Creating file storage pools on a Virtual I/O Server

You can create a file storage pool on a Virtual I/O Server using the mksp and mkbdsp commands.

Before you start, ensure that the Virtual I/O Server is at Version 1.5 or later. To update the Virtual I/O Server, see Updating the Virtual I/O Server.

Tip: If you are using the HMC, Version 7 release 3.4.2 or later, you can use the HMC graphical interface to create file storage pools on the Virtual I/O Server.

File storage pools are created within a parent logical volume storage pool and contain a logical volume containing a file system with files.

To create a file storage pool, complete the following steps from the Virtual I/O Server command-line interface:

Create a file storage pool by running the mksp command:
```
mksp -fb dev_fbclt -sp dev_clients -size 7g
```
In this example, the name of the file storage pool is dev_fbclt and the parent storage pool is dev_clients.
Define a file, which will be visible as a disk to the client logical partition. The size of the file determines the size of the disk presented to the client logical partition. Use the mkbdsp command to create a 3 GB file called dev_dbsrv as follows:
```
mkbdsp -sp dev_fbclt 3G -bd dev_dbsrv
```
If you also want to create a virtual target device, which maps the virtual Small Computer Serial Interface (SCSI) server adapter to the file, add -vadapter vhostx to the end of the command. For example:
```
mkbdsp -sp dev_fbclt 3G -bd dev_dbsrv -vadapter vhost4
```

Last updated: Thu, October 15, 2020