Getting started: Creating a new partition and starting your Linux server
This topic provides a quick review of the procedure for creating and starting a new
partition to host a single image of the Linux® operating
system. Links to more detailed information are included in the procedure steps.
Before you begin
Verify the intended use of DPM-enabled systems with your
system planner, so you know which system is the appropriate one for you to use for your Linux server and the business applications that it will support.
You also need to know which of the system features and resources (adapters, processors, memory, and
so on) that your server and its business applications require.
After you know which system to use, and complete capacity planning for the applications that you
intend to run on the Linux server, you can list the system
resources that you need to assign to your partition. Depending on the IT roles and operating
procedures at your installation, you might have to work with the network administrator, storage
administrator, or security administrator before you create the partition.
Procedure
Log in to the Hardware Management Console (HMC), using a customized user ID with the predefined System Programmer Tasks role.
On the main HMC page, expand the Systems Management node to view managed
systems, and select the DPM-enabled system on which you want to create a partition for your Linux server.
Use the New Partition wizard to create a partition.
You
can access this task from the main HMC page by selecting the Systems Management node and
expanding the Configuration task group; by selecting a specific DPM-enabled system; or by selecting the task in the Tasks
index.
For
more detailed guidance and instructions, see the following topics:
This action opens the New Partition window, which is shown in Figure 2.
The New Partition task offers two modes through
which you can create a partition: basic and
advanced. For a comparison of the two modes and the implications of switching between them, see
Selecting which New Partition task mode to use.
Complete the required fields on the task pages to create the new partition, depending on the
requirements of the applications that your Linux server will
host.
In Figure 2, pages that contain required fields are
denoted with an asterisk. For step-by-step instructions for using the basic mode to complete the
information on these pages, see Creating a new partition.
Depending on the task mode you are using, click Finish or
OK to create the partition.
A progress indicator is
displayed until DPM finishes creating the partition.
When it finishes creating the partition definition, DPM opens the validation window, which displays a message indicating that your partition has been
created, and lists more tasks that you can use to work with the new partition.
Use the Start task to start the partition.
You can open the Start task by clicking the link on the
Validation window, or through two other methods shown in Figure 3.
One way to access the Start task is to select the new partition and click the double-arrow icon
in the Name field to display the cascading task menu. Then expand the Daily
group, and click Start.
Another way to access the Start task is to select the new partition, expand the Daily category
in the Tasks area, and click Start.
A new window opens to display the progress of the start operation. Figure 4 shows a portion of the Start window,
with its progress indicators. In addition to displaying a progress indicator, the window also
contains a Details column with messages that are updated as the start process continues. These
messages indicate the progress of configuring partition resources and initializing the operating
system or hypervisor to run in the partition.
When the start process completes, the Details column contains a success message, along with an
Open Console link through which you can enter operating system commands.
Click the Open Console link to open the Integrated ASCII
Console task, through which you can log in to the operating system that is running on
the partition.
After you log in, you can enter commands to view the processor, memory, and other resources that
you configured for the partition. For example, Figure 5
shows a sample Linux
lscpu command and the resulting display of configured processor resources.
Results
The partition and the Linux server
are ready to support business applications.