Certified Specialist IBM AIX & Linux Virtualization

Certified Specialist IBM AIX & Linux Virtualization

Domain 1: Virtual Server Provisioning and OS Image Management

• Objective: Validate the ability to standardize and automate the deployment of AIX and Linux operating systems on IBM Power systems using enterprise tools.
• Key Competencies:
  • Configuring and managing Network Installation Management (NIM) for automated AIX deployments, centralized patching, and system backups.
  • Deploying Linux on Power utilizing standard enterprise methods (e.g., Kickstart, AutoYaST) tailored for virtualized environments.
  • Operating IBM PowerVC to capture operating system images, maintain self-service catalogs, and orchestrate virtual machine deployments.

Domain 2: Client-Side Dynamic Resource Management

• Objective: Evaluate technical proficiency in managing computing resources dynamically from within the guest operating system without requiring downtime.
• Key Competencies:
  • Executing Dynamic LPAR (DLPAR) operations natively from the AIX or Linux command line to add or remove CPU, memory, and I/O resources.
  • Implementing and administering AIX Workload Partitions (WPARs) to provide application-level isolation and strict resource control.
  • Optimizing processor performance by configuring Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) and managing capped versus uncapped logical partition profiles.

Domain 3: Virtualized Network and Storage Integration

• Objective: Assess the skills required to integrate and secure AIX and Linux guests with virtualized networking and storage architectures provided by the hypervisor.
• Key Competencies:
  • Configuring Multipath I/O (MPIO) in AIX and Linux to ensure path redundancy for Virtual SCSI (vSCSI) and N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) storage targets.
  • Designing network high availability natively at the OS level by implementing EtherChannel (AIX) or Network Bonding (Linux).
  • Managing OS device trees (ODM in AIX, udev in Linux) to detect, configure, and troubleshoot virtual hardware modifications.

Domain 4: Workload Performance Tuning and Automation

• Objective: Test the capability to monitor virtual guest performance, identify resource bottlenecks, and automate routine OS configurations at scale.
• Key Competencies:
  • Monitoring virtualization-specific metrics using native OS tools (such as lparstat, topas, nmon, and sar) to analyze performance in shared processor pools.
  • Preparing the OS environment for high availability clustering solutions, such as IBM PowerHA SystemMirror or Linux Pacemaker.
  • Automating configuration management, security patching, and user administration across AIX and Linux fleets using enterprise automation platforms like Ansible.