Creating a logical partition by using a template

You can create a partition by using partition templates that are available in the template library of the Hardware Management Console (HMC). The Create a Partition from Template wizard guides you through the deployment process and configuration steps.

1. In the navigation pane, click System resources.
   1. Click Systems. The Systems page is displayed.
   2. In the work pane, select the system and click Create > Create Partition from Template.
   3. Click the server name to view properties of the server. On the system properties window, expand System Actions > Create Partition from Template. Alternatively, you can create a partition by accessing the template library.
2. Click Next and select a template from the list.
   If the selected template is compatible with the target system, the Configuration Summary page is displayed. For servers that do not support IBM® i partitions with native I/O capability, you must enable IBM i restricted I/O mode by selecting the Restricted I/O Partition checkbox. If you continue with the partition creation without selecting the Restricted I/O Partition checkbox, a warning message is displayed. Run the wizard again and select the Restricted I/O Partition checkbox to continue with the partition creation.
3. In the Configuration Summary page, you can change the default name, assign a partition ID, and enter a description for the partition. For AIX® or Linux® partitions, you can also select the Shared Processor Pool option if the partition template specifies that the partition uses shared processors. For IBM i logical partitions, the IBM i Tagged I/O tab is displayed (for more information about IBM i Tagged I/O tab, see step 8). Additionally, if the managed system supports virtual serial number (VSN) and the managed system is not in a Power® Enterprise pool 2.0, you can also specify the Virtual Serial Number for the logical partition. You can choose any one of the following options:
   • None
   • Auto-assign
   • Select from pool

   If the VSN is assigned to an IBM i logical partition, you can also specify the Virtual Software Tier for the logical partition. If aVSN is not assigned to an IBM i partition, the Virtual Serial Number field is disabled.

   Click the template name to view the details of the template. If you are using HMC V9.1.920, or later, and when the firmware is at level FW920, or later, the secure boot feature is supported. To select a value for the Secure Boot field, click General > Advanced Settings. Select a value and click Next. Additionally, if you are using HMC V9.2.950, or later, and when the firmware is at level FW950, or later, you can specify a value of either 0 kilobytes (KB) or a value that is supported by the managed system for the Platform KeyStore Size field. To select a value for the Platform KeyStore Size field, click General > Advanced Settings.

   Notes:

   • If the system key for encrypting the partition keystore data is not a user-defined key, then you cannot create a logical partition with both the partition keystore and simplified remote restart capabilities enabled.
   • If the template contains details about the virtualization capabilities like Live Partition Mobility, you can view the details by clicking Template Details.
   • The virtual software tier capability and the license for the virtual software tier must be enabled for the managed system.
   • The virtual software tier is assigned only for an IBM i logical partition.
   • A virtual serial number must always be specified when you select a virtual software tier other than the default software tier.
   • The virtual software tier that you select for the logical partition must be the virtual software tier that is specified for the managed system.
   • The maximum memory and the maximum processor value for a IBM i logical partition must not exceed the limit of the selected virtual software tier.
   • If you specify a virtual software tier for an AIX or a Linux logical partition, an error message is displayed.
4. In the Persistent Memory page, complete the following steps:

   If you are using a captured partition template, the Persistent Memory area shows all the persistent memory volumes that are captured from an original system. You can edit the name for the persistent memory volume and associate the persistent memory volumes to the logical partition. If you are not using the captured I/O information, you can add a persistent memory volume to the logical partition by using the Edit Partition Template task. During the deployment operation, you can change the name and size of the persistent memory volume and associate it with the logical partition.

5. In the Physical I/O page, complete the following steps:
   1. In the Physical I/O Adapters area, you can select the physical I/O adapters for the logical partition. To view the adapters that are available in other drawers of the system, select the drawer from the View adapters in list.
      • If you are using V9.1.910, or earlier, and if you are using a captured partition template and if the template contains captured I/O information, the physical I/O adapter information that is captured from the partition during the capture operation is not used by the HMC. The HMC checks for the available physical I/O adapters on the destination server that can be assigned to the logical partition. These available physical I/O adapters are listed in the Physical I/O page, and you can choose a physical I/O adapter for assignment to the logical partition from this list. This scenario is also applicable when you do not want to use the captured I/O information (not selecting the Use Captured I/O Information checkbox in the Physical I/O page).
      • If you are using HMC V9.1.930, or later, and if you are using a captured partition template, the physical I/O adapters on the destination server that match the details of the physical I/O adapters in the captured template are selected automatically. If there are no physical I/O adapters that match the details of the captured template, the HMC checks for the available physical I/O adapters on the destination server that can be assigned to the logical partition. The available physical I/O adapters are listed in the Physical I/O page, and you can choose a physical I/O adapter for assignment to the logical partition from this list.
   2. In the SR-IOV Logical Ports area, you can complete the following tasks:
      • If you are using the captured I/O information and the captured partition template contains information about RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) logical ports, information about the RoCE logical ports is listed. You can select the target port from the list of target physical ports when there are multiple target physical ports that match the location code and support the logical port protocol of the source logical port (Ethernet or RoCE).
        Notes:

        • If you are using HMC V9.1.920, or earlier, the deployment operation fails when the server does not contain the exact match of the required SR-IOV Logical Ports.
        • If you are using HMC V9.1.930, or later, you can continue with the deployment operation although the server does not have an exact match of the required SR-IOV logical ports, but has alternative SR-IOV physical ports to create logical ports. Also, you can continue with the deployment operation if the server does not have an exact match of the required SR-IOV Logical Ports for the backing devices, but has alternative SR-IOV physical ports to create logical ports that can be configured as backing devices.
        • You can view but cannot change the settings of the SR-IOV logical ports that can be migrated to another server.
      • If you are not using the captured I/O information from the template, you can complete the following tasks:
        • Assign the SR-IOV logical ports that are displayed to the logical partition. You can also specify the advanced properties for the logical port.
        • Select the target port, and change the capacity of the logical port. Only the physical ports that support the logical port protocol (Ethernet or RoCE) are listed.
        • Configure an SR-IOV logical port such that you can migrate the logical port to another server.

      Notes:

      • You can migrate SR-IOV logical ports only but cannot migrate RoCE logical ports.
      • When the HMC is at Version 9.1.940.x, and when the firmware is at level FW940, the Migratable option for the Hybrid Network Virtualization capability is available as a technology preview only and is not intended for production deployments. However, when the HMC is at Version 9.1.941.0, or later, and when the firmware is at level FW940.10, or later, the Migratable option for the Hybrid Network Virtualization capability is supported.
   3. In the Configure Backup Device Type area, you can configure the Backup Device Type as a Virtual NIC adapter or a Virtual Ethernet Adapter.
6. If you specified the networks in the template before creating the partition, the Network Configuration page displays a summary of the virtual networks to which the partition connects. The page displays a list of available networks if you did not specify the networks before you created the partition. In both cases, you can specify the virtual Ethernet adapter ID. Click Next.
7. In the Virtual NIC Configuration page, the table displays all the virtual Network Interface Controllers (vNICs) that are in the template. When the template uses captured I/O information, you can change the value of the Hosting Partition field and select a physical port that matches the hosting partition. When the template does not use captured I/O information, you can change the value of the Capacity (%), Physical Port, Hosting Partition, and Failover Priority fields for each backing device. The number of physical ports must be equal to or greater than the number of backing devices of the vNICs that are specified in the template because each backing device of a vNIC must be created on a different physical port. You can also specify values for the MAC Address field which depends on the template settings. Click Next.
8. In the Storage Configuration page, complete the following steps:
   Note: You can configure storage resources such as virtual Small Computer Serial Interface (SCSI), virtual Fibre Channel, and virtual Optical devices. When you are using virtual adapters, you can connect logical partitions with each other without using physical hardware. Operating systems can display, configure, and use virtual adapters similar to how it can display, configure, and use physical adapters. Depending on the operating environment used by the logical partition, you can create virtual Ethernet adapters, virtual Fibre Channel adapters, virtual Optical devices, and virtual SCSI adapters. You can use virtual SCSI (vSCSI) to simplify the backup and maintenance operations on your managed system. When you back up the data on the system logical partition, you also back up the data on each client logical partition. You can configure the managed system with N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV), such that multiple logical partitions can access independent physical storage through the same physical Fibre Channel adapter. NPIV is a standard technology for Fibre Channel networks. NPIV enables you to connect multiple logical partitions to one physical port of a physical Fibre Channel adapter.
   1. Click Virtual SCSI.
   2. In the Physical Volume area, you can assign physical volumes. Click Edit Connections to edit the Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) connections for the physical volumes. Click Show assigned physical volumes to view more physical volumes in the table.
   3. In the Shared Storage Pool Volumes area, you can view the device details for a shared storage pool volume. Click the device name to open the Configure SSP Volume window. In the Configure SSP Volume window, select the shared storage pool cluster and the tier that you want to assign the device to.
      You can also enable or disable thin provisioning for the device. In a thin-provisioned device, the used storage space might be greater than the actual used storage space. If the blocks of storage space in a thin-provisioned device are unused, the device is not entirely backed up by physical storage space. By using thin-provisioning, you can exceed the storage capacity of the storage pool.
   4. Click Virtual Fibre Channel. The Virtual Fibre Channel content area displays a table with the available Virtual Fibre Channel ports to which the partition can connect. You can select the Virtual Fibre Channel port from the displayed list of ports.
      • If you are using HMC V9.1.920, or earlier, and if you are using a captured partition template, the deployment operation fails when the server does not contain the exact match for the required Fibre Channel adapters.
      • If you are using HMC V9.1.930, or later, and if you are using a captured partition template, the Virtual Fibre Channel adapters on the destination server that match the details of the Virtual Fibre Channel adapters in the captured template are selected automatically. When there are no Virtual Fibre Channel adapters that match the details of the captured template, the HMC checks for the available Virtual Fibre Channel adapters on the destination server that can be assigned to the logical partition. The available Virtual Fibre Channel adapters are listed in the Virtual Fibre Channel page, and you can choose a Virtual Fibre Channel adapter for assignment to the logical partition from this list.
   5. Click Virtual Optical Devices.
      The Virtual Optical Devices content area displays the devices that are specified in the template. You can optionally change the VIOS on which the device is created.
   6. Click Next.
9. For IBM i logical partitions, the IBM i Tagged I/O page is displayed. Select values for the Load Source, Alternate Restart Device, Console, Alternate Console, and Operations Console fields.
10. In the Summary page, you can view a summary of the changes. Select one of the following options:
    • Activate partition - Creates the partition with the resources you selected in this wizard and activates the partition.
    • Create partition and Apply Configuration - Creates the partition with resources that you selected in this wizard.

      If you chose this option in step 9, the logical partition is created with the resources that you selected. This step might take some time. You can view the progress of the operation. After the operation completes, select Click to Install if you want to install the operating system on the logical partition by using the Network Boot wizard.

11. Click Finish.
    Note: If you are using HMC V9.1.920, or earlier, the deployment operation fails and a partition is not created when the system does not match all the configuration along with the I/O adapter configuration that is provided by the selected template. If the virtual network or virtual storage mapping fails, the partition is created and a message is displayed that indicates that the partition was created with errors. The created partition cannot be rolled back. Delete the partition manually or go to the Manage PowerVM functions available in the HMC to assign the network or storage to the created partition.