The latest release of the VIOS provides a way to automatically backup your virtual device configuration whenever it changes. From the IBM Knowledge Center for POWER8:   https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/POWER8/p8hcg/p8hcg_viosbr.htm   "The viosbr command automatically creates a backup, whenever there are any configuration changes. This functionality is known as the autoviosbr backup. It is triggered every hour, and checks if there are any configuration changes, or any other changes. If it detects any changes, a backup... [More]

Tags:  blog autobackup /usr/ios/sbin/autoviosbr vios chris autoviosbr aix powervm gibson viosbr

On more than one occasion I’ve written articles and blogs on how to migrate AIX systems to a new version of the AIX operating system. You can find a list these articles (and others) here . Each of the NIM articles focuses on migrating AIX systems (which are configured as NIM clients). The approach is always the same; use a NIM master to migrate the NIM clients to the next release of AIX. What they don’t discuss is how to migrate your NIM master to a new version of the OS. This is the very first step you should take before you... [More]

Tags:  master using sddpcm 7.2 vml chris the nimadm to you migrating gibson nim vios aix

When troubleshooting Fibre Channel adapter issues on AIX (or VIOS), I often use the fcstat command to assist me in the process. The command may display error numbers similar to the following:   $ fcstat fcs0   Error opening device: /dev/fscsi0 errno: 00000045   The error number (errno) displayed can (in some cases) be used to identify the root cause of a problem. In the example above, the error number is 45 . This number is in hex. If we convert this to decimal, the number is 69. Now, if we look for 69 in the /usr/include/errno.h... [More]

Tags:  fcstat errno gibson chris vios aix

I’ve been working with a customer recently that required a special kind of disaster recovery capability for their shared storage pool (SSP) environment. The customer had implemented a private cloud solution in their existing POWER environment. The solution consisted of an IBM SmartCloud deployment with IBM Systems Director and VMControl managing the PowerVM deployment of virtual machines (AIX partitions) across the landscape.   The decision to use shared storage pools was driven by the fact that the customer was using SAN storage... [More]

Tags:  ssp aix vios dr recovery chris disaster gibson

I came across this strange LPM issue recently. Thought I’d share it with you.   All the customers VIOS were configured with the viosecure level set to high .   When the VIOS is configured with a security profile set to high , PCI or DoD , a new feature is enabled during LPM. This new feature is called “ Secure LPM ”. As a result when you initiate an LPM operation, the “Secure LPM” feature automatically enables the VIOS firewall and configures a secure (ipsec) tunnel for all LPM traffic over the network.... [More]

Tags:  lpm ipsec firewall vios hscla230

The first time I ran the ’ viostat   –adapter’ command I expected to find non-zero values for kbps , tps , etc, for each vfchost adapter. However, the values were always zero, no matter how much traffic traversed the adapters.                                                                                                           $ viostat -adapter 1 10                                                   ...                                                                       vadapter:                   Kbps       tps      bkread    ... [More]

Tags:  virtual vios powervm channel vfchost aix fibre viostat vfc -adapter npiv

I updated my lab VIOS to the latest fix pack ( V2.2.2.1 ) this week and thought I’d try the new VIOS part command. This new command is an improved version of the existing vios_advisor tool. The major difference between the two is the fact that the new tool is now included with VIOS code and will be updated via new VIOS fix packs. The following link has some information on using the command:   http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/powersys/v3r1m5/index.jsp?topic=/p7hcg/part.htm   This new tool “Provides performance reports with suggestions... [More]

Tags:  2.2.2.1 vios power7 advisor reporting vios_advisor aix chris_gibson tool part performance lpar ioslevel

It’s possible to search through seastat command output on the VIOS using the –s flag. You specify the following attributes with this flag: searchtype = value . Valid search values include:   mac, priority, vlan, ip, host, greaterbytessent (gbs), greaterbytesrecv (gbr), greaterpktssent (gps), greaterpktsrecv (gpr), smallerbytessent (sbs), smallerbytesrecv (sbr), smallerpktssent (sps), smallerpktsrecv (spr)   For example, to search for a particular host:   $ seastat -d ent19 -s host=aixvioc1  ... [More]

Tags:  chris_gibson seastat vios powervm virtual_io_server vio

Until recently, if you were configuring a new LPAR with virtual FC adapters you couldn’t force it to log into the SAN before an operating system (such as AIX) was installed. I’ve written about this before (see link below). I also offered a way to work around this issue.   https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/cgaix/entry/new_hmc_commands_chnportlogin_and_lsnportlogin_login_in_virtual_fibre_channel_adapters_for_npiv_client_lpars1?lang=en   As mentioned in my post, there are new HMC commands to force a new LPAR to connect... [More]

Tags:  npiv virtual_fibre_channel powervm chris_gibson power_systems aix vios vfc

Make sure you are monitoring file system space on your VIOS.   Why?   If you run out of space in the root file system, odd things can happen when you try to map virtual devices to virtual adapters with mkvdev .   For example, a colleague of mine was attempting to map a new hdisk to a vhost adapter on a pair of VIOS. The VIOS was running a recent version of code. He received the following error message (see below). It wasn’t a very helpful message. At first I thought it was due to the fact that he had not set the reserve_policy attribute... [More]

Tags:  this_may_or_may_not_indic... root_filesystem_is_full vios aix mkvdev cli_debug=33 powervm 0514-548 chris_gibson the_command's_response_wa...

When attempting to change the max_transfer attribute on a VSCSI hdisk, the following error was displayed:   # chdev -l hdisk0 -a max_transfer= 0x100000 -P Method error (/etc/methods/chgdisk):         0514-018 The values specified for the following attributes                  are not valid:      max_transfer     Maximum TRANSFER Size   The desired value, 0x100000, was an allowed value for this type of device (as shown in the lsattr output below):   # lsattr -El hdisk0 PCM             PCM/friend/vscsi                 Path Control... [More]

Tags:  rmdev vtopt0 max_transfer rmvdev aix vios chdev hdisk cd0 virtual_optical vio

I was working with a customer recently on a Power Blade that was running the Integrated Virtualisation Manager (IVM). They’d installed a VIO partition onto the Blade and had hoped to install a couple of AIX LPARs on the system. However they didn’t get very far.   As soon as they attempted to NIM install the LPARs, they would get stuck at trying to ping the NIM master from the client. Basically, the Shared Ethernet Adapter (SEA) was not working properly and none of the LPARs could communicate with the external network. So they asked for... [More]

Tags:  ivm chhwres vlan lshwres tag aix vios sea

Here’s a question I received recently, that relates to virtual SCSI hdisk path priority.   Hi, Chris, I use MPIO for our virtualization environment. I'd like to check which path is currently used. How can I get the result? For example:   [nim:/]# lspath Enabled hdisk0 vscsi0 Enabled hdisk0 vscsi1 Enabled hdisk2 vscsi2 Enabled hdisk1 vscsi1 Enabled hdisk1 vscsi0 Enabled hdisk3 vscsi2 Enabled hdisk2 vscsi3 Enabled hdisk3 vscsi3   How can I determine vscsi0 or vscsi1 is currently carrying data through VIOS and VIOC. Thanks a lot!   By default... [More]

Tags:  priority aix hdisk gibson vios vscsi chris

Recently I had the pleasure of configuring a couple of POWER7 720s for a customer. Each 720 was to host roughly 12 LPARs each. There were two VIO servers and a NIM server per 720.   Everything went along nicely and according to plan. In a few days we had both systems built. My steps for building the systems were almost identical to those described by Rob McNelly in a recent post . All four VIO servers were running the latest VIOS code i.e. 2.2.0.10-FP-24 SP-01 . All the client LPARs were running AIX 6.1 TL6 SP3 . Each VIOS... [More]

Tags:  ds5020 aix vios