z/VM Presentations

z/VM 7.4 and future releases adhere to the Linear Service model. Corrections to z/VM will be bundled into service fix packs and new features will be bundled into feature packs. Service fixes will be delivered on a monthly basis and feature packs will be delivered twice a year. The exceptions are critical fixes, which will ship as soon as possible, and hardware support which will be treated as a feature pack outside of the twice yearly cadence. By ordering any z/VM APAR (service fix pack, feature pack, hotfixes, or hardware support) you will receive all fixes and function that has been released up to the point when the APAR was closed.

For decades, z/VM has been known for its resilience and reliability. This presentation discusses the best ways to make sure your z/VM systems maintain the level of performance you have come to expect. Keeping current with service, having a monitoring strategy, and following documented procedures are key concepts that are covered in order to help avoid common issues.

z/VM's lineage is over fifty years old. A product with this much history means there is a wealth of information out on the internet. However, not all of it may be relevant or the exact information you're looking for. This presentation highlights the most important resources for someone interested in learning more about z/VM, or someone that needs to use z/VM for their day-to-day job. Find the best education and publication resources, learn how to effectively use the z/VM help facility, and find where you can get the latest news for z/VM.

The IBM z16, available as of May 31, 2022, extends the capabilities of the IBM Z machines you know and love and adds innovative technology to help your businesses grow. This presentation dives into the hardware and capability enhancements that make the IBM z16 secure and resilient; all while keeping up with your performance and scaling needs.

If you thought "regular" virtual machines were useful, wait until you get a load of adjunct virtual machines. These VMs run along side a principal VM and add a fun new twist to debugging. This presentation describes adjunct virtual machines, and how to set them up.

z/VM 7.3 scales the maximum number of Single System Image (SSI) members from four to eight. This presentation reviews SSI concepts and goes into detail on migrating existing SSI clusters to eight members.

In configuring z/VM paging, you are faced with many choices, and the number of choices has increased as additional enhancements have been made. This presentation walks through the choices and gives guidance for making and verifying decisions. In order to discuss these choices, an introduction to the paging subsystem is given. This presentation focuses on paging to ECKD 3390 devices, but briefly mentions paging to EDEV SCSI devices. Topics include use of EAV, HyperPAV, number of volumes, etc.

This presentation provides an understanding of Shared File System (SFS) performance management. The presentation will cover performance tasks, such as preventing performance problems, monitoring performance, and solving performance problems. Tuning tips and a case study will be included. Attendees should have some familiarity with SFS, but they need not be experts.

The SFS Performance: Part 1 presentation discussed the basics of Shared File System (SFS) performance management. And if you.ve seen it, you learned you do not need to be an SFS expert to manage the SFS performance. Now we will go a step further and try and combine SFS internals with performance. What are those things inside SFS called agents? Are they spies or part of some covert action? If you choose to attend this session, you will learn to tell the good agents from the misbehaving agents, when VM data space exploitation is appropriate, and what all those counters from QUERY FILEPOOL REPORT really mean.

This presentation will discuss the factors that come into play when looking at the performance of Single System Image (SSI) clusters and Live Guest Relocation (LGR). It will cover the performance impact and benefit of using z/VM SSI clusters in general. And then also go into a lot of details on the factors that come into play when looking at LGR performance.

The flexibility to reassign (add and remove) system resources is critical to customers. Today's workloads are not static. With Dynamic Memory Downgrade, a system administrator can take real memory offline from a z/VM partition, making it available to other partitions on the CPC. The removal will be dynamic; no reIPL of the z/VM image is required to accomplish a change in the memory configuration. This session will describe these new capabilities, give some guidance on use, and walk through some examples.

This presentation highlights the performance improvements of IBM z/VM 7.2 in the first quarter of 2021. The z/VM continuous delivery model introduced several new function APARs since the last performance update, and this presentation highlights the changes and improvements.

In this session we will take an in depth look at just how large or wide or tall can you grow a z/VM system. The session will also discuss the type of data you can look at to evaluate how close your system is to those limits. As we look at different subsystems (processors, memory, etc.), we will discuss theoretical and practical limits. Included will be a brief look at some of the ways IBM tests these limits.

This presentation highlights the performance improvements of IBM z/VM 7.1 on the z14. Detailed charts outline the z/VM 7.1 regression performance testing. With the new z/VM continuous delivery model, little new function was introduced in z/VM 7.1. However, the presentation highlights major performance improvements for z/VM dumps. Further information on performance APARs, various small fixes, monitor record changes, and Performance Toolkit improvements are also cited.

In my job I often look at MONWRITE data from customer systems. Recently I have seen a rash of data showing me CPCs where the LPAR weights were not set correctly. The consequences were less-than-optimal configurations and in some cases just plain poor operation. In this presentation I review basic concepts about LPAR weight, the notion of entitlement, how to recognize configuration problems, and how to correct them. I also point out some techniques, tools, and references that might help.

In this presentation we use z/VM Perfkit screens to explore systems capacities and utilizations in a number of different categories of resource. Sample screen shots illustrate which Perfkit screens to consult, which columns are especially helpful, and what values in those column represent "full".

Version 7 of z/VM started the era of a two-year release cadence. z/VM 7.2 is the second release in this era. This presentation will look at what is in the base of z/VM 7.2 as well as all the enhancements that have shipped. We'll look at both the value of these enhancements, but also cover some of the implementation requirements for them.

Version 7 of z/VM started the era of a two-year release cadence. z/VM 7.3 is the third release in this era. This presentation will look at what is in the base of z/VM 7.3 as well as all the enhancements that have shipped. We'll look at both the value of these enhancements, but also cover some of the implementation requirements for them.

z/VM 7.4 is the fourth release in the Continuous Delivery era. This release marks the start of a new Linear Service paradigm for z/VM. This presentation explains Linear Service in detail, the future Statements of Direction for the product, and highlights the Continuous Delivery features that are in the base of z/VM 7.4.

This presentation is a perfect starting point for anyone interested in learning about the basics of IBM z/VM. The presentation delves into the history of z/VM that first began more than 45 years ago. The presentation explains the reasons for virtualizing, and goes over the concepts of IBM Z hardware and the z/VM Hypervisor.

z/VM Single System Image (SSI) clusters and Live Guest Relocation (LGR) became available in z/VM 6.2 as a priced feature, and later was included in the base of z/VM 7.1 for free. Most people appreciate the use case of SSI and LGR for addressing planned outages such as apply service for z/VM control program, but there are other scenarios and configurations where they can be used. This presentation takes a look at ten total cases where SSI and LGR can be used.

z/VM 7.1 is the first release in a new release cadence. This session starts with a high-level tour of the overall continuous delivery strategy and release cadence; and then begins a tour of five value areas and the recent enhancements in each of those areas. You will hear about things such as encrypted paging, greater scalability, and RAS enhancements. This presentation focuses on the business value of z/VM and its enhancements and other planning information. There is a companion presentation called "Leveraging the Newest Capability in z/VM" which goes into implementation details for the enhancements discussed here.

In IBM "crit sit" has a specific meaning. This presentation applies to a general 'IT crisis', not just an IBM crit sit. The presentation reviews various hints and tips about how to live through a crisis or maybe even avoid it. While many of the stories will be z/VM related and there will be some specifics for collecting data in a z/VM environment, a lot of the information and discussion will apply to IT crit sits in general.

It sounds like an old real estate joke, but the three most important things to understand about Live Guest Relocation: Domains, Domains, Domains. Live Guest Relocation was introduced in z/VM 6.2 and many customers have grown to love it and depend on it. One of the key concepts associated with LGR is relocation domains. If you've ever wanted to really understand this part of the whole relocation construct, then come to this session. We'll describe what relocation domains are and how they affect LGR. You'll leave being able to understand how virtual architectures are influenced by relocation domains. In other words, you'll leave being able to amaze your friends and coworkers.

This 12-minute video will give you a brief overview of z/VM 7.1 from the April 10, 2018 preview announcement along with a description of the new continuous delivery strategy for z/VM. z/VM 7.1 will be the first of a cadence of z/VM releases. There is also a PDF of charts with speaker notes.

This presentation will take a high level view of the new z/VM 6.4 release that became Generally Available on November 11, 2016. It was a release born from customer feedback and with that, each customer should find some significant value in the release. We'll discuss items such as HyperPAV for z/VM ECKD paging, 2TB real memory support, improved SCSI management, a new CMS Pipelines library, and much more.

This short document/presentation is meant to help justify why customers should move to the most current z/VM Release. It is a set of questions describing potential problems or challenges, and maps those questions to solutions or enhancements in z/VM 6.4 that address them.

With z/VM 6.3's ability to use up to 1 TB of real memory, it is time to revisit the question "What type of disk should I use for z/VM Paging?" This session will give some background on z/VM paging, a review of devices options, and then look at real data from some work in this areas. Included will be discussion of how paging characteristics change under different workloads and circumstances.

Support was added to z/VM 6.3 for a new capability known as CPU Pooling. What are these new pools? Does it mean no running or splashing? No, but CPU Pooling along with other enhancements to z/VM 6.3 allow greater control over processor resource usage and potentially the effect on software license charges. This session will explain how to set up CPU Pooling and how it works.

Capacity Planning can be a challenge in a stand alone environment, but how in the world do you do it in a virtualized environment such as z/VM? This session will describe the top focus areas along with key performance metrics that one should track when doing z/VM capacity planning. Additionally, we'll discuss at a high level some models for planning: natively on z/VM through home grown tools, through tools on z/OS, or in conjunction with other products. The companion document is a list of the top performance metrics to track.

IBM Z provides cryptographic features to protect the data in your Systems of Engagement and Systems of Record. Intrigued by the possibilities inherent in IBM Z cryptographic features? Uncertain as to what all these acronyms mean? Confused about which features operate when running under z/VM? Wondering about the basics of guest crypto configuration? Scared by the word 'cryptography'? This presentation aims to alleviate fear and uncertainty by explaining the IBM Z cryptographic "stack": what the features do, how they help, how z/VM virtualizes them, and how a guest can capitalize upon them ... with as few security-related acronyms as possible.

Linux on IBM Z provides unprecedented value by allowing the consolidation of [hundreds / thousands] of Linux guests onto a single mainframe. However, just because you can't see the virtual machine doesn't mean you can't (or shouldn't) secure it. This talk enumerates the threats against virtualized environments ... and then explains how Linux on z Systems defeats each of those threats. Topics will include security from z at its most real (the hardware) up through Linux guest security and how to lock a LinuxONE providing cloud services.

The z/VM TLS Server plays a key role in IBM Z virtualization security. Whether you're securing voluminous amounts of web traffic or just need to secure your hypervisor Telnet sessions, the TLS server is involved. This session will discuss the configuration and management of the server, as well as delve into the intricacies of protocol selection and certificate management.

We look at what happens when z/VM starts, and how your set up points the system down various paths. How does it know which configuration files to use? Which CP to load? What UserIDs are defined, and which should be the operator? Whether and where to leave the operator connected? What to automatically start? We walk through a z/VM system set up by a standard install, pointing out key configuration selections, their effects, and how to change them.

The z/VM operating system's hypervising prowess makes it an ideal platform for self-awareness. We describe setting up a model of a running system, running as a guest on that system. With such a model, it is possible to allow the operating system to consider in advance the effects of certain actions, or choose to back out of situations apparently developing from recent actions. This is more the awareness level of "Ouch!" than "Cogito ergo sum!", but it is something you can do on your z/VM system today.

This session could also be easily called "Don't be THAT z/VM System Programmer". It will cover various topics that every system programmer should know. These are drawn from the experience of z/VM Level 2 support helping customers out of problems. So if you want to avoid talking to Level 2 through a Problem Record, especially off hours, come hear this session explain the value and benefit of some common System Programmer tasks for z/VM that are often overlooked.

This presentation provides an overview of the z/VM Virtual Switch and Virtual Network Interface Cards. Link Aggregation is explained along with the benefits it provides for system performance, reliability, and failover.

This presentation provides an overview of network topology in a virtualized environment which includes detail on the z/VM Virtual Switch and Virtual Network Interface Cards. The presentation touches on configuration and best practices of setting up a virtual network on z/VM.

This presentation highlights the performance improvements of IBM z/VM 6.4 on the z14. Detailed charts outline the z/VM 6.4 regression performance testing, and the performance of function added to the 6.4 release, which includes the new function in the base release, and the continuous delivery enhancements. Further information on the performance APARs, various small fixes, monitor record changes, and Performance Toolkit improvements are also cited.

This presentation discusses LPAR performance in the z/VM environment. Topics include: system topology, weight and entitlement settings, the differences between horizontal and vertical LPARs, parking, and understanding Performance Toolkit reports. The presentation goes into detail on how performance issues arise, pros and cons of various configurations, and includes best practices on how to set up z/VM to maximize performance.

z/VM 6.4 was released in November 2016. In addition to many enhancements provided in the base release, several additional enhancements were made available using z/VM's continuous delivery strategy. This presentation includes general information about z/VM 6.4, including installation and migration tips as well as technical information you need to know to take advantage of much of the new capability that is available.

z/VM 7.1 was released in September 2018. With z/VM's continuous delivery strategy, most new function is now being delivered as New Function APARs. The "z/VM Platform Update" covered the business value of the newest enhancements to z/VM; in this session we'll cover technical information that you need to take advantage of the newest enhancements that are available in z/VM 7.1.

Most of the time we think about how a z/VM system looks when it is running. Two keys to well running systems are starting them up and shutting them down well. This session will suggest questions to ask and answer before you startup or shutdown your z/VM systems and guests, and will provide some suggestions to help you answer them, including: What order should I start virtual machines in and how many should I start at once? What do I put in AUTOLOG1's and AUTOLOG2's profiles? How do I determine when startup and shutdown procedures are complete and/or need action to be taken? Why do I need an "orderly" shutdown of both guests and the z/VM system and how do I do that?