Validating the Virtual I/O Server for maintenance readiness

When the Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) partition is in Running state with an active Resource Monitoring and Control (RMC) connection, and you have access to all the resources of the managed system, you can validate the VIOS for maintenance readiness by using the Hardware Management Console (HMC). You can view the impacted client partitions for storage or network redundancy on the resources provided by VIOS.

About this task

To validate the VIOS for maintenance readiness, complete the following steps:

Procedure

  1. In the navigation pane, click Resources.
  2. Click All Systems. The All Systems page is displayed.
  3. In the work pane, select the server name where you want to activate the VIOS and click Actions > View System Properties.
  4. In the PowerVM area, click Virtual I/O Servers. The Virtual I/O Servers that are available on the system are displayed.
  5. In the work pane, select the VIOS and click Actions > Validate Maintenance Readiness and Prepare. The Validate Maintenance Readiness window is displayed.
  6. In the Validate Maintenance Readiness window, the following sections are displayed:
    • All: Select the All option to view both the errors and the warning message information related to storage or network redundancy. By default, the All option is selected.
    • Errors: Select the Errors option to view only the error message information related to storage or network redundancy.
    • Warnings: Select the Warnings option to view only the warning message information related to storage or network redundancy.
    1. Virtual SCSI Storage Validation - Click and expand the Virtual SCSI Storage Validation section. The Virtual SCSI Storage Validation section displays the following information:
      • Partition Name (State): Displays the name and state of the partition.
      • Storage Name: Displays the name of the storage device.
      • Storage Type: Displays the type of the storage such as physical volume, logical volume, virtual optical media and logical units.
      • Remarks: Displays the errors and the warning message information related to storage redundancy.
    2. Virtual Fibre Channel Validation - Click and expand the Virtual Fibre Channel Validation section. The Virtual Fibre Channel Validation section displays the following information:
      • Partition Name (State): Displays the name and state of the partition.
      • VFC Host Adapter: Displays the name of the virtual Fibre Channel host adapter.
      • Remarks: Displays the errors and the warning message information related to virtual Fibre Channel host redundancy.
    3. Virtual NIC Validation - Click and expand the Virtual NIC Validation section. The Virtual NIC Validation section displays the following information:
      • Partition Name (State): Displays the name and state of the partition.
      • VNIC Device: Displays the virtual NIC adapter value.
      • Remarks: Displays the errors and the warning message information related to virtual NIC adapter redundancy.
    4. Virtual LAN Validation - Click and expand the Virtual LAN Validation section. The Virtual LAN Validation section displays the following information:
      • Partition Name (State): Displays the name and state of the partition.
      • Port VLAN ID: Displays the Port VLAN ID value.
      • Virtual Switch: Displays the name of the virtual switch.
      • Virtual Network Name: Displays the name of the virtual network.
      • Remarks: Displays the errors and the warning message information related to virtual network redundancy.
    5. Audit Trails - Click and expand the Audit Trails section. The Audit Trails section displays the audit report of the various operations that are performed during the validation operation.
  7. Click Prepare for Maintenance to prepare the VIOS for maintenance. You can select the Continue with prepare even if there are errors/warnings checkbox to prepare the VIOS for maintenance even when there are errors and warning. If you prepare a VIOS for maintenance, the following operations are performed:
    • Unconfigures the virtual SCSI and the virtual Fibre Channel device in the VIOS to switch the path of the redundant virtual SCSI and the virtual Fibre Channel storage.
    • Changes the high availability mode of the redundant Shared Ethernet adapter (SEA) of the VIOS.
    • Performs the failover of the vNIC by activating the vNIC backing device that is on an another VIOS.
    • The non-redundant storage or network are not changed.
  8. Click Re-Validate in the upper-right corner of the Validate Maintenance Readiness window to validate again and view the impacted client partitions for storage or network redundancy.
  9. Click View System VIOS in the upper-right corner of the Validate Maintenance Readiness window to view all the Virtual I/O Server information of the managed system. The View System Virtual I/O Server Information window is displayed. The View System Virtual I/O Server Information window displays the following information:
    • Name(ID): Displays the name of the Virtual I/O Server.
    • State: Indicates the current state of the Virtual I/O Server.
    • RMC State: Indicates the status of the Resource Monitoring and Control (RMC) connection.
    • Remarks: Displays the errors and the warning message information.
    • Click Close to close the View System Virtual I/O Server Information window.
  10. Click Close to close the Validate Maintenance Readiness window.