Configuring a Shared Ethernet Adapter

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IBM® Power® Virtualization Center (PowerVC) requires that each registered host has an I/O server. PowerVC supports Virtual I/O Servers (VIOSs) and can support multiple and redundant VIOSs. If the network I/O is hosted through the Virtual I/O Servers, then the Shared Ethernet Adapters must be preconfigured on it. PowerVC automatically adds and removes VLANs based on workload needs in the system. The administrator does not need to preconfigure the VLANs on the Shared Ethernet Adapter.

PowerVC supports the following features of Shared Ethernet Adapters. They must be set up ahead of time on the Shared Ethernet Adapter. They can be modified after the host is registered within PowerVC, but you should review the PowerVC networks after doing so.
  • Redundancy across VIOSs
  • Link aggregations
  • Load balancing
Complete the following steps to configure a Shared Ethernet Adapter. For more information about each step, see the related links.
Note: PowerVC does not currently support 802.1Qbg or adapters that specify QoS priorities.
  1. Ensure that an active Resource Monitoring and Control (RMC) connection exists between the Hardware Management Console and the VIOS.
  2. Ensure that the 'Sync current configuration Capability' property, which is on the Hardware Management Console properties panel for the VIOS, is turned on.
    This enablement ensures that any changes made to a VIOS configuration are saved to the active profile and synchronized between the Hardware Management Console and PowerVC.
  3. If you are not using VLAN IDs 1, 2, 3, or 4, use the command-line interface to create a virtual Ethernet adapter with the appropriate VLAN.
  4. Log on to the management console and identify the Shared Ethernet Adapter with which to pair the virtual Ethernet adapter.
  5. Use the management console to build the Shared Ethernet Adapter.