How active partition mobility works

This topic outlines the end-to-end process of active partition mobility.

Active partition mobility lets you move a running logical partition, including its operating system and applications, from one server to another without disrupting the operation of that logical partition.

1. The user ensures that all requirements are satisfied and all preparation tasks are completed.
2. The user initiates active partition mobility using the Partition Migration wizard on the HMC.
3. The HMC verifies the partition mobility environment.
4. The HMC prepares the source and destination environments for active partition mobility.
5. The HMC initiates the transfer of the partition state from source environment to the destination environment. This includes all the logical partition profiles associated with the mobile partition.
   • The source Mover Service Partition extracts the partition state information from source server and sends it to the destination Mover Service Partition over the network.
   • The destination Mover Service Partition receives the partition state information and installs it on the destination server.
6. The HMC initiates the suspension of the mobile partition on the source server. The source Mover Service Partition continues to transfer the partition state information to the destination Mover Service Partition.
7. The hypervisor resumes the mobile partition on destination server.
8. The HMC initiates completion of the migration. This means that all resources that were consumed by the mobile partition on the source server are reclaimed by the source server, including:
   • The source Virtual I/O Servers unlock, unconfigure, or undefine virtual resources on the source servers.
   • The HMC removes the hosting virtual adapter slots from the source Virtual I/O Server logical partition profiles as required.
9. The user performs postrequisite tasks, such as:
   • Adding the mobile partition to a partition workload group
   • Adding dedicated I/O adapters