P 5

Virtual IO Server
Virtual Ethernet and SEA
Virtual SCSI

HMC Version 6.1.1
VIO Server Version 1.3 FP 8.1

Capped mode: The processing units given to the partition at a time never exceed the guaranteed processing capacity (the entitlement capacity is guaranteed by the system and it is not exceeded when resources are available in the shared processing pool).

Uncapped mode: The processing capacity given to the partition at a time may exceed the guaranteed processing capacity when resources are available in the shared processing pool. You must specify the uncapped weight of that partition.

If multiple uncapped logical partitions require idle processing units, the managed system distributes idle processing units to the logical partitions in proportion to each logical partition's uncapped weight. The higher the uncapped weight of a logical partition, the more processing units the logical partition gets


 # lparstat -i
 Node Name : applsrv
 Partition Name : Apps_Server
 Partition Number : 4
 Type : Shared-SMT
 Mode : Uncapped
 Entitled Capacity : 0.30
 Partition Group-ID : 32772
 Shared Pool ID : 0
 Online Virtual CPUs : 2
 Maximum Virtual CPUs : 10
 Minimum Virtual CPUs : 1
 Online Memory : 512 MB
 Maximum Memory : 1024 MB
 Minimum Memory : 128 MB
 Variable Capacity Weight : 128
 Minimum Capacity : 0.20
 Maximum Capacity : 1.00
 Capacity Increment : 0.01
 Maximum Dispatch Latency : 16999999
 Maximum Physical CPUs in system : 2
 Active Physical CPUs in system : 2
 Active CPUs in Pool : -
 Unallocated Capacity : 0.00
 Physical CPU Percentage : 15.00%
 Unallocated Weight : 0

The following command disables all remote WebSM connections to the HMC:

 $ chhmc -c websm -s disable

The following command disables the HTTP service on HMC:

 $ chhmc -c http -s disable

VIO Server

The Virtual I/O Server is part of the IBM eServer p5 Advanced Power Virtualization hardware feature. Virtual I/O Server allows sharing of physical resources between LPARs including virtual SCSI and virtual networking. This allows more efficient utilization of physical resources through sharing between LPARs and facilitates server consolidation.

Installation
You have two options to install the AIX-based VIO Server:

  1. Install from CD
  2. Install from network via an AIX NIM-Server

After the installation, the system is rebooted. After the reboot you are presented with the VIO-Server login prompt. You can't login as user root as you have to use the special user id padmin. No initial default password is set. Immediately after login you are forced to set a new password

Before you can do anything you have to accept the I/O Server license. This is done with the license command.

 $ license -accept

You can see all available commands with the command help. All these commands are shell aliases to a single SUID-binary called ioscli which is located in the directory /usr/ios/cli/bin. If you are familiar with AIX you will recognize most commands but most command line parameters differ from the AIX versions.

As there are no man pages available you can see all options for each command separately by issueing the command help <command>

To become root user in VIO server, use

 $ oem_setup_env 

Virtual Ethernet

Any LPAR with the same port and Same virtual LAN ID will be able to communicate with each other.

For making a virtual Ethernet as SEA (Shared Ethernet adapter), select "Access External network" and leave IEEE802.1Q for the virtual adapter in the VIO server profile.

To Create the SEA between the real and Virtual Ethernets

01. List all the virtual devices

 $ lsdev -virtual
 name   status     description
 ent2   Available  Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan)
 vhost0 Available  Virtual SCSI Server Adapter
 vhost1 Available  Virtual SCSI Server Adapter
 vhost2 Available  Virtual SCSI Server Adapter
 vhost3 Defined    Virtual SCSI Server Adapter
 vsa0   Available  LPAR Virtual Serial Adapter
 clientY Available Virtual Target Device - Logical Volume
 clientZ Available Virtual Target Device - Logical Volume

02. Create the shared ethernet adapter using real and virtual adapters

 $ mkvdev -sea ent0 <- this is the real Ethernet
 -vadapter ent2 <- this is the Virtual Ethernet
 -default ent2 <- this simple setup it's to only one so it's the default
 -defaultid 1 <- this is the Port Virtual ID from the HMC

 ent3 Available
 en3
 et3

03. Verify the newly created SEA

 $ lsdev -dev en3
 name status     description
 ent3 Available  Shared Ethernet Adapter

04. Assign IP to the SEA

 $ mktcpip -hostname op34 <- use you own hostname
 -inetaddr 9.137.62.34 <- use your IP address
 -interface en3 <- from the mkvdev command
 -netmask 255.255.255.0 <- normal TCPIP meaning
 -gateway 9.137.62.1 <- normal TCPIP meanin

Now, the VIO server is ready with SEA configured.

05. Verify the creation of SEA

 $ lsdev -dev ent3 -attr
 attribute value description
 pvid 3 PVID to use for the SEA device
 pvid_adapter ent2 Default virtual adapter to use for non-VLAN-tagged
 real_adapter ent0 Physical adapter associated with the SEA
 thread 0 Thread mode enabled (1) or disabled (0)
 virt_adapters ent2 List of virtual adapters associated with the SEA

Virtual SCSI

Preparing Virtual SCSI adapter and storage for the Clients

01. List all the virtual devices

 $ lsdev -virtual
 name status description
 nt2 Available Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan)
 vhost0 Available Virtual SCSI Server Adapter
 vhost1 Available Virtual SCSI Server Adapter
 vhost2 Available Virtual SCSI Server Adapter
 vhost3 Defined Virtual SCSI Server Adapter
 vsa0 Available LPAR Virtual Serial Adapter
 clientY Available Virtual Target Device - Logical Volume
 clientZ Available Virtual Target Device - Logical Volume

02. Connect Logical Volume lv00 to VIO Client "clientX"

 $ mkvdev -vdev lv00 -vadapter vhost0 -dev clientX
 clientX Available

03. To assign the whole disk "hdisk1" to cleintY. (Make sure the hdisk1 is not part of any volume group)

 $ mkvdev -vdev hdisk1 -vadapter vhost1 -dev clientY
 clientY Available

04. Check the configuration

 $ lsdev -virtual
 name   status    description
 ent2    Available Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan)
 vhost0  Available Virtual SCSI Server Adapter
 vhost1  Available Virtual SCSI Server Adapter
 ...
 vsa0    Available LPAR Virtual Serial Adapter
 clientx Available Virtual Target Device - Logical Volume
 clienty Available Virtual Target Device - Logical Volume
 ent3    Available Shared Ethernet Adapter
 $
 $ lsdev -dev clientx -attr
 attribute       value              description          user_settable
 LogicalUnitAddr 0x8100000000000000 Logical Unit Address  False
 aix_tdev        lv00               Target Device Name    False