Deploying a system plan by using HMC Version 7

You can use the Hardware Management Console (HMC) to deploy all or part of a system plan to a managed system.

When you deploy a system plan, the HMC creates logical partitions on the managed system according to the specifications in the system plan. Depending on the contents of the system plan, you can also install operating environments on the partitions in the plan and, if the plan contains Virtual I/O Server provisioning information for a partition, such as storage assignments, the HMC can make these resource assignments for the partition.

Before you deploy a system plan, complete the following tasks:

Ensure that the system-plan file exists on the HMC. If the system-plan file does not exist on the HMC, you must import the system-plan file into the HMC. For instructions, see Importing a system plan using HMC version 7.
Verify that the physical hardware and any expansion units are connected and reporting to the server. Each server comes with one logical partition and one partition profile. All of the physical hardware resources on the system are assigned automatically to this logical partition so that you can power on the server and verify that the physical hardware is connected and reporting to the server.
Delete the logical partition that was provided with your server, and delete any other logical partition that is not in the system plan. For instructions, see Deleting a logical partition. The name of the logical partition that was provided with the server is the serial number of the managed system, and the name of the partition profile is default_profile.
If the system plan includes a Storage Area Network (SAN) or Fibre Channel adapters, ensure that the adapters are cabled and the SAN is configured.
If you plan to deploy the Virtual I/O Server, then ensure that its installation image is on the HMC. To see the installation images on the HMC, enter this command OS_install -l on the HMC command line. If the Virtual I/O Server installation image is not listed, then complete the following steps to copy an installation image to the HMC:
1. Obtain a copy of the Virtual I/O Server on DVD. You can use the original installation media or you can contact your sales representative to obtain another copy. If you cannot obtain a copy of the Virtual I/O Server, you can deploy the remainder of the system plan and install the Virtual I/O Server at a later time.
2. Insert the DVD into the DVD drive on the HMC.
3. From the HMC command line, use the OS_install command to copy the Virtual I/O Server installation image from the DVD to the HMC. For example, you can enter the following command: OS_install -o define_resource -a type=AIX -a version=1.4.0.0 -a location=/export/resources/vios -a source=/dev/cdrom vios1_install_res.
Excluding the Virtual I/O Server logical partitions, shut down any logical partitions that you have already deployed to the managed system from the system plan. For Virtual I/O Server partitions previously deployed, ensure that they are active, and that there is an Resource Monitoring and Control (RMC) connection between the HMC and each Virtual I/O Server partition.
Ensure that you are not using this HMC or any other HMC that is attached to the managed system to perform any other operations on the managed system.
Ensure that you are a super administrator. For information about user roles, refer to Tasks and roles.

To use the HMC to deploy a system plan on a managed system, complete the following steps:

In the navigation area of the HMC, select System Plans.
In the contents area, select the system plan that you want to deploy.
Click Tasks and select Deploy system plan. The Deploy System Plan wizard starts.
On the Welcome page, complete the following steps:
1. Select the system-plan file that contains the system plan that you want to deploy.
2. Choose the managed system to which you want to deploy the system plan and click Next. If the system plan does not match the managed system to which you want to deploy the plan, the wizard displays a window that informs you of this. Click OK to continue or Cancel to select a different system plan.
  Note: If the system-plan file contains multiple system plans, the wizard provides a step so that you can select a specific system plan from the file. This step does not occur unless there is more than one system plan in the specified file.
On the Validation page, complete the following steps:
1. Wait for the wizard to validate the managed system and its hardware against the system plan. The validation process can take several minutes.
2. If the validation process completes successfully, click Next.
3. If the validation process does not complete successfully, correct the issues that the error messages describe, click Cancel to exit the wizard, and restart this procedure from the beginning.
4. If the validation process fails, you might want to create a system plan that is based on the current configuration of the managed system. Such a system plan would allow you to compare the system plan that you want to deploy with the current configuration of the managed system. You can do this by using the Create System Plan task in the HMC, or you can run the following command from the HMC command line: mksysplan -m name_of_managed_system -f name_of_new_system_plan.sysplan. This action creates a new system plan that you can view and compare to the old system plan to help diagnose any problems.
Optional: On the Partition Deployment page, if you do not want to create all of the logical partitions, partition profiles, virtual adapter types, or virtual adapters in the system plan, clear the boxes in the Deploy column beside the logical partitions, partition profiles, virtual adapter types, or virtual adapters that you do not want to create. Virtual serial adapters are required in virtual slots 0 and 1 for each logical partition. You cannot create the logical partition unless you create these virtual serial adapters.
Optional: On the Operating Environment Install page, if there are operating environments specified in the system plan, complete the following steps:
1. Select the operating environments that you want to deploy to the managed system for each partition. At this time, you can select to deploy the Virtual I/O Server operating environment only.
2. Enter the location of the Virtual I/O Server installation image.
3. Enter or change late-binding installation settings for the Virtual I/O Server. Late-binding installation settings are settings that are specific to the installation instance and must be supplied during the installation step to ensure that the settings are accurate for the installation instance. For example, you can enter the IP address of the target partition on which you are installing the operating environment.
4. Save any changes that you make to late-binding installation settings. You can save them to the current system-plan file or to a new system-plan file.
On the Summary page, review the system deployment step order and click Finish. The HMC uses the system plan to create the specified logical partitions and to install any specified operating environments. This process can take several minutes.

After you finish the deployment of the system plan, complete the following tasks:

Locate the physical disk I/O adapters that belong to each logical partition and verify that the disk drives that are attached to these physical I/O adapters will support your desired configuration for each logical partition. The Deploy System Plan wizard validates only that the physical disk I/O adapters match the system plan. It does not validate that the disk drives are configured for the physical disk I/O adapters.
Install operating systems and software on the logical partitions.
Configure the virtual I/O adapters that are assigned to each logical partition within the operating systems so that virtual storage resources can be shared among logical partitions.