Virtual Fibre Channel on IVM-managed systems

On systems that are managed by the Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM), you can dynamically add and remove worldwide port names (WWPNs) to and from logical partitions, and you can dynamically change the physical ports to which the WWPNs are assigned. You can also view information about the virtual and physical fibre channel adapters and the WWPNs by using the lsmap and lsnports commands.

To enable N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) on the managed system, you create a pair of WWPNs for a logical partition and assign the pair directly to the physical ports of the physical Fibre Channel adapters. You can assign multiple logical partitions to one physical port by assigning a pair of WWPNs for each logical partition to the same physical port. When you assign a WWPN pair to a logical partition, the IVM automatically creates the following connections:

• The IVM creates a virtual Fibre Channel adapter on the management partition and associates it with the virtual Fibre Channel adapter on the logical partition.
• The IVM generates a pair of unique WWPNs and creates a virtual Fibre Channel adapter on the client logical partition. The IVM assigns the WWPNs to the virtual Fibre Channel adapter on the client logical partition, and associates the virtual Fibre Channel adapter on the client logical partition with the virtual Fibre Channel adapter on the management partition.

When you assign the WWPNs for a logical partition to a physical port, the IVM connects the virtual Fibre Channel adapter on the management partition to the physical port on the physical Fibre Channel adapter.

The IVM generates WWPNs 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 and includes 32 768 pairs of WWPNs. When you remove the connection between a logical partition and a physical port, the hypervisor deletes the WWPNs that are assigned to the virtual Fibre Channel adapter on the logical partition. The IVM does not reuse the deleted WWPNs when generating WWPNs for virtual Fibre Channel adapters in the future. If you run out of WWPNs, you must obtain an activation code that includes another prefix with 32 768 pairs of WWPNs.

To avoid configuring the physical Fibre Channel adapter to be a single point of failure for the connection between the logical partition and its physical storage on the storage area network (SAN), do not assign a logical partition to one physical Fibre Channel adapter twice. For example, do not assign a WWPN pair for a logical partition to a physical port on a physical Fibre Channel adapter, and then assign another WWPN pair for the same logical partition to another physical port on the same physical Fibre Channel adapter. Instead, assign the WWPN pairs for each logical partition to different physical Fibre Channel adapters.

You can add WWPN pairs for a new logical partition without assigning them to a physical port. Being able to generate WWPNs independently of a physical port assignment for a logical partition allows you to communicate these names to the SAN administrator. This ensures that the SAN administrator can configure the SAN connection appropriately such that the logical partition can connect successfully to the SAN without regard for which physical port the partition uses for the connection.

You can dynamically add or remove a WWPN pair to and from a logical partition. You can also dynamically change the physical port that is assigned to a WWPN pair.