Configuring the network mapping policy

When a virtual Ethernet adapter is created in an HMC, a virtual Ethernet switch port is configured simultaneously. The virtual machines within a host, which need to communicate with other virtual machines for workload operations, are configured to have the same VLAN IDs. Similarly, some virtual machines in your host environment might be isolated from other virtual machines through a private network and might have different VLAN IDs.

For example, consider a host in the active site that contains two virtual machines that use the following VLAN IDs: VLAN1, VLAN12, VLAN13, and VLAN5. If you want these virtual machines to start in the backup site with VLAN IDs: VLAN1, VLAN22, VLAN23, and VLAN5, you can set a VLAN policy that modifies the VLAN ID from VLAN12 to VLAN22, and from VLAN13 to VLAN23 when virtual machines are moved from the active site to the backup site. Therefore, when you move the virtual machines across sites, the virtual machines are restarted in the target site with the assigned VLAN IDs as shown in the following figure:

A VLAN ID from the source site must be mapped to a single VLAN ID in the target site. Similarly, a VLAN ID from the target site must be mapped to a single VLAN ID in the source site. A virtual switch from the source site must be mapped to a single virtual switch in the target site. Similarly, a virtual switch from the target site must be mapped to a single virtual switch in the source site. In case of VLAN, the ID of the VLAN must be used in the configuration. In case of virtual switch, the name of the virtual switch must be used in the configuration.

Network mapping policy for an asymmetric host group

To enable the network mapping policy in case of an asymmetric host group, you must set policy at the host group level or at a higher level such as site level or system level. All the hosts in the respective site must have similar network mapping configuration.

For example, HG1 is an asymmetric host group that has Host1 and Host2 in the home site and Host3, Host4 and Host5 in the backup site.

Ensure that all VLAN or vSwitch values set by ksysmgr must be available on the hosts of the home site, that is Host1 and Host2 in this example. Similarly, all VLAN or vSwitch values set by ksysmgr must be available on the hosts of the backup site, that is Host3, Host4 and Host5 in this example.

System-level network mapping policy

To enable the network mapping policy and to create network mapping policy for all hosts and host groups across the active site and the backup site, enter the following command in the KSYS LPAR:

ksysmgr modify system network_mapping=<enable | disable>
network=<vlanmap | vswitchmap> sites=<siteA,siteB>
       siteA=<#,[#,...]> siteB=<#,[#,...]>]

For example:

ksysmgr modify system network_mapping=enable network=vlanmap sites=siteA,siteB
   siteA=1,12,13,5 
   siteB=1,22,23,5

Site-level network mapping policy

To enable the network mapping policy and to create network mapping policy for all hosts and host groups in a specific site, enter the following command in the KSYS LPAR:

ksysmgr modify site <sitename[,sitename2,...]> | file=<filepath>
[network=<vlanmap | vswitchmap>  backupsite=siteB
  sitename=<#[,#,...] || all> siteB=<#[,#,...] || all> [dr_test=<yes|no>]

Example for DR:

ksysmgr modify site site1 network=vlanmap backupsite=site2 
  site1=1,2,3 site2=4,5,6

Example for DR-test:

ksysmgr modify site site1 network=vlanmap backupsite=site2 site1=1,2,3 site2=4,5,6 dr_test=yes

Host-group level network mapping policy

To create a mapping policy of VLAN ID or virtual switches for all the hosts in a host group across sites, enter the following command in the KSYS LPAR:

ksysmgr modify host_group <name> options
      network=<vlanmap | vswitchmap>  sites=<siteA,siteB>
       siteA=<#,[#,...]> siteB=<#,[#,...]>

For example:

ksysmgr modify host_group HG1 options
     network=vswitchmap sites=site1,site2
     site1=vswitch1,vswitch2
     site2=vswitch2,vswitch1

Host-level network mapping policy

To create a VLAN ID mapping policy for all virtual machines in a host across sites, enter the following command in the KSYS LPAR:

ksysmgr modify host <hostname[,hostname2,...]> | file=<filepath>
     network=<vlanmap | vswitchmap>  sites=<siteA,siteB>
       siteA=<#,[#,...]> siteB=<#,[#,...]>

For example:

ksysmgr modify host host_1_2,host_2_2 network=vlanmap sites=Site1,Site2 
   site1=1,12,13,5 
   site2=1,22,23,5

The ksysmgr displays a warning message if you specify VLAN ID or vSwitch values that are not same as the discovered VLAN ID or vSwitch values. However, the ksysmgr command sets the VLAN ID or vSwitch values with the values that you have provided in the command after displaying the warning message.

Workgroup-level network mapping policy

To create a VLAN ID and vSwitch mapping policy for all virtual machines in a workgroup, enter the following command in the KSYS LPAR:

ksysmgr modify workgroup <name> [network=<vlanmap | vswitchmap>  sites=<siteA,siteB>
           siteA=<#[,#,...] || all> siteB=<#[,#,...] || all> [dr_test=<yes|no>]
           [policy=delete]]

For example:

ksysmgr modify workgroup WG1 network=vlanmap sites=Site1,Site2 Site1=1 Site2=200

The workgroup-level VLAN ID and vSwitch mapping policy takes precedence over other VLAN ID and vSwitch mapping policy. The KSYS subsystem validates the workgroup-level VLAN ID and vSwitch mapping policy during the verify and discovery operations. It is recommended to run the verify or discovery operation after defining a new workgroup-level VLAN ID and vSwitch mapping policy.