IBM® z/VM® 6.2 introduced significant changes to z/VM with a multi-system clustering technology that allows up to four z/VM instances in a single system image (SSI) cluster. This technology is important because it offers you an attractive alternative to vertical growth by adding new z/VM systems. In the past, this capability required duplicate efforts to install, maintain, and manage each system. With SSI, these duplicate efforts are reduced or eliminated. Support for live guest relocation (LGR) allows you to move Linux virtual servers without disrupting your business or incurring loss of service, thus reducing planned outages. The z/VM systems are aware of each other and take advantage of their combined resources. LGR enables you to relocate guests from a system requiring maintenance to a system that will remain active during maintenance. A major advantage for DB2 v10 customers is that using z/VM 6.2 does not require any changes to existing DB2 structures. This remarkable benefit is due to the fact that DB2 v10 is installed as part of the LInux guest on z/VM and is fully integrated into LGR. This allows you to smoothly move DB2 v10 when you move Linux virtual servers, without interrupting either DB2 v10 or z/VM operations and services. This IBM Redbooks® publication will help you understand how DB2 10 on Linux for System z® behaves while running on a z/VM that is being relocated using z/VM’s 6.2 Live Guest Relocation feature. In this book, we explore memory management, the DB2 Self-tuning memory manager feature, time synchronization, networking, and storage and performance considerations with regards to relocation. We also offer some best practices found during a live guest relocation for DB2 v10.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication describes important networking concepts and industry standards that are used to support high availability on IBM System z®. Some of the networking standards described here are VLANs, VLAN trunking, link aggregation, virtual switches, VNICs, and load-balancing. We examine the various aspects of network setups and introduce the main Linux on System z networking commands and configuration files. We describe the management of network interface parameters, assignment of addresses to a network interface, and usage of the ifconfig command to configure network interfaces. We provide an overview of connectivity options available on the System z platform. We also describe high availability concepts and building a high availability solution using IBM Tivoli® System Automation. We also provide the implementation steps necessary to build a redundant network connections set up between an IBM z/VM® system and the external network switches using two Open Systems Adapter-Express 3 (OSA-Express 3) adapters with 10 Gb Ethernet ports. We describe the tests performed in our lab environment. The objectives of these tests were to gather information about performance and failover from the perspective of a real scenario, where the concepts of described in this book were applied. This book is focused on information that is practical and useful for readers with experience in network analysis and engineering networks, System z and Linux systems administrators, especially for readers that administer networks in their day-to-day activities. For additional reading: A Technote is availalble that explains changes to using channel bonding interfaces introduced with SLES 11 SP 2. It can be found at: http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/tips1000.html?Open