z/VM V5.1 Hardware Support
(Pertaining to announcements in October 2004 and January 2005)

On October 7, 2004 and January 25, 2005, IBM announced new enhancements for the IBM eServer zSeries z990 and z890. Many of these enhancements are supported by z/VM via the service stream. These enhancements and support dates are described below.

Updated: 11 July 2005

Support Dates and APAR Information for Recent Enhancements  
Enhancement and description
Crypto Express2 provides the functions of PCICA and PCIXCC in a single feature that is expected to provide improved secure-key and system throughput. Like its predecessors, the Crypto Express2 feature has been designed to satisfy the security requirements of an enterprise server. z/VM V5.1 provides z/OS® and Linux for zSeries guest support for the Crypto Express2 including:
  • Dedicated-queue support for clear-key and secure-key cryptographic functions for z/OS guests
  • Shared-queue and dedicated-queue support for clear-key cryptographic functions for Linux on zSeries guests, with up to 256 dedicated queues
Date Supported: January 28, 2005. No PTFs required
 
OSA-Express2, a new generation of zSeries LAN adapters being delivered, along with a 10-Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) feature, can help satisfy application bandwidth demands. Both OSA-Express2 GbE and 10 GbE support the Queued Direct Input/Out (QDIO) mode, carrying TCP/IP traffic when supporting Layer 3 traffic and protocol-independent when supporting Layer 2 traffic.
  • OSA-Express2 Ethernet Features z/VM V3.1, V4.3, V4.4, and V5.1 supports the OSA-Express2 Ethernet features.
    Date Supported: January 28, 2005
    No PTFs required

  • Layer 2 – ideal for server consolidation
    The OSA-Express2 Ethernet features with the Layer 2 support in z/VM for Linux images can be protocol-independent and simplify the communication with different platforms when using internetwork packet exchange (IPX), NetBIOS, SNA, IPv4 or IPv6 protocols. With the OSA-Express2 features and the Layer 2 support using the z/VM Virtual Switch (VSWITCH), router virtual machines can be eliminated, thus reducing z990 or z890 CPU utilization. With z/VM V5.1, VSWITCH exploits the Layer 2 support within the z/VM CP. The z/VM CP owns the connection to the OSA-Express2 feature and manages the Media Access Control (MAC) addresses and VLAN connectivity of the attached guests. Linux on zSeries can exploit the Layer 2 support on OSA-Express or OSA-Express2 and the z/VM VSWITCH with z/VM 5.1.

    Date Supported on OSA-Express: December 17, 2004
    Date Supported on OSA-Express2: January 28, 2005
    PTFs required: APARs VM63538 and PQ97436

  • Improved virtualization - 640 TCP/IP stacks
    If you need to host more Linux images, increasing the number of TCP/IP stacks may be a solution. The OSA-Express2 features support up to 640 connections (TCP/IP stacks) per LPAR per dedicated CHPID, or up to 640 total stacks across multiple LPARs using a shared or spanned CHPID. This is four times the number of connections than the previous OSA-Express features could support, which were limited to 160 total stacks. z/VM V5.1 supports this increase in total stacks.
    Date Supported: January 28, 2005
    PTFs required: APARs VM63524 and PQ91421

OSA-Express provides TCP/IP stack utilization improvements. The number of TCP/IP stacks that can share an OSA-Express adapter increased from 84 to 160 on October 29, 2004. This increase provides additional connections to help enable more virtual machines to be connected to an external network. z/VM V3.1, V4.3, V4.4, and V5.1 supports this increase in number of TCP/IP stacks on OSA-Express. z/VM V3.1, V4.3, and V4.4 supports this increase in number of TCP/IP stacks on OSA-Express2. z/VM V5.1 supports up to 640 stacks on OSA-Express2. Without the required service listed below, only 84 stacks per LPAR are supported by z/VM on OSA-Express and OSA-Express2.
Date Supported: January 28, 2005
PTFs required: APARs VM63524 and PQ91421
FICON Express2 offers new packaging with increased connectivity in the same amount of physical space. This refresh of technology can help satisfy your server-consolidation connectivity requirements and may help reduce the number of I/O features required for consolidation. FICON Express2 provides a 100% increase in channels per feature in the same amount of physical space and an increased number of start I/Os over FICON Express. z/VM V3.1, V4.3, V4.4, and V5.1 supports FICON Express 2.
Date Supported: January 28, 2005
PTFs required: APARs VM63610 for Hardware Configuration Definition (HCD)
 
FCP Logical Unit Numbers (LUN) Access Control provides added security for SCSI devices residing on a SAN. For a logical partition that runs z/VM, you can specify separate permissions for the VM system itself (when running z/VM V5.1 utilizing SCSI disks for system operations) and for each Linux guest. z/VM V4.4 provides support for Linux guests.
Date Supported: January 28, 2005
PTFs required: APARs VM63328
 




VM enhancements unrelated to the hardware announcement  
Enhancements and description
Performance Toolkit for VM™ supports application monitor records created by the SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 (SLES 9).
Date Supported: December 3, 2004
PTFs required: APARs VM63580
IBM TotalStorage DS8000 series is designed to provide unmatched functionality, flexibility, and performance for enterprise disk storage systems at new levels of cost effectiveness. z/VM V4.4 and V5.1 support the DS8000 series.
Date Supported: December 27, 2004
PTFs required: APAR VM63534