Cloud Ready for Linux on System z Technical White Paper

Cloud Ready for Linux on System z
Technical White Paper

Version 1.0
Date: September 2012

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................. 3
2.0 Solution Definition ...................................................................................................... 3
3.0 Solution Value ............................................................................................................. 4
4.0 Solution Architecture.................................................................................................. 5
5.0 Cloud Reference Architecture and NIST Cloud Computing Contexts.................. 6
6.0 Solution Functions ...................................................................................................... 9
7.0 Solution Requirements, Delivery, and Implementation ........................................ 11
8.0 Extensibility ............................................................................................................... 12

Acknowledgements
This white paper was produced by the IBM zChampions Cloud and Virtualization Work Group.

Authors: Mike Bonett, Tony Liu
Contributors/Reviewers: Roy Duke, Wally Brunk (StreamFoundry, Inc.), Douglas Shute (StreamFoundry, Inc.).

Please provide any feedback and comments to Mike Bonett at bonett@us.ibm.com .

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Cloud Ready for Linux on System z ©IBM 2012 2

1.0 Introduction

The IBM® Cloud Ready for Linux® on System z® solution offering provides the
ability to provision the Linux on System z platform using a common service catalog in a
highly available environment, including availability, performance, monitoring, backup
and recovery.

The offering provides services for the installation and customization of a specific set of
products that can be used to support the System z Cloud environment. Services are
delivered in partnership with Stream Foundry, Inc., an IBM Business Partner.

The offering can be extended, with additional product licenses and/or billable services, to
include integration of additional products, program design, implementation and ongoing
support.

More information on Cloud Ready for Linux on System z can be found at the following
link:

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/tivoli/services/consulting/offers-systemz-
zenterprise.html#cloud_ready_on_zlinux

This paper provides a high level technical overview of the solution components and their
functions. Refer to the above link for contacts and pricing information.

2.0 Solution Definition

Cloud Ready for Linux on System z provides the functions needed to enable the
deployment of an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IAAS) Cloud environment on Linux on
System z. It uses System z as both the manage-from platform and the manage-to-
environment.

The Cloud Ready for Linux on System z software solution is installed in a z/VM® LPAR
on System z; the software components run on Linux within that environment. The
manage-from and manage-to environments run within the same z/VM LPAR. Services
are provided to enable the products and provide an initial base education on their
functions and integration.

The Cloud Ready for Linux on System z solution supports Linux virtual images. The
virtual images are supplied by the client, and can be of any desired configuration pattern
(e.g. Linux only or Linux with select middleware). The solution creates new virtual
machine instances via cloning pre-defined Linux virtual images. Newly created instances
that are customized can be recaptured as virtual images and used to clone additional
instances.


Cloud Ready for Linux on System z provides functions that are used by the various roles
in a Cloud Service environment: Service Creators, Cloud Service Consumers, and Cloud
Service Providers. Several interfaces are provided to support these roles:

• An administrative interface, which allows the Cloud Server Creator to define the
target z/VM LPAR as a cloud provisioning platform, import Linux virtual images
into a repository, execute the virtual machine lifecycle process (create, deploy,
retire) as needed, and provide authentication and access controls for
administrative tasks.

• A self-service interface, which allows Cloud Service consumers to view the
available Linux virtual images, request instances of the images to be created,
monitor the status of the instances, and retire the instances from use.

• A monitoring interface, used by the Cloud Service Provider, to see the ongoing
performance and availability of the deployed instances and the z/VM LPAR they
run within.

• An automation interface, used by the Cloud Service Provider, to automate the
state of the instances in a coordinated manner.

• A storage administration interface, used by the Cloud Service Provider, to
administer the backup and recovery of storage artifacts within the virtual
instances.

3.0 Solution Value

Cloud Ready for Linux on System z provides numerous areas of business value.

It provides an infrastructure to create and deploy standards in a virtualized and mixed
environment for business services. The workloads within this infrastructure provide
image management of the operating system, applications, and release management. This
allows a reduction in cost in comparison to the traditional way of dedicated hardware or
software when delivering these services.

Costs are contained as there is a common service delivery model for deployment of these
services.

Finally, the standards management includes a plug-n-play service management
infrastructure, using an automated method to validate these services prior to deployment.
Once deployed, there is the integration of incident management for service delivery.


4.0 Solution Architecture

The following picture shows the solution components and how they are positioned in the
delivered infrastructure:

The Cloud Ready for Linux on System z solution provides services for the following
software components, which are installed on Linux on System z and are enabled for use:

Component Role
IBM Tivoli® Captures virtual images from created Linux “base” images and
Provisioning deploys them as instances based on user requirements and
Manager administration standards. A Tivoli Provisioning Manager server is
provided.
IBM Tivoli Provides performance and availability monitoring of the deployed
Monitoring images. An IBM Tivoli Monitoring server integrated with the Tivoli
Enterprise Portal on a single server, along with the Linux monitoring
agent for deployment into the desired Linux instances, is provided.
IBM Tivoli System Allows automation polices to be created to start and stop the
Automation for deployed instances in a coordinated fashion, and to monitor
Multiplatforms instances for exceptions and provide automated
recovery/bypass/notification functions.
IBM Tivoli Provide automated backup and recovery of storage used by
Storage Manager applications running within the deployed instances.


5.0 Cloud Reference Architecture and NIST Cloud Computing Contexts

The solution addresses the following aspects of IBM’s Common Cloud Reference
Architecture (the details of the architecture can be found at
https://collaboration.opengroup.org/cloudcomputing/documents.php?gpid=601&action=s
how&dcat=&gdid=23840 )

• Infrastructure

The System z platform provides the processor, memory, storage, and network
resources used by the Cloud Ready for Linux on System z solution. The Cloud
Ready solution runs within a logical partition (LPAR) on System z. Through the
LPAR the hardware resources of System z are made accessible in a virtualized
manner.

The Cloud Ready for Linux on System z solution runs on the System z platform.
The solution provides both the “manage from” and “manage to” environments on
z/VM and Linux on System z.

• Common Cloud Management Platform

The Cloud Ready for Linux on System z components provides business and
operational support services to support a Linux on System z Cloud environment.
The software products that are part of the solution are exploited by the Cloud
Services provided by the solution:

• Tivoli Provisioning Manager provides service automation management
functions for image lifecycle management of Linux on System z virtual
servers. It contains a process automation engine to manage service
requests, a repository for defined images, and functions to apply
configuration, change, incident, problem, and service level management to
the virtual server resources.

• IBM Tivoli Monitoring provides monitoring, capacity, and performance
management for virtual servers deployed by the solution. The information
it collects can also be integrated with related business services such as
metering of and billing for virtual server usage of the environment.

• IBM Tivoli System Automation for Multiplatforms provides platform and
virtualization management of the deployed instances by automating the
startup, shutdown, and event management of the deployed virtual
instances in a coordinated fashion. Once Linux guest instances are created,
policies can be defined in the product to initiate, execute and coordinate
the automated starting, stopping, restarting and failing over of the virtual
instances, individual application components with the instances, or entire


composite applications based on their desired status ad well as detected
incidents.

• IBM Tivoli Storage Manager provides service management for storage
resources used by the deployed instances. It can manage the backup and
recovery, archiving, and data reduction of the storage used by applications
that have been installed in the virtual instances.

• Cloud Services

Cloud Ready for Linux on System z provides the Infrastructure as a Service
(IAAS) service using z/VM as the virtualization platform. The solution provides
functions to create, deploy, and manage Linux on System z virtual instances. The
client can determine the types of Linux virtual images to be deployed as instances.
Cloud Ready for Linux on System z does not dictate the content of the virtual
images and allows the client to define the content of the virtual images. With this
customization, Cloud Ready for Linux on System z can be extended to support
other Cloud Services (Platform as a Service, Software as a Service, Business
Process as a Service) based on virtual image contents and instance detailed
configuration activities.

• Cloud Service Creator

The Cloud Service Creator can use Cloud Ready for Linux on System z to:
• Define the target z/VM virtualization environment for deployed instances.
• Import predefined Linux on System z virtual machines as virtual images.
• Make the virtual images available to the Cloud Service Consumer via a
service catalog.
• Provide authorization and authentication for Cloud Service Consumers to
access the operational and business support services provided by the
solution products.
• Administer the virtualization platform for provisioning, monitoring,
automation, and storage management via the provided products.

• Cloud Service Consumer

The Cloud Service Consumer can use Cloud Ready for Linux on System z to:
• Access a service catalog of defined Linux on System z virtual images.
• Request creation of new instances, or deletion of existing instances that
are no longer needed.
• Customize their instances as needed.
• Use the solution products to monitor, automate, and manage the storage
of the deployed instances.


• Security, Resiliency, Performance, Consumability

Cloud Ready for Linux on System z provides the following security, reliability,
performance, and consumability characteristics:
• Access to the solution environment and provided functions can be secured
to a fine level of detail. Security polices can be defined in all solutions
products for user authentication and role authorizations.

• The solution itself, running on Linux on System z virtual machines,
receives the resilience characteristics of System z. All System z functions
that provide monitoring, availability and continuity management can be
applied to the solution environment.

• The self-service interface provides rapid consumability of the service by
Cloud Service Consumers. The product user interfaces and the training
provided as part of the solution allow rapid administration and operation
of the solution.

Cloud Ready for Linux on System z also addresses the essential characteristics for Cloud
Computing defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The
essential characteristics details can be found at
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf :

• On-demand self service

The self-service interface provided by the solution allows the Cloud Server
Consumer to invoke provisioning functions for virtual instances as needed and
automatically, without requiring human interaction.

• Broad network access

The solution functions are accessible over any desired client network
configuration.

• Resource pooling

The solution pools the System z resources that are virtualized by Linux on System
z – IFL processors, memory, servers, storage, and network – so that they are
dynamically allocated and deallocated based on Cloud Service Consumer
Requests. The Consumer does not need to know the specifics regarding the


configuration of any of the resources; these are provided from the pooled
resources as part of the virtual image definition.

• Rapid elasticity

The Cloud Ready on Linux z infrastructure (System z hardware and Linux on
System z virtualization platform) allows non-disruptive expansion of the solution
managed environment from a hardware and virtualization perspective. Resources
can be added to the existing pools to provide rapid elasticity for expansion of the
managed environment, e.g. an increase of additional deployed instances, without
impacting the Cloud Service Consumer. The Cloud Service Consumer views an
unlimited set of resources (only limited from an administration policy
perspective).

• Measured service

The solution provides monitoring to show the usage of the virtualized resources
by deployed instances, as well as the overall utilization of the virtualization
platform. This monitoring can be extended for capacity planning and reporting
purposes, and can be integrated with metering and usage functions.

6.0 Solution Functions

Examples of the tasks the Cloud Ready for Linux on System z enables includes:

1. Discovering z/VM virtualization platforms that will be used for the cloud
environment

With the access credentials for the z/VM LPAR (the LPAR must be enabled with
the SMAPI interface and DIRMAINT), Tivoli Provisioning Manager can discover
the z/VM platform and store the relevant information (e.g. platform memory,
storage, and network configuration) in its repository. Once stored, Tivoli
Provisioning Manager can use the platform as a source for Linux virtual images
and to deploy new instances of Linux guest virtual machines.

2. Building a repository of deployable images

A Linux guest machine is built and customized with the desired software
(operating system and any additional middleware/application software layers).
Tivoli Provisioning Manager can then capture the guest configuration information
and store it as a virtual image in its repository. This virtual image can then be
made available in the service catalog for Cloud Service Consumers.


3. Requesting and creating virtual instances

The Cloud Service Consumer access the Self-Service Interface provided in the
solution to see the available virtual images in the service catalog. An image can
be selected and an instance requested. The request will be sent to Tivoli
Provisioning Manager, which creates the instance on the target z/VM platform.
The new instance will be started, customized with a unique hostname and IP
address, and the Cloud Service Consumer will be notified of its availability via
the self service interface.

Deployed instances whose configuration has been modified by Cloud Service
Consumers can also be captured and stored in the repository for additional
flexibility.

When a virtual instance is no longer needed, the Cloud Service Consumer that
owns the instance can request, via the self service interface, that it be deleted.
Tivoli Provisioning Manager deletes the instance from the z/VM platform so that
its resources are now returned to the available pool for new instances.

4. Monitoring virtual instances

The self-service interface provides the Cloud Service Consumer with the status of
the instances they have deployed. They can start and stop the instances as desired.

Performance monitoring of the instances is done via the IBM Tivoli Monitoring
server. It contains a Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server and a Tivoli Enterprise
Monitoring Server. Monitoring of an instance can be implemented in 2 ways:

o The source virtual image can have the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Linux
operating system agent installed. When an instance is created, the agent is
then activated and connects to the IBM Tivoli Monitoring server.

o After an instance is created, the agent can be installed and customized to
connect to the IBM Tivoli Monitoring server. This can be done manually
or automatically using a custom workflow designed for that purpose.

5. Automating virtual instances

Startup, shutdown, and recovery of virtual instances can be performed using IBM
Tivoli System Automation for Multiplatforms (SAMP), which is implemented as
part of the solution. Policies can be defined in SAMP to control the order of
instance startup based on dependencies (e.g. start a database server instance
before the instances that connect to it). Recovery actions in case of a detected
problem can also be implemented in the policy.


6. Virtual instance storage administration

Tivoli Storage Manager is used to manage the storage of virtual instances. As
middleware and applications are deployed on them, Tivoli Storage Manager can
be used by both Cloud Service Providers and Cloud Service Consumers for such
tasks as data backup/recovery, data reduction, space management, and archiving
and retrieval. Storage monitoring and reporting features are also included.

7.0 Solution Requirements, Delivery, and Implementation

The following prerequisites are needed for a Cloud Ready for Linux on System z
engagement:

• An available z/VM (version 5.4 or greater) LPAR for supporting the manage-from
and manage-to environments.

• The z/VM Systems Management API (SMAPI) and Directory Maintenance
Facility (DIRMAINT) functions installed in z/VM. These must be enabled (if not
already enabled they will be as part of the Tivoli Provisioning Manager
customization activities).

• Linux for System z for the manage-to environment servers – either SuSE® Linux
Enterprise Server 11 SP1 or Red Hat® Enterprise Linux 5.5.

• Product licenses (either existing or ordered in conjunction with Cloud Ready for
Linux on System z) for the products named above.

• A set of Linux on System z images to be used as the source for creating new
Linux instances.

The services provided in the solution will perform the following activities:

• Validate the configuration of SMAPI and DIRMAINT on the target z/VM LPAR
and make modifications as necessary.

• Install the software solution on the z/VM LPAR, and verify that the solution
servers are active and that the required network connectivity is available between
the servers and the target z/VM environment.

• Provide introductory education on the usage of Tivoli Provisioning Manager to
provision Linux instances.

• Provide documentation on the setup and design of the environment that has been
created, as a reference point for any future custom additions or enhancements.


8.0 Extensibility

The Cloud Ready for Linux on System z solution allows other products and functions to
be integrated into its administrative environment and extend the scope and capabilities of
both cloud service management and managed cloud environments. Implementing
extensions will require additional products, licensing, and or/services.

Some examples of the ways a Cloud Ready for Linux on System implementation can be
extended are as follows:

• In addition to z/VM, Tivoli Provisioning Manager supports the IBM POWER®,
Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), Hyper-V®, VMware® and Solaris®
Zones virtualization platforms. Environments that contain any of these platforms
can be incorporated into the Cloud Ready for Linux on System z so that a single
point of cloud management can be established, using System z as the “manage-
from” environment for the enterprise.

• IBM SmartCloud Control Desk installation media is provided. IBM SmartCloud
Control Desk is an integrated platform for performing efficient management of all
operational and IT asset classes and their incident, problem, change, release, and
SLA management processes. Tivoli Provisioning Manager provisioning activities
can be integrated with SmartCloud Control Desk.

• If additional middleware and applications are part of the deployed instance, IBM
Tivoli Monitoring agents, application specific agents, or custom agents can be
incorporated into the IBM Tivoli Monitoring function of Cloud Ready for Linux
on System z.

• OMEGAMON XE for z/VM and Linux can be added to provide z/VM virtualized
resource monitoring for the Cloud Platform. The product integrates z/VM
Performance Toolkit data with IBM Tivoli Monitoring to show a consolidated
view of the resources z/VM is provided to Linux instances and how the instances
are using those resources.

• System Automation for Multiplatforms has a set of automation policies stored in
the IBM Integrated Service Management at URL
https://www.ibm.com/software/brandcatalog/ismlibrary/search#rc=TivoliSystem
Automation:Tivoli%20System%20Automation . These automation policies are
available as samples to enhance the capabilities of SAMP that control the Linux
instances of Cloud Ready for Linux on System z.

• RACF Security Server for z/VM can be added for an additional level of security
for the Cloud environment. RACF can add security for the z/VM virtualized
resources that create the Cloud infrastructure to provide a finer level of security
control for both z/VM and the deploy Linux instances.


Cloud Ready for Linux on System z Technical White Paper

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