An AIX client partition can have virtual and/or physical resources assigned to it (such as a physical fibre adapter). They also have the ability to use micro-partitioning (using a fraction of a CPU, as little as 0.05) which is virtually unheard of in the Intel world. Partitions can be migrated to other managed systems (so you can update the firmware on a piece of hardware, or perhaps you are low on resources). LPM (Live Partition Mobility) can also be performed, so you do a migration while the system is live, with no downtime.
Using shared resources (like an ethernet adapter for example) can also help save costs, as fewer adapters will need to be purchased. Without using shared resources, one would require physical resources for each LPAR. So if you have 20 LPARs w/o shared ethernet, you would require a minimum of 20 network adapter ports. One can purchase single port, dual port, quad port network adapters to help cut down on the number of adapters that you need.
LPAR Creation
When creating a new LPAR (and presenting the storage from the VIOS) one would do the following:
- create the LPAR in the HMC / IVM etc
- Assign virtual network (if using VIOS)
- Create virtual SCSI device from HMC for LPAR
- Assign virtual disk mapping (from VIO Server to LPAR)
The virtual SCSI mapping may be created in the enhanced+ interface at the time you create / associate a disk resource to the LPAR. If using the cli (command-line interface) or using the classic web interface (older versions) then you will have to create the virtual mappings manually, as a virtual ethernet adapter on the LPAR profile.
Once the LPAR has been created, networking setup, virtual optical devices assigned the next step is to open a Remote console session, power up the LPAR, going into SMS menu, and configuring the system to boot from the optical drive.
Open Remote Console
There are a couple of different ways to open a remote console. You can accomplish it using the GUI web interface, or using the CLI. To open a remote console from the web interface (classic), login to the HMC, select the checkbox next to the LPAR you’re interested in, click on the >> symbol, Console Window, Open Terminal Window.
Using Enhanced+ web interface:
Login to the enhanced+ web interface, navigate to resources, all partitions. Select the radio button checkbox next to the pertinent LPAR. Select Actions, Console, Open Terminal Window.
Cli method:
ssh hscroot@hmc_fqdn_or_ipaddress
vtmenu
Select the Managed System
Type the number for the pertinent LPAR, and hit Enter.
Activate LPAR
To power on a Logical Partition (LPAR), you need to activate it. This can be accomplished through the GUI web interface or via the command-line (cli). To activate the lpar from the GUI classic web interface, login to the HMC, under servers find the partition in question, select it’s checkbox. Then click on the >> symbol,
To activate the LPAR in the enhanced+ web interface, login, navigate to Resources, all partitions. Select the checkbox for the LPAR, and depress the Actions button. Then simply highlight the activate entry. If the LPAR is already powered on, your options would be to “restart” or “shutdown” the LPAR.
To activate the lpar in the cli, you would first need to know the name of the managed system, and the name of the LPAR. You can garner that information first with:
ssh hscroot@hmc_fqdn_or_ipaddress
lssyscfg -r sys -F name ## get name of managed systems
lssyscfg -m <managed_system> -r lpar -F name,lpar_id,state ## get name of LPAR, it’s partition id# and it’s current active state for lpars under the managed system
Now that you know the managed system name, and the name of the lpar (and it’s current state) you can activate with a command similar to the one below:
ssh hscroot@hmc_fqdn_or_ipaddress
chsysstate -m <managed_system> -r lpar -p <partition_name> -o on
You can also append -b sms to the line above. That will activate the LPAR, and boot directly into the SMS menu. This can be helpful, if you took to long from powering on the LPAR to getting into the remote console.
Note: having a remote console window already opened, then activating the LPAR in another window / terminal may be preferable.
SMS Menu
When a system is activated, it will check the hardware then start to bootup. At that time, it will display the IBM logo screen. You will have X seconds to press a button here to go into the SMS menu, otherwise it will continue to boot up normally.
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1 = SMS Menu 5 = Default Boot List
8 = Open Firmware Prompt 6 = Stored Boot List
Type 1 before the timer expires, and you will be brought into the SMS menu.
Memory Keyboard Network Speaker
PowerPC Firmware
Version FW860.51 (SV860_165)
SMS (c) Copyright IBM Corp. 2000,2016 All rights reserved.
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Main Menu
1. Select Language
2. Setup Remote IPL (Initial Program Load)
3. I/O Device Information
4. Select Console
5. Select Boot Options
Navigate through the menu structure selecting:
5 (Select Boot Options), 1 (Select Install/Boot Device), 2 (CD/DVD), 1 (SCSI), Select 1 (the Media adapter, could be another number, based on the configuration), 1 (SCSI CD-ROM), 2 (Normal Boot Mode), 1 (yes) t o exit System Management Services (booting from optical device)
Verbose Boot
At times, it will be important to bootup an LPAR with verbosity to determine where in the boot process things are failing. This is done by activating the LPAR (if powered off), or rebooting the LPAR. During the boot screen (IBM logo screen) hit the specified # to get an Open Firmware Prompt. With the power8 servers, that was typically “8”. However, it may change depending on which power system you are working on. Once at the prompt, type boot -s verbose.
8> boot -s verbose