Virtual Fibre Channel for HMC-managed systems
On systems that are managed by the Hardware Management Console (HMC), you can dynamically add and remove virtual Fibre Channel adapters to and from the Virtual I/O Server logical partition and each client logical partition. You can also view information about the virtual and physical Fibre Channel adapters and the worldwide port names (WWPNs) by using Virtual I/O Server commands.
To enable N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) on the managed system, you create the required virtual Fibre Channel adapters and connections as follows:
- You use the HMC to create virtual Fibre Channel adapters on the Virtual I/O Server logical partition and associate them with virtual Fibre Channel adapters on the client logical partitions.
- You use the HMC to create virtual Fibre Channel adapters on each client logical partition and associate them with virtual Fibre Channel adapters on the Virtual I/O Server logical partition. When you create a virtual Fibre Channel adapter on a client logical partition, the HMC generates a pair of unique WWPNs for the client virtual Fibre Channel adapter.
- You can connect the virtual Fibre Channel adapters on the Virtual I/O Server to the physical ports of the physical Fibre Channel adapter by running the vfcmap command on the Virtual I/O Server.
The HMC generates WWPNs based on the range of names available for use with the prefix in the vital product data on the managed system. This 6–digit prefix comes with the purchase of the managed system and includes 32,000 pairs of WWPNs. When you remove a virtual Fibre Channel adapter from a client logical partition, the hypervisor deletes the WWPNs that are assigned to the virtual Fibre Channel adapter on the client logical partition. The HMC does not reuse the deleted WWPNs when generating WWPNs for virtual Fibre Channel adapters in the future. If you run out of WWPNs, you must obtain an activation code that includes another prefix with another 32,000 pairs of WWPNs.
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.
Dynamically add or remove virtual Fibre Channel adapter | To or from a client logical partition or a Virtual I/O Server logical partition | Result |
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Add a virtual Fibre Channel adapter | To a client logical partition | The HMC generates the a pair of unique WWPNs for the client virtual Fibre Channel adapter. |
Add a virtual Fibre Channel adapter | To a Virtual I/O Server logical partition | You need to connect the virtual Fibre Channel adapter to a physical port on a physical Fibre Channel adapter. |
Remove a virtual Fibre Channel adapter | From a client logical partition |
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Remove a virtual Fibre Channel adapter | From a Virtual I/O Server logical partition |
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Virtual I/O Server command | Information displayed by command |
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lsmap |
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lsnports | Displays information about the physical ports
on the physical Fibre Channel adapters that support NPIV, such as:
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You can also run the lshwres command on the HMC to display the remaining number of WWPNs and to display the prefix that is currently used to generate the WWPNs.