Shared Storage Pools - just got even more interesting !   SSP Clusters with disks pools and super fast disk allocation VIOS Shared Storage Pools (phase 3) allows 16 VIOS on different machines to operate as a VIOS cluster with a set of SAN LUNs in the pool - think in terms of a number of TBs of disk space in the pool. The VIOS systems administrator can then allocate disk space to a new or existing Virtual Machine (LPAR) in around a second which can be thin or thick provisioning regardless of the underlying disks. This drastically reduces the... [More]

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Another good questions from a customer and my answer was simple:   The PowerVM internal network on POWER machines operates just like a physical network. If two LPAR are on the same internal network and the root user puts the virtual adapter in to promiscuous mode then it can see all packets. Just like a physical network. If the two LPARs are on different internal networks then they can never see the other LPARs packets. Just like two physical networks. If two LPAR are on the same internal network but on different VLANs then they can never see... [More]

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I have long thought it is rather silly that IBM Systems Director can't give you a list the licenses that you should have! It does, after all, know what machines it is controlling and the data is in the database.  Perhaps, that will come in the future.  What can we do in the short term? Generally, I like to do everything from the graphical user interface (GUI) . I have not got time to learn and use both GUI and CLI. The system configuration data can be extracted using the command line interface (CLI) on the Systems Director server, so I spent... [More]

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So I got asked, just as an example configuration which forces lots of workload per CPU: Given a 16 CPU POWER machine and a need to run 100 workloads, would I recommend 100 LPARs or 100 WPARs? In case you are not familiar with POWER technology: LPAR = Logical Partition used the PowerVM to split CPU, memory and I/O across multiple virtual machines (also called virtual servers). The I/O is handles by a special purpose LPAR called the Virtual I/O Server, which provides virtual network, virtual disks, virtual optical and virtual tape.  Each LPAR has... [More]

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Hi, I just release a fifth hands-on movie this month and on this interesting topic. You can find the movie here:  Shared Storage Pools 2 - Thin provisioning, monitoring free space + Alerts     Shared Storage Pool Thin provisioning is pretty cool and saves a lot of disk space . Effectively the 100's of GBs of unused disks space in 100's of Virtual Machines (LPARs) are bought together in one place in the Shared Storage Pool and then can be used for real.  All this without the use of clever disk subsystems.  The risk is that you use all the disk... [More]

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At last I have got round to rebuilding my Shared Storage Pool cluster of machines. We have the four VIOS limit. So I was thinking: For machines with Dual Virtual I/O Servers - the options are limited so I would pair up machines for mutual Live Partition Mobility. For machines with single VIOSs - I would create a cluster of four machines for some extra flexibility and LPM across any of the machines.   The "cluster -create" command to make the first node of the cluster too about 3 minutes and the "cluster -addnode" command... [More]

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Shared Storage Pools is the next big thing to owed systems admin time and boost flexibility  for Power Systems, PowerVM and controlling SAN disks from the VIOS and HMC.  I will not go on about SSP here but I particular like the fact Live Partition Mobility even with SAN disks is ready to go with SSP and there is no need to reZone the SAN disks.   To start using the new and improved SSP, you need the latest Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) - the version name is a nightmare! Who ever thought VIOS 2.2.1.3 FP25 SP01 with iFix was a sensible name for a... [More]

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I have been using Shared Storage Pools phase 2 (SSP2) on the beta test a lot recently and it works well - I am very impressed. One key side effect of SSP2 is that it really makes Live Partition Mobility (LPM) very simple and safe.   But then I hit a problem that stumped me - nothing to do with the SSP2 technology - it was just that I in the Advanced Technical Support group have got rusty in setting up and using LPM.   The first problem that most people hit is that the source and target Power machines must have the same LMB size - the what??... [More]

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 The officials words I was sent: Starting on November 13, 2011, each IBM client accessing Fix Central (whether through their employees or other authorized representatives) will require an individual IBM ID to download fixes for a limited number of additional product areas (including AIX and VIOS). This requirement will be expanded to additional products in the future.This requirement will be expanded to additional products in the future. The registration process will be quick and simple and will provide users with a customized experience to... [More]

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Update in 2016: Please note this blog is from 2011 during the initial POWER7 days and technology has moved on with faster CPUs and memory in addition there has been software improvements.  I am amazed how many good computer people read this and assume this blog is true to all time! Virtual Ethernet is faster now but there is also a warning here. Here is an analogy. Most vehicles can do 10 MPH (including me on a bike), most cars can do 100 MPH (including my family car) but very few vehicles can do 1000 MPH. That last times ten multiplier is... [More]

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 I am using the VIOS Shared Storage Pools more these days and it reduces my system admin time and I really like the Thin Provisioning feature as I have limited SAN disks. Any way, I dusted off an machine that I did my initial investigation on and decided to rebuilt the cluster (of one VIOS) now that I know what I am doing :-)    The  command : cluster -create -clustername galaxy  -repopvs hdisk2   -spname atlantic -sppvs hdisk3 hdisk4 hdisk5   -hostname diamondvios1 fails with "PV IS IN USE hdisk4".  PV meaning Physical Volume. Yes,... [More]

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I just moved our Power 5 based internal to IBM Wiki Webserver to Power 6 p570 which was recently freed up now that we (Advanced Technical Support, EMEA) are mainly working on the Power 7 machines. The Power 6 machine are still very useful for testing beta copies of new software like AIX and the end of year VIOS functions but some features are Power 7 dependent. We are removing the Power 5 machines because we are moving building and to a much smaller computer room and have to move from 15 racks down to 5 racks. We have been a little lazy in... [More]

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I often get asked: How large to make a pair of Virtual I/O Server (VIOS)? The classic consultant answer is "it depends on what you are doing with Disk & Network I/O" is not very useful to the practical guy that has to size a machine including the VIOS nor the person defining the VIOS partition to install it! Added new guidance at the bottom in RED Observations : The VIOS server unfairly gets a bad press but note: Physical adapters are now in the VIOS, so device driver CPU cycles (normally hidden and roughly half of the OS CPU... [More]

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   While I was installing a re-purposed POWER6 machine over the weekend, got round to installing my Dual Virtual I/O Servers, from DVD and then upgrading from there and I noticed a new service pack 2 for the latest VIOS version. It must have sneaked out without me noticing and there is a Interim fix too.  The VIOS 2.2.0.12-FP24 SP2 Readme highlights lots of fixes including some for the Shared Storage Pool feature. A feature that I have been using and talking about (see this blog for more information).     This got me thinking!  I talk to lots... [More]

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