Creating a system plan by using the HMC

You can use the Hardware Management Console (HMC) to create a system plan, based on an existing system configuration, and then deploy that system plan to other managed systems.

Before you begin

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.

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.

Note: When you use the HMC Version 9, Release 1.0.0, or later, on POWER8®, POWER9™, or Power10 processor-based servers, system plans that are created by using the HMC do not include Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) provisioning information.

The HMC can potentially use two methods: inventory gathering and hardware discovery. For example, when you use hardware discovery, the HMC can detect information about hardware that is unassigned to a partition or that is assigned to an inactive partition. Additionally, the HMC can use one or both of these methods to detect disk information for IBM® i logical partitions. Additionally, the HMC can use one or both of these methods to detect disk 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. For more information, see System plan creation requirements.

About this task

To create a system plan by using the Hardware Management Console, complete the following steps:

Procedure

  1. Depending on the version of Hardware Management Console that you use, choose one of the following options:
    HMC Version Procedure
    If you are using HMC Version 10.1.1020, or earlier
    1. In the navigation pane, click Console Management.
    2. Click All System Plans. The All System plans page is displayed.
    If you are using HMC Version 10.2.1030, or later
    1. In the navigation pane, click System resources.
    2. Click System plans. The All System plans page is displayed.
  2. Click Create. The Create System Plan window opens.
  3. Select the managed system that you want to use as the basis for the new system plan.
  4. Enter a name and description for the new system plan.
  5. Optional: Select whether you want to retrieve inactive and deallocated 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 and hardware information from the hardware inventory cache on the system.
  6. Optional: Select whether you want to view the system plan immediately after the HMC creates it.
  7. Click Create.
  8. Click Refresh to view the new system plan.

Results

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.