There are many reasons why you would want to optimize your servers through virtualization using Linux on IBM® System z®: Too many distributed physical servers with low utilization A lengthy provisioning process that delays the implementation of new applications Limitations in data center power and floor space High total cost of ownership (TCO) Difficulty allocating processing power for a dynamic environment Next, we describe total cost of ownership analyses and we guide you in understanding how to analyze your environment before beginning a migration project. We also assist you in determining the expected consolidation ratio for a given workload type. We also describe virtualization concepts along with describing the benefits of migrating from the x86 environment to guests residing on an IBM z/VM® single system image with live guest relocation. This IBM Redbooks publication walks you through a migration approach, includes planning worksheets, as well as a chapter to assist you in analyzing your own systems. We also discuss post migration considerations such as acceptance testing of functionality and performance measurements.

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.