Limitations of system plan conversion

You can convert a system plan that you created on the Hardware Management Console (HMC) for use in the System Planning Tool (SPT). However, the SPT has some limitations regarding the data that it can convert.

By setting up your system to optimize the hardware information that you capture when you create a system plan by using the HMC, you can ensure that your system plan provides you with the most valuable information possible. You can also ensure that you have the most usable configuration information possible when you convert the system plan for use in the SPT.

Currently, the SPT has some limitations regarding the data that it can convert. The system plans that you create by using the HMC contain information about the hardware parts that are on your system. To convert one of these plans, the SPT maps the information about the parts back to the features that represent those parts.

In some cases, the HMC plans do not contain enough information for the SPT to do the necessary mapping conclusively. For hardware parts with inconclusive mapping information, the SPT performs one of the following actions to resolve the inconclusive mapping:
  • When possible, the SPT Conversion Wizard prompts you for additional information about the parts during the conversion process. For example, for PCI cards, the wizard prompts you to provide a part identifier for the card, or to select the card from a list.
  • The wizard identifies the part based on what it knows from the HMC system plan, even if the information is not conclusive.
  • The wizard disregards the part if the level of information in the plan is insufficient for identification.

The following table shows some specific examples of parts or configurations that are more difficult to convert and what SPT does when it encounters them.

Table 1. Conversion examples
Part or configuration SPT action during conversion
Logical partitions with more than one partition profile SPT can convert only one profile per logical partition. SPT prompts you to select the profile you want to use for that partition during the conversion process.
Cards that are referred to by more than one partition profile SPT assigns the card to the first profile it encounters that references the card and discards all other references to the card.
CD, DVD, or optical storage SPT does not convert these devices.
Disk drives in a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) array SPT does not convert any information about these drives.

The following table describes the type of hardware information that is available in a system plan that you can then convert to SPT format. The type of information that you can expect is based on the management tool that you use to create the plan and the types of logical partitions in the system plan.

Table 2. Hardware information captured in a system plan based on management tool and logical partition operating environment
Management tool Power10 processors
IBM® i All other operating environments
HMC Version 10 Release 1 (when you optimize data collection for the system plan) Most cards. All disk drives. Most cards. Most disk drives.