
PURR
Entitlement vs. Virtual Utilization

Performance Measurement
CPU
Measurements from inside the virtual system

VMware
Skew
Run Queue in single vCPU virtual systems


Performance Measurement
Memory
Tracking memory allocation and usage by virtual systems

PowerVM N/A?
VMWare
Actively used
Shared
Balloon/vmmemctl
Swap
Consumed
Overhead
Performance Measurement
IO Measurement
PowerVM NPIV configurations have a measurement
gap at the the physical HBA
Performance Measurement
Cluster Vs. Host Measurement
PowerVM Virtual systems collect their own
performance information
VMWare Hypervisor collects performance information

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