Preparing for system plan conversion

Before you convert the system plan to the format that the System Planning Tool (SPT) uses for system plans, you must collect some information to use during the conversion process.

Your original system-plan file remains intact after the conversion. You will not lose any of your data. When you convert your system plan to the format that the SPT uses for system plans, the SPT renames the converted plan and saves it as a new system plan.

Before you convert a system plan to the format that the SPT uses for system plans, you must collect some information to use during the conversion process. Some of this information can help with potential conversion limitations. You must gather the following information:

  • System attributes: You must provide the processor, server, and edition features for the system that you want to convert. The SPT Conversion Wizard narrows the options to those options that are valid for the system you are converting, but you must select the correct values from the list of valid options.
  • Additional system units: If your processor feature has multiple system units that support different processor features, select the correct processor feature for each system unit from a list of valid options.
  • Backplane: If the system in the plan that you are converting supports more than one type of backplane, select the backplane that your system uses from a list of valid options.
  • Logical partitions: When you convert your system-plan file to the SPT format, select the logical partitions that you want to include in the converted plan. Thus, you can pick just the logical partitions that you want to work with in the SPT. For example, if you are considering moving a particular workload to a new system, you can select just those logical partitions that are used to run that workload and include them in the plan that is converted to the SPT format.

    After you know the logical partitions that you want to include, select the profile to associate with each logical partition in the converted plan. The SPT can associate only one profile with a logical partition. For this reason, you might need to convert your original system plan more than once to work with different views of the data. For example, if you have logical partitions that use one profile during the day and another profile at night, select the logical partitions and profiles that are used at the same time to ensure that your converted system plan has an accurate view of how your system is used.

    You also might need to select the operating system of the logical partition, if that information is unavailable in your original system plan.

  • Expansion units: You must match the enclosures at the top and bottom of any double-high expansion units that are attached to your system. To perform this task, procure the serial numbers of the enclosures at the top and bottom of the double-high expansion unit when you use the wizard.
  • Adapters: You must identify the adapters in each physical location on your system. Based on the vital product data that the system plan contains, the SPT identifies as many adapters as possible. For those adapters that the SPT is unable to identify, the SPT can provide a few possibilities for you to select from. However, if those possibilities are not correct, or if the SPT cannot identify any possibilities, you might need to provide the FRU, CCIN, part number, or feature number of the correct adapter. If you do not know the number, you can find it by looking at the physical system or by using the following operating system commands to query and obtain the correct number:
Table 1. Operating system commands for identifying adapters
Operating environment Command When to use the command
IBM® i DSPHDWRSC Use this command if you have a number of adapters to look up because the command writes the results for multiple adapters to a single output file.
STRSST Use this command to access the Hardware Resource Manager. By using this command, you can look up information about individual adapters. Use this command if you have only a few numbers to look up.
AIX® and Linux® lsslot Use this command if you are trying to obtain information about an adapter in a hot-plug slot. By using this command, you can view all the adapters and integrated hardware for the hot-plug slot so that you can determine the adapter for which you need the number.
lscfg Use this command if you are trying to obtain information about an adapter that is not in a hot-plug slot, or if you have already used the lsslot command to obtain adapter information for a hot-plug slot.

You can find additional details about how to use these commands in the online help for the SPT Conversion Wizard.

After you finish preparing for the conversion process, export the system plan that you want to convert from the Hardware Management Console (HMC).