Managing virtualized resources

IBM® Flex System Manager management software uses integrated virtualization-management software called IBM VMControl (VMC) to enable you to manage virtualized resources.

Virtualization management refers to the software that enables the use and management of virtual server, storage, network, and image resources. Virtualization management enables you to utilize your compute resources fully, deploy new workloads rapidly, monitor resource consumption, and maintain the availability of workloads. IBM Flex System Manager management software automates this complex set of tasks through administrator-defined policies. IBM VMControl is the single point of control for managing virtualized resources in one or more Flex System Enterprise Chassis.

VMControl is a cross-platform suite of products that assists you in rapidly deploying virtual appliances to create virtual servers that are configured with the operating system and software applications that you want. It also enables you to group resources into system pools, which enable you to centrally manage and control the different workloads in your environment.

By default, VMControl is deactivated in the management software. To use VMControl , you must activate it; see Activating IBM Flex System Manager® VMControl for instructions.

Note: Other systems-management functions, like collecting VIOS inventory, are available only if VMControl is activated.

You can use the management software web interface to easily provision and deploy VMware ESXi and RHEL Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) hypervisors to multiple X-Architecture compute nodes. See Deploying compute node images for more information.

Complete VMControl functionality is available as a Features on Demand option for the management software. For more information about Features on Demand, see Features on Demand.

For educational information about IBM Flex System Manager management software virtualization management, see Resource management.

For information about network system pools and logical networks, see Managing network system pools and logical networks.

Note: The Chassis Manager view in the management software is the primary interface for selecting managed resources and performing management tasks on those resources. However, some of the procedures in this section include steps that instruct you to use the navigation area, which is hidden by default in the web interface.

The navigation area provides links to tasks and task categories such as Resource Explorer, Inventory, and Health Summary. To open the navigation area, click the arrow icon on the left side of the screen.