IBM Power Virtualization Center prerequisites

View the prerequisites for using IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack with IBM Power Virtualization Center.

IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack is compatible with IBM Power Virtualization Center Standard, a comprehensive virtualization management tool for the PowerVM® platform. To take advantage of the latest features of IBM Power Virtualization Center Standard, the latest version is required. IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack 4.3 is compatible with these PowerVC levels:
  • IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack 4.3 GA to Fix Pack 3 supports multiple PowerVC 1.2.3.x and 1.2.2.x
  • IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack 4.3 Fix Pack 4 to Fix Pack 6 ifix 3 supports PowerVC 1.3.0.x and 1.2.3.x
  • IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack 4.3 Fix Pack 6 ifix4 and later supports PowerVC 1.3.2.x, 1.3.1.x, 1.3.0.x, and 1.2.3.x
  • IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack 4.3 FP8 and later supports PowerVC 1.3.3.x, 1.3.2.x, 1.3.1.x, 1.3.0.x and 1.2.3.x
  • IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack 4.3 FP9 and later supports PowerVC 1.4.0.x, 1.3.x and 1.2.3.x
  • IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack 4.3 FP11 and later supports PowerVC 1.4.1.x, 1.4.0.x
  • IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack 4.3 FP12 and later supports PowerVC 1.4.2
  • IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack 4.3 FP13 and later supports PowerVC 1.4.2.1
IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack version 4.3.0.6 ifix pack 4 supports IBM Power Virtualization Center Standard version 1.3.2, which is based on the Liberty OpenStack release.
If the IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack Controller OS is >= RHEL7.4, then it is mandatory to update the certificate on PowerVC to a CA signed certificate. If the CA used for configuring PowerVC certificate is not a publicly recognized CA, do the following steps to update the certificate trust store on IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack:
Note: You can skip these steps if the CA is a publicly recognized authority. 3
  1. Copy the *.der files on to the IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack.
  2. Run the following commands: 
    openssl x509 -inform der -in carootcert.der -out /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/carootcert.pem
openssl x509 -inform der -in caintermediatecert.der -out /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/caintermediatecert.pem
update-ca-trust extract
  3. Restart all services on IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack.
IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack along with PowerVC provides the following capabilities:
  • Support for IBM Power Systems hosts that are managed by Hardware Management Console.
  • Support for storage area networks.
  • Support for multiple Virtual I/O Server virtual machines on each host.
  • Support for multiple storage connectivity groups, which enable you to deploy images so that they have access to storage that is dedicated to a particular purpose. For more information on PowerVC and storage connectivity groups, refer to the IBM PowerVC documentation.
Limitations for PowerVC support from IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack:
  • PowerVC Express® Edition is not supported.
  • Image capture is not supported for any existing virtual machines that are added to PowerVC by using the Manage Existing function.
  • IBM Cloud Manager - Dashboard does not support instance console output and instance log output. From IBM Cloud Manager - Dashboard you cannot open a VNC console for a PowerVM instance.

For information about IBM Power Virtualization Center Standard, including hardware and software requirements and supported guest operating systems, see the IBM Power Virtualization Center information center at the following website.

http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSXK2N/welcome

Note: IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack supports managing a PowerVM environment only through PowerVC. If you want to manage a PowerKVM environment, you can use IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack to manage PowerKVM directly. For more information, see PowerKVM prerequisites.