Linux Virtualization on IBM Power5 Systems

In 2004 IBM is releasing new systems based on the Power5 processor. There is new support both in the hardware and in the firmware for virtualization of multiple operating systems on a single platform. This includes the ability to have multiple operating systems share a processor with weighted priority for CPU contention and Simultaneous Multi-Threading (SMT). Additionally, the hardware and firmware support virtualization of I/O devices such as SCSI, LAN, and console, allowing limited physical resources to be shared.

At its extreme, these new systems allow 10 Linux images per physical processor to run concurrently, contending for and sharing physical resources. All changes to support these new functions are in the 2.6 kernel.

This paper and talk will discuss the capabilities of the processor and firmware, as well as the changes made to the PPC64 kernel to take advantage of them.