We performed a comparison between IBM PowerVM and KVM based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Server Virtualization Software solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."Managing other operating systems is also straightforward with IBM PowerVM."
"It is a stable solution with reliable performance."
"IBM PowerVM has the highest clock speed."
"PowerVM's most valuable features include swift optimisation and real-time migration."
"The case fileserver on the web server is the most valuable feature."
"Active Memory Sharing dynamically reallocates memory of running partitions based on changing workload demands. The memory for the pool is carved out from Physical memory and is made logical memory. The said memory is not available to be assigned to partitions as dedicated memory. A min, max and desired as well as weight is assigned to the memory of each lpar to help hypervisor make a decision in case a condition where priority is to be given to a certain lapr to use the memory form shared pool."
"The most valuable feature is the flexibility in terms of managing the hardware resources such as RAM, CPU, and the network."
"It's scalable. Whenever we buy another product other than hardware, it's easily integrated into the virtualization software that we download."
"It is an open ecosystem, and we see there is a benefit in open-source solutions."
"I like that it's easy to manage. It's also more powerful when it comes to security than others. That point of view is the one consideration. The other consideration is that it's cost-effective."
"The product is really good...One can get good performance because of kernel-based virtualization."
"If you are a Linux desktop user, KVM is the solution to go with if you have to start virtual machines with Linux or other operating systems with almost zero extra configuration needed."
"A very reliable solution which can be used for x86 architecture virtualization with reasonable overhead."
"I have found KVM to be scalable."
"Good screen and keyboard sharing feature."
"I like that this is an open-source solution. It is very powerful, and it's easy."
"As understand it, IBM sells all its hardware to Lenovo, and only PCs servers are managed by IBM. It's uncertain how much longer IBM will continue in this way, especially with the current trend of transitioning from on-premises to cloud and hybrid models. The market is evolving. Given this market shift, it's essential to identify areas for improvement. IBM has introduced the PowerVM Series, including Linux, which is a positive step. However, customers are already moving towards x86 servers due to cost considerations. The cost of PowerVM compared to x86 servers appears to be a significant factor."
"The solution should be advanced to fit with the container constantly."
"I don't know whether this has been trialed already, but IBM should give us an alert when we reach seven or eight failovers so that we can automatically switch it to manual mode. That would be great because if we cross the 10-day licensing limit, we have to pay a hefty license cost to Oracle. If IBM could view that feature, it would be helpful in license compliance."
"The interface is not user-friendly in places, so it could use some improvement."
"If it could actually virtualize the entire platform it might be better. If you're having more than one virtualization technology, maybe there's a way to actually have less - one technology to run the data center and maybe one special virtualization for power. If it integrated with other platforms more effectively it might be better."
"The hardware licensing model could be improved because the licensing model is a bit different from the standard hardware procured."
"IBM PowerVM does not integrate with Microsoft."
"The performance should be improved."
"Support for VF is needed, where you can, for example, export from VMware to KVM."
"Technical support is not top-notch."
"We would like to have a software lifecycle solution included in this solution. We can handle the software needed for KVM, but also the software that we provide. A lifecycle component would be very beneficial."
"The product must provide better performance monitoring features."
"The solution’s user interface could be improved and made more user-friendly."
"There are some issues with the graphics and some software that is very complex."
"The main drawback in the solution is probably disaster recovery."
"I would like to see more focus on microservices and integration with Kubernetes or OpenShift."
IBM PowerVM is ranked 9th in Server Virtualization Software with 25 reviews while KVM is ranked 4th in Server Virtualization Software with 39 reviews. IBM PowerVM is rated 8.4, while KVM is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of IBM PowerVM writes "A stable system for high-end data processing with a great support structure". On the other hand, the top reviewer of KVM writes "Delivers good performance because of kernel-based virtualization". IBM PowerVM is most compared with VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI), Oracle VM VirtualBox and Proxmox VE, whereas KVM is most compared with Proxmox VE, Oracle VM VirtualBox, Hyper-V, VMware vSphere and Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI). See our IBM PowerVM vs. KVM report.
See our list of best Server Virtualization Software vendors.
We monitor all Server Virtualization Software reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.