We currently have 22 zLinux guests (all running RHEL 6.4) on 7 zVM (v6.2) LPARs spread across 6 CECs (29 IFLs in total) all to support numerous environments for a single application. Here is our current zVM LPAR / zLinux guest configuration: 1. Sandbox zVM LPAR - 3 zLinux systems only for Systems Programming use/testing. 2. Test/Dev zVM LPAR - 2 zLinux systems for application development and testing. 3. Prod#1 zVM LPAR - 5 zLinux systems for cert/prod 4. Prod#2 zVM LPAR - 4 zLinux systems for cert/prod 5. Prod#3 zVM LPAR - 1 zLinux system for prod 6. Prod#4 zVM LPAR - 1 zLinux system for prod 7. DR zVM LPAR - 6 zLinux systems for prod DR.
At one point we had an additional ~12 zLinux systems throughout these zVM LPARs, but they have since been retired. As a sizeable software cost-savings effort (zVM, RACF, Perfkit, Operations Manager), we are planning to migrate these 22 zLinux systems into standalone LPARs and eliminate zVM altogether. I know that we will lose the capability to overcommit/share memory between zLinux systems, but the application running in this environment is very response-time critical/sensitive so we actually dedicated memory resources to our production zLinux systems anyways. Additionally, after retiring the ~12 servers, we now have a memory excess on all of our zVM LPARs. VSWITCH is nice with its automatic failover, etc; however, we have tested the linux "bonding driver" and feel it is an adequate replacement. We are not a zVM SSI user. Also, let me state that the business has no future plans to grow/expand the zVM/zLinux environment (including as a virtualization platform for traditional x86 workloads). Given our static environment, can anyone provide any glaringly obvious caveats/downfalls to migrating from zVM to standalone zLinux LPARs that we might be missing? Thanks! Kevin Morris Reed Elsevier - Technology Services zOS Systems Engineering ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information on Linux on System z, visit http://wiki.linuxvm.org/
