Re: IBM i LPAR planning guidlines - traditional, hosted/client, VIOS -- MIDRANGE-L

Rob, You can make the vhost number match the partition if so desired, the
rules for device naming are guidelines only and nobody can tell you not to
name it LPAR1VHOST0 for example (do check if there is a length limit, i
havent tried that). Also, some people make nice scripts to automate that
from each partition the same as when using a single FC card/Tape unit to
backup.

On Wed, Jan 14, 2015 at 12:11 PM, <rob@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Using a putty client you may have downloaded from
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/
Start a session to vios11.corp.dekko.com
Sign on as (redacted)
Remembering these partition numbers:
1-vios11
2-vios12
3-RACK1HST
4-GDWEB
5-GDIHQ
6-GDISYS
7-MAIL1
8-TSMAIX
Enter in this command: lsdev
This will show you a large list of stuff including cd0, cdrom, vhost0,
vhost1, vhost2, etc. Interesting information to know but you could have
skipped the lsdev command.
Enter in the command: lsmap –all | more
That’s lsmap space –all space pipesymbol(above enter key on laptops) more
Three columns:
SVSA, this will be where you find the vhost# value,
Physloc, this will be where you find the virtual scsi adapter (like C114)
Client partition ID, 0x00000003 is partition 3.
The following tells us that Partition 4 currently has the dvd drive
virtualized to it:
SVSA Physloc Client
Partition ID
--------------- -------------------------------------------- ----------
vhost1 U8286.41A.214403V-V1-C114 0x00000004

VTD cdrom
Status Available
LUN 0x8100000000000000
Backing device cd0
Physloc U78C9.001.WZS00UA-P2-D27
Mirrored N/A
Record the vhost from the SVSA column which matches the partition number
we want to assign it to from the Client Partition ID column:
__________________
Not the partition which has it currently assigned to. Note how the number
on the end of vhost does not match the number of the client partition id?
Now we will remove the DVD from any partition which may have it
virtualized to it with:
rmvdev –f –vdev cd0
And we will assign it to our desired partition with this next command.
This this following command replace vhost0 with the vhost from the SVSA
column which matches the partition from the client partition id. You
recorded this just a step or two ago.
mkvdev –f –vdev cd0 –vadapter vhost0 –dev cdrom
Verify you got this right by rerunning: lsmap –all | more

Rob Berendt
--
IBM Certified System Administrator - IBM i 6.1
Group Dekko
Dept 1600
Mail to: 2505 Dekko Drive
Garrett, IN 46738
Ship to: Dock 108
6928N 400E
Kendallville, IN 46755
http://www.dekko.com

From: "Mitchell, Dana" <dmitche@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 01/14/2015 09:38 AM
Subject: RE: IBM i LPAR planning guidlines - traditional,
hosted/client, VIOS
Sent by: "MIDRANGE-L" <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

Rob,

What do you do in VIOS to pass the optical drive from one lpar to another?

We are hosting the drive on vios, and there's a virtual scsci adapter to
each lpar that needs it. I found this process right in one of the VIOS
redbooks:

Go into the LPAR that currently owns it, VRYCFG it offline, log into SST,
find the virtual IOP and do a Reset on it.

Then log into SST on the receiver, find the Virtual IOP and do an IPL IOP
to pick it up. And VRYCFG it online.

If there's a better way, I'm all ears!

Dana

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
rob@xxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2015 8:23 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: RE: IBM i LPAR planning guidlines - traditional, hosted/client,
VIOS

I'm hosting the DVD via VIOS. I don't have to get into SST. But I do
have to get into VIOS to pass it around. Liked it better on Power 6 when
I stuck that bad boy in and I got the message on all lpars (the host and
it's guests) that volume such-and-such was loaded.

Rob Berendt
--
IBM Certified System Administrator - IBM i 6.1 Group Dekko Dept 1600 Mail
to: 2505 Dekko Drive
Garrett, IN 46738
Ship to: Dock 108
6928N 400E
Kendallville, IN 46755
http://www.dekko.com

From: "Mitchell, Dana" <dmitche@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 01/14/2015 09:02 AM
Subject: RE: IBM i LPAR planning guidlines - traditional,
hosted/client, VIOS
Sent by: "MIDRANGE-L" <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

I'll add our experiences after a recent p8-vios upgrade FWIW

Previous footprint was an 8202-E4B in a development, HA environment. 8 i
lpars, 2 of them each owned 1/2 the disk and hosted disks for the other
LPARs.
New is 8286-41A with 2 VIOS lpars using Hitachi SAN disk served to 8 i
lpars. All disk is SAN based, none in the CEC, VIOS lives on LUNs on the
SAN too. Hitachi does not support NPIV for i. NPIV is used to attach to
virtual tape.

Since our two disk environments were so different I can't directly compare

IBMi hosted disk vs. VIOS performance, but with dual VIOSes we got
multipath access to the disk, I figure that has to be better than not
having it.
Since our disk is SAN based, a disk failure is completely transparent to
VIOS, all handled internally by Hitachi hardware.

VIOS was a bit of a learning curve for us, but I got help from an AIX guy
here, he did a lot of things under oem_setup_env that wasn't in the
Redbooks.
It is nice having the redundancy of dual VIOSes, maintenance can be done
non-disruptively.
Unless I'm missing something, in order to pass the optical drive around to

various lpars, you have to get into SST on the sending lpar as well as the

receiver! That's right out of the 80's

Dana

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Steinmetz, Paul
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2015 3:06 PM
To: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion'
Subject: IBM i LPAR planning guidlines - traditional, hosted/client, VIOS

There have been many good discussion threads recently regarding VIOS and
hosted/client LPARS.
I currently have a combination of 3 traditional and 2 hosted/client LPARS.
The hosted/client LPARs are only for testing i5/OS upgrades, Java,
OpenSSH, Open SSL, PTF applies, system restores, etc.
No licenses for 3rd party products on the hosted/client LPARS.
I'm considering VIOS, but have some concerns.
My current disk requirement is 100% SSD for Production LPAR, optimal
performance, (1 EXP24S) and 100% 10k spinny for R&D LPAR, optimal capacity

(2nd EXP24S) If I go non-VIOS, I'm thinking only 2 LPARS, one for
Production, one for R&D. The R&D LPAR would also be a host for the client
LPARS.

1) From all the threads, VIOS works better with SAN DASD, not
internal/external. I use internal/external.
2) We have large IO demands, I have been told I could see a DASD
performance hit with VIOS, is this correct?
3) If using VIOS, and you have a disk failure, from Rob's previous thread,

disk management is quite different with VIOS, is this correct?
4) If considering a P7 8205-E6C upgrade to P8 8286-42A, with the EJ0P
backplane (18 + 8 ) internal DASD, VIOS may not be a good match.
5) I would like to use the EJ0N with opt EJ0S, P8 split back-plane, 1/2
for each LPAR, but no cache, no controller redundancy, no external SAS
ports, not a good option.
6) The P8 CEC includes great features for performance and "hot swap
availability), (not true with previous P5, P6, P7 CECS), however, not
really suitable for LPARing, at least in my scenario.

I'm sort of "Stymied" at this point, reviewing all the pros/cons of
various LPAR methods.
I know what I want to do, just don't sure how I will get there.
Most LPAR docs are dated.
Any new links or docs for LPAR planning.

Thank You
_____
Paul Steinmetz
IBM i Systems Administrator

Pencor Services, Inc.
462 Delaware Ave
Palmerton Pa 18071

610-826-9117 work
610-826-9188 fax
610-349-0913 cell
610-377-6012 home

psteinmetz@xxxxxxxxxx
http://www.pencor.com/

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