I am involved in a project where we are going to deploy dozen of Power Systems (still Power7 for the moment, and Power8 in a near future). All the systems will be the same : same models with the same slots emplacements and the same Virtual I/O Server configuration. To be sure that all my machines are the same and to allow other people (who are not aware of the design or are not skilled enough to do it by themselves) I had to find a solution to automatize the deployment of the new machines. For the virtual machines the solution is now to use PowerVC but what about the Virtual I/O Servers, what about the configuration of the Shared Ethernet Adapters. In other words what about the infrastructure deployment ? I spent a week with an IBM US STG Lab services consultant (Bonnie Lebarron) for a PowerCare (you have now a PowerCare included with every high end machine you buy) about the IBM Provisioning Toolkit for PowerVM (which is a very powerful tool that allows you to deploy your Virtual I/O Server and your virtual machines automatically) and the Live Partition Mobility Automation tool. With the new Hardware Management Console (8R8.2.0) you now have the possibility to create templates not just for the new virtual machines creation, but also to deploy create and configure your Virtual I/O Severs. The goal of this post is to show that there are different way to do that but also to show you the new features embedded with the new Hardware Management Console and to spread the world about those two STG Labs Services wonderful tools that are well know in US but not so much in Europe. So it’s a HUGE post, just take what is useful for you in it. Here we go :

Hardware Management Console 8 : System templates

The goal of the systems templates is to deploy a new server in minutes without having to logging on different servers to do some tasks, you now just have to connect on the HMC to do all the work. The systems templates will deploy the Virtual I/O Server image by using your NIM server or by using the images stored in the Hardware Management Console media repository. Please note a few points :

• You CAN’T deploy a “gold” mksysb of your Virtual I/O Server using the Hardware Management Console repository. I’ve tried this myself and it is for the moment impossible (if someone has a solution …). I’ve tried two different ways. Creating a backupios image without the mksysb flag (it will produce a tar file impossible to upload on the image repository, but usable by the installios command). Creating a backupios image with the mksysb flag and use the mkcd/mkdvd command to create iso images. Both method were failing at the installation process.
• The current Virtual I/O Server images provided in the Eelectonic Software Delivry (2.2.3.4 at the moment) are provided in the .udf format and not the .iso format. This is not a huge problem, just rename both files to .iso before uploading the file on the Hardware Management Console.
• If you want to deploy your own mksysb you can still choose to use your NIM server, but you will have to manually create the NIM objects, and to manually configure a bosinst installation (in my humble opinion what we are trying to do is to reduce manual interventions, but you can still do that for the moment, that’s what I do because I don’t have the choice). You’ll have to give the IP address of the NIM server and the HMC will boot the Virtual I/O Servers with the network settings already configured.
• The Hardware Management Console installation with the media repository is based on the old well known installios command. You still need to have the NIM port opened between your HMC and the Virtual I/O Server management network (the one you will choose to install both Virtual I/O Servers) (installios is based on NIMOL). You may experience some problems if you already install your Virtual I/O Servesr this way and you may have to reset some things. My advice is to always run these three commands before deploying a system template :

# installios -F -e -R default1
# installios -u 
# installios -q

Uploading an iso file on the Hardware Management Console

Upload the images on the Hardware Management Console, I’ll not explain this in details …:

Creating a system template

To create a system template you have first to copy an existing predefined template provided by the Hardware Management Console (1) and then edit this template to fit you own needs (2) :

• You can’t edit the physical I/O part when editing a new template, you first have to deploy a system with this template to choose the physical I/O for each Virtual I/O Server and then capture this deployed system as an HMC template. Change the properties of your Virtual I/O Server :
• Create your Shared Ethernet Adapters : let’s say we want to create one Shared Ethernet Adapter in sharing mode with four virtual adapters :
• Adapter 1 : PVID10, vlans=1024;1025
• Adapter 2 : PVID11, vlans=1028;1029
• Adapter 3 : PVID12, vlans=1032;1033
• Adapter 4 : PVID13, vlans=1036;1037
• In the new HMC8 the terms are changing and are not the same : Virtual Network Bridge = Shared Ethernet Adapter; Load (Balance) Group = A pair of virtual adapters with the same PVID on both Virtual I/O Server.
• Create the Shared Ethernet Adapter with the first (with PVID10) and the second (with PVID11) adapter and the first vlan (vlan 1024 has to be added on adapter with PVID 10) :





• Add the second vlan (the vlan 1028) in our Shared Ethernet Adapter (Virtual Network Bridge) and choose to put it on the adapter with PVID 11 (Load Balance Group 11) :





• Repeat this operation for the next vlan (1032), but this time we have to create new virtual adapters with PVID 12 (Load Balance Group 12) :
• Repeat this operation for the next vlan (1036), but this time we have to create new virtual adapters with PVID 13 (Load Balance Group 13).
• You can check on this picture our 4 virtual adapters with two vlans for each ones :




• I’ll not detail the other part which are very simple to understand. You can check at the end our template is created 2 Virtual I/O Servers and 8 virtual networks.

The Shared Ethernet Adapter problem : Are you deploying a Power8/Power7 with a 780 firmware or a Power6/7 server ?

When creating a system template you probably notice that when your are defining your your Shared Ethernet Adapters … sorry your Virtual Network Bridges there is no possibility to create any control channel adapters or any possibility to assign a vlan id for this control channel. If you choose to create the system template by hand with the HMC the template will be usable by all Power8 systems and all Power7 system with a firmware that allows you to create a Shared Ethernet Adapter without any control channel (780 firmwares). I’ve tried this myself and we will check that later. If you are deploying a system template an older power 7 system the deployment will fail because of this reason. You have two solutions to this problem. Create your first system “by hand” and create your Shared Ethernet Adapters with control channel on your own and then capture the system to redeploy on other machines or you have the choice to edit the XML of you current template to add the control channel adapter in it …no comments.

If you choose to edit the template to add the control channel on your own, export your template as an xml file and edit it by hand (here is an example on the picture below), and then re-imported the modified xml file :

Capture an already deployed system

As you can see creating a system template from scratch can be hard and cannot match all your needs especially with this Shared Ethernet Adapter problem. My advice is to deploy by hand or by using the toolkit your first system and then capture the system to create and Hardware Management Console template based on this one. By doing this all the Shared Ethernet Adapters will be captured as configured, the ones with control channels and the ones without control channel. It can match all the cases without having to edit the xml file by hand.

• Click “Capture configuration as template with physical I/O” :
• The whole system will be captured and if you put your physical I/O in the same slot (as we do in my team) each time you deploy a new server you will not have to choice which physical I/O will belong to which Virtual I/O server :
• In the system template library you can check that the physical I/O are captured and that we do not have to define our Shared Ethernet Adapter (the screenshot below shows you 49 vlans ready to be deployed) :

Deploying a system template

BE VERY CAREFUL BEFORE DEPLOYING A SYSTEM TEMPLATE ALL THE ALREADY EXISTING VIRTUAL I/O SERVERS AND PARTITIONS WILL BE REMOVED BY DOING THIS. THE HMC WILL PROMPT YOU A WARNING MESSAGE. Go in the template library and right click on the template you want to deploy, then click deploy :

• If you are deploying a “non captured template” choose the physical I/O for each Virtual I/O Servers :
• If you are deploying a “captured template” the physical I/O will be automatically choose for each Virtual I/O Servers :
• The Virtual I/O Server profiles are craved here :
• You next have the choice to use a NIM server or to use the HMC image repository to deploy the Virtual I/O Servers in both cases you have to choose the adapter used to deploy the image :
• NIM way :
• HMC way (check the tip at the beginning of the post about installios if you are choosing this method :
• Click start when you are ready. The start button will invoke the lpar_netboot command with the settings you put in the previous screen :
• You can monitor the installation process by clicking monitoring vterm (on the images below you can check the ping is successful, the bootp is ok, the tftp is downloading, and the being mksysb restored :





• The RMC connection has to be up on both Virtual I/O Servers to build the Shared Ethernet Adapters and the Virtual I/O Server license must be accepted. Check both are ok.




• Choose where the Shared Ethernet Adapters will be created and the create the link aggregation device here (choose here on which network adapters and network ports will your Shared Ethernet Adapters be created) :
• Click start on the next screen to create the Shared Ethernet Adapter automatically :
• After a successful deployment of a system template a summary will be displayed on the screen :

IBM Provisioning Toolkit for PowerVM : A tool created by the Admins for the Admins

As you now know the HMC templates are ok, but there are some drawbacks about using this method. In my humble opinion the HMC templates are good for a beginner, the user is now guided step by step and it is much simpler for someone who doesn’t know anything about PowerVM to build a server from scratch, without knowing and understanding all the features of PowerVM (Virtual I/O Server, Shared Ethernet Adapter). The deployment is not fully automatized the HMC will not mirror your rootvg, will not set any attributes on your fiber channel adapters, will never run a custom script after the installation to fit your needs. Last point, I’m sure that as a system administrator you probably prefer using command line tools than a “crappy” GUI, a template can not be created, neither deployed in command line (change this please). There is another way to build your server and it’s called IBM PowerVM Provisioning toolkit. This tool is developed by STG Lab Services US and is not well known in Europe but I can assure you that a lot of US customers are using it (raise your voice in comments us guys). This tool can help you in many ways :

• Carving Virtual I/O Servers profiles.
• Building and deploying Virtual I/O Servers with a NIM Server without having to create anything by hand.
• Creating your SEA with or without control channel, failover/sharing, tagged/non-tagged.
• Setting attributes on your fire channel adapters.
• Building and deploying Virtual I/O Clients in NPIV and vscsi.
• Mirroring you rootvg.
• Capturing a whole frame and redeploy it on another server.
• A lot of other things.

Just to let you understand the approach of the tool let’s begin with an example. I want to deploy a new machine with two Virtual I/O Server :

• 1 (white) – I’m writing a profile file : in this one I’m putting all the information that are the same all the machines (virtual switches, shared processor pools, Virtual I/O Server profiles, Shared Ethernet Adapter definition, image chosen to deploy the Virtual I/O Server, physical I/O adapter for each Virtual I/O Server)
• 2 (white) – I’m writing a config file : in this one I’m putting all the information that are unique for each machine (name, ip, HMC name used to deploy, CEC serial number, and so on)
• 3 (yellow) – I’m launching the provisioning toolkit to build my machine, the NIM objects are created (networks, standalone machines) and the bosinst operation is launched from the NIM server
• 4 (red) – The Virtual I/O Servers profiles are created and the lpar_netboot command is launched an ssh key has to be shared between the NIM server and the Hardware management console
• 5 (blue) – Shared Ethernet Adapter are created and post configuration is launched on the Virtual I/O Server (mirror creation, vfc attributes …)

Let me show you a detailed example of a new machine deployment :

• On the NIM server, the toolkit is located in /export/nim/provision. You can see that the main script called buildframe.ksh.v3.24.2, and two directories one for the profiles (build_profiles) and one for the configuration files (config_files). The work_area directory is the log directory :

# cd /export/nim/provision
# ls
build_profiles          buildframe.ksh.v3.24.2  config_files       lost+found              work_area

# vi build_profiles/p720.conf

VARIABLES      (SERVERNAME)=NA
VARIABLES      (BUILDHMC)=NA
[..]
VARIABLES      (BUILDUSER)=hscroot
VARIABLES      (VIO1_LPARNAME)=NA
VARIABLES      (vio1_hostname)=(VIO1_LPARNAME)
VARIABLES      (VIO1_PROFILE)=default_profile

VARIABLES      (VIO2_LPARNAME)=NA
VARIABLES      (vio2_hostname)=(VIO2_LPARNAME)
VARIABLES      (VIO2_PROFILE)=default_profile

VARIABLES      (VIO1_IP)=NA
VARIABLES      (VIO2_IP)=NA

VARIABLES      (NIMPORT_VIO1)=(CEC1)-P1-C6-T1
VARIABLES      (NIMPORT_VIO2)=(CEC1)-P1-C7-T1

# SEA1
VARIABLES      (SEA1VLAN1)=401
VARIABLES      (SEA1VLAN2)=402
VARIABLES      (SEA1VLAN3)=403
VARIABLES      (SEA1VLAN4)=404
VARIABLES      (SEA1VLANS)=(SEA1VLAN1),(SEA1VLAN2),(SEA1VLAN3),(SEA1VLAN4)
# SEA2
VARIABLES      (SEA2VLAN1)=100,101,102
VARIABLES      (SEA2VLAN2)=103,104,105
VARIABLES      (SEA2VLAN3)=106,107,108
VARIABLES      (SEA2VLAN4)=109,110
VARIABLES      (SEA2VLANS)=(SEA2VLAN1),(SEA2VLAN2),(SEA2VLAN3),(SEA2VLAN4)
# SEA3
VARIABLES      (SEA3VLAN1)=200,201,202,203,204,309
VARIABLES      (SEA3VLAN2)=205,206,207,208,209,310
VARIABLES      (SEA3VLAN3)=210,300,301,302,303
VARIABLES      (SEA3VLAN4)=304,305,306,307,308
VARIABLES      (SEA3VLANS)=(SEA3VLAN1),(SEA3VLAN2),(SEA3VLAN3),(SEA3VLAN4)
# SEA DEF (I'm putting adapter ID and PVID here)
SEADEF         seadefid=SEA1,networkpriority=S,vswitch=vdct,seavirtid=10,10,(SEA1VLAN1):11,11,(SEA1VLAN2):12,12,(SEA1VLAN3):13,13,(SEA1VLAN4),seactlchnlid=14,99,vlans=(SEA1VLANS),netmask=(SEA1NETMASK),gateway=(SEA1GATEWAY),etherchannel=NO,lacp8023ad=NO,vlan8021q=YES,seaat
trid=nojumbo
SEADEF         seadefid=SEA2,networkpriority=S,vswitch=vdca,seavirtid=15,15,(SEA2VLAN1):16,16,(SEA2VLAN2):17,17,(SEA2VLAN3):18,18,(SEA2VLAN4),seactlchnlid=19,98,vlans=(SEA2VLANS),netmask=(SEA2NETMASK),gateway=(SEA2GATEWAY),etherchannel=NO,lacp8023ad=NO,vlan8021q=YES,seaat
trid=nojumbo
SEADEF         seadefid=SEA3,networkpriority=S,vswitch=vdcb,seavirtid=20,20,(SEA3VLAN1):21,21,(SEA3VLAN2):22,22,(SEA3VLAN3):23,23,(SEA3VLAN4),seactlchnlid=24,97,vlans=(SEA3VLANS),netmask=(SEA3NETMASK),gateway=(SEA3GATEWAY),etherchannel=NO,lacp8023ad=NO,vlan8021q=YES,seaat
trid=nojumbo
# SEA PHYSICAL PORTS 
VARIABLES      (SEA1AGGPORTS_VIO1)=(CEC1)-P1-C6-T2
VARIABLES      (SEA1AGGPORTS_VIO2)=(CEC1)-P1-C7-T2
VARIABLES      (SEA2AGGPORTS_VIO1)=(CEC1)-P1-C1-C3-T1
VARIABLES      (SEA2AGGPORTS_VIO2)=(CEC1)-P1-C1-C4-T1
VARIABLES      (SEA3AGGPORTS_VIO1)=(CEC1)-P1-C4-T1
VARIABLES      (SEA3AGGPORTS_VIO2)=(CEC1)-P1-C5-T1
# SEA ATTR 
SEAATTR        seaattrid=nojumbo,ha_mode=sharing,largesend=1,large_receive=yes

VARIABLES      (HBASLOTS_VIO1)=(CEC1)-P1-C1-C1,(CEC1)-P1-C2
VARIABLES      (HBASLOTS_VIO2)=(CEC1)-P1-C1-C2,(CEC1)-P1-C3
VARIABLES      (ETHSLOTS_VIO1)=(CEC1)-P1-C6,(CEC1)-P1-C1-C3,(CEC1)-P1-C4
VARIABLES      (ETHSLOTS_VIO2)=(CEC1)-P1-C7,(CEC1)-P1-C1-C4,(CEC1)-P1-C5
VARIABLES      (SASSLOTS_VIO1)=(CEC1)-P1-T9
VARIABLES      (SASSLOTS_VIO2)=(CEC1)-P1-C19-T1
VARIABLES      (NPIVFCPORTS_VIO1)=(CEC1)-P1-C1-C1-T1,(CEC1)-P1-C1-C1-T2,(CEC1)-P1-C1-C1-T3,(CEC1)-P1-C1-C1-T4,(CEC1)-P1-C2-T1,(CEC1)-P1-C2-T2,(CEC1)-P1-C2-T3,(CEC1)-P1-C2-T4
VARIABLES      (NPIVFCPORTS_VIO2)=(CEC1)-P1-C1-C2-T1,(CEC1)-P1-C1-C2-T2,(CEC1)-P1-C1-C2-T3,(CEC1)-P1-C1-C2-T4,(CEC1)-P1-C3-T1,(CEC1)-P1-C3-T2,(CEC1)-P1-C3-T3,(CEC1)-P1-C3-T4

BOSINST        bosinstid=viogold,source=mksysb,mksysb=golden-vios-2234-29122014-mksysb,spot=golden-vios-2234-29122014-spot,bosinst_data=no_prompt_hdisk0-bosinst_data,accept_licenses=yes,boot_client=no

PARTITIONDEF   partitiondefid=vioPartition,bosinstid=viogold,lpar_env=vioserver,proc_mode=shared,min_proc_units=0.4,desired_proc_units=1,max_proc_units=16,min_procs=1,desired_procs=4,max_procs=16,sharing_mode=uncap,uncap_weight=255,min_mem=1024,desired_mem=8192,max_mem=12
288,mem_mode=ded,max_virtual_slots=500,all_resources=0,msp=1,allow_perf_collection=1
PARTITION      name=(VIO1_LPARNAME),profile_name=(VIO1_PROFILE),partitiondefid=vioPartition,lpar_netboot=(NIM_IP),(vio1_hostname),(VIO1_IP),(NIMNETMASK),(NIMGATEWAY),(NIMPORT_VIO1),(NIM_SPEED),(NIM_DUPLEX),NA,YES,NO,NA,NA
PARTITION      name=(VIO2_LPARNAME),profile_name=(VIO2_PROFILE),partitiondefid=vioPartition,lpar_netboot=(NIM_IP),(vio2_hostname),(VIO2_IP),(NIMNETMASK),(NIMGATEWAY),(NIMPORT_VIO2),(NIM_SPEED),(NIM_DUPLEX),NA,YES,NO,NA,NA

• Let’s now check a configuration file for a specific machine (as you can see I’m putting the Virtual I/O Server name here, the ip address and all that is specific to the new machines (CEC serial number and so on)) :

# cat P720-8202-E4D-1.conf
(BUILDHMC)=myhmc
(SERVERNAME)=P720-8202-E4D-1
(CEC1)=WZSKM8U
(VIO1_LPARNAME)=labvios1
(VIO2_LPARNAME)=labvios2
(VIO1_IP)=10.14.14.1
(VIO2_IP)=10.14.14.2
(NIMGATEWAY)=10.14.14.254
(VIODNS)=10.10.10.1,10.10.10.2
(VIOSEARCH)=lab.chmod66.org,prod.chmod666.org
(VIODOMAIN)=chmod666.org

./buildframe.ksh.v3.24.2 -p p720 -c P720-8202-E4D-1.conf -f vswitch
150121162625 Start of buildframe DATE: (150121162625) VERSION: v3.24.2
150121162625        profile: p720.conf
150121162625      operation: FRAMEvswitch
150121162625 partition list:
150121162625   program name: buildframe.ksh.v3.24.2
150121162625    install dir: /export/nim/provision
150121162625    post script:
150121162625          DEBUG: 0
150121162625         run ID: 150121162625
150121162625       log file: work_area/150121162625_p720.conf.log
150121162625 loading configuration file: config_files/P720-8202-E4D-1.conf
[..]
Do you want to continue?
Please enter Y or N Y
150121162917 buildframe is done with return code 0

Let’s now build the Virtual I/O Servers, create the Shared Ethernet Adapters and let’s have a coffee

# ./buildframe.ksh.v3.24.2 -p p720 -c P720-8202-E4D-1.conf -f build
[..]
150121172320 Creating partitions
150121172320                 --> labvios1
150121172322                 --> labvios2
150121172325 Updating partition profiles
150121172325   updating VETH adapters in partition: labvios1 profile: default_profile
150121172329   updating VETH adapters in partition: labvios1 profile: default_profile
150121172331   updating VETH adapters in partition: labvios1 profile: default_profile
150121172342   updating VETH adapters in partition: labvios2 profile: default_profile
150121172343   updating VETH adapters in partition: labvios2 profile: default_profile
150121172344   updating VETH adapters in partition: labvios2 profile: default_profile
150121172345   updating IOSLOTS in partition: labvios1 profile: default_profile
150121172347   updating IOSLOTS in partition: labvios2 profile: default_profile
150121172403 Configuring NIM for partitions
150121172459 Executing--> lpar_netboot   -K 255.255.255.0 -f -t ent -l U78AA.001.WZSKM8U-P1-C6-T1 -T off -D -s auto -d auto -S 10.20.20.1 -G 10.14.14.254 -C 10.14.14.1 labvios1 default_profile s00ka9936774-8202-E4D-845B2CV
150121173247 Executing--> lpar_netboot   -K 255.255.255.0 -f -t ent -l U78AA.001.WZSKM8U-P1-C7-T1 -T off -D -s auto -d auto -S 10.20.20.1 -G 10.14.14.254 -C 10.14.14.2 labvios2 default_profile s00ka9936774-8202-E4D-845B2CV
150121174028 buildframe is done with return code 0

[..]
150121180520 creating SEA for virtID: ent4,ent5,ent6,ent7
ent21 Available
en21
et21
150121180521 Success: running /usr/ios/cli/ioscli mkvdev -sea ent1 -vadapter ent4,ent5,ent6,ent7 -default ent4 -defaultid 10 -attr ctl_chan=ent8  ha_mode=sharing largesend=1 large_receive=yes, rc=0
150121180521 found SEA ent device: ent21
150121180521 creating SEA for virtID: ent9,ent10,ent11,ent12
[..]
ent22 Available
en22
et22
150121180523 Success: running /usr/ios/cli/ioscli mkvdev -sea ent20 -vadapter ent9,ent10,ent11,ent12 -default ent9 -defaultid 15 -attr ctl_chan=ent13  ha_mode=sharing largesend=1 large_receive=yes, rc=0
150121180523 found SEA ent device: ent22
150121180523 creating SEA for virtID: ent14,ent15,ent16,ent17
[..]
ent23 Available
en23
et23
[..]
150121180540 Success: /usr/ios/cli/ioscli cfgnamesrv -add -ipaddr 10.10.10.1, rc=0
150121180540 adding DNS: 10.10.10.1
150121180540 Success: /usr/ios/cli/ioscli cfgnamesrv -add -ipaddr 10.10.10.2, rc=0
150121180540 adding DNS: 159.50.203.10
150121180540 adding DOMAIN: lab.chmod666.org
150121180541 Success: /usr/ios/cli/ioscli cfgnamesrv -add -dname fr.net.intra, rc=0
150121180541 adding SEARCH: lab.chmod666.org prod.chmod666.org
150121180541 Success: /usr/ios/cli/ioscli cfgnamesrv -add -slist lab.chmod666.org prod.chmod666.org, rc=0
[..]
150121180542 Success: found fcs device for physical location WZSKM8U-P1-C2-T4: fcs3
150121180542 Processed the following FCS attributes: fcsdevice=fcs4,fcs5,fcs6,fcs7,fcs0,fcs1,fcs2,fcs3,fcsattrid=fcsAttributes,port=WZSKM8U-P1-C1-C1-T1,WZSKM8U-P1-C1-C1-T2,WZSKM8U-P1-C1-C1-T3,WZSKM8U-P1-C1-C1-T4,WZSKM8U-P1-C2-T1,WZSKM8U-P1-C2-T2,WZSKM8U-P1-C2-T3,WZSKM8U-P
1-C2-T4,max_xfer_size=0x100000,num_cmd_elems=2048
150121180544 Processed the following FSCSI attributes: fcsdevice=fcs4,fcs5,fcs6,fcs7,fcs0,fcs1,fcs2,fcs3,fscsiattrid=fscsiAttributes,port=WZSKM8U-P1-C1-C1-T1,WZSKM8U-P1-C1-C1-T2,WZSKM8U-P1-C1-C1-T3,WZSKM8U-P1-C1-C1-T4,WZSKM8U-P1-C2-T1,WZSKM8U-P1-C2-T2,WZSKM8U-P1-C2-T3,WZS
KM8U-P1-C2-T4,fc_err_recov=fast_fail,dyntrk=yes
[..]
150121180546 Success: found device U78AA.001.WZSKM8U-P2-D4: hdisk0
150121180546 Success: found device U78AA.001.WZSKM8U-P2-D5: hdisk1
150121180546 Mirror hdisk0 -->  hdisk1
150121180547 Success: extendvg -f rootvg hdisk1, rc=0
150121181638 Success: mirrorvg rootvg hdisk1, rc=0
150121181655 Success: bosboot -ad hdisk0, rc=0
150121181709 Success: bosboot -ad hdisk1, rc=0
150121181709 Success: bootlist -m normal hdisk0 hdisk1, rc=0
150121181709 VIOmirror <- rc=0
150121181709 VIObuild <- rc=0
150121181709 Preparing to reboot in 10 seconds, press control-C to abort

The new server was deployed in one command and you avoid any manual mistake by using the toolkit. The example above is just one of the many was to use the toolkit. This is a very powerful and simple tool and I really want to see other Europe customers using it, so ask you IBM Pre-sales, ask for PowerCare and take the control of you deployment by using the toolkit. The toolkit is also used to capture and redeploy a whole frame for disaster recovery plan.

Live Partition Mobility Automation Tool

Because understanding the provisioning toolkit didn't takes me one full week we still had plenty of time the with Bonnie from STG Lab Service and we decided to give a try to another tool called Live Partition Mobility Automation Tool. I'll not talk about it in details but this tool allows you to automatize your Live Partition Mobility moves. It's a web interface coming with a tomcat server that you can run on a Linux or directly on your laptop. This web application is taking control of your Hardware Management Console and allows you to do a lot of things LPM related :

• You can run a validation on every partitions on a system.
• You can move you partitions by spreading or packing them on destination server.
• You can "record" a move to replay it later (very very very useful for my previous customer for instance, we were making our moves by clients, all clients were hosted on two big P795)
• You can run a dynamic platform optimizer after the moves.
• You have an option to move back the partitions to their original location and this is (in my humble opinion) what's make this tool so powerfull

Since I have this tool I'm now running on a week basis a validation of all my partition to check if there are any errors. I'm now using it to move and move back the partitions when I have to. So I really recommends the Live Partition Mobility Automation tool.

Hardware Management Console 8 : Other new features

Adding a VLAN to an already existing Shared Ethernet Adapter

With the new Hardware Management Console you can easily add a new vlan to an already existing Shared Ethernet Adapter (failover and shared, with and without control channel : no restriction) without having to perform a dlpar operation on each Virtual I/O Server and then modifying your profiles (if you do not have the synchronization enabled). Even better by using this method to add your new vlans you will avoid any misconfiguration, for instance by forgetting to add the vlan on one or the Virtual I/O Server or by not choosing the same adapter on both side.

• Open the Virtual Network page in the HMC and click "Add a Virtual Network". You have to remember that a Virtual Network Bridge is an Shared Ethernet Adapter, and a Load balance group is a pair of virtual adapters on both Virtual I/O Server with the same PVID :
• Choose the name of your vlan (in my case VLAN3331), then choose bridged network (bridged network is the new name for Shared Ethernet Adapters ...), choose "yes" for vlan tagging, and put the vlan id (in my case 3331). By choosing the virtual switch, the HMC will only let you choose a Shared Ethernet Adapter configured in the virtual switch (no mistake possible). DO NOT forget to check the box "Add new virtual network to all Virtual I/O servers" to add the vlan on both sides :
• On the next page you have to choose the Shared Ethernet Adapter on which the vlan will be added (in my case this is super easy, I ALWAYS create one Shared Ethernet Adapter per virtual switch to avoid misconfiguration and network loops created by adding with the same vlan id on two differents Shared Ethernet Adapter) :
• At last choose or create a new "Load Sharing Group". A load sharing group is one of the virtual adapter of your Shared Ethernet Adapter. In my case my Shared Ethernet Adapter was created with two virtual adapters with id 10 and 11. On this screenshot I'm telling the HMC to add the new vlan on the adapter with the id 10 on both Virtual I/O Servers. You can also create a new virtual adapter to be included in the Shared Ethernet Adapter by choosing "Create a new load sharing group" :
• Before applying the configuration a summary is prompted to the user to check the changes :

Partition Templates

You can also use the template to capture and created partitions not just systems. I'll not give you all the details because the HMC is well documented for this part and there is no tricky things to do, just follow the GUI. One more time the HMC8 is for the noobs \o/. Here are a few screenshot of partitions templates (capture and deploy) :

A new a nice look and feel for the new Hardware Management Console

Everybody that the HMC GUI is not very nice but it's working great. One of the major new thing of the HMC 8r8.2.0 is the new GUI. In my opinion the new GUI is awesome the design is nice and I love it. Look at the pictures below :

Conclusion

The Hardware Management Console 8 is still young but offers a lot of new cool features like system and partitions template, performance dashboard and a new GUI. In my opinion the new GUI is slow and there are a lot of bugs for the moment, my advice is to use when you have the time to use it, not in a rush. Learn the new HMC on your own by trying to do all the common tasks with the new GUI (there are still impossible things to do ;-)). I can assure you that you will need more than a few hour to be familiarized with all those new features. And don't forget to call you pre-sales to have a demonstration of the STG's toolkits, both provisioning and LPM are awesome. Use it !

What is going on in this world

This blog is not and will never be the place for political things but with the darkest days we had in France two weeks ago with this insane and inhuman terrorists attacks I had to say a few words about it (because even if my whole life is about AIX for the moment, I'm also an human being .... if you doubt about it). Since the tragic death of 17 men and women in France everybody is raising his voice to tell us (me ?) what is right and what is wrong without thinking seriously about it. Things like this terrorist attack should never happen again. I just wanted to say that I'm for liberty, no only for the "liberty of expression", but just the liberty. By defending this liberty we have to be very careful because in the name of this defense things that are done by our government may take us what we call liberty forever. Are the phone and the internet going to be tapped and logged in the name of the liberty ? Is this liberty ? Think about it and resist.