Twinaxial console for IBM i logical partitions

The twinaxial console uses a basic command-line interface to access IBM® i on logical partitions. It does not require the use of a PC to act as a console.

You can connect a twinaxial console to a serial port that is owned by the IBM i logical partition and use the twinaxial console to access the IBM i operating system on the IBM i logical partition.

The management tasks that you can perform using a twinaxial console depend upon whether you are managing your logical partitions using a Hardware Management Console (HMC) or using the Virtual Partition Manager on IBM i:

If you are using an HMC to manage your logical partitions, you can use the twinaxial console to access IBM i on your IBM i logical partitions.
If you are using the Virtual Partition Manager on IBM i to manage your logical partitions, you can use a twinaxial console to access IBM i on your IBM i logical partition. In turn, you can use the twinaxial console to access the Virtual Partition Manager on the IBM i logical partition. This allows you to create up to four Linux® logical partitions on the managed system and manage the resources for all logical partitions on the managed system.

Twinaxial console and an HMC

The following figure shows a partitioned IBM System i® model with a Hardware Management Console (HMC) connected to the server firmware and twinaxial consoles connected to each IBM i logical partition. Use the HMC to create and manage logical partitions. Use the twinaxial console to access i on your i logical partitions.

This image represents a partitioned IBM System i model with an HMC and twinaxial consoles.

Twinaxial console and the Virtual Partition Manager

The following figure shows a partitioned System i model with a twinaxial console connected to i on your i logical partition. Use the twinaxial console to access the Virtual Partition Manager and create and manage the logical partitions on your managed system.

This image represents a partitioned IBM System i model with a twinaxial console connected to the IBM i Virtual Partition Manager.