Re: How to learn VIOS

[Jack Kingsley <iseriesflorida@xxxxxxxxx>]

Rob, I had a loaner box on wheels from IBM about a year and half ago with
VIOS.  I am not sure if they still have that offering or not but we had it
for like I think 45 days.  You could put it through the paces etc, learn
IVM, the modules etc.  I do know that modems are not supported and I
believe SAS tape drives are not either.  I am sure there is a laundry list
of things as it pertains to what your using today vs using it on VIOS.

On Wed, May 16, 2012 at 8:09 AM, <rob@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> We may be using VIOS on some new hardware.  High probability of not going
> with the "Pure" system approach at this time.  Not ruling out SAN disk at
> this time but I think we may wait until our next hardware move (ok, so we
> don't wait 10 years between upgrades like some).  But things like
> virtualizing the lpars to share 10GB ethernet, huge fiber pipes for SAN
> tape and what not is appealing.  So, how is it recommended to learn it? My
> boss is leaning towards using vouchers we will receive for this hardware
> upgrade to have IBM send someone on site to do this for us and train the
> trainer.  Which sounds pretty good to me.  But maybe a little pre learning
> might make it stick more.  I found a few small references with Google:
>
> http://www.ibmsystemsmag.com/ibmi/administrator/lpar/To-VIOS-or-Not-to-VIOS/?page=1
> http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-vioscli/
> Maybe I really don't need VIOS to virtualize ethernet.  After all, on the
> HEA (Host Ethernet Adapters) I did a little virtualization there.  But
> we're still thinking learning VIOS is something we'll have to do
> eventually.  I am familiar with HMC.  Don't know a lick about AIX.  I've
> done multiple lpars.  I've done hosted/guested lpars.  I know just enough
> about Linux to be able to figure out how to check the disk cache batteries
> on our Linux lpars.  I guess I'll have to learn how to do that in VIOS.
>
> Now for the FUD:  I am hearing that there is small performance penalty
> (around 10%) for running under VIOS instead of natively.  I've heard it
> was worse but they've improved it.  I am remembering how terribly slow
> tape backup was when running under PASE that I don't want to get hammered
> again.
>
>
> Rob Berendt
> --
> IBM Certified System Administrator - IBM i 6.1
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