Re: Guide to Configure/Deploy New Power9 Box and LPARs using vHMC

For Dual VIOS, do you need two physical servers in addition to the P9?

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of
Evan Harris
Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2021 8:54 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Guide to Configure/Deploy New Power9 Box and LPARs using vHMC

________________________________
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the PENCOR network. Do not
click on any links or open attachments unless the sender is known, and the
content is verified as safe.
________________________________

Hi Paul

yeah I understand that, as I said I've been doing it for years, both with
HMC and without
- I would not waste an i license or part thereof on a hosting LPAR if I
had the option of VIOS
- Dual VIOS is far better for availability; try upgrading or patching your
hosting LPAR without downtime on i - and all the guest LPARs as well

given that they have linux in the mix as well, VIOS seems like a pretty
logical step

I see also that the disk is all internal, so it probably comes down to
what has been ordered as to which is actually viable.

I am not decrying the i hosting capability - like I said, I've done a ton
of it - but I think its use cases are limited.

On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 1:39 PM Steinmetz, Paul via MIDRANGE-L <
midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

VIOS does possibly give more flexibility, but also more to learn and
maintain.
Years back, not everything could be virtualized using i hosting I, but
that is no longer true.
Now, you can virtualize everything with i hosting i, CPU, MEM, DASD,
Ethernet, even Tape or Tape libraries with the latest IBM PTFs.

I'm i hosting i, with actual HMC, 7063-CR1.
Not sure if any limitations with vHMC vs HMC.

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/virtual-hmc-appliance-vhmc-overview

Food for thought.

Paul


-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of
Evan Harris
Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2021 6:03 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
<midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Guide to Configure/Deploy New Power9 Box and LPARs using
vHMC

________________________________
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the PENCOR network. Do
not click on any links or open attachments unless the sender is known,
and the content is verified as safe.
________________________________

Actually I take that VLAN tagging comment back, I think you can do it
on the HMC virtual adapter.

On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 12:01 PM Evan Harris <auctionitis@xxxxxxxxx>

wrote:

Hi Jacob

I've done a lot of i hosting i over the years, but I would favour
VIOS generally as my first choice for hosting.
- The dual vios set up provides a lot more redundancy and robustness
- I would prefer not to use i license capacity just for hosting

If you are primarily an i shop its true that the i hosting is
relatively easy to get going, but VIOS is designed to do hosting and
has a lot of flexibility whereas in the i's case it is just another
thing that it is capable of doing so you might find it lacks some
flexibility for instance VLAN tagging on network adapters.


On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 11:39 AM Jacob Banda <jnbanda@xxxxxxxxxx>

wrote:

How much and what type of DASD, how many physical arms do you have?

20.46TB SSD (1.86 TB Mainstream SAS 4k SFF-3 SSD, x11). All
internal storage. No expansion drawers.

How much memory?

256GB RAM (32GB DDR4, x8)

How many CPUs?

8-core box, with 3 cores currently licensed.

How many Ethernet?

12 ethernet (PCIe2 4-port 1GbE, x3)

How many FC?

One 2-port card (PCIe3 16Gb 2-port Fibre, x1)

Are you planning on using VIOS or i hosting i?

Haven't made up my mind yet. Was leaning towards VIOS, but we are
an i shop.
Hopefully others can chime in here with pros/cons of VIOS vs. No VIOS.

How many IBM i and how many Red Hat?

At least 2 IBM i (for software development) and probably 4 Red Hat
(WebSphere/Nginx).

-----------------------------------------
Jacob Banda
-----------------------------------------

-----Original Message-----
date: Wed, 3 Mar 2021 19:41:03 +0000
from: "Steinmetz, Paul via MIDRANGE-L"
<midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
subject: RE: Guide to Configure/Deploy New Power9 Box and LPARs using
vHMC


How much and what type of DASD, how many physical arms do you have?
How much memory?
How many CPUs?
How many Ethernet?
How many FC?

Are you planning on using VIOS or i hosting i?

How many IBM I and how many Red Hat?
I have 4 LPARS, with my main LPAR being the host, non VIOS, i hosting

i.

Another option would be that the host LPAR only does hosting,
doesn't run any applications.
In my case, my main LPAR is both my host and production LPAR.


Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf
Of Jacob Banda
Sent: Wednesday, March 3, 2021 2:31 PM
To: midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Guide to Configure/Deploy New Power9 Box and LPARs using
vHMC

________________________________
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the PENCOR network.
Do not click on any links or open attachments unless the sender is
known, and the content is verified as safe.
________________________________

Hello,



I have been given the opportunity to learn how to set up a new
Power9 box
(9009-41G) from scratch. This box will be used for hosting IBM i
and Red Hat LPARs. It has no pre-installed software. I was able to
successfully bring up the vHMC appliance in a Linux KVM Hypervisor.
The vHMC is running at version V9R2, M950, with fix MH01881 already
applied. I have not connected the vHMC to the Power9 box yet.



Would someone be interested in providing a high-level overview of
setting up a new box with a virtual HMC that will be running IBM i
and Linux LPARs? I am no stranger to reading the manuals, so
something along the lines of "read this first, then follow this
one, and then this book" would be a great help to start off with.
(My Redbooks collection has grown quite a bit that I don't even
know which one to read first). Also, I do believe I am going to
want to set up two VIO Servers, as the common consensus is to do it
and thank yourself later.



Thanks in advance,



-----------------------------------------
Jacob Banda
-----------------------------------------

--
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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx for any subscription
related questions.

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

--

Regards
Evan Harris

--

Regards
Evan Harris
--
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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx for any subscription
related questions.

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

--

Regards
Evan Harris
--
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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx for any subscription related
questions.

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