Setting up the PowerVC environment

Before you can install and use PowerVC, you must ensure that your environment is configured correctly. This includes using supported hardware and software as well as configuring storage, hosts, and network resources.

The tasks involved in setting up your environment vary depending on whether you are installing PowerVC in an existing environment or in a new environment. If the latter, you may be using new hardware or re-purposing existing hardware to create your environment, but the assumption is that the individual pieces of hardware are not already cabled and configured to work together.

The following table walks through the steps for configuring a PowerVC environment. Follow the steps, as indicated, for the type of environment you are creating.

Table 1. Steps for setting up your PowerVC environment.

New environment	Existing environment	Task	Reference
		Refer to the hardware and software requirements, sample configurations, and other information in Planning for PowerVC to understand the configuration options and recommendations for your environment.	Planning for PowerVC
		Configure the storage controller and SAN switch or switches. Note: This is not applicable if you plan to use software-defined storage (SDS) with local disks.	Configuring the storage controller and SAN switch or switches
		Configure the network switch or switches.	Consult the documentation for your network switches for information on how to configure them. You must have at least one network switch for the server's data network. Optionally, the management network can be connected to a different switch.
		Set up a Resource Monitoring and Control (RMC) connection on each VLAN (optional).	Set up an RMC connection
		Configure the domain name server (optional).	If you are using a domain name server, ensure that it is properly configured on the system before installing PowerVC. Consult the documentation for your domain name server for information on how to do that configuration. The domain name server must be able to resolve the host name of the system that PowerVC is being installed on.
		Install the Compute host	If you will be using hosts managed by HMC, refer to Installing and configuring the Hardware Management Console If you will be using hosts managed by NovaLink, refer to Installing NovaLink.
		Configure your hosts. This step includes installing at least one Virtual I/O Server and properly configuring the Virtual I/O Server for PowerVC.	Configuring the hosts
		Prepare the management host or server for PowerVC. This step includes the following sub-steps: Creating the management virtual machine that will host PowerVC. This is optional for x86 servers. Installing Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® on the management virtual machine or host.	Preparing the management server or host