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Release notes

Release notes

Use these release notes to learn about the latest changes to the IBM® Power® Virtual Server.

December 2024

IBM data center

  • You can now assign a Virtual Serial Number (VSN) to an IBM i VM. With a VSN associated with your VM, you need not pin the VM to a host for licensing or entitlement purposes. For more information, see Virtual Serial Number (VSN).
  • You can now use automation to migrate an existing network to Power Edge Router (PER) through CLI. For more information, see Migrating to PER.
  • As the Power Virtual Server offering transitions to the PER integrated network solution, the ability to create new Power Virtual Server Cloud Connections across most data centers is disabled. You are encouraged to migrate to PER now if you have not done so already. For more information about PER, see Getting Started with Power Edge Router. You can create Cloud Connections only in the CHE01 and MON01 data centers. For more information, see IBM Power Virtual Server Cloud Connections.

Support for Cloud Connections ends on April 18, 2025 and the Cloud Connections solution will reach the end of life on June 18, 2025. For more information about End of Service Notice, see July 2024.

  • All IBM Power Virtual Server data centers are now PER-enabled, except for the CHE01 and MON01 data centers. For more information, see Getting Started with Power Edge Router.

  • A new data center DAL14 is available. Following are some of the capabilities of the DAL14 data center:

    • New Power Virtual Server node, IBM Power System E1050 (9043-MRX) which is a 4-socket server.
    • Power Virtual Server capabilities such as Power Edge Router network connectivity, IBM Cloud Monitoring, and Flexible IOPS.

For more information about your data center capabilities, see Power Virtual Server overview page in the IBM Cloud console.

  • New RHEL 8.10 general purpose (RHEL8-SP10), RHEL 8.10 for SAP HANA (RHEL8-SP10-SAP-HANA), RHEL 8.10 for SAP NetWeaver (RHEL8-SP10-SAP-NETWEAVER), RHEL 9.4 for SAP HANA (RHEL9-SP4-SAP-HANA), RHEL 9.4 for SAP NetWeaver (RHEL9-SP4-SAP-NETWEAVER), SLES 15 SP6 general purpose (SLES15), and AIX 7.3 TL2 SP2 operating system images are available. For more information, see the FAQs.

  • Starting February 24, 2025, the Power Virtual Server dedicated host identifier will use the virtual host ID format. The virtual host ID has the standard format that is used to uniquely identify other Power Virtual Server resources. If you are using dedicated hosts and depend on specific resource identifiers such as API and CLI calls, you must update the logic to use the virtual host ID format; otherwise, the logic might fail. For more information, see Understanding a Virtual host identifier.

Client location

  • You can now enable Global Replication Services (GRS) for asynchronous replication of data between the primary location infrastructure and the secondary location infrastructure. For more information, see Global Replication Services in Client location.
  • You can now access external connectivity to and from the virtual machines in a subnet. For more information, see Use case 2: Multiple external connectivities.
  • You can now discover infrastructure capabilities and important information that helps you to develop solutions by using Power Virtual Server on the Power Virtual Server overview page in the IBM Cloud console. For more information, see Data center capabilities.
  • The new AIX 7.3 TL2 SP2 operating system image is available. For more information, see the FAQs.

October 2024

  • IBM data centerYou can now configure a virtual machine that contains a boot volume and deploy an IBM i virtual machine to support the attachment of large quantity of data volumes. You can configure a virtual machine available in all the data centers except for the virtual machines in the CHE01 data center. For more information, see Configuring large quantity of data volumes on IBM data center.

  • IBM data centerIBM Cloud Monitoring service is now available in the CHE01 data center. For more information, see Monitoring metrics for Power Virtual Server.

  • IBM data center The refreshed RHEL 9.2 for SAP, RHEL 8.8 for general purpose and SAP, and RHEL 8.6 for general purpose and SAP OS images are available in the image catalog that supports SAP t-shirt profiles with more than 64 cores. For more information, see the SAP documentation on OS for IBM Power Virtual Server.

The latest IBM i and AIX stock images were added to the OS image catalog in September. Hence, the previous versions of the service pack will be removed from the catalog in the next thirty days. For more information about the OS versions, see the FAQs. For new deployments, you must use the latest stock image in the catalog. Existing VMs that use the previous stock images continue to operate without problems. However, it is recommended that you update your VM to the latest service pack level for the most recent maintenance.

September 2024

  • You can now discover data center capabilities and important information that helps you to develop solutions by using Power Virtual Server on the Power Virtual Server overview page in the IBM Cloud console. For more information, see Data center capabilities.

  • IBM data centerYou can now enable the replication services for a volume from the user interface. For more information, see Global Replication Services (GRS).

  • IBM data centerYou can now configure a virtual machine that contains a boot volume and deploy an IBM i virtual machine to support the attachment of large quantity of data volumes available in DAL10 and WDC07 data centers. For more information, see Configuring large quantity of data volumes on IBM data center.

  • Client locationYou can now select the DAL10 and WDC07 location pair to resize a replication-enabled primary volume from the primary site. The system then resizes the associated auxiliary volume on its corresponding remote site within 24 hours. For more information, see Updating a primary volume.

  • Client locationYou can now select the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) stock image when you register for full Linux subscription, for Power Virtual Server. For more information, see Full Linux® subscription for IBM Power Virtual Server in Client location.

  • Client locationYou can now validate the import file against the SHA-256 checksum file from the user interface. For more information, see Using the Power Virtual Server user interface to import a boot image and Using the Power Virtual Server user interface to capture and export a VM.

  • You can now download, Secure Automated Backup with Compass by Cobalt Iron, from IBM Cloud Catalog for immediate deployment. The solution provides the environment for Cloud backup and recovery for IBM Power Virtual Server workloads. The offering is the only automated BaaS and recovery solution for IBM Power Virtual Server workloads that are powered by IBM Storage Protect, such as SAP HANA, Oracle, Db2 on AIX and Linux. For more information, see Cobalt Iron Expands Access to Secure Automated Backup With Compass for IBM Power Virtual Server.

  • IBM data center new AIX 7.2 TL5 SP8 and RHEL 9.4 general purpose (RHEL9-SP4) operating system images are available. For more information, see the FAQs.

  • Client location new AIX 7.3 TL2 SP1 and AIX 7.2 TL5 SP8 operating system images are available. For more information, see the FAQs.

  • New IBM i 7.5 TR4 and IBM i 7.4 TR10 operating system images are available for both IBM data center and Client location. For more information, see the FAQs.

  • New IBM i COR stock image is available for both IBM data center and Client location. While you are installing the image, if you encounter any issues, you can refer to the 57xxSS1 Option 1 or Option 3 in *ERROR - Tips Before Reinstallation procedure. For more information, see FAQs.

End of Service Notice - End of service effective October 31, 2024 will prevent the use of E880 hosts in the IBM Power Virtual Server offering. E880 hosts will no longer be accessible to establish new or existing workspaces. You must ensure that all existing workspaces are moved to another host. Power Virtual Server team is available to assist you. If you need assistance, open a support ticket. If you choose not to take the recommended action and encounter issues, IBM will not be able to support you. The solution will reach its end of life on October 31, 2024.

August 2024

July 2024

End of Service Notice - End of marketing effective October 19, 2024 will prevent new Cloud Connections from being established in existing workspaces. In turn, IBM will stop delivering standard support for Power Virtual Server Direct Link Connect in PER-enabled data centers by April 18, 2025. If you choose not to take the recommended action and encounter issues, IBM will not be able to support you. The solution will reach its end of life on June 18, 2025.

  • Due to inherent configuration complexity of the current Power Virtual Server Cloud Connections which leverage Direct Link Connect service for connectivity to IBM Cloud, the direction going forward is to leverage the newly enabled Power Edge Router capability along with Transit Gateway service to connect Power Virtual Server workspaces with IBM Cloud resources for a better user experience, improved reliability, and significantly higher bandwidth. You can follow a detailed migration plan to move your existing workspace to a PER workspace if you have set up your network manually using the Cloud Connections solution. Power Virtual Server team is available to assist you. If you need assistance, open a open a support ticket.

June 2024

  • Power Virtual Server Private Cloud, an infrastructure as a service (IaaS) offering, is now available. It extends the capabilities and benefits of Power Virtual Server within your data center, with a prescriptive set of hardware and delivered in a consumption model with no upfront payment. For more information about Power Virtual Server Private Cloud and how to get started, see Getting started with IBM Power Virtual Server.

    The content specific to IBM Power Virtual Server Private Cloud is marked with Client location tag and the content specific to IBM Power Virtual Server is marked with IBM data center tag.

  • The RHEL 8.6 general purpose (RHEL8-SP6) stock image is removed from the Power Virtual Server data centers because the OS level is no longer supported by Red Hat.

  • Global replication service supports the new data center pairs OSA21 and TOK04; SYD04 and SYD05. For more information, see Locations that support global replication service.

  • Access the dedicated host capability from the Power Virtual Server user interface. IBM Power S922 and S1022 servers can be provisioned for your dedicated use. For more information, see Dedicated host.

  • Snapshot usage information is now available using the API. For more information, see Get a list of all the snapshots on a workspace and Get the detail of a snapshot for API details.

    Dedicated Hosts and Snapshots require PowerVC (PVC) 2.2.1 that is deployed worldwide except in four data centers. These four data centers are upgraded to PVC 2.2.1 with the following timeline:

    • MAD02 and CHE01 on June 21, 2024
    • DAL12 on June 24, 2024
    • SAO01 on September 07, 2024

    IBM Power Virtual Server Private Cloud is also enabled for users to run Power workloads in a private pod Hybrid Cloud environment.

  • In a Power Virtual Server with Power10, you can provision a VM inside a Shared Processor Pool (SPP) with values of up to 3.0 Virtual Cores. This enables you to select the maximum number of cores for the Virtual Cores deployment, providing greater flexibility for Oracle licensing. For more information, see Managing the shared processor pool.

May 2024

  • Power Edge Router (PER) is now available in the DAL13, TOR01, and WDC04 data centers. For more information, see Getting Started with Power Edge Router.
  • Power Virtual Server now offers refreshed images for IBM i 7.2 TR 9.
  • The SLES 15 SP4 general purpose (SLES15-SP4) stock image is in the process of being removed from the Power Virtual Server data centers since the OS level is no longer supported by Red Hat.
  • You can now see a Consumer ID in your Billing and Usage page. Using the consumer ID you can identify and get a detailed view at the resource level broken down by part metric. For more information, see Consumer ID.
  • Power Virtual Server is now Financial Services® Validated and has received a SOC 2 Type II report. For more information, see the compliance page.
  • Flexible I/O operation per second (IOPS) is now available in the TOR01 data center. For more information, see Flexible IOPS.

April 2024

March 2024

  • Reserve an IP address from the Power Virtual Server user interface. The IP address that you reserve are not assigned to a virtual server instance. For more information. see Reserving IP addresses.
  • New AIX 7.3 TL2, and 7.2 TL5 SP7 operating system images are available. For more information, see the FAQ documentation.
  • New IBM i 7.5 TR3, IBM i 7.4 TR9, and IBM i COR[2] operating system images are available. For more information, see the FAQ documentation.
  • A new data center CHE01 is available. The following are some capabilities that differ for this data center:
    • CHE01 supports up to 5 GB Direct Link connections compared to other data centers that supports up to 10 GB.
    • To use Transit Gateway, you need to connect to CHE01 using a different data center that supports Transit Gateway. For more information, see Managing IBM Cloud connections.
    • IBM Cloud Monitoring and Power Edge Router network connectivity are currently unavailable for CHE01.
  • SUSE part numbers for each tier are available. For more information, see the part numbers table in Pricing for Power Virtual Servers.
  • Flexible I/O operation per second (IOPS) is now available in the DAL12, DAL13, SAO01, SAO04, WDC04, and WDC06 data centers. For more information, see Flexible IOPS.
  • IBM Cloud Monitoring service is now available in DAL13 and FRA04. For more information, see Monitoring metrics for Power Virtual Server.
  • PER is now available in the OSA21, SYD05, and TOK04 data center. For more information, see Getting Started with Power Edge Router.

February 2024

  • PER is now available in the SAO01 data center. For more information, see Getting Started with Power Edge Router.
  • You can now provision the SLES 15 SP5 images. You are required to install an additional software package as a prerequisite for SAP and Netweaver workloads.
  • You can now choose to use IBM provided Linux images with your own license. While provisioning the boot image, select the OS image that is listed under the Client supplied subscription section. The stock non-Full Linux Subscription (FLS) images are available across all the data centers. For more information see, Full Linux® subscription for Power Virtual Servers.
  • Flexible IOPS is now available in the FRA04, LON06, and MAD02 data centers. For more information, see Flexible IOPS.
  • Global Replication Service (GRS) is now available in WDC07 and DAL10 data center pair.
  • You can now migrate your workspace that uses a Direct Link connection to a PER workspace through a support ticket. For more information, see Migrating to Power Edge Router.
  • IBM Cloud Monitoring service is now available in OSA21, DAL10, and WDC07.

January 2024

  • Certain stock images for SAP will be updated with new Ansible packages. Until then it is recommended that you do not use the following images to create a new Power Virtual Server instance for use with SAP workloads:

    • RHEL8-SP8-SAP
    • RHEL8-SP8-SAP-NETWEAVER
    • RHEL9-SP2-SAP
    • RHEL9-SP2-SAP-NETWEAVER

  • The Power Virtual Server workspaces provisioned in London, São Paulo, Osaka, Washington D.C., Montreal, and Toronto will send events to activity tracker instances in their respective regions effective from 29 January 2024. For more information, see Activity tracker regions.

  • PER is now available in DAL12 and FRA04. For more information, see Getting Started with Power Edge Router.

  • The direction going forward for VPN connectivity capability of the Power Virtual Server will be to use the existing IBM Cloud VPC VPN for a one cloud experience, improved reliability, and high availability connections.

    The VPNAAS_CONNECT_APPLICATION_INSTANCE_HOURS part ID of the Power Virtual Server is designed only for Power Virtual Server and will be withdrawn by the end of March 2024.

    Existing users can choose to continue to use Power Virtual Server VPN until the end of service or upgrade to their preferred IBM Cloud VPN for VPC service.

    By January 18, 2025, IBM will no longer deliver standard support for the Power Virtual Server VPNaaS product, thus if you choose not to take the recommended action and run into issues, IBM will not support with end of life for parts occurring six months later on July 14, 2025. Additionally, after March 2024 new connections can no longer be provisioned with the Power Virtual Server VPN thus you are encouraged to upgrade to the IBM Cloud VPC VPN at your earliest convenience and ideally before March 2024.

  • IBM Cloud Monitoring service is now available in SYD04, SAO04, and DAL12.

December 2023

  • New data center availability
    • MAD04 is available. It is a PER-enabled Power10 data center that supports IBM Cloud Monitoring service.
    • SAO04 is available for PER.
    • Cost estimator tool A new cost estimator tool for Power Virtual Server is available. You can access it from the Power Virtual Server home page. To learn more about the cost estimator tool, see Getting started with the cost estimator tool.
    • Dedicated hosts A new dedicated host capability is available. You can provision IBM Power S922 and S1022 servers for your dedicated use. For more information, see Dedicated host.
    • VPC VPN service The VPC VPN is a robust service that replaces the legacy Power Virtual Server VPN. To learn more on VPC VPN, see Creating a Virtual Private Cloud VPN connection.
    • Flexible IOPS Power Virtual Server now offers a tier-less storage service with the name Flexible IOPS. With Flexible IOPS, you can now change the IOPS level for your existing volumes and clone volumes to your choice of IOPS level, and much more. See: Flexible IOPS.
    • New RHEL versions are available. See the FAQ page for details on the latest version.
    • Update on the new SAP HANA large t-shirt profiles feature The latest RHEL 9.2 for SAP, RHEL 8.8 for general purpose and SAP, and current RHEL 8.6 for general purpose and SAP OS images are being updated to support the larger t-shirt profiles. Until further notice, use t-shirt profiles with less than 64 cores for RHEL 9.2, RHEL 8.8, and RHEL 8.6 OS images. For more information, see the SAP documentation on OS for IBM Power Virtual Server.
    • New Global Replication Service (GRS) pairs support The respective data center pairs MAD02 and FRA04 along with MAD04 and FRA05 now supports GRS.

November 2023

  • WDC06 and MAD02 data center are now available for PER. MAD02 is a PER-enabled Power10 data center.
  • Availibity of IBM Cloud Monitoring service is now extended in FRA04, FRA05, LON04, LON06, MAD02, SAO01, and TOK04.

September 2023

  • Power Virtual Server and SysDig Integration : You can now seamlessly monitor your platform metrics within the IBM Cloud environment by using the IBM Cloud Monitoring service. For detailed instructions on how to access and use this integration, refer to the documentation: Monitoring metrics for Power Virtual Server.

The data center where you can monitor your platform metrics currently are WDC06, SYD05, and WDC04 with other data center coming soon.

  • Introduction of Power Virtual Server S1022 processor : The Power10 S1022 (9105-22A) is now available in WDC07 data center. As we progress, additional data centers are made available.

    SAP Netweaver is not certified for use with S1022 systems, making them suitable exclusively for nonproduction workloads.

  • IBM i 7.3 service extension pricing : Effective 1 October 2023, IBM i 7.3 on Power Virtual Server is at the end of normal support and will be in service extension. Service extension pricing is automatically added to the IBM i charge for IBM i 7.3 usage.

  • Addition of New Global Replication Service data center pair : Power Virtual Server expanded the Global Replication Service (GRS) capabilities by adding a new data center pair - DAL13 and WDC04. This enhancement is available on the Tier 1 storage support within the GRS framework. See: Locations that support global replication service.

June 2023

  • The Power Virtual Server enhances the management of stock images in the backend. This enhancement eliminates identical versions (copies) of stock images and improves the performance of copying a stock image in your account by using an image reference. Find more information in the FAQ doc page.

    We are currently rolling out the feature to eliminate stock image copies in all data centers in phases. If your data center has already received the update, you notice that the export option for stock images is no longer available because you are using the reference of the stock image.

  • IBM Power Virtual Server is sequentially rolling out a Power Edge Router (PER) solution that is available in DAL10 data center.

    PER improves network communication across different parts of the IBM network. See, Getting Started with Power Edge Router for more information.

May 2023

  • IBM Power Virtual Server now supports two new data centers WDC07 (Washington DC) and SAO04 (São Paulo).
  • IBM Key Protect is now supported on AIX and Linux workloads. For more information, see Integrating Power Virtual Server with IBM Cloud Key Management Services.
  • Effective 1 May 2023, AIX 7.1 on Power Virtual Server is covered for software support. In Power Virtual Server, starting March 2024[2:1], Service Extension pricing is automatically added to the AIX charge for AIX 7.1 usage. AIX 7.1 Service Extension was announced on January 24, 2023. For more information see, AIX support lifecycle information.

March 2023

  • Update on the new SAP HANA large t-shirt profiles feature: IBM supports SLES15 SP4 for SAP and RHEL8.6 for SAP OS images with all other features on all t-shirt profiles with fewer than 64 cores. These SLES15 SP4 for SAP and RHEL8.6 for SAP OS images are while being updated to support the larger t-shirt profiles. Until further notice, use the larger t-shirt profiles with the SLES15 SP3 for SAP OS image or the RHEL8.4 for SAP OS image. For more information, see the SAP documentation on OS for IBM Power Virtual Servers.

    The RHEL8.6 for SAP OS image is available in DAL10, DAL12, FRA04, FRA05, LON04, LON05, MON01, SYD05, TOR01, WDC04, and WDC06. The image is available in all data centers by 3/27/23.

  • Power Virtual Server cost estimator: Effective 3/23/23, two of the latest large SAP HANA t-shirt profiles mh1-90x16200 and mh1-100x18000 are available options in the cost estimator. In April 2023, the latest largest profile mh1-125x22500 will also be available in the estimator.

  • Access your event logs and notifications: You can now access your event logs and notification from the Event logs page on the Power Virtual Server user interface. For more information, see Managing events logs and notifications

February 2023

December 2022

September 2022

  • You can share a group of processors between multiple virtual machines that allows you to group your applications together by using the shared processor pool. For more information, see Managing shared processor pool.

  • Power Virtual Server allows you to automate the complete data recovery solution by using the API and CLI interfaces of a global replication service. For more information, see Managing a global replication service.

  • You can choose to deploy Epic workloads on a VM for more cost savings. For more information, see Configuring a VM for Epic workloads.

  • The full Linux subscription on Power Virtual Server now supports SLES 15 SP4 (General).

August 2022

  • You can use FalconStor VTL in Power Virtual Server for data protection and cloud migration as a Service for IBM i. See Managing Virtual tape library.

July 2022

June 2022

  • Power Virtual Server now supports Linux (RHEL and SLES) stock images for non-SAP applications by using full Linux subscription. See Full Linux® subscription for Power Virtual Servers.
  • IBM i 7.5 is supported on Power Virtual Servers.
  • With virtual appliances independent software vendors (ISV) can offer OVA (ISV software plus operating system of your choice) for quick deployment of Power Virtual Server workloads. See Managing virtual appliances.

April 2022

March 2022

December 2021

October 2021

September 2021

  • You can now use Capturing and exporting a virtual machine to view the new Job feature and view restrictions for VM capture, image import, and image export.
  • You can now use Mixed storage to attach storage volumes to a PVM instance from different storage tiers and pools.

June 2021

  • You can now use Placement groups to add your servers into groups and apply affinity or anti-affinity policies.

May 2021

March 2021

  • You can now deploy a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8.1 and 8.2 virtual machine (VM) on a VM instance. For more information, see Using RHEL within the Power Virtual Server workspace.
  • Power Virtual Server provides a community-supported CentOS image under the Linux operating system. However, IBM does not provide any support for this image. For more information, see Configuring a Power Virtual Server instance.
  • You can now choose a OSA21 data center to deploy your Power Virtual Server.

February 2021

  • You can now choose a MON01 data center to deploy your Power Virtual Server.
  • The Power Virtual Server offering now supports IBM i 7.1. For more information, see Minimum PTF levels for IBM i.
  • You can clone a volume or multiple volumes to create a consistent full copy of the volume. For more information, see Cloning a volume.
  • You can resize the memory and core counts to a maximum of 8 times of the specified values, and to a minimum of 1/8 times of the specified values when the VM was provisioned. For more information, see Resizing the virtual machine core count and memory.

  1. This update is regarding the service extension update in the May 2023 release notes section. ↩︎

  2. See the update in the April 2024 release note section. ↩︎ ↩︎