Supported server virtualization environments

Before you deploy WebSphere® Virtual Enterprise on virtualized servers, you must understand the limitations for the server platform that you are using.

Remember: This page lists the most up to date information on the support of various server virtualization platforms.
Table 1. Server virtualization environments
Virtualization platform Restrictions Supported processor sharing mode

ESX Version 3.5

VMware vSphere Version 4.0, Version 4.1

Shared and dedicated modes are supported for ESX or VMware vSphere Version 4.0, Version 4.1, but you must configure WebSphere Virtual Enterprise to communicate with the ESX or VMware vSphere Version 4.0, Version 4.1 hypervisor or the vCenter that is in control of the hypervisors where WebSphere Virtual Enterprise is running.
AIX® 5.3 and AIX 6.1 on POWER5™ and POWER6® (Micro-Partitioning®)

See Configuring AIX 5.3 and AIX 6.1 on POWER5 and POWER6 (Micro-Partitioning) for required configuration steps.

Workload partitions (WPAR), which were introduced in AIX 6.1, are not supported at this time.

For uncapped shared processor partitions, equal partition weights are recommended. WebSphere Virtual Enterprise does not have a partition to physical machine mapping and thus does not use the partition weight when making workload distribution and server placement decisions.

All WebSphere Virtual Enterprise features are supported on AIX Micro-partitioning in capped or uncapped mode.

Shared capped, shared uncapped, and dedicated modes are supported for both POWER5 and POWER6. Support for dedicated donating and multiple shared pools modes are available on POWER6 only.

AIX 7.1 on POWER7® None.

POWER7 processor in POWER6 compatibility mode

POWER7 processor mode

Linux on POWER® (Micro-Partitioning) None for dedicated. Dedicated.
Linux on z/VM®
  • The guest operating system must be Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.0, 5.1, 5.2 or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 10.
  • Mapping a Linux on zSeries® operating system image to a physical logical partition (LPAR): WebSphere Virtual Enterprise can balance workload across multiple z/VM virtual machines that are running Linux as the guest operating system. However, it does not have knowledge of the LPAR that is hosting the virtual machines on the z/VM image and is therefore unable to make workload balancing decisions based on the workload at the LPAR level.
  • Service policy goals: Workload that is not under the control of WebSphere Virtual Enterprise might be running on other Virtual Machines on the same z/VM image. This workload might affect service policy goals.
Dedicated and shared.
Solaris Operating Environment 10 on Sun (Zones) None for dedicated. Dedicated.
HP-UX 11i v3 on HP using Virtual Partitions (vPars) or Integrity VMs Currently not supported. None.
Linux Xen
  • You must be using SLES 11 or later.
  • You must use the following guidelines for setting up the clock correctly: SUSE Linux Virtual Machines: Section 7.4.3 Virtual Machine Clock Settings.
  • Use para-virtualized mode over full-virtualized mode. Full-virtualized mode can lead to network bottlenecks that can adversely affect performance of the system. This performance problem is particularly possible for large topologies.
Dedicated.
Microsoft Hyper-V Currently not supported. None.

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