Getting started with dedicated host

IBM Power Virtual Server located in IBM data centers: Off-premises

IBM Power Virtual Server Private Cloud: On-premises

Dedicated host capability on IBM® Power® Virtual Server allows you to provision an entire server for your sole use, significantly expanding your computing options. You can handle mission-critical workloads with complete isolation, control, and security.

The hourly billing for a Dedicated host on a Power Virtual Server covers the entire server. Using a dedicated host provides extra flexibility in two ways:

It allows you to create virtual server instances and control their placement, and
It offers a unique shared processor pool capability.

This setup enables you to optimize your cloud infrastructure by using single-tenant servers to manage software licensing costs. Most importantly, dedicated hosts enhance isolation from other users in a cloud environment, ensuring your operations run smoothly and securely.

Create an estimate before deploying a dedicated host by using the cost estimator or see the pricing page to learn more.

Dedicated hosts provide the following features:

Ability to reserve a server (IBM Power S922 or S1022) for exclusive use.
Flexibility to provision virtual server instances onto a dedicated host.
Flexibility to manage resource utilization, including an increased Virtual Processor to Entitled Capacity ratio of up to 20:1.
Detailed user interface view of host capacity information such as: core, memory capacity, and consumption.
Ability to share dedicated hosts with all or a subset of workspaces on the same account, and the flexibility to control access to dedicated hosts across your organization.
Ability to set custom names for dedicated hosts and dedicated host groups.

Primary and secondary workspaces

Power Virtual Server workspaces are categorized as primary or secondary. A primary workspace is used to reserve the dedicated host, while a secondary workspace is granted access to the dedicated host. See primary workspace and secondary workspace for more details.

Primary workspace

A primary workspace is the owning tenant of a dedicated host with full control over the associated resources. It can delete or share the dedicated resources it owns under the IBM Cloud account. Primary workspace users can control sharing permissions for dedicated resources with all or a subset of their workspaces within the same account.

Billing for dedicated hosts is charged to the primary workspace.

Secondary workspace

A secondary workspace is one with which the dedicated resources are shared. It can deploy virtual server instances on the shared dedicated resources. However, a secondary workspace cannot further share a resource it doesn't own with another workspace.

Access and authorization

You can set up authorization for usage of a dedicated host for other workspaces by using IBM Cloud IAM Service Authorization capabilities. As an administrator of your organization, you can assign users the following supported roles:

Roles and permissions in dedicated host
Role	Description
Reader	View the workspaces that a dedicated host is shared with.
Manager	Perform all CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) actions on dedicated hosts, including: Reserve and delete dedicated hosts Share and unshare with other workspaces - Manage any other aspects of dedicated hosts.

Creating a dedicated host group

A dedicated host group in your IBM Cloud account is where all your reserved dedicated hosts are contained. The workspace from where you initiate the creation of a new dedicated host group becomes the primary workspace. You can select active workspaces in your IBM Cloud account to share making them as secondary workspaces.

To create a dedicated host group, complete the following steps:

Open the Power Virtual Server user interface in IBM Cloud.
Select a workspace.
Click Dedicated hosts on the left navigation menu. Here, you can see all existing dedicated hosts.
Click Reserve host.
Click Create new.
Enter a custom name on the Dedicated host group name field.
Optionally, share this dedicated host group with other workspaces by granting them secondary access. Only workspaces in the same region as the primary workspace and in an active state can be selected.
Click Save.

You can click into a dedicated host group to access its details, create more dedicated hosts, share, or stop sharing with secondary workspaces.

Reserving a dedicated host

You can create multiple dedicated hosts. To reserve a dedicated host, complete the following steps:

Open the Power Virtual Server user interface in IBM Cloud.
Select a workspace.
Click Dedicated hosts on the left navigation menu. Here, you can see all existing dedicated hosts.
Click Reserve host.
Select a dedicated host group from the available list of host groups already created. If no dedicated host group is available, click Create new.
Enter your Host name and select the Machine type from the drop-down list. Dedicated hosts cannot be reserved in host groups where the current workspace has secondary access.
Click Finish and view the summary of estimated cost.
Click Create.

You can click into a dedicated host to access its details, create and manage virtual server instances, created shared processor pools, or release the host.

Deploying a virtual server in a dedicated host

You can create a virtual server instance in a single-tenant environment on a dedicated host. The virtual server instance that is provisioned on a dedicated host can be deployed with any value up to a 20:1 ratio of Virtual Processor (VP) to Entitled Capacity (EC).

Click into a dedicated host to create a new virtual server instance. You must toggle "ON" the Deploy to dedicated host button.

Follow the instructions in Configuring a Power Virtual Server instance page for detailed instructions.

Virtual server instances deployed on the dedicated host are not billed for core and memory charges.

Creating SPP in a dedicated host

You can create a shared processor pool (SPP) in a single-tenant environment on a dedicated host. The SPPs provisioned on a dedicated host can be deployed with any value up to a 20:1 ratio of Virtual Processor (VP) to Entitled Capacity (EC).

Click into a dedicated host to create a new shared processor pool.

Follow the instructions in the Managing shared processor pool page for detailed instructions.

When using a dedicated host to deploy SPPs, the SPPs are not billed for the reserved capacity.

Releasing a dedicated host

You can release a dedicated host when no resources are deployed on the host. To release a dedicated host, complete the following steps:

Open the Power Virtual Server user interface in IBM Cloud.
Select a workspace.
Click Dedicated hosts on the left navigation menu. Here, you can see all existing dedicated hosts.
Select the dedicated host you want to release.

You must remove all associated resources provisioned on the host before releasing it.

Click Release host. When releasing the last dedicated host in a dedicated host group, the group will also be deleted. Empty dedicated host groups are not allowed on a workspace.

Maintenance in dedicated host

When IBM needs to do maintenance on a dedicated host, the virtual server instances (VMs) are evacuated to another dedicated host specifically for the maintenance operation window. You will not notice any changes unless there is a host failure that requires replacement of the original dedicated host.

If a dedicated host suffers from a failure, IBM restarts the VMs on another dedicated host.

When VMs are relocated to another dedicated host for maintenance, you are not charged for an extra dedicated host.