You can use the Integrated Virtualization Manager to
modify the virtual Fibre Channel configuration and the partition
connections to physical Fibre Channel ports on your managed system.
Modifying 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. You can add and remove
the worldwide port name (WWPN) pairs for a partition. You
also can assign a physical port to a WWPN pair to enable the logical
partition to communicate with storage devices in a storage area network
(SAN).
A Linux logical
partition
supports the dynamic addition of virtual Fibre Channel adapters only
if the DynamicRM tool package is installed on the Linux partition.
To download the DynamicRM tool package, see the Service and productivity tools for Linux on POWER® systems Web
site.
To add or remove a worldwide port name (WWPN) pair for
a partition, the partition must be either in the Not activated
state or the Running state. If the partition is in the Running state,
the partition must also be capable of dynamic LPAR (DLPAR). To assign
a WWPN pair for a partition to a physical port, the partition can
be in any state.
To avoid configuring the physical Fibre Channel
adapter to be a single point of failure for the connection between
the client partition and its physical storage on the SAN,
do not assign more than one pair of WWPNs for a client partition
to the physical ports on the same physical Fibre Channel adapter.
Instead, assign each pair of WWPNs for a partition to physical
ports on different physical Fibre Channel adapters.
To modify the physical port connections that a partition
uses to access a SAN, complete the following steps in the Integrated Virtualization Manager:
- In the navigation area, select View/Modify Partition
Properties under Partition Management. The View/Modify Partition Properties page is displayed.
- Select the partition for which you want
to manage
the virtual Fibre Channel configuration.
- From
the Tasks menu, click Properties. The Partition Properties page is displayed.
- Select the Storage tab and
expand Virtual
Fibre Channel.
- Click Add to
assign a worldwide
port name (WWPN) pair to the partition.
This
step assigns the WWPN pair to the partition so that you can
connect the partition to a physical port through the associated
WWPN pair. The Integrated Virtualization Manager generates
the actual worldwide port names when you complete this task.
- Select a physical port for the WWPN pair to create
a connection
to the port for the partition.
If you want
to remove a connection for a physical port from the partition,
select None for the physical port. You also
can remove the WWPN pair from the partition by selecting the
appropriate WWPN pair and clicking Remove.
Note: If
you remove an existing WWPN pair from a partition, the worldwide
port names associated with the partition and the storage area
network (SAN) are deleted permanently. The Integrated Virtualization Manager does not reuse them
when it generates port names in the future. If you run out of port
names, you must obtain a code key to enable an additional prefix and
range of port names for use on your system. See the online help for
additional information.
- Click OK.
If necessary,
the Integrated Virtualization Manager generates
the required pair of worldwide port names for any new partition connections
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 to enable the generation of
a large, but finite, set of worldwide port names for your use. The
number of port names initially available on the managed system is
65536. To determine the actual number of port names available on the
managed system, use this command: lshwres -r virtualio --rsubtype
fc --level sys -F num_wwpns_remaining
Integrated Virtualization Manager creates
or removes the necessary server and client virtual Fibre Channel adapters
for the selected physical port, and creates or removes the mappings
for the server adapter to the selected physical port.
