You can use the System Planning Tool (SPT) to create a system plan that includes configuration specifications for the Virtual I/O Server. You can also use the Hardware Management Console (HMC) or the Integrated Virtualization Manager to create a system plan based on an existing system configuration.
SPT is a PC-based browser application that can assist you in planning and designing a new system. SPT validates your plan against system requirements and prevents you from exceeding system recommendations. It also incorporates the IBM® Systems Workload Estimator (WLE) to help you plan for workloads and performance. The output is a system-plan file that you can deploy to a managed system.
With SPT version 2.0 and later, you can include the following configuration specifications for the Virtual I/O Server in your system plan:
SPT currently does not help you plan for high availability on client logical partitions or Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) solutions for the Virtual I/O Server.
Alternatively, you can use the mksysplan command to create a system plan based on an existing system configuration. The mksysplan command is available from the HMC and the Integrated Virtualization Manager.
After you have created a system plan, you can deploy the system plan to the managed system. System plans can be deployed to a system managed by the HMC or the Integrated Virtualization Manager. For instructions, see Deploying a system plan using HMC version 7 or Deploying a system plan using the Integrated Virtualization Manager.
On systems managed by the HMC, the HMC must be at version 7 or later. When you deploy the system plan, the HMC automatically creates the Virtual I/O Server logical partition and partition profile and installs the Virtual I/O Server based on the configuration specifications in the system plan.
On systems managed by the Integrated Virtualization Manager, the Integrated Virtualization Manager must be at version 1.4 or later. When you deploy the system plan, the Deploy System Plan wizard configures the management partition based on the configuration specification in the system plan.
System plans can be deployed only to new systems, or to systems that do not already have a Virtual I/O Server logical partition configured. (The Virtual I/O Server can be installed, but not configured.) More specifically, the following items cannot be configured on the managed system before you deploy a system plan:
If you try to deploy a system plan on a system with any of these devices already configured, the Deploy System Plan wizard will fail the validation step.
Because of this limitation, the Deploy System Plan wizard will not allow you to partially deploy the Virtual I/O Server logical partition.
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