Requirements for partition mobility

This topic provides a set of general software and hardware requirements for the partition mobility environment.

The hardware and software required to use partition mobility varies depending on whether you are migrating an active or inactive partition. Make sure that your partition mobility environment meets minimum requirements before you migrate your partition.

Hardware Management Console requirements

The following table shows the software requirements for the Hardware Management Console (HMC).

Table 1. HMC software requirements
HMC requirement	Active mobility requirement	Inactive mobility requirement
The HMC version and release must be at V7R320 or later. To determine the current HMC version and update it if necessary, see the following instructions: Determining your HMC machine code version and release Getting HMC machine code fixes and upgrades	X	X

Source and destination server requirements

The following table shows the hardware requirements for the source and destination server.

Table 2. Source and destination server requirements
Server requirement	Active mobility requirement	Inactive mobility requirement
The source and destination server must be one of the following IBM System p6 models: 9117-MMA	X	X
The source and destination servers must both be at firmware level eFW3.2. To determine the current firmware level and update it if necessary, see the following instructions: Using the HMC to view the existing firmware (Licensed Internal Code) levels Getting server firmware and power subsystem firmware fixes and upgrades	X	X

Source and destination Virtual I/O Server requirements

The following table shows the software requirements for the source and destination Virtual I/O Server.

Table 3. Source and destination Virtual I/O Server software requirements
Virtual I/O Server requirement	Active mobility requirement	Inactive mobility requirement
There must be at least one Virtual I/O Server logical partition installed and activated on both the source and destination servers. Installing the Virtual I/O Server includes the followings tasks: Entering the activation code for Virtualization Engine technologies. Creating the Virtual I/O Server logical partition and partition profile. Installing the Virtual I/O Server. Viewing and accepting the Virtual I/O Server license. For instructions, see Installing the Virtual I/O Server in an HMC environment.	X	X
The source and destination Virtual I/O Server partitions must be at release level 1.5. To determine the current release of the Virtual I/O Server and update it if necessary, see the following instructions: ioslevel Command Updating the Virtual I/O Server	X	X

Operating system requirements

The following table shows the supported software requirements for partition mobility.

Table 4. Operating system requirements
Operating system requirement	Active mobility requirement	Inactive mobility requirement
The operating system running in the mobile partition must be AIX or Linux.	X	X
The operating system must be at one of the following levels: AIX TL7 Version 5.3 Technology Level 5 or later Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version V5.1 or later SUSE Linux Enterprise Services 10 (SLES 10) Service Pack 1 or later Previous versions of AIX and Linux can participate in inactive partition mobility if the operating systems support virtual devices and IBM System p6 models.	X

Storage requirements

For a list of hardware supported by the Virtual I/O server, see the Virtual I/O Server datasheet available at http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/vios/documentation/datasheet.html.