IBM Systems Director VMControl Installation and User''''s Guide Version 2 Release 4 pdf

IBM Systems Director VMControl
Installation and User's Guide
Version 2 Release 4


IBM Systems Director VMControl
Installation and User's Guide
Version 2 Release 4

Note
Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in “Notices” on
page 431.
Contents
About this publication v
Who should read this book v
Conventions and terminology v
Publications and related information v
How to send your comments vi
What's new in IBM Systems Director
VMControl V2.4 vii
IBM Systems Director VMControl V2.4.2 1
Overview of IBM Systems Director VMControl . . . 1
Understanding the components of your IBM
Systems Director VMControl environment . . . 2
License information 12
Accessibility features 15
Planning for IBM Systems Director VMControl . . 15
Hardware and software requirements for
VMControl 15
IPv6 compliance 16
Supported virtualization environments 18

Recommendations for configuring IBM Power
Systems that are using IBM Systems Director
VMControl 79
Preparing your Power Systems environment for
server system pools 83
Installing IBM Systems Director VMControl . . . 84
Activating IBM Systems Director VMControl . . 84
Installing IBM Systems Director VMControl
permanent license key using the installation
wizard 85
Installing the IBM Systems Director VMControl
permanent license key silently 86
Installing IBM Systems Director VMControl
agents and subagents 88
Upgrading and migrating to IBM Systems
Director VMControl 2.4 115
Updating IBM Systems Director VMControl . . 118
Deactivating and uninstalling IBM Systems
Director VMControl 118
Configuring after installation 119
Navigating and managing VMControl resources 135
Using the VMControl summary page 135
Viewing resources in the Platform Managers
and Members view 137
Viewing resources in the Virtual Servers and
Hosts view 137
Viewing virtualization properties 138
Viewing monitors 139
Managing storage 147
Storage system pools overview 147

Managing storage system pools 149
Managing networks 152
Managing virtual servers 153
Creating a virtual server 153
Creating a virtual server for guest operating
system installation in a KVM environment . . 154
Editing host resources 158
Editing a virtual server 158
Deleting a virtual server permanently 159
Relocating virtual servers 160
Managing power operations on virtual servers 171
Launching VMware management software . . 174
Managing virtual appliances and workloads . . . 175
Creating and discovering image repositories . . 175
Deleting image repositories 183
Getting started with virtual appliances and
workloads 183
Managing virtual appliances 197
Managing virtual appliances with Tivoli
Provisioning Manager for Images 209
Managing workloads 213
Managing virtual farms 213
Adding a host to a virtual farm 214
Creating a virtual farm 214
Deleting a virtual farm from IBM Systems
Director and VMware vCenter 215
Removing a virtual farm from IBM Systems
Director 215
Editing a virtual farm 216
Removing a host from a virtual farm 216

Viewing virtual farms 216
Entering maintenance mode 217
Exiting from maintenance mode 217
Managing server system pools 218
Configuring SAN storage for Power Systems
server system pools 218
Creating server system pools 219
Renaming a server system pool 221
Server system pool optimization 221
Adding hosts to server system pools 222
Removing a host from a server system pool . . 223
Putting a host into maintenance mode 223
Removing a host from maintenance mode . . . 224
Permanently deleting a server system pool . . 224
Troubleshooting and support 224
Installation troubleshooting 225
Discovery and connectivity troubleshooting . . 228
Import troubleshooting 235
Capture troubleshooting 236
Deploy troubleshooting 242
Virtual server troubleshooting 250
Virtual appliance troubleshooting 260
Reference 261
VMControl commands 261
OVF specifications for IBM Systems Director
VMControl 402
Notices 431
Trademarks 432
© Copyright IBM Corp. 2007, 2012 iii
Index 435

iv
IBM Systems Director VMControl: Installation and User's Guide
About this publication
This publication provides instructions for installing and using IBM
®
Systems
Director VMControl Express Edition, IBM Systems Director VMControl Standard
Edition, and IBM Systems Director VMControl Enterprise Edition. Use VMControl
to manage virtual servers, virtual appliances, workloads, and system pools across
multiple hardware platforms and virtualization environments from one location.
This documentation describes how to use the Web interface as well as the
command-line interface (smcli) to complete tasks. You can also find
troubleshooting information, and a reference section that contains IBM Systems
Director VMControl-specific requirements for Open Virtualization Format (OVF)
virtual appliance packages.
Who should read this book
This book is for system administrators and operators using the IBM Systems
Director VMControl plug-in for IBM Systems Director to capture, import, and
deploy virtual appliances in the data center.
Conventions and terminology
These notices are designed to highlight key information:
Note: These notices provide important tips, guidance, or advice.
Important: These notices provide information or advice that might help you avoid
inconvenient or difficult situations.
Attention: These notices indicate possible damage to programs, devices, or data.
An attention notice appears before the instruction or situation in which damage
can occur.
Publications and related information
You can view the same content as is in this IBM Systems Director VMControl PDF
document in the Information Center. In addition to this documentation, there is

additional information related to IBM Systems Director VMControl.
To view a PDF file, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded for
free from the Adobe Web site at />IBM Systems Director VMControl resources on the World Wide
Web
v IBM Systems Director VMControl information center
/>com.ibm.director.vim.helps.doc/fsd0_vim_main.html
Find information for installing and using IBM Systems Director VMControl.
v IBM Systems Director VMControl Web site
/>© Copyright IBM Corp. 2007, 2012 v
See an overview of IBM Systems Director VMControl and links to download the
product.
v IBM Systems Director Web site
www.ibm.com/systems/management/director/
Get overview information, demos, and downloads for the IBM Systems Director
product, and its plug-ins.
v IBM Systems and servers: Technical support page
www.ibm.com/systems/support/
Locate support for IBM hardware and systems-management software.
v IBM Systems Director VMControl Implementation Guide on IBM Power
Systems
™
/>Provides information about installing and configuring IBM Systems Director
VMControl in a Power Systems environment, including implementation
scenarios.
v IBM Systems Director Best Practices Wiki
/>IBM+Systems+Director+Best+Practices+Wiki
Includes additional information related to using IBM Systems Director
VMControl. For example, you can read about troubleshooting tips for a Power
Systems environment, as well as information about the latest patches required
for software supported by VMControl.

v IBM Systems Director API Usage & Licensing
/>Find out how you can potentially use IBM Systems Director programming
interfaces to extend the capabilities of IBM Systems Director VMControl.
How to send your comments
Your feedback is important in helping to provide the most accurate and highest
quality information.
If you have any comments about this book or any other IBM Systems Director
publication, go to the IBM Systems Director information center Web site at
publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/director/pubs/index.jsp. There you will find
the feedback page where you can enter and submit comments.
vi IBM Systems Director VMControl: Installation and User's Guide
What's new in IBM Systems Director VMControl V2.4
IBM Systems Director VMControl Version 2.4 provides a number of new features
and enhancements.
Functional enhancements
VMControl provides several functional enhancements including the following tasks
and commands:
v VMControl is automatically installed and uninstalled with IBM Systems Director
so there is no need for a separate installation or uninstallation. However you
must activate VMControl before you can use it.
v Messages for VMControl are now included in this information center. To find a
message, type the message ID in the Search field and click Go.
v IBM Systems Director VMControl for IBM PowerLinux is available, providing
the same functionality as IBM Systems Director VMControl Enterprise Edition.
v Support for an integrated System Pools view on the VMControl summary page.
From the System Pools tab you can access server system pools, storage system
pools, and if IBM Systems Director Network Control is installed and activated,
network system pools.
v Support on KVM and IBM Power Systems for integration with IBM Systems
Director Network Control network system pools (NSPs) for automated network

relocation and logical network provisioning across network resources.
v Support on KVM and Power Systems for integration with IBM Systems Director
Network Control and IBM Systems Director Network Management logical
network profiles to provision new and existing networks for capturing virtual
servers and deploying virtual appliances.
v Support on KVM and IBM Power Systems to capture and deploy virtual servers
that have multiple virtual disks, including the operating system (boot) disk and
additional data disks. For Power Systems, the virtual disks can be block type.
For KVM, the virtual disks can be block or file type.
v Support on Power Systems for deploying to new virtual servers that use N-port
ID Virtualization (NPIV). This support is for HMC-managed systems in both a
NIM-based and SCS-based virtualization environment.
v Support for managing agentless operating-system resources that use alternate
SSH software (non-OpenSSH software). This function is supported for the
capture and deploy tasks in the following virtualization environments:
– AIX
®
in a Power Systems virtualization environment that relies on AIX
Network Installation Manager (NIM)
– AIX and Linux in a Power Systems virtualization environment that relies on
storage copy services (SCS)
v Support for decreased copy times when capturing workloads and deploying
virtual appliances by utilizing FlashCopy
®
in the storage environment, using one
of the following options:
– By creating a remote service access point (RSAP) connection to an IBM Tivoli
®
Storage Productivity Center for Replication server. For more information, see
Preparing to use FlashCopy with TPC-R and mktpcrrsap.

– By creating an SSH remote service access point (RSAP) connection for the
SAN Volume Controller or IBM Storwize
®
V7000. For more information, see
Preparing to use FlashCopy with SSH and mksvcsshrsap.
© Copyright IBM Corp. 2007, 2012 vii
v Support for new monitors that report data for workloads and server system
pools. In addition, enhanced resource views can be filtered to display
information such as storage, network, and top resource consumers for a
workload or server system pool.
v Support for the VMware vCenter virtualization environment:
– VMware vCenter systems are now managed without agents. A VMControl
subagent for VMware vCenter is no longer required.
– The Connect task is no longer required on VMware vCenter systems to
establish credentials for the system. Discover and request access to the
VMware vCenter system and proceed with management tasks.
– After the request access task for the VMware vCenter system completes, all of
its managed VMware ESX Server and VMware ESXi hosts are discovered
automatically. The request access task is then performed by default on
VMware ESXi systems. Request access to VMware ESX Server hosts must still
be performed manually.
v Support for Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) virtualization
environment:
– Support to capture virtual servers or workloads, to import and deploy virtual
appliances, to relocate virtual servers, and to group hosts into server system
pools for resiliency.
– Support for NFS and SAN storage pools to share storage between servers in a
server system pool or farm for the following:
- Capture to an image repository
- Deployment from an image repository

- Relocation
– Support for turning maintenance mode on and off for server system pool
hosts.
– Support for paravirtualization drivers on a guest operating system to improve
your virtual server performance, and support for paravirtualized networks or
devices for your virtual server.
– Support for providing CPU used time, ready time, and demand estimation
usage metrics information about your virtual server.
– Support for validating system compatibility for relocation of your hosts,
including provision of relocation failure details, prevention of relocations
between incompatible hosts, and presentation of only those hosts that are
compatible during server system pool creation or host addition.
– Support for adding new virtual disks or deleting virtual disks that are not
assigned to a virtual server through the Edit Host function.
– Support for specifying the primary and secondary boot device types of a
virtual server.
– Support for creating or editing a virtual server such that a serial console
device is made available, and for starting remote control from IBM Systems
Director to access your virtual server guest operating system.
v Support for IBM i virtualization environment:
– Support for creating, editing, and deleting virtual servers
– Support for capturing virtual servers or workloads, importing and deploying
virtual appliances
– Support for creating, editing, starting, stopping, and deleting workloads.
v Support for changing default settings and customizing your Network Installation
Manager (NIM) environment as follows:
viii IBM Systems Director VMControl: Installation and User's Guide
– Specifying the IP addresses that the NIM master uses to communicate with
the platform manager
– Specifying the IP addresses that the NIM master uses to communicate with

the client virtual server during capture operations
– Specifying where the NIM master image repository stores images
– Optimizing the deploy operation for NIM
– Allowing the configuration of secondary network adapters that cannot be
reached by the NIM master during the deploy operation
v Support for a new activation engine for AIX and Linux using SCS
For AIX and Linux using storage copy services (SCS) in a Power
®
virtualization
environment, you must install and use the Virtual Solutions Activation Engine
(VSAE). The VSAE is shipped with VMControl 2.4 and enables you to apply IP
configurations from a virtual appliance captured with VMControl 2.4. The
activation engine shipped with previous VMControl versions will not work.
v Support for IBM Flex System Manager managing Power Systems.
v CLI commands that are new to VMControl:
– lscandidatensp command
– mksvcsshrsap command
– mktpcrrsap command
– resumeworkload command
– rmsvcsshrsap command
– rmtpcrrsap command
– suspendworkload command
For more information about the new CLI commands, see VMControl commands.
Support for these functions varies among virtualization environments and depends
on whether you install the Express
®
, Standard, or Enterprise Edition of IBM
Systems Director VMControl. For more information, see Overview of IBM Systems
Director VMControl.
What’s new in VMControl 2.4 ix

x IBM Systems Director VMControl: Installation and User's Guide
IBM Systems Director VMControl V2.4.2
IBM Systems Director VMControl is designed to simplify the management of
workloads in your IT environment. Use IBM Systems Director VMControl Express
Edition, IBM Systems Director VMControl Standard Edition, and IBM Systems
Director VMControl Enterprise Edition or IBM Systems Director VMControl for
IBM PowerLinux to manage virtual servers, virtual appliances, workloads, and
system pools across multiple hardware platforms and virtualization environments
from one location.
Overview of IBM Systems Director VMControl
This section provides an overview of IBM Systems Director VMControl Express
Edition, IBM Systems Director VMControl Standard Edition, IBM Systems Director
VMControl Enterprise Edition, and IBM Systems Director VMControl for IBM
PowerLinux, including accessibility and license information.
IBM Systems Director VMControl is a cross-platform product that assists you in
rapidly deploying virtual appliances to create virtual servers that are configured
with the operating system and software applications that you want. It also enables
you to group resources into system pools, which enable you to centrally manage
and control the different workloads in your environment.
IBM Systems Director VMControl Express Edition includes features that were
formerly part of IBM Systems Director virtualization manager. With VMControl
Express Edition, you can complete the following tasks:
v Create virtual servers.
v Edit virtual servers.
v Manage virtual servers.
v Relocate virtual servers.
v Discover virtual server, storage, and network resources and visualize the
physical-to-virtual relationships.
IBM Systems Director VMControl Standard Edition is a licensed feature of
VMControl. With VMControl Standard Edition, you can complete the following

tasks:
v Create new image repositories for storing virtual appliances and discover
existing image repositories in your environment.
v Import external, standards-based virtual appliance packages into your image
repositories as virtual appliances.
v Capture a running virtual server that is configured just the way you want,
complete with guest operating system, running applications, and virtual server
definition. When you capture the virtual server, a virtual appliance is created in
one of your image repositories with the same definitions and can be deployed
multiple times in your environment.
v Import virtual appliance packages that exist in the Open Virtualization Format
(OVF) from the Internet or other external sources. After the virtual appliance
packages are imported, you can deploy them within your data center.
v Deploy virtual appliances quickly to create new virtual servers that meet the
demands of your ever-changing business needs.
© Copyright IBM Corp. 2007, 2012 1
v Create, capture, and manage workloads.
IBM Systems Director VMControl Enterprise Edition and IBM Systems Director
VMControl for IBM PowerLinux are also licensed features of VMControl. With
VMControl Enterprise Edition and IBM Systems Director VMControl for IBM
PowerLinux, you can complete the following tasks.
v Create server system pools, which enable you to consolidate your resources and
workloads into distinct and manageable groups.
v Deploy virtual appliances into server system pools.
v Manage server system pools, including adding hosts or additional storage space
and monitoring the health of the resources and the status of the workloads in
them.
v Group storage systems together using storage system pools to increase resource
utilization and automation.
v Manage storage system pools by adding storage, editing the storage system pool

policy, and monitoring the health of the storage resources.
You are granted an evaluation period for VMControl Standard Edition and
VMControl Enterprise Edition or VMControl for IBM Linux on Power Systems
when you download and install VMControl. For more information, see the License
Information topic.
The IBM Systems Director VMControl Summary page guides you through the
tasks you need to complete to get started using the product: installing agents,
discovering or creating image repositories, capturing or importing virtual
appliances. Once you are up and running, the Summary page gives you quick
access to the main tasks and views that you can use in IBM Systems Director
VMControl. The Summary page also helps you manage your licenses for
VMControl Standard Edition and VMControl Enterprise Edition. For more
information, see "Navigating and managing VMControl resources."
Related information:
Navigating and managing VMControl resources
Downloads
Supported virtualization environments
Understanding the components of your IBM Systems Director
VMControl environment
IBM Systems Director VMControl enables you to manage various components in
your virtualization environment.
Platform managers
A platform manager manages one or more host systems and their associated virtual
servers and operating systems.
Here are some examples of platform managers:
v Hardware Management Console (HMC)
v IBM Flex System Manager
v Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM)
v VMware vCenter
2 IBM Systems Director VMControl: Installation and User's Guide

IBM Systems Director does not recognize a managed system as a platform manager
until the managed system has been unlocked. (The padlock icon in the Access
column for a managed system indicates that it is secured.) To request access to the
managed system, right-click the managed system and click Request Access.By
providing a valid user name that has local administrative rights to that managed
system and its password, you can unlock and access the system.
IBM Flex System Manager serves as both a platform manager and the management
server. Therefore, you do not need to request access to it.
Hosts
In an IBM Systems Director environment, a host is a system that contains resources
from which virtual servers are constructed.
Hosts can be any of the following systems that are configured for the IBM Systems
Director environment:
v A BladeCenter
®
Chassis
v IBM Flex System Enterprise Chassis
v A RHEL 6.0 or 6.1 server that has Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)
virtualization support enabled
v IBM Power Systems that are under the control of an IBM Hardware
Management Console (HMC)
v An IBM Power Systems server that is under the control of IBM Integrated
Virtualization Manager (IVM)
v A system running VMware ESX Server or VMware ESXi that is under the
control of VMware vCenter
v Windows Server 2008, Enterprise, Standard, and Datacenter x64 Editions with
Hyper-V role enabled, Release 2
v A System z
®
LPAR running z/VM

®
hypervisor
v A Power Systems compute node
A host can manage multiple virtual servers and their guest operating systems.
Virtual servers
A virtual server is associated with a host system. The host must be part of a
virtualization environment that is supported in IBM Systems Director. An
operating system and other software can be installed on a virtual server. In a
Power Systems environment, a virtual server is called a logical partition or
partition. In z/VM and VMware environments, virtual servers are often called
virtual machines.
A virtual server is the logical equivalent of a physical platform. After IBM Systems
Director discovers a host, it continues the discovery process for all the virtual
servers that are associated with the host. After virtual servers are discovered, they
can be powered on and turned off through IBM Systems Director. In addition, you
can edit resources that are assigned to virtual servers, and in some virtualization
environments you can relocate a virtual server from one host to another. You can
also create additional virtual servers to meet your needs.
The following diagram shows a virtual server with an operating system and
software application installed.
IBM Systems Director VMControl V2.4.2 3
Guest-operating-systems
A guest-operating-system represents an operating system that is running on a virtual
server on which Common Agent is installed. A guest-operating-system is a
particular type of managed system.
The standard IBM Systems Director discovery process for managed systems can
discover guest operating systems. However, if a guest operating system is not
running Common Agent, it is not recognized as a guest-operating-system object in
IBM Systems Director.
Virtual farms

A virtual farm logically groups like hosts and facilitates the relocation task —
moving a virtual server from one host to another host within the virtual farm.
A virtual farm can contain multiple hosts and their associated virtual servers. A
virtual farm can contain only hosts of the same type. For example, a virtual farm
that begins with a KVM host can contain only other KVM hosts. When a virtual
farm is configured, you can relocate virtual servers between hosts in the farm.
You use the Create Virtual Farm wizard to group hosts together and enable
specialized capabilities for the virtual servers running on the hosts. You can enable
capabilities such as high availability, workload management, live relocation, and
static relocation. Not all capabilities are supported on all platforms.
VMware vCenter farms discovered or created in the VMControl
environment
During discovery, IBM Systems Director VMControl identifies a system that is
running VMware vCenter server as a platform manager. As the discovery process
continues, farms that exist in the VMware vCenter environment are identified. If
necessary, you can manually request the discovery of farms after VMControl has
discovered a platform manager. Alternatively, you can create VMControl virtual
farms for a platform manager.
VMControl virtual farms are not identical to farms in VMware vCenter because
VMControl does not use the hierarchical model that VMware vCenter uses.
VMware vCenter supports collections of farms, which are referred to as farm
groups. This concept enables VMware vCenter to present farms in hierarchical
groups within the VMware vCenter client. However, VMControl does not have a
farm group concept and does not support displaying the farm groups in the same
type of farm hierarchy. When VMControl creates a virtual farm for a VMware
4 IBM Systems Director VMControl: Installation and User's Guide
vCenter farm that is a member of one or more farm groups, the name of the
VMControl virtual farm is displayed, but the hierarchy is not displayed. You can
find the full path that VMware vCenter uses in the Virtualization Properties. See
the Vendor identifier field.

Note: If a farm that is contained within a farm group is discovered and later that
farm group is renamed in VMware vCenter, unexpected behavior can occur with
the virtual farm in the VMControl environment. This unexpected behavior for the
VMControl virtual farm occurs for all instances of IBM Systems Director Server
that are tracking activity on that virtual farm.
The farm type of a VMControl virtual farm that exists in a VMware vCenter
environment is VMware vCenter.
VMControl virtual farms for other virtualization environments
You can create virtual farms for use with other supported virtualization
environments. These virtual farms are not defined in any virtualization application,
but exist only in IBM Systems Director VMControl.
The virtual farm type of a VMControl virtual farm is undefined until you add a
host to it. Then, the virtual farm type becomes one of the following values:
v HMC
v IVM
v KVM
Virtual appliances
A virtual appliance is a ready-to-deploy operating system and software package that
is stored by IBM Systems Director VMControl. A virtual appliance contains an
image of a full operating system, and can contain software applications and
middleware. A virtual appliance also contains metadata describing the virtual
server that the image requires.
VMControl enables you to capture a virtual appliance from a virtual server already
deployed with an image, capture a virtual appliance from a single-virtual server
workload, or import a virtual appliance package that was created outside of
VMControl.
The following diagram shows a virtual appliance.
IBM Systems Director VMControl V2.4.2 5
Importable virtual appliance packages must conform to the Distributed
Management Task Force (DMTF) Open Virtualization Format (OVF) Version 1.1.0.

They also must abide by the limitations and restrictions imposed by VMControl.
For more information, see "OVF specifications for VMControl."
You can deploy a virtual appliance to a host, to a server system pool, or to existing
virtual servers. When you deploy a virtual appliance to a host or a server system
pool, a new virtual server is created for you. Additionally, the deploy operation in
VMControl creates a workload to represent the deployed virtual appliance. The
information described in this topic applies in a Power Systems environment. Some
limitations exist in other environments.
Related information:
Workloads
OVF specifications for VMControl
Workloads
A workload represents one or more virtual servers that can be monitored and
managed as a single entity. For example, you can manage a workload that might
contain both a web server and a database server.
You can start and stop a workload, and thus the virtual servers it contains, as one
entity. You can monitor the overall state and status of the workload by viewing the
Workloads dashboard. A workload is automatically created when you deploy a
virtual appliance. You can also create a workload by grouping one or more virtual
servers that are not already part of an existing workload.
The following diagram shows a workload created when a virtual appliance is
deployed. The resulting workload contains a single virtual server.
6 IBM Systems Director VMControl: Installation and User's Guide
The following diagram shows a workload created by grouping three virtual
servers.
A workload must meet the following specifications:
v An application instance can be part of only one workload. For example, an
application instance such as a database cannot be shared by more than one
workload.
v A workload can consist of only virtual servers. A workload cannot consist of

physical machines.
IBM Systems Director VMControl V2.4.2 7
v All virtual servers in a workload must either be members of a server system
pool, or must exist outside of a server system pool. A workload cannot consist of
both types of virtual servers.
v A workload in a server system pool that supports the resilience policy can
contain only virtual servers that also support the resilience policy .
v A workload in a server system pool that supports the resilience policy for
remote restart can contain only virtual servers that also support the resilience
policy for remote restart.
v To suspend a workload, the workload must be in Started state, which means
that all of the virtual servers in the workload are started. To resume a workload,
the workload must be in Suspended state, which means that all of the virtual
servers in the workload are suspended. A workload that contains virtual servers
in mixed states cannot be suspended. In this case, you can invoke power
operations on individual virtual servers within the workload, so that all of the
virtual servers are in the same state. The workload state will be automatically
synchronized as the states of its virtual servers are changed.
To create a workload by grouping one or more virtual servers, use the Group as
Workload wizard. You can specify certain criteria for the workload that you want
to create. Then, you can select one or more virtual servers that match the criteria
and add them to the workload.
You can choose from the following criteria:
This workload can be captured
After selecting this option, you can select a single virtual server from a
filtered list of virtual servers that support the VMControl capture task.
After the workload is created, you can capture it and deploy it in the
future.
This workload can be activated for resilience policy and its virtual servers will
be managed by the server system pool

This criteria applies to the relocation resilience policy; it does not apply to
the remote restart resilience policy. After selecting this option and selecting
a server system pool that manages the virtual servers, you can select
additional virtual servers from a filtered list of virtual servers that support
the relocation resilience policy.
Related information:
Virtual appliances
Relocating virtual servers using the resilience policy
System pools
A system pool groups similar resources, so that you can manage the resources
within the system pool as a single unit. You can create storage system pools and
server system pools. You can perform basic tasks such as creating and deleting
system pools and adding and removing resources from the system pools.
Additional system pool functions are available, depending on the type of system
pool you have created.
Getting started with system pools:
After you have discovered and collected inventory on your systems, you can work
with different types of system pools to optimize your resource usage and workload
resilience.
8 IBM Systems Director VMControl: Installation and User's Guide
System pools and virtualization
You can group resources into system pools to centrally manage and control the
virtual servers and workloads that are deployed in your environment. You can
create the following types of system pools:
v Storage system pools
v Server system pools
v Network system pools
Network system pools enable automated network relocation and logical network
provisioning across network resources for the servers in related server system
pools. You can combine the following different types of system pools to increase

workload resilience:
v Using storage system pools and server system pool to leverage automated
storage provisioning. In this scenario, you can take advantage of the integration
between IBM Systems Director Storage Control and VMControl to automate
storage provisioning during tasks such as virtual appliance deployment and
virtual server relocation.
Restriction: This scenario is not supported for KVM.
v Using server system pools with network system pools to leverage automated
network relocation and logical network provisioning. In this scenario, you can
take advantage of the integration between IBM Systems Director Network
Control and VMControl to simplify the network configuration of server system
pools during virtual server relocations. Users can also deploy VLANs across
their entire networks. For more information, see "System pools and automated
network relocation."
Understanding system pool configuration
Set up your system pools in the following order:
1. Storage system pools: Group similar storage subsystems to create storage
system pools. For more information, see "Storage system pools overview."
2. Network system pools (NSPs): If you have Network Control installed and
licensed, and you intend to use automated network relocation or logical
network provisioning, set up network system pools after setting up your
storage system pools. For more information, see "Network system pools."
3. Server system pools: Specify storage during server system pool creation and
add hosts to the server system pool that are connected the same shared storage
as the server system pool. For KVM hosts, this shared storage can be either
file-backed (NFS) or block-backed (SAN). If you intend to use automated
network relocation, create your server system pool, or pools, from servers
connected by the same NSP. For more information, see "Server system pools."
Storage system pools:
A storage system pool groups similar storage subsystems with the goal of better

resource usage and workload resilience. A storage system pool automates
placement within the storage system pool to simplify workload deployment
operations.
When virtual servers are relocated from one host to another host in a server
system pool, or when a virtual server is deployed into a server system pool, the
associated storage system pool can simultaneously reallocate storage to maintain
IBM Systems Director VMControl V2.4.2 9
workload resilience. Storage system pools enable the use of storage tiers when
storage subsystems have storage pools of differing RAID levels.
All storage subsystems within the storage system pool must be part of the same
active zone configuration. Storage subsystems can be members of multiple storage
system pools.
You use the Create Storage System Pool wizard to combine storage and filter
storage based on criteria, such as the zone membership.
After a storage system pool is created, the interface displays a list of known RAID
levels for the storage system pool. The RAID levels list is comprised of the RAID
levels for all the internal storage pools within the storage system pool. Some
storage pools may have undefined RAID levels. Only the known RAID levels are
listed.
The following diagram shows three storage subsystems in a storage system pool.
Storage system pool tasks
With IBM Systems Director VMControl you can perform the following storage
system pool tasks:
v Create a storage system pool
v View a real-time dashboard to view storage system pools; view aggregated
storage utilization; and check the status of all the resources managed by your
storage system pool
v View and modify the default storage policy for a storage system pool
v Rename a storage system pool
v Optimize the server system to improve performance

v Add storage subsystems to a storage system pool
v Remove storage subsystems from a storage system pool
v Permanently delete a storage system pool
Related concepts:
Storage system pools overview
Server system pools:
A server system pool logically groups similar hosts with the goal of better resource
usage and workload resilience. A server system pool comprises multiple hosts and
their associated virtual servers, along with attached shared storage. A server
10 IBM Systems Director VMControl: Installation and User's Guide
system pool facilitates the deployment of new workloads including automatic
placement, as well as relocation of virtual servers from one host to other hosts in
the server system pool. By relocating virtual servers within a server system pool,
you can maintain the high availability and resilience of your workloads.
You use the Create Server System Pool wizard to group hosts and filter hosts
based on their capabilities, such as live relocation and automated network
relocation.
The following diagram shows three hosts and attached, shared storage in a server
system pool.
Server system pool criteria
A server system pool must meet the following criteria:
v A server system pool groups similar hosts. For example, a server system pool
can contain hosts that are managed by Hardware Management Consoles
(HMCs), or it can contain hosts that are managed by Integrated Virtualization
Managers (IVMs), but the server system pool cannot contain both types of hosts.
v A host can be a member of only one server system pool.
v All hosts in a server system pool must use the same shared storage.
v A server system pool that supports the workload resilience policy for live virtual
server relocation must contain hosts that are capable of live virtual server
relocation.

v A server system pool that supports automated network relocation must contain
hosts that are connected by a network system pool (NSP) and capable of
automated network relocation.
v All hosts in a server system pool must be compatible to share workloads based
on specific criteria required by each platform. VMControl helps you create server
system pools with compatible hosts. When you select an initial host for your
server system pool, VMControl provides a list of compatible hosts from which
you can select other hosts to add to the server system pool.
Server system pool tasks
With IBM Systems Director VMControl you can perform the following server
system pool tasks:
v Create a server system pool
IBM Systems Director VMControl V2.4.2 11
v View a real-time dashboard to view server system pools; view monitors such as
CPU utilization; and check the status of all the resources managed by your
server system pool
v Rename a server system pool
v Add and remove hosts from a server system pool
v Permanently delete a server system pool
v Enter and exit maintenance mode for the hosts in the server system pool
v Deploy a virtual appliance to the server system pool
Relocation resilience in a server system pool
IBM Systems Director VMControl can detect problems that occur in your server
system pool. For example, your server system pool might experience resource
shortages, high CPU utilization, or hardware failures related to processors, memory
subsystems, power source, or storage. When these types of problems occur in your
server system pool, virtual servers can be relocated from one host to another host
to ensure that your workloads remain resilient. You can perform the relocation task
manually, you can activate the resilience policy for the workloads in your server
system pool for relocation that is initiated by the server system pool, or you can

create an automation plan to relocate virtual servers based on events of your
choosing. Additionally, if you have IBM Systems Director Network Control
installed and licensed, you can use NSPs with VMControl to implement automated
network mobility.
Related information:
Relocating virtual servers
License information
Licensing for IBM Systems Director VMControl, includes both no-charge (free) and
chargeable (for-fee) components.
IBM Systems Director VMControl contains both the no-charge (free) IBM Systems
Director VMControl Express Edition function and optional chargeable (fee-based)
functions: IBM Systems Director VMControl Standard Edition or IBM Systems
Director VMControl Enterprise Edition and IBM Systems Director VMControl for
IBM PowerLinux. With the free IBM Systems Director VMControl Express Edition
portion of the product, you can create and manage virtual servers.
When you activate VMControl, you are granted an evaluation period for IBM
Systems Director VMControl Standard Edition image management functions and
IBM Systems Director VMControl Enterprise Edition and IBM Systems Director
VMControl for IBM PowerLinux system pool functions. During the evaluation
period, you can capture, import, and deploy virtual appliances in your
environment and create and manage system pools. When the evaluation period
expires, you must purchase a license to continue using VMControl Standard
Edition, VMControl Enterprise Edition, or IBM Systems Director VMControl for
IBM PowerLinux.
The evaluation period begins when you activate IBM Systems Director VMControl
Express Edition. The number of days left in the evaluation period is displayed on
the bottom of the summary page. The day the evaluation period expires is also
displayed, as well as a link for purchasing a license. If you deactivate VMControl,
the evaluation period of IBM Systems Director VMControl Standard Edition, IBM
12 IBM Systems Director VMControl: Installation and User's Guide

Systems Director VMControl Enterprise Edition, and IBM Systems Director
VMControl for IBM PowerLinux is not suspended and does not restart when you
reactivate VMControl.
If the evaluation period expires before you purchase a license for VMControl
Standard Edition, VMControl Enterprise Edition, or IBM Systems Director
VMControl for IBM PowerLinux, your access to the features that these products
provide changes as follows:
Table 1. Access to product features when the evaluation period expires
When the evaluation period
expires for You are still able to You are no longer able to
VMControl Standard Edition
v View virtual appliances
v Delete virtual appliances
v Discover image
repositories
v Deploy agents
v View workloads
v Delete workloads
v Delete repositories
v Discover Tivoli
Provisioning Manager for
Images server
v Deploy virtual appliances
v Capture
v Import
v Group by workload
v Create repositories
v Migrate from Tivoli
Provisioning Manager for
Images

v Use Tivoli Provisioning
Manager for Images
launch-in-context tasks for
VMware and Hyper-V
virtual appliances
VMControl Enterprise
Editionor IBM Systems
Director VMControl for IBM
PowerLinux
v View server and storage
system pools
v Rename and remove hosts
from server system pools
v Delete storage system
pools
v Rename storage system
pools
v Create a server or storage
system pool
v Deploy to server system
pools
v Monitor server and storage
system pools
v Add hosts to server
system pools or capacity
to storage system pools
v Edit an existing server
system pool
v Relocate one or all virtual
servers in a server system

pool
v Use network system pools
to simplify the network
configuration on the target
host during virtual server
relocations within a virtual
farm
v Enter or exit maintenance
mode for hosts in a server
system pool
v Activate a resilience policy
on a workload
However, when you purchase and install the licenses for VMControl Standard
Edition, VMControl Enterprise Edition, or IBM Systems Director VMControl for
IBM PowerLinux, any image repositories, virtual appliances, or system pools that
you created during the evaluation period are still usable.
IBM Systems Director VMControl V2.4.2 13