Creating a logical Host Ethernet Adapter for a running logical partition

If your managed system has a Host Ethernet Adapter (HEA), you can set up a logical partition to use HEA resources by using the Hardware Management Console (HMC) to create a logical Host Ethernet Adapter (LHEA) for the logical partition. A logical Host Ethernet Adapter (LHEA) is a representation of a physical HEA on a logical partition. An LHEA allows the logical partition to connect to external networks directly through the HEA. HEAs are also known as Integrated Virtual Ethernet adapters (IVE adapters).

You can add an LHEA dynamically to a running Linux logical partition only if you install Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 5.1, Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 4.6, or a later version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux on the logical partition. To add an LHEA to a Linux logical partition with a distribution other than these distributions, you must shut down the logical partition and reactivate the logical partition using a partition profile that specifies the LHEA.

If a logical partition is not currently running, you can create an LHEA for the logical partition by changing the partition profiles for the logical partition.

The HMC Classic interface is not supported in Hardware Management Console (HMC) Version 8.7.0, or later. The functions that were previously available in the HMC Classic interface are now available in the HMC Enhanced+ interface.

For more information about Logical host Ethernet adapter (LHEA) settings when the HMC is at version 8.7.0, or later, see Logical host Ethernet adapter (LHEA) settings.

To create an LHEA for a running logical partition using the HMC, follow these steps:
  1. In the navigation pane, open Systems Management, open Servers, and click the managed system on which the logical partition is located.
  2. In the work pane, select the logical partition for which you want to create the LHEA, click the Tasks button, and select Dynamic Partitioning > Host Ethernet > Add.
    Note: HEA is not supported on POWER8® processor-based server.
  3. Select the HEA whose resources you want the logical partition to use in Choose an HEA to select Logical Ports from.
  4. In the table that lists HEA physical ports, select a physical port whose resources you want the logical partition to use, and click Configure.
  5. In the Choose Logical Ports table, select the logical port (LHEA port) that you want the logical partition to use.
  6. Set the logical port to accept packets with any virtual LAN ID (VLAN ID) or to accept only packets with specific VLAN IDs.
    • If you want the logical port to accept packets with any VLAN ID, select Allow all VLAN IDs.
    • If you want the logical port to accept only packets with specific VLAN IDs, enter each VLAN ID into VLAN to add and click Add. You can repeat this step to allow up to 20 VLAN IDs to be accepted on the logical port.
  7. You can allow or deny operating-system-defined MAC addresses by choosing from the options in MAC Address Restrictions.
  8. To specify allowable operating-system-defined MAC addresses, select Specify Allowable O/S Defined MAC Addresses.
  9. Click OK.
  10. Repeat steps 4 through 9 for each additional physical port whose resources you want the logical partition to use.
  11. Adjust the values in Timeout (minutes) and Detail level if necessary and click OK.
When you are done, one or more new Ethernet adapters will be visible to the operating system of the logical partition.
Parent topic: Configuring virtual resources for logical partitions
Related concepts:
Host Ethernet Adapter
Related tasks:
Configuring physical ports on a Host Ethernet Adapter
Changing partition profile properties


Last updated: Fri, July 05, 2019