Changing virtual Fibre Channel for a Virtual I/O Server by using the HMC
You can use the Hardware Management Console (HMC) to dynamically manage virtual Fibre Channel on your managed system and the partition connections for the associated physical Fibre Channel ports. Assigning one or more physical ports to a logical partition enables the partition to communicate with storage devices in a storage area network (SAN). Configuring this type of storage resource is available only when the system supports the use of virtual Fibre Channel adapters and has a physical Fibre Channel adapter installed and connected that supports N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) ports.
Before you begin
To assign the virtual Fibre Channel adapter to a physical port, ensure that the client logical partition owns one or more virtual Fibre Channel adapters and that the Virtual I/O Server owns corresponding virtual Fibre Channel adapters to host the client adapter.
To change a port connection assignment for a logical partition, the partition must be either in
the Not activated
or the Running
state. If the partition is in the
Running
state, the partition must also be capable of dynamic partitioning
(DLPAR).
To avoid configuring the physical Fibre Channel adapter to be a single point of failure for the connection between the client logical partition and its physical storage on the SAN, do not connect two virtual Fibre Channel adapters from the same client logical partition to the same physical Fibre Channel adapter. Instead, connect each virtual Fibre Channel adapter to a different physical Fibre Channel adapter.
- The HMC must be at version 7 release 3.4.2 or later.
- The Virtual I/O Server must be at version 2.1.1.0 or later.
- Ensure that there is a resource monitoring and control connection between the HMC and the Virtual I/O Server.