Re: HMC as a Power lpar?

On Tue, 2017-08-08 at 11:08 -0400, Rob Berendt wrote:

With the statement of direction being they're replacing the x86 based
hardware model with a power based model perhaps they'll come out with a 1U
version at that time.

Other than the "death to anything that runs Windows argument!" is there a
reason to get a hardware based model than using a virtual model on PC
Server equipment? Avoid the hardware cost completely?

First let me say that I know very little about the HMC, so the following
may sound like stupid questions...

Is a hardware HMC any different to a PC running a virtual HMC? Is the
hardware HMC just a case of just buying the "virtual" HMC software
pre-loaded on a bit of hardware as the host/bare metal OS without
needing windows(1) and/or a "virtual box" client OS (running the HMC
software)?

(1) Does the virtual HMC even need windows? Can it not be run under
Linux? (I vaguely recall reading that it uses VMware or something
similar, so I'd assume if that were the case it could run under any OS
that could host a virtual box that ran the software.)

If the virtual HMC is nothing more than an emulated set of hardware, and
the OS that runs the HMC software that resides on a hardware HMC... then
running the virtual HMC on a power hardware system wouldn't be that
difficult. Further, if it could emulate an X86 machine it wouldn't
require re-compiling the HMC software, but obviously there is then a
chicken and egg situation if the virtual HMC is the HMC of the hardware
on which it is installed if you only have one physical box (but then
isn't it possible to buy a power system that doesn't have any kind of
HMC as its also possible to do some "low level" maintenance/management
stuff by entering hex codes on the font panel? The HMC just makes it
more convenient/easier/remoteable?)