RE: POWER9/IBMi bootable USB & VIOS -- MIDRANGE-L

It's an upgrade to the base AIX version/release, thus causing the need to
create a base OS for the VIOS to be loaded on. I understand that. My point
is that with SAN boot, you merely create another LUN, add it to the host,
and you can proceed on your merry way. With internal disk units, if you
have room, you add a physical unit.

The alternative is simple in theory: you back up the current VIOS,
essentially delete it, load the new code on the existing drives, and restore
the VIOS configuration. Even with dual VIOS that?s troublesome to folks due
to a plethora of things that could go wrong with no place to revert to.

I have VIOS 3.1 running at clients and it's working as expected with no
issues. Along with the 8.7 HMC code it seems to be a bit faster at the
configuration etc. although I don't have empirical evidence for that, just
feel.

I've only found one point to complain about and that is deploying a
partition from the HMC repository. The script that does that never seems to
finish completely. Easy enough to get past so I ignore it.

That all said, the 2.x.x version is going to be in place for this year at
least so no hurry to convert.

--
Jim Oberholtzer
Agile Technology Architects

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of
Roberto José Etcheverry Romero
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2019 4:26 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: POWER9/IBMi bootable USB & VIOS

Jim.
I think the problem with 3.1 is that it's based on the latest AIX instead of
being incremental updates on the old 6.1 codebase. It's like putting on PTFs
onto IBM i vs upgrading. Haven't done any 2->3 upgrades yet. Only have a
couple of 3.1 running in a customer's contingency machine for testing...

On Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 10:25 AM Jim Oberholtzer <
midrangel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

VIOS is easier than IBM i from that perspective. For upgrades I just
load the code into the /home/padmin directory creating a directory for
each level.

Can't do that for 3.1.0 however. That looks like a new install to a
different drive (SAN boot works really well here) and then restore
over the top..... That process is a bit complicated.

For a new installation I just use the image on the HMC (since 8.6.x).
to easy that way.

--
Jim Oberholtzer
Agile Technology Architects

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of
DrFranken
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2019 8:20 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
<midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: POWER9/IBMi bootable USB & VIOS

When I install or upgrade VIOS on a remote customer machine I often
have to get creative. So I load the Flash version of VIOS into an
image catalog and share that to the VIO partition for the load
process. I use the Flash version because you don't need to mess with
switching disks it's all one image.

It also means not having to visit the data center. :-)

- Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis

www.Frankeni.com
www.iDevCloud.com - Personal Development IBM i timeshare service.
www.iInTheCloud.com - Commercial IBM i Cloud Hosting.

On 3/21/2019 9:09 AM, Jim Oberholtzer wrote:

Any USB 3.0 will work. Just built a P9 with my own device.

Key to it is downloading the flash version of IBM I, then running
the IBM supplied utility to load the USB. Basically, it explodes
the .iso onto the USB device so when it boots it works just like a DVD.

Then a bonus I did not expect. All five of the DVDs after the
I-BASE were on the USB as well. Loaded IBM i in about 1/2 the time
it takes from a network install even across the backplane.

--
Jim Oberholtzer
Agile Technology Architects

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf
Of Rob Berendt
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2019 8:04 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
<midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: POWER9/IBMi bootable USB

IBM peddles a USB DVD drive which is also effective. As the Power
9's no longer have an internal one, this is what I use. Granted,
once I'm past bare metal and can use image catalogs I'll use the
image catalogs

instead.

I've used this USB DVD for VIOS, etc.

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf
Of Justin Taylor
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2019 8:59 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
<midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: POWER9/IBMi bootable USB

That sounds like exactly what I need. Unfortunately, I either don't
have it in my ESS or can't find it.

I went:
Software downloads
IBMi 7.3 (GA)
Select All
Then I expanded all the "details" links

Thanks for trying...

-----Original Message-----
From: Bryan Dietz [mailto:bdietz400@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2019 7:45 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
<midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: POWER9/IBMi bootable USB

I went out to the ESS software site and found:

5973: USB Lic Mach Cde Flash Image v07.03.00,ENU,ESD

Utility for bootable Licensed Machine Code USB

USB I_BASE_01_Licensed_Machine_Code_RS_730-F

That seems like what you are looking for.

Bryan

--
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L)
mailing list To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: https://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives at
https://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.

Please contact support@xxxxxxxxxxxx for any subscription related

questions.

Help support midrange.com by shopping at amazon.com with our
affiliate

link:

https://amazon.midrange.com
--
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L)
mailing list To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: https://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives at
https://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.

Please contact support@xxxxxxxxxxxx for any subscription related

questions.

Help support midrange.com by shopping at amazon.com with our
affiliate

link:

https://amazon.midrange.com

--
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing
list To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To
subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: https://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives at
https://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.

Please contact support@xxxxxxxxxxxx for any subscription related
questions.

Help support midrange.com by shopping at amazon.com with our affiliate
link:
https://amazon.midrange.com

--
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing
list To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To
subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: https://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives at
https://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.

Please contact support@xxxxxxxxxxxx for any subscription related
questions.

Help support midrange.com by shopping at amazon.com with our affiliate
link: https://amazon.midrange.com

--
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing list
To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe,
unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: https://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives at
https://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.

Please contact support@xxxxxxxxxxxx for any subscription related questions.

Help support midrange.com by shopping at amazon.com with our affiliate link:
https://amazon.midrange.com