Learning IBM PowerVS: Key Takeaways and Hands-On Experience from the PowerVS Workshop (DL06014G)

Hybrid cloud adoption continues to accelerate as organizations look for ways to modernize critical workloads while maintaining performance, reliability, and security. IBM Power Virtual Server (PowerVS) plays a significant role in this transformation by extending the capabilities of IBM Power Systems into a flexible cloud environment.

Recently, I had the opportunity to go through the IBM PowerVS Workshop (DL06014G), and I want to share my learning experience, key concepts covered, and why I believe this workshop is a strong starting point for anyone working with SAP, AIX, IBM i, or enterprise Linux workloads on hybrid cloud.

For those interested, the official workshop link is here:
👉 https://www.ibm.com/training/course/ibm-powervs-workshop-DL06014G

Understanding IBM PowerVS in Hybrid Cloud

One of the core themes of the workshop was understanding how PowerVS fits into an organization’s cloud strategy. What stood out to me is how it preserves the strengths of IBM Power hardware—high performance, scale, and stability—while giving teams cloud-native advantages like elasticity, automation, and consumption-based usage.

The workshop explained platform fundamentals including:

• Supported operating systems (AIX, IBM i, SUSE, Red Hat)

• Supported workloads such as SAP HANA and SAP NetWeaver

• Differences between PowerVS and traditional on-prem Power Systems

• How PowerVS integrates with existing enterprise networks

This foundational overview helped me understand how companies can transition to hybrid cloud without redesigning their workloads.

Hands-On Learning: Provisioning and Connectivity

The most valuable part of the workshop was the hands-on lab sessions. These practical exercises demonstrated how to:

● Deploy Linux, AIX, and IBM i LPARs

Participants learned how to select processor types, memory, and storage tiers and how to attach them correctly to the virtual server.

● Configure and manage networking

A significant portion focused on real-world connectivity scenarios such as:

• Subnet creation

• Gateway configuration

• Routing behavior

• IPsec and GRE tunnels

• Firewall and security considerations

These scenarios closely resemble challenges many enterprises face while connecting on-premises environments with PowerVS.

● Workload-specific configurations

The workshop included examples involving SAP landscapes, DR designs, and log shipping. Discussions around tunnel stability, latency, and network throughput offered practical insight into troubleshooting hybrid cloud setups.

What I Gained from the Workshop

By the end of the training, I had a clearer understanding of:

• Designing hybrid cloud architectures using PowerVS

• Deploying and sizing Power workloads in cloud

• Network planning for secure and stable connectivity

• Approaches to DR, backup, and workload migration

• Practical steps for validating and operating PowerVS environments

The workshop combines theory and real technical practice, which makes it suitable for administrators, cloud engineers, architects, and SAP specialists.

Encouraging Others to Begin Their PowerVS Learning Journey

One of the core purposes of the IBM Community is knowledge-sharing, and this workshop is an excellent way to build hands-on confidence with IBM PowerVS. If you are planning to work on hybrid cloud, explore SAP on Power, or support AIX or IBM i workloads, I highly encourage you to participate in this workshop.

It offers practical exposure, detailed technical understanding, and real examples that can help you support your organization’s modernization journey.

You can explore the workshop here:
🔗 https://www.ibm.com/training/course/ibm-powervs-workshop-DL06014G