VM Version 5, Engine-based Value Unit Pricing

z/VM Version 5 (V5)

z/VM Version 5 Release 1 (V5.1) continues the evolution of its premier and world-class zSeries virtualization technology with a new version to offer traditional capabilities to manage zSeries operating systems, including Linux, on a single mainframe as guests of z/VM. z/VM V5.1 is designed to operate only on zSeries servers that support the z/Architecture (64-bit) including the z990, z890, z900, and z800 or equivalent.

Engine-based Value Unit Pricing

z/VM V5 introduces engine-based Value Unit pricing which replaces the per-engine pricing model that is available with z/VM V4 as well as providing a lower entry price. Engine-based Value Unit pricing is designed to provide a decreasing price curve which may help provide improved price/performance as hardware capacities and workload grow. Value Unit pricing for z/VM V5 can provide for a lower price per processor engine as more processor engines are licensed with z/VM V5.1 across the enterprise.

Value Unit pricing helps you to:

•Add capacity and workload with an incremental and improved price

•Manage software costs better

•Aggregate licenses acquired across machines that are part of your enterprise.

Engine-base Value Unit pricing of z/VM V5 should not be tied, or associated with, MSU-based Value Unit pricing.

Enhancements in z/VM V5.1 include:

Virtualization Technology and Linux Enablement

•Support for SCSI FCP disks enable the deployment of a Linux server farm on z/VM using only SCSI disks. SCSI disks can be used as such by guests through dedicated FCP subchannels, and are also supported as emulated 9336 Fixed-Block Architecture (FBA) devices for use by guests, CMS, and CP. With this support, you can install, IPL, and operate z/VM from SCSI disks.

•z/VM V5.1 includes the capability to install z/VM from a DVD both to an ESS SCSI disk emulated as an FBA device and to a 3390 DASD. Installing from a DVD can signiﬁ cantly reduce the required installation media and allows you to install to a zSeries server using only SCSI disks. This is expected to be most beneﬁ cial in a z/VM environment with Linux guests and without traditional installation devices such as IBM TotalStorage tape drives attached to the IBM zSeries server.

•Coordinated near-continuous availability and disaster recovery for Linux guests by providing a new HyperSwap function so that the virtual devices associated with one real disk can be swapped transparently to another. HyperSwap can be used to switch to secondary disk storage subsystems mirrored by Peer-to-Peer Remote Copy (PPRC). HyperSwap is planned to be exploited by Geographically Dispersed Parallel Sysplex (GDPS) 3.1 to provide a coordinated near-continuous availability and disaster recovery solution for distributed applica- tions, such as WebSphere, that span z/OS images run- ning natively and Linux guests running under z/VM.