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Main Page -> QuickSheets -> Po erVM QuickStart

PowerVM QuickStart
Version 1.2.0
Date: 3/29/10
This document is minimall compatible w ith VIOS 1.5. VIOS 2.1 specific items are marked as such.

Overview
Virtuali ation Components
(Whole) CPUs, (segments of) memory, and
(physical) I/O devices can be assigned to an
LPAR (Logical Partition). This is commonly
referred to as dedicated resource partition (or
Power 4 LPARs, as this capability was
introduced with the Power 4 based systems).
A DLPAR is the ability to dynamically add or
remove resources from a running partition. All
modern LPARs are DLPAR capable (even if the
OS running on them is not). For this reason,
DLPAR has more to do with the capabilities of
the OS running in the LPAR than the LPAR itself.
The acronym DLPAR is typically used as a verb
(to add/remove a resource) as opposed to
define a type of LPAR. Limits can be placed on
DLPAR operations, but this is primarily a user
imposed limit, not a limitation of the hypervisor.
Slices of a CPU can be assigned to back a virtual
processor in a partition. This is commonly
referred to as a micro-partition (or commonly
referred to as Power 5 LPAR, as this capability
was introduced with the Power 5 based
systems). Micro-partitions consume CPU from a
shared pool of CPU resources.
Power 5 and later systems introduced the
concept of VIOS (Virtual I/O Server) that
effectively allowed physical I/O resources to be
shared amongst partitions.

The IBM System P hypervisor is a Type 1

hypervisor with the option to provide shared
I/O via a Type 2-ish software (VIOS) partition.
The hypervisor does not o n I/O resources
(such as an Ethernet card), these can only be
assigned to a LPAR. When owned by a VIOS
LPAR they can be shared to other LPARs.
Micro-Partitions in Power 6 systems can utilize
multiple SPP (shared processor pools) to
control CPU utilization to groups of micropartitions.
Some Power 6 systems introduced hardware
based network virtualization with the IVE
(Integrated Virtual Ethernet) device that allows
multiple partitions to share a single Ethernet
connection without the use of VIOS.
Newer HBAs that offer NPIV (N Port ID
Virtualization) can be used in conjunction with
the appropriate VIOS version to present a
virtualized HBA with a unique WWN directly to a
client partition.
VIOS 2.1 introduced memory sharing, only on
Power 6 systems, that allows memory to be
shared between two or more LPARs.
Overcommitted memory can be paged to disk
using a VIOS partition.
VIOS and Micro-Partition technologies can be
implemented independently. For example, a
(CPU) Micro-Partition can be created with or
without the use of VIOS.

PowerVM Acron ms & Definitions

CoD - Capacity on Demand. The ability to add
compute capacity in the form of CPU or memory
to a running system by simply activating it. The
resources must be pre-staged in the system
prior to use and are (typically) turned on with
an activation key. There are several different
pricing models for CoD.
DLPAR - Dynamic Logical Partition. This was used
originally as a further clarification on the
concept of an LPAR as one that can have
resources dynamically added or removed. The
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LHEA - Logical Host Ethernet Adapter. The virtual

interface of a IVE in a client LPAR. These
communicate via a HEA to the outside / physical
world.
LPAR - Logical Partition. This is a collection of
system resources that can host an operating
system. To the operating system this collection
of resources appears to be a complete physical
system. Some or all the resources on a LPAR
may be shared with other LPARs in the physical
system.
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most popular usage is as a verb; ie: to DLPAR

(add) resources to a partition.
HEA - Host Ethernet Adapter. The physical port of
the IVE interface on some of the Power 6
systems. A HEA port can be added to a port
group and shared amongst LPARs or placed in
promiscuous mode and used by a single LPAR
(typically a VIOS LPAR).
HMC - Hardware Management Console. An
"appliance" server that is used to manage
Power 4, 5, and 6 hardware. The primary
purpose is to enable / control the virtualization
technologies as well as provide call-home
functionality, remote console access, and
gather operational data.
IVE - Integrated Virtual Ethernet. The capability to
provide virtualized Ethernet services to LPARs
without the need of VIOS. This functionality
was introduced on several Power 6 systems.
IVM - Integrated Virtualization Manager. This is a
management interface that installs on top of
the VIOS software that provides much of the
HMC functionality. It can be used instead of a
HMC for some systems. It is the only option for
virtualization management on the blades as
they cannot have HMC connectivity.

Lx86 - Additional software that allows x86 Linux

binaries to run on Power Linux without
recompilation.
MES - Miscellaneous Equipment Specification. This
is a change order to a system, typically in the
form of an upgrade. A RPO MES is for Record
Purposes Only. Both specify to IBM changes
that are made to a system.
MSPP - Multiple Shared Processor Pools. This is a
Power 6 capability that allows for more than
one SPP.
SEA - Shared Ethernet Adapter. This is a VIOS
mapping of a physical to a virtual Ethernet
adapter. A SEA is used to extend the physical
network (from a physical Ethernet switch) into
the virtual environment where multiple LPARs
can access that network.
SPP - Shared Processor Pool. This is an
organizational grouping of CPU resources that
allows caps and guaranteed allocations to be
set for an entire group of LPARs. Power 5
systems have a single SPP, Power 6 systems
can have multiple.
VIOC - Virtual I/O Client. Any LPAR that utilizes
VIOS for resources such as disk and network.
VIOS - Virtual I/O Server. The LPAR that owns
physical resources and maps them to virtual
adapters so VIOC can share those resources.

CPU Alloca ion

Shared (virtual) processor partitions (MicroPartitions) can utilize additional resources from
the shared processor pool when available.
Dedicated processor partitions can only use the
"desired" amount of CPU, and only above that
amount if another CPU is (dynamically) added
to the LPAR.
An uncapped partition can only consume up to
the number of virtual processors that it has.
(Ie: A LPAR with 5 virtual CPUs, that is backed
by a minimum of .5 physical CPUs can only
consume up to 5 whole / physical CPUs.) A
capped partition can only consume up to its
entitled CPU value. Allocations are in
increments of 1/100th of a CPU, the minimal
allocation is 1/10th of a CPU for each virtual
CPU.
All Micro-Partitions are guaranteed to have at
least the entitled CPU value. Uncapped
partitions can consume beyond that value,
capped cannot. Both capped and uncapped
relinquish unused CPU to a shared pool.
Dedicated CPU partitions are guaranteed their
capacity, cannot consume beyond their
capacity, and on Power 6 systems, can
relinquish CPU capacity to a shared pool.
All uncapped micro-partitions using the shared
processor pool compete for the remaining
resources in the pool. When there is no
contention for unused resources, a micropartition can consume up to the number of
virtual processors it has or the amount of CPU
resources available to the pool.
The physical CPU entitlement is set with the
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Processor folding is an AIX CPU affinity method

that insures that an AIX partition only uses as
few CPUs as required. This is achieved by
insuring that the LPAR uses a minimal set of
physical CPUs and idles those it does not need.
The benefit is that the system will see a
reduced impact of configuring additional virtual
CPUs. Processor folding was introduced in AIX
5.3 TL 3.
When multiple uncapped micro-partitions
compete for remaining CPU resources then the
uncapped weight is used to calculate the CPU
available to each partition. The uncapped
weight is a value from 0 to 255. The uncapped
weight of all partitions requesting additional
resources is added together and then used to
divide the available resources. The total
amount of CPU received by a competing micropartition is determined by the ratio of the
partitions weight to the total of the requesting
partitions. (The weight is no a icevalue like
in Unix.) The default priority for this value is
128. A partition with a priority of 0 is effectively
a capped partition.

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"processing units" values during the LPAR

setup in the HMC. The values are defined as:
Minimum: The minimum physical CPU
resource required for this partition to start.
Desired: The desired physical CPU resource
for this CPU. In most situations this will be
the CPU entitlement. The CPU entitlement
can be higher if resources were DLPARed in
or less if the LPAR started closer to the
minimum value.
Maximum: This is the maximum amount of
physical CPU resources that can be
DLPARed into the partition. This value does
not have a direct bearing on capped or
uncapped CPU utilization.
The virtual CPU entitlement is set in the LPAR
configuration much like the physical CPU
allocation. Virtual CPUs are allocated in whole
integer values. The difference with virtual CPUs
(from physical entitlements) is that they are not
a potentially constrained resource and the
desired number is always received upon
startup. The minimum and maximum numbers
are effectively limits on DLPAR operations.

Figure 0: Virtualized and dedicated C PUs in a four C PU

system with a single SPP.

Dedicated CPU partitions do not have a setting

for virtual processors. LPAR 3 in Figure 0 has a
single dedicated CPU.
LPAR 1 and LPAR2 in Figure 0 are MicroPartitions with a total of five virtual CPUs
backed by three physical CPUs. On a Power 6
system, LPAR 3 can be configured to relinquish
unused CPU cycles to the shared pool where
they will be available to LPAR 1 and 2 (provided
they are uncapped).

Shared Processor Pools

While SPP (Shared Processor Pool) is a Power 6
convention, Power 5 systems have a single SPP
commonly referred to as a "Physical Shared
Processor Pool". Any activated CPU that is not
reserved for, or in use by a dedicated CPU
LPAR, is assigned to this pool.
All Micro-Partitions on Power 5 systems
consume and relinquish resources from/to the
single / physical SPP.
The default configuration of a Power 6 system
will behave like a Power 5 system in respect to
SPPs. By default, all LPARs will be placed in the
SPP0 / physical SPP.
Power 6 systems can have up to 64 SPPs. (The
limit is set to 64 because the largest Power 6
system has 64 processors, and a SPP must
have at least 1 CPU assigned to it.)

Power 6 SPPs have additional constraints to

control CPU resource utilization in the system.
These are:
Desired Capacity - This is the total of all CPU
entitlements for each member LPAR (at
least .1 physical CPU for each LPAR). This
value is changed by adding LPARs to a
pool.
Reserved Capacity - Additional (guaranteed)
CPU resources that are assigned to the
pool of partitions above the desired
capacity. By default this is set to 0. This
value is changed from the HMC as an
attribute of the pool.
Entitled Capacity - This is the total
guaranteed processor capacity for the pool.
It includes the guaranteed processor
capacity of each partition (aka: Desired) as
well as the Reserved pool capacity. This
value is a derived value and is not directly
changed, it is a sum of two other values.
Maximum Pool Capacity - This is the
maximum amount of CPU that all partitions
assigned to this pool can consume. This is
effectively a processor cap that is
expanded to a group of partitions rather
than a single partition. This value is
changed from the HMC as an attribute of
the pool.
Uncapped Micro-Partitions can consume up to
the total of the virtual CPUs defined, the
maximum pool capacity, or the unused capacity
in the system - whatever is smaller.

PowerVM T pes
PowerVM inherits nearly all the APV
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Express

Only available on limited lower-end P6

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(Advanced Power Virtualization)

concepts from Power 5 based systems.
It uses the same VIOS software and
options as the previous APV.
PowerVM is Power 6 specific only in that
it enables features available exclusively
on Power 6 based systems (ie: Multiple
shared processor pools and partition
mobility are not available on Power 5
systems.)
PowerVM (and its APV predecessor) are
optional licenses / activation codes that
are ordered for a server. Each is
licensed by CPU.
PowerVM, unlike its APV predecessor,
comes in several different versions.
Each is tiered for price and features.
Each of these versions is documented in
the table on the right.
PowerVM activation codes can be
checked from the HMC, IVM, or from IBM
records at this URL: http://www912.ibm.com/pod/pod. The activation
codes on the IBM web site will show up
as type "VET" codes.

systems
Maximum of 3 LPARs (1 VIOS and 2 VIOC)
CPU Micro-Partitions with single processor
pool
VIOS/IVM only, no HMC support
Dedicated I/O resources (in later versions)
Standard

Up to the maximum partitions supported

on each server
Multiple shared processor pools
IVM or HMC managed

Premium

All options in Standard & Live Partition

Mobility

The VET codes from the IBM activation code web site
can be decoded using the following "key":
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX0000XXXXXX Express
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX2C00XXXXXX Standard
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX2C20XXXXXX Enterprise

VIOS (Virtual I/O Server)

VIOS is a special purpose partition that can
e e I/O resources to other partitions. The
type of LPAR is set at creation. The VIOS LPAR
type allows for the creation of virtual server
adapters, where a regular AIX/Linux LPAR does
not.
VIOS works by owning a physical resource and
mapping that physical resource to virtual
resources. Client LPARs can connect to the
physical resource via these mappings.
VIOS is no a hypervisor, nor is it required for
sub-CPU virtualization. VIOS can be used to
manage other partitions in some situations
when a HMC is not used. This is called IVM
(Integrated Virtualization Manager).

Depending on configurations, VIOS may or may

not be a single point of failure. When client
partitions access I/O via a single path that is
delivered via in a single VIOS, then that VIOS
represents a potential single point of failure for
that client partition.
VIOS is typically configured in pairs along with
various multipathing / failover methods in the
client for virtual resources to prevent the VIOS
from becoming a single point of failure.
Active memory sharing and partition mobility
require a VIOS partition. The VIOS partition
acts as the controlling device for backing store
for active memory sharing. All I/O to a partition
capable of partition mobility must be handled
by VIOS as well as the process of hipping
memory between physical systems.

VIO Redundanc
Fault tolerance in client LPARs in a VIOS
configuration is provided by configuring pairs of
VIOS to serve redundant networking and disk
resources. Additional fault tolerance in the form
of NIC link aggregation and / or disk
multipathing can be provided at the physical
layer to each VIOS server. Multiple paths /
aggregations from a single VIOS to a VIOC do
not provide additional fault tolerance. These
multiple paths / aggregations / failover
methods for the client are provided by m l iple
VIOS LPARs. In this configuration, an entire
VIOS can be lost (ie: rebooted during an
upgrade) without I/O interruption to the client
LPARs.
In most cases (when using AIX) no additional
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Both virtualized network and disk redundancy

methods tend to be active / passive. For
example, it is not possible to run EtherChannel
i hin the system, from a VIOC to a single
VIOS.
It is important to understand that the
performance considerations of an active /
passive configuration are not relevant in ide
the system as all VIOS can utilize pooled
processor resources and therefore gain no
significant (internal) performance benefit by
active / active configurations. Performance
benefits of active / active configurations are
realized when used to connect to o
ide /
physical resources such as EtherChannel (port
aggregation) from the VIOS to a physical
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configuration is required in the VIOC for this

capability. (See discussion below in regards to
SEA failover vs. NIB for network, and MPIO vs.
LVM for disk redundancy.)

switch.

VIOS Setup & Management

VIOS Management E amples
Accept all VIOS license agreements
license -accept
(Re)Start the (initial) configuration assistant
cfgassist
Shutdown the server
shutdown
Optionally include -restart
List the version of the VIOS system software
ioslevel
List the boot devices for this lpar
bootlist -mode normal -ls
List LPAR name and ID
lslparinfo
Display firmware level of all devices on this VIOS
LPAR
lsfware -all
Display the MOTD
motd
Change the MOTD to an appropriate message
motd "*****
Unauthorized access is
prohibited!
*****"
List all (AIX) packages installed on the system
lssw
Equivalent to lslpp -Lin AIX
Display a timestamped list of all commands run on
the system
lsgcl

To display the current date and time of the VIOS

chdate
Change the current time and date to 1:02 AM
March 4, 2009
chdate -hour 1 \
-minute 2 \
-month 3 \
-day 4 \
-year 2009
Change just the timezone to AST
chdate -timezone AST(Visible on next login)
The datecommand is availible and works
the same as in Unix.
Brief dump of the system error log
errlog
Detailed dump of the system error log
errlog -ls more
Remove error log events older than 30 days
errlog -rm 30
The errlogcommand allows you to view
errors by sequence, but does not give the
sequence in the default format.
errbr works on VIOS provided that the errpt
command is in padmin's PATH.

VIOS Net orking E amples

Enable jumbo frames on the ent0 device
chdev -dev ent0 -attr jumbo_frames=yes
View settings on ent0 device
lsdev -dev ent0 -attr
List TCP and UDP sockets listening and in use
lstcpip -sockets -family inet
List all (virtual and physical) ethernet adapters in
the VIOS
lstcpip -adapters
Equivalent of no -Lcommand
optimizenet -list
Set up initial TCP/IP config (en10 is the interface
for the SEA ent10)
mktcpip -hostname vios1 \
-inetaddr 10.143.181.207 \
-interface en10 \
-start -netmask 255.255.252.0 \
-gateway 10.143.180.1
Find the default gateway and routing info on the
VIOS
netstat -routinfo
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List open (TCP) ports on the VIOS IP stack

lstcpip -sockets grep LISTEN
Show interface traffic statistics on 2 second
intervals
netstat -state 2
Show erbose statistics for all interfaces
netstat -cdlistats
Show the default gateway and route table
netstat -routtable
Change the default route on en0 (fix a typo from
mktcpip)
chtcpip -interface en0 \
-gateway \
-add 192.168.1.1 \
-remove 168.192.1.1
Change the IP address on en0 to 192.168.1.2
chtcpip -interface en0 \
-inetaddr 192.168.1.2 \
-netmask 255.255.255.0

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VIOS Uni Subs stem

The current VIOS runs on an AIX subsystem.
(VIOS functionality is available for Linux. This
document only deals with the AIX based
versions.)
The padmin account logs in with a restricted
shell. A root shell can be obtained by the
oem_setup_envcommand.
The root shell is designed for installation of OEM
applications and drivers only. It may be
required for a mall subset of commands. (The
purpose of this document is to provide a listing
of most frequent tasks and the p ope VIOS
commands so that access to a root shell is not
required.)
The restricted shell has access to common Unix
utilities such as awk, grep, sed, and vi. The
syntax and usage of these commands has not
been changed in VIOS. (Use "ls
/usr/ios/utils" to get a listing of available
Unix commands.)

Redirection to a file is not allowed using the

standard ">" character, but can be
accomplished with the "tee" command.
Redirect the output of lsto a file
ls tee ls.out
Determine the underlying (AIX) OS version (for
driver install)
oem_platform_level
Exit the restricted shell to a root shell
oem_setup_env
Mirror the rootvg in VIOS to hdisk1
extendvg rootvg hdisk1
mirrorios hdisk1
The VIOS will reboot when finished

User Management
padmin is the only user for most configurations.
It is possible to configure additional users, such
as operational users for monitoring purposes.
List attributes of the padmin user
lsuser padmin

List all users on the system

lsuser
The optional parameter "ALL" is implied
with no parameter.
Change the password for the current user
passwd

Virtual Disk Setup & Management

Virtual Disk Setup
Disks are presented to VIOC by creating a
mapping between a physical disk or storage
pool volume and the vhost adapter that is
associated with the VIOC.
Best practices configuration suggests that the
connecting VIOS vhost adapter and the VIOC
vscsi adapter should use the same slot
number. This makes the typically complex array
of virtual SCSI connections in the system much
easier to comprehend.
The mkvdevcommand is used to create a
mapping between a physical disk and the vhost
adapter.

Create a mapping of hdisk3 to the virtual host

adapter vhost2.
mkvdev -vdev hdisk3 \
-vadapter vhost2 \
-dev wd_c3_hd3
It is called wd_c3_hd3for
"WholeDisk_Client3_HDisk3". The intent of
this naming convention is to relay the type
of disk, where from, and who to.
Delete the virtual target device wd_c3_hd3
rmvdev -vtd wd_c3_hd3
Delete the above mapping by specifying the
backing device hdisk3
rmvdev -vdev hdisk3

Disk Redundanc in VIOS

LVM mirroring can be used to provide disk
redundancy in a VIOS configuration. One disk
should be provided through each VIOS in a
redundant VIOS config to eliminate a VIOS as a
single point of failure.
LVM mirroring is a client configuration that
mirrors data to two diffe en disks presented by
two different VIOS.
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Disk path redundancy (assuming an external

storage device is providing disk redundancy)
can be provided by a dual VIOS configuration
with MPIO at the client layer.
Newer NPIV (N Port ID Virtualization) capable
cards can be used to provide direct connectivity
of the client to a virtualized FC adapter.
Storage specific multipathing drivers such as
PowerPath or HDLM can be used in the client
LPAR. NPIV adapters are virtualized using VIOS,
and should be used in a dual-VIOS
configuration.
MPIO is automatically enabled in AIX if the same
disk is presented to a VIOC by two different
VIOS.
LVM mirroring (for client LUNs) is not
recommended ithin VIOS (ie: mirroring your
storage pool in the VIOS). This configuration
would provide no additional protections over
LVM mirroring in the VIOC.
Storage specific multipathing drivers can be
used in the VIOS connections to the storage. In
this case these drivers should not then be used
on the client. In figure 1, a storage vendor
supplied multipathing driver (such as
PowerPath) would be used on VIOS 1 and VIOS
2, and native AIX MPIO would be used in the
client. This configuration gives access to all four
paths to the disk and eliminates both VIOS and
any path as a singe point of failure.

Figure 1: A standard disk multipathing scenario.

Vir al Op ical Media

Optical media can be assigned to an LPAR
directly (by assigning the controller to the LPAR
profile), through VIOS (by presenting the
physical CD/DVD on a virtual SCSI controller), or
through file backed virtual optical devices.
The problem with assigning an optical device to
an LPAR is that it may be difficult to manage in
a multiple-LPAR system and requires explicit
DLPAR operations to move it around.
Assigning an optical device to a VIOS partition
and re-sharing it is much easier as DLPAR
operations are not required to move the device
from one partition to another. cfgmgr is simply
used to recognize the device and rmdev is used
to "remove" it from the LPAR. When used in this
manner, a physical optical device can only be
accessed by one LPAR at a time.
Virtual media is a file backed CD/DVD image that
can be "loaded" into a virtual optical device
without disruption to the LPAR configuration.
CD/DVD images must be created in a repository
before they can be loaded as virtual media.
A virtual optical device will show up as a "Filebacked Optical" device in lsdev output.
Create a 15 Gig virtual media repository on the
clienthd storage pool
mkrep -sp clienthd -si e 15G
Extend the virtual repository by an additional 5 Gig
to a total of 20 Gig
chrep -si e 5G
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Create an ISO image in repository using .iso file

mkvopt -name fedora10 \
-file /mnt/Fedora-10-ppc-DVD.iso -ro
Create a virtual media file directly from a DVD in
the physical optical drive
mkvopt -name AIX61TL3 -dev cd0 -ro
Create a virtual DVD on vhost4 adapter
mkvdev -fbo -vadapter vhost4 \
-dev shiva_dvd
The LPAR connected to vhost4 is called
shiva. shiva_dvdis simply a convenient
naming convention.
Load the virtual optical media into the virtual DVD
for LPAR shiva
loadopt -vtd shiva_dvd -disk fedora10iso
Unload the previously loaded virtual DVD (releaseis a "force" option if the client OS has a
SCSI reserve on the device.)
unloadopt -vtd shiva_dvd -release
List virtual media in repository with usage
information
lsrep
Show the file backing the virtual media currently
in murugan_dvd
lsdev -dev murugan_dvd -attr aix_tdev
Remove (delete) a virtual DVD image called
AIX61TL3
rmvopt -name AIX61TL3

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Find the size of the repository

l ep

S o age Pool
Storage pools work much like AIX VGs (Volume
Groups) in that they reside on one or more PVs
(Physical Volumes). One key difference is the
concept of a default storage pool. The default
storage pool is the target of storage pool
commands where the storage pool is not
explicitly specified.
The default storage pool is oo g. If storage
pools are used in a configuration then the
default storage pool should be changed to
something other than oo g.
List the default storage pool
l p -defa l
List all storage pools
l p
List all disks in the oo gstorage pool
l p -de ail - p oo g
Create a storage pool called clien _boo on
hdi k22
mk p clien _boo hdi k22
Make the clien _boo storage pool the default
storage pool
ch p -defa l clien _boo
Add hdi k23to the clien _boo storage pool
ch p -add - p clien _boo hdi k23
List all the physical disks in the clien _boo
storage pool
l p -de ail - p clien _boo
List all the physical disks in the default storage
pool
l p -de ail
List all the backing devices (LVs) in the default
storage pool
l p -bd
Note: This command does NOT show virtual
media repositories. Use the l pcommand
(with no options) to list free space in all
storage pools.

Vi

al Ne

Create a client disk on adapter ho 1from

clien _boo storage pool
mkbd p - p clien _boo 20G \
-bd l _c1_boo \
- adap e ho 1
Remove the mapping for the device just created,
but save the backing device
mbd p - d
c i0 - a ebd
Assign the l _c1_boo backing device to another
vhost adapter
mkbd p -bd l _c1_boo - adap e ho 2
Completely remove the virtual target device
ld_c1_boo
mbd p - d ld_c1_boo
Remove last disk from the sp to delete the sp
ch p - m - p clien _boo hdi k22
Create a client disk on adapter ho 2from
oo gstorage pool
mkbd p - p oo g 1g \
-bd m gan_hd1 \
- adap e ho 2 \
- n l _m gan_1
The LV name and the backing device
(mapping) name is specified in this
command. This is different than the
previous mkbd pexample. The - noption
does not seem to be compatible with all
versions of the command and migh be
ignored in earlier versions of the command.
(This command was run on VIOS 2.1) Also
note the use of a consistent naming
convention for LV and mapping - this
makes understanding LV usage a bit
easier. Finally note that oo gwas used in
this example because of limitations of
available disk in the rather small example
system it was run on - Putting client disk
on oo gdoes no represent an ideal
configuration.

o k Se p & Managemen

SEA Se p - O e ie
The command used to set up a SEA (Shared
Ethernet Adapter) is mk de .
IP addresses cannot be configured on either
the virtual or the physical adapter used in the
mkvdev command. IP addresses are configured
either on the SEA itself (created by the mk de
- eacommand) or another physical or virtual
adapter that is not part of a SEA "bridge". (An
example of the latter is seen in Figure 2.)
Best practices suggest that IP addresses for
the VIOS should not be created on the SEA but
should be put on ano her virtual adapter in the
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VIOS attached to the same VLAN. This makes

the IP configuration independent of any
changes to the SEA. Figure 2, has an example
of an IP address configured on a virtual
adapter interface en1 and not any part of the
SEA "path". (This is not the case when using
SEA failover).
The virtual device used in the SEA configuration
should have "Access External Networks" (AKA:
"Trunk adapter") checked in its configuration (in
the profile on the HMC). This is the onl
interface on the VLAN that should have this
checked. Virtual interfaces with this property
set will receive all packets that have addresses
outside the virtual environment. In figure 2, the
interface with "Access External Networks"
checked should be ent2.
If multiple virtual interfaces are used on a single
VLAN as trunk adapters then each must have a
different trunk priority. This is typically done
with multiple VIOS servers - with one virtual
adapter from the same VLAN on each VIO
server. This is required when setting up SEA
Failover in the next section.

Figure 2: C onfiguration of IP address on virtual adapter.

The examples here are of SEAs handling only

one VLAN. A SEA may handle more than one
VLAN. The -defa l and -defa l idoptions to
mk de - eamake more sense in this (multiple
VLAN) context.

Network Redundanc in VIOS

The two primar methods of providing network
redundancy for a VIOC in a dual VIOS
configuration are NIB (Network Interface
Backup) and SEA Failover. (These provide
protection from the loss of a VIOS or VIOS
connectivity to a physical LAN.)
NIB creates a link aggregation in the client of a
single virtual NIC with a backup NIC. (Each
virtual NIC is on a separate VLAN and
connected to a different VIOS.) This
configuration is done in each client OS. (See
Figure 3 for an example of the VIOC that uses
NIB to provide redundant connections to the
LAN.)
SEA Failover is a VIOS configuration option that
provides two physical network connections,
one from each VIOS. No client configuration is
required as only one virtual interface is
presented to the client.
Most Power 6 based systems offer IVE
(Integrated Virtual Ethernet) hardware that
provides virtual NICs to clients. These do not
provide redundancy and must be used in pairs
or with another NIC / backup path on each
client (or VIOS) to provide that capability.
(Note: This is in the context of client NIB
configurations. When IVE is used directly to the
client different configuration rules apply. See
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Figure 3: NIC failover implemented at the VIO C lient

layer along with additional aggregation/failover at the
VIOS layer.

The primary benefit of NIB (on the client) is that

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the IVE Redpaper for the particulars of

configuring IVE for aggregation and interface
failover.)
NIB and SEA Failover are not mutually exclusive
and can be used together or with link
aggregation (EtherChannel / 802.3ad) to a
physical device in the VIOS. Figure 3 shows a
link aggregation device (ent3) in VIOS 1 as the
physical trunk adapter for the SEA (ent4) in
what is seen by the client as a NIB
configuration.
Link aggregation (EtherChannel / 802.3ad) of
more than one virtual adapter is not supported
or necessary from the client as all I/O moves at
memory speed in the virtual environment. The
more appropriate method is to direct different
kinds of I/O or networks to particular VIOS
servers where they do not compete for CPU
time.

the administrator can choose the path of

network traffic. In the case of figure 3, the
administrator would configure the client to use
ent0 as the primary interface and ent1 as the
backup. Then more resources (in the form of
aggregate links) can be used on VIOS1 to
handle the traffic with traffic only flowing
through VIOS2 in the event of a failure of
VIOS1. The problem with this configuration is
that it requires additional configuration on the
client and is not conducive as SEA Failover to
simplistic NIM installs.
NIB configurations also allow the administrator
to balance clients so that all traffic does no go
to a single VIOS. In this case hardware
resources would be configured more evenly
than they are in figure 3 with both VIOS
servers having similar physical connections as
appropriate for a more "active / active"
configuration.

SEA Setup - E ample

Create a SEA "bridge" between the physical ent0
and the virtual ent2 (from Figure 2)
mk de - ea en 0 - adap e en 2 \
-defa l en 2 -defa l id 1
Explanation of the parameters:
- ea en 0-- This is the physical interface
- adap e en 1-- This is the virtual
interface
-defa l en 1-- Default virtual interface to
send untagged packets
-defa l id 1-- This is the PVID for the SEA
interface

The PVID for the SEA is relevant when the

physical adapter is connected to a VLAN
configured switch and the virtual adapter is
configured for VLAN (802.3Q) operation. All
traffic passed through the SEA should be
untagged in a non-VLAN configuration.
This example assumes that separate (physical
and virtual) adapters are used for each
network. (VLAN configurations are not covered
in this document).

SEA Management
Find virtual adapters associated with SEA ent4
l de -de en 4 -a
i _adap e
Find control channel (for SEA Failover) for SEA
ent4
l de -de en 4 -a
c l_chan
Find physical adapter for SEA ent4
l de -de en 4 -a
eal_adap e

List all virtual NICs in the VIOS along with SEA

and backing devices
l map -all -ne
List details of Server Virtual Ethernet Adapter
(SVEA) ent2
l map - adap e en 2 -ne

SEA Failover
Unlike a regular SEA adapter, a SEA failover
configuration has a few settings that are
different from stated best practices.
A SEA failover configuration is a situation when
IP addresses ho ld be configured on the SEA
adapter.
A control channel must be configured between
the two VIOS using two virtual ethernet
adapters that use that VLAN strictly for this
purpose. The local virtual adapter created for
this purpose should be specified in the
c l_chanattribute in each of the SEA setups.
Both virtual adapters (on the VLAN with clients)
should be configured to "Access External
network", but one should have a higher priority
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The following command needs to be run on each

of the VIOS to create a simple SEA failover. (It
is assumed that interfaces match on each
VIOS.)
mk de - ea en 0 - adap e en 1 -defa l
en 1
-defa l id 1 -a
ha_mode=a o
c l_chan=en 3 ne add =10.143.180.1
Explanation of the parameters:
- ea en 0-- This is the physical interface
- adap e en 1-- This is the virtual
interface
-defa l en 1-- Default virtual interface
to send untagged packets
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(lower number) for the "Trunk priority" option. A

SEA failover configuration is the only time that
you should have two virtual adapters on the
same VLAN that are configured in this manner.

-defaultid 1-- This is the PVID for the

SEA interface
-attr ha_mode=auto-- Turn on auto
failover mode
(-attr) ctl_chan=ent3-- Define the
control channel interface
(-attr) netaddr=10.143.180.1-Address to ping for connect test
autois the default ha_mode, standbyforces a
failover situation

Figure 3: SEA Failover implemented in the VIOS layer.

Change the device to standby mode (and back)

to force failover
chdev -dev ent4 -attr ha_mode=standby
chdev -dev ent4 -attr ha_mode=auto
See what the priority is on the trunk adapter
netstat -cdlistats grep "Priority"

VIOS De ice Management

Disk
Determine if SCSI reserve is enabled for hdisk4
lsdev -dev hdisk4 -attr reserve_policy
Turn off SCSI reserve for hdisk4
chdev -dev hdisk4 -attr
reserve_policy=no_reserve
Re-enable SCSI reserve for hdisk4
chdev -dev hdisk4 -attr
reserve_policy=single_path
Enable extended disk statistics
chdev -dev sys0 -attr iostat=true

List the parent device of hdisk0

lsdev -dev hdisk0 -parent
List all the child devices of (DS4000 array) dar0
lsdev -dev dar0 -child
List the reserve policy for all disks on a DS4000
array
for D in `lsdev -dev dar0 -child -field
name grep -v name`
do
lsdev -dev $D -attr reserve_policy
done

De ices
Discover new devices
cfgdev
This is the VIOS equivalent of the AIX
cfgmgrcommand.
List all adapters (physical and virtual) on the
system
lsdev -type adapter
List only virtual adapters
lsdev -virtual -type adapter
List all virtual disks (created with mkvdev
command)
lsdev -virtual -type disk
Find the WWN of the fcs0 HBA
lsdev -dev fcs0 -vpd grep Network
List the firmware levels of all devices on the
system
lsfware -all
The invscoutcommand is also available in
VIOS.
Get a l g listing of every device on the system
lsdev -vpd
List all devices (physical and virtual) by their slot
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List all the attributes of the sys0device

lsdev -dev sys0 -attr
List the port speed of the (physical) ethernet
adapter eth0
lsdev -dev ent0 -attr media_speed
List all the possible settings for media_speed on
ent0
lsdev -dev ent0 -range media_speed
Set the media_speedoption to auto negotiate on
ent0
chdev -dev ent0 -attr
media_speed=Auto_Negotiation
Set the media_speed to auto negotiate on ent0
on next boot
chdev -dev ent0 \
-attr media_speed=Auto_Negotiation \
-perm
Turn on disk performance counters
chdev -dev sys0 -attr iostat=true

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address
lsdev -slots

Low Level Redundanc Configuration

Management and setup of devices requiring
drivers and tools not provided by VIOS (ie
PowerPath devices) will require use of the root
shell available from the oem_setup_env
command.
Tools installed from the root shell (using
oem_setup_env) may not be installed in the
PATH used by the restricted shell. The
commands may need to be linked or copied to
the correct path for the restricted padmin shell.
Not all commands may work in this manner.

The mkvdev -lnaggand cfglnaggcommands can

be used to set up and manage link aggregation
(to external ethernet switches).
The chpath, mkpath, and lspathcommands can
be used to manage MPIO capable devices.

Best Practices / Additional Notes

Virtual Ethernet devices should only have
802.1Q enabled if you intend to run additional
VLANs on that interface. (In most instances this
is not the case).
Only one interface should be configured to
"Access External Networks" on a VLAN, this
should be the virtual interface used for the SEA
on the VIOS and not the VIOC. This is the
"gateway" adapter that will receive packets
with MAC addresses that are unknown. (This is
also known as a "Trunk adapter" on some
versions of the HMC.)
VIOS partitions are unique in that they can have
virtual host adapters. Virtual SCSI adapters in
VIOC partitions connect to LUNs shared
through VIOS virtual host adapters.
An organized naming convention to virtual
devices is an important method to simplifying
complexity in a VIOS environment. Several
methods are used in this document, but each
represents a self-documenting method that
relates what the virtual device is and what it
serves.
VIOS commands can be run from the HMC. This
may be a convenient alternative to logging into
the VIOS LPAR and running the command.
Power 6 based systems have an additional
LPAR parameter called the partition "weight".
The additional RAS features will use this value
in a resource constrained system to i a lower
priority LPAR in the event of a CPU failure.

The ratio of virtual CPUs in a partition to the

actual amount of desired / entitled capacity is a
"statement" on the partitions ability to be
virtualized. A minimal backing of actual
(physical) CPU entitlement to a virtual CPU
suggests that the LPAR will most likely not be
using large amounts of CPU and will relinquish
unused cycles back to the shared pool the
majority of the time. This is a measure of how
over-committed the partition is.
multiple profiles created on the HMC can
represent different configurations such as with
and without the physical CD/DVD ROM. These
profiles can be named (for example) as
<partition_name>_prod and
<partition_name>_cdrom.
HMC partition configuration and profiles can be
saved to a file and backed up to either other
HMCs or remote file systems.
sysplan files can be created on the HMC or the
SPT (System Planning Tool) and exported to
each other. These files are a good method of
expressing explicit configuration intent and can
serve as both documentation as well as a
(partial) backup method of configuration data.
vhost adapters should be explicitly assigned
and restricted to client partitions. This helps
with documentation (viewing the config in the
HMC) as well as preventing trespass of disks
by other client partitions (typically due to user
error).

Ke VIOS Commands
VIOS commands are documented b categories on this InfoCenter page.

The l mapcommand
Used to list mappings between virtual adapters
and physical resources.
List all (virtual) disks attached to the vhost0
adapter
lsmap -vadapter vhost0
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List all shared ethernet adapters on the system

lsmap -all -net -field sea
List all (virtual) disks and their backing devices
lsmap -all -t pe disk -field vtd backing
List all SEAs and their backing devices
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List only the virtual target devices attached to the

vhost0adapter
lsmap -vadapter vhost0 -field vtd
This line can be used as a list in a forloop
lsmap -vadapter vhost0 -field vtd -fmt
: sed -e "s/:/ /g"

lsmap -all -net -field sea backing

Additional lsmap information

The mk de command
Used to create a mapping between a virtual
adapter and a physical resource. The result of
this command will be a "virtual device".
Create a SEA that links physical ent0to virtual
ent1
mkvdev -sea ent0 -vadapter ent1 -default
ent1 -defaultid 1
The -defaultid 1in the previous command
refers to the default VLAN ID for the SEA. In
this case it is set to the VLAN ID of the
virtual interface (the virtual interface in this
example does not have 802.1q enabled).
The -default ent1in the previous
command refers to the default virtual
interface for untagged packets. In this case
we have only one virtual interface
associated with this SEA.

Create a disk mapping from hdisk7to vhost2and

call it wd_c1_hd7
mkvdev -vdev hdisk7 -vadapter vhost2 -dev
wd_c1_hd7
Remo e a virtual target device (disk mapping)
named vtscsi0
rmvdev -vtd vtscsi0
Additional mkvdev information

Ad anced VIOS Managemen

Performance Moni oring
Retrieve statistics for ent0
entstat -all ent0
Reset the statistics for ent0
entstat -reset ent0
View disk statistics (every 2 seconds)
viostat 2
Show summary for the system in stats
viostat -sys 2
Show disk stats by adapter (useful to see perpartition (VIOC) disk stats)
viostat -adapter 2
Turn on disk performance counters
chdev -dev sys0 -attr iostat=true

The topascommand is available in VIOS but

uses different command line (start) options.
When running, topasuses the standard AIX
single key commands and may refer to AIX
command line options.
View CEC/cross-partition information
topas -cecdisp

Back p
Create a mksysb file of the system on a NFS
mount
backupios -file /mnt/vios.mksysb -mksysb
Create a backup of all structures of (online) VGs
and/or storage pools
savevgstruct vdiskvg(Data will be saved to
/home/ios/vgbackups)
List all (known) backups made with savevgstruct
restorevgstruct -ls
Backup the system (mksysb) to a NFS mounted
filesystem
backupios -file /mnt
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sysplan files can be created from the HMC persystem menu in the GUI or from the command
line using mksysplan.
Partition data stored on the HMC can be backed
up using (GUI method): per-system pop-up
menu -> Configuration -> Manage Partition
Data -> Backup

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VIOS Securit
List all open ports on the firewall configuration
io ec e -fi e all ie
To view the current securit level settings
io ec e - ie -nonin
Change s stem securit settings to default
io ec e -le el defa l

To enable basic firewall settings

io ec e -fi e all on
List all failed logins on the s stem
l failedlogin
Dump the Global Command Log (all commands
run on s stem)
l gcl

About this QuickStart

Created b : William Fa o i e ( fa o i e@ able pace.ne )
Updates at: h p://
. able pace.ne
Disclaimer: Thi doc men i a g ide and i incl de no e p e
a an ie o he i abili , ele ance, o compa ibili of i
con en
i h an pecific
em. Re ea ch an and all command ha o inflic pon o command line.
Distribution:Copie of hi doc men a e f ee o edi ib e a long a c edi o he a ho and able pace.ne i e ained in
he p in ed and elec onic e ion .

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