You can use the Hardware Management Console (HMC) to create a new system
plan, based on an existing system configuration, and then deploy that
system plan to other managed systems.
When you create a system plan on the HMC, you can deploy the
resulting system plan to create identical logical partition configurations
on managed systems with identical hardware. The system plan contains
specifications for the logical partitions and partition profiles of
the managed system that you used as the basis of creating the system
plan.
If you use
HMC V7R3.3.0 or later to
create the system plan, the system plan can also include operating
environment information for a logical partition. You still can deploy
the system plan to systems that are managed by an earlier version
of the
HMC. Earlier
versions of the
HMC Deploy
System Plan Wizard can deploy the logical partitions in the system
plan and ignore any operating environment installation information
in the system plan.
Note: Although the system plan
that you create by using HMC V7R3.3.0
or later can contain some information about AIX® or Linux® operating environments
on logical partitions in the system plan, it does not contain the
information needed to install those operating environments as part
of deploying the system plan. If you want a system
plan to have the necessary information for installing an AIX or Linux operating environment,
you need to use the System Planning Tool (SPT). You can use
the SPT either
to create a system plan or to convert a system plan that you create
with the HMC to
the format that the SPT uses
and then change the system plan in the SPT. You also must
use the SPT if
you want to include specific automatic installation files with the
system plan, or to customize any automatic installation files for
the system plan.
The new system plan also can contain
hardware information that the HMC is able to obtain from
the selected managed system. However, the amount of hardware information
that the HMC can
capture for the new system plan varies based on the method that the HMC uses to gather the
hardware information.
There are two methods that the HMC potentially can use:
inventory gathering and hardware discovery. For example, when using
inventory gathering, the HMC can
detect virtual device configuration information for the Virtual I/O Server. Additionally, the HMC can use one or both
of these methods to detect disk and tape information for IBM® i logical partitions.
Ensure
that you meet the requirements for using either or both of the inventory
gathering and hardware discovery methods before you create your system
plan. See System
plan creation requirements for more information.
Creating a system plan
To create a system plan
by using the
Hardware Management Console,
complete the following steps:
- In the navigation area, select System Plans. The System Plans page opens.
- In the Tasks area, select Create System Plan. The Create System Plan window opens.
- Select the managed system that you want to use as the basis
for the new system plan.
- Enter a name and description for the new system plan.
- Optional: For Hardware Management Console V7R3.3.2, or later,
select whether you want to retrieve inactive and unallocated hardware
resources. This option appears only if the managed system
is capable of hardware discovery, and the option is selected by default.
Note: If
you do not select the Retrieve inactive and unallocated
hardware resources option, the HMC does not perform a
new hardware discovery, but instead uses the data in the inventory
cache on the system. The HMC still
performs inventory gathering and retrieves hardware information for
any active logical partitions on the managed server. The resulting
new system plan contains hardware information from the inventory-gathering
process, as well as hardware information from the hardware inventory
cache on the system.
- Optional: Select whether you want to view the
system plan immediately after the HMC creates it.
- Click Create.
Now that you have a new system plan, you can export the system
plan, import it onto another managed system, and deploy the system
plan to that managed system.
Note: As an alternative to the HMC Web user interface,
you can use the mksysplan command on the HMC to create a system
plan based on the configuration of an existing managed system.
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