A Power Edge Router (PER) is a high-performance router that provides advanced routing capabilities for IBM® Power® Virtual Server users.

The Power Edge Router (PER) enhances communication across various segments of the IBM network by establishing a direct link to the IBM Cloud Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) backbone. This direct connection streamlines communication between different parts of the IBM infrastructure.

The PER solution includes two high-performance routers, offering a combined connectivity of 400 Gbps to each Power Virtual Server Performance Optimized Data (POD) center—modular data centers designed for optimized performance. PER serves as an advanced routing solution for IBM Power Virtual Server users and is set to replace the current Direct Link-based network connectivity.

By default, PER is automatically enabled when a workspace is created in any IBM Cloud data center that supports PER.

Creating a PER workspace

All the data centers, except CHE01 and MON01, are PER-enabled. When you create a workspace in the PER-enabled data center, the workspace is PER-enabled by default.

To create a PER workspace, follow the steps that are mentioned in Creating a Power Virtual Server workspace and choose a PER-enabled data center.

Getting workspace details of PER workspace:

#ibmcloud pi ws get 15b8c790-f9ee-43fd-aea7-014677d9a967
Getting workspace 15b8c790-f9ee-43fd-aea7-014677d9a967...

ID:                              15b8c790-f9ee-43fd-aea7-014677d9a967
Name:                            PER-Migration-WS
Region:                          dal10
Status:                          active
Type:                            off-premises
Capabilities:
    cloud-connections            false
    custom-virtual-cores         false
    dedicated-hosts              false
    network-security-groups      false
    power-edge-router            true
    power-vpn-connections        false
    transit-gateway-connection   false
Power Edge Router Details:
    State                        active
    Type                         automated

You can create, delete, attach, detach, and update private networks by using the Subnets and Virtual server instances pages on a PER workspace, the same as with a non-PER workspace.

Note: On a PER workspace, if you do not find the cloud Connections and VPN connections options in the left navigation of the user interface, then PER do not require or support these options.

Attaching Transit Gateway to a PER workspace

Transit Gateway is required to connect with VPC and classic infrastructure. To attach a virtual server instance from a PER workspace with the Transit Gateway, follow the instructions in the Ordering IBM Cloud Transit Gateway.

Attach the PowerVS workspace to the Transit Gateway to facilitate communication between Power Virtual Server instances and other parts of the network, such as Classic infrastructure, Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), and remote Power Virtual Server instances.

Select Power Virtual Server under connection to attach a virtual server instance that was created on a PER-enabled workspace. You can also add VPC and classic infrastructures as connection.

Here is an example demonstrates how PowerVS, VPC and Classic infrastructure connections are integrated with a Transit Gateway (TGW) to enable communication between them.

Important: To delete the PER workspaces that are connected to the Transit Gateway, you must first delete the Transit Gateway connections.

Using IBM cloud services in a PER workspace

With PER, PowerVS Virtual servers can access IBM Cloud services like DNS, NTP, and Cloud Object Storage and other services that use the allocated IP addresses in the 161.26.0.0/16 range. The built-in NAT device eliminates the need for proxies or virtual routers, simplifying connectivity.

Migrating to PER

The migration of an existing workspace to PER is supported through CLI by using the ibmcloud pi workspace action command with the following values:

• per-migrate-start: Initiates the migration of the workspace to PER.
• per-migrate-validate: Removes the Cloud Connections for the workspace from the network database. Use this command after you remove the Cloud Connections for the workspace from the Transit Gateway.

  # ibmcloud pi workspace action WORKSPACE_ID --operation OPERATION
  
  WORKSPACE_ID: The unique identifier of the workspace. [flags]
  OPTIONS:
    --json                       Format output in JSON
    -o value, --operation value  Operation to be done in a workspace. Valid values are per-migrate-start, per-migrate-validate.

Complete the following steps to migrate the workspace to PER:

1. Remove the any Cloud connections & VPN connections
2. Initiate the migration by using the per-migrate-start value with ibmcloud pi workspace action command.
3. Use the CLI command ibmcloud pi workspace get <WORKSPACE_ID> --json to get the migration status of your workspace. In the CLI response, once the migrationStatus property changes to migrating and state property changes to user-validation you can continue to complete the next steps.
4. Attach the workspace to the Transit Gateway to validate the connectivity of the workspace with other workspaces.
5. Remove the Cloud Connections from the Transit Gateway.
6. Remove the Cloud Connections from the network database by using the per-migrate-validate value with ibmcloud pi workspace action command.

If an error occurs during the migration process, open a support ticket.

Only CHE01 and MON01 data centers are not PER-enabled. Therefore, use Cloud Connections for interconnectivity between other parts of the IBM network.

In a PER and enhanced CRN-enabled workspace, you can also define security rules for network traffic control using the network security group feature. For more information, see Network security groups.

Note: The PER capability deployed almost on all the data centers. See Data centers that support PER for more information.

For detailed networking PER use cases and architecture diagrams, see Power Edge Router use cases.

OS support in a PER workspace

AIX, IBM i, and Linux operating systems are supported in a PER workspace.

Full Linux Subscription with PER

In a PER-enabled workspace, full Linux subscriptions for the latest RHEL and SLES images are automatically registered during deployment.

Note: See Full Linux® subscription for Power Virtual Servers for Power Virtual Server to register Full Linux subscription.

Verify whether the registration is successful with the following commands:

For SUSE:  # SUSEConnect -s

For RHEL: # subscription-manager status

CLI and API support with PER

PER uses the same existing Power Virtual Server network APIs and CLIs.

Value Proposition

• Enhanced Connectivity and Performance
  The Power Edge Router (PER) replaces Direct Link-based connectivity between IBM Power Virtual Server (PowerVS) pods and the IBM Cloud MPLS backbone, enabling seamless communication across the IBM network. By assigning unique MPLS route distinguishers (RDs) to PowerVS networks, PER supports efficient cross-network traffic. Integrated with Transit Gateway, it also connects PowerVS to Classic, VPC, and remote PowerVS environments, streamlining user experience across IBM Cloud services.
• Cost Savings
  Previously, users had to manage multiple Direct Links, increasing complexity and cost. Now, each PowerVS pod includes two PERs providing 400 Gbps aggregate bandwidth, enabling high-speed communication across Classic, VPC, and PowerVS globally—eliminating the need for separate DLs.
• Improved Network Efficiency
  PER removes the need for proxies or virtual routers, simplifying configuration and reducing costs. Built-in NAT allows easy access to services like DNS, NTP, and Cloud Object Storage, enhancing network efficiency and reliability.

Considerations for using PER

• You cannot create a Cloud Connection or a VPN connection in a PER workspace.
• You can establish a connection between collocated workspaces if one colocation facility (colo) is PER-enabled (such as DAL10) and the second colo (DAL12 / DAL13) uses Direct Link. Both collocated workspaces must be connected to the same Transit Gateway.
• When a PER workspace is connected to a Transit Gateway, you can connect a Direct Link to the same Transit Gateway. You can use the connection to achieve an end-to-end connectivity from a network in your client-managed environment to the PER workspace.
• You can establish a connection between VPC and classic infrastructure with PER by adding them to the Transit Gateway.
• A GRE (Generic Routing Encapsulation) tunnel is not supported in a PER workspace.