LPAR requirements for Live Update

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Consider the following requirements for a logical partition (LPAR) to support the AIX® Live Update feature:

  • All I/O must be virtualized through the Virtual I/O Server (VIOS). The VIOS itself does not support the Live Update function.
  • All the mounted file systems must be Enhanced Journaled File System (JFS2) or network file system (NFS), or Automated File System (AutoFS) managing NFS filesystem type. The AutoFS file system is supported only with IBM® AIX 7.2 with Technology Level 4 or later. The CacheFS or Autonomic Health Advisor File System (AHAFS) mounts must not be active.
  • The LPAR can be managed by either Hardware Management Console (HMC) or IBM Power® Virtualization Center (PowerVC):
    HMC-based Live Update operation
    If the LPAR is managed by an HMC, you must authenticate to the HMC. You can authenticate to the HMC by using the hmcauth command or, by defining an HMC object through network installation manager (NIM). The following characteristics apply to an HMC-based Live Update operation:
    • The hmcclientliveupdate HMC role has all the privileges that are required for the Live Update operation. If a user is defined on the HMC with this role, the authentication can be done with this user rather than the hscroot user.
    • When you run the Live Update operation, the value of the lpar_id attribute changes. You can request a specific value for the lpar_id attribute in the lvupdate.data file, but it cannot be the same as the original value.
    PowerVC-based Live Update operation
    If the LPAR is managed by PowerVC, you can authenticate with the PowerVC by using the pvcauth command or by defining a PowerVC object through NIM. The following characteristics apply to a PowerVC-based Live Update operation:
    • When you run the Live Update operation, the value of the lpar_id attribute changes. But, you cannot request a specific value for the lpar_id attribute in the lvupdate.data file.
    • If multiple profiles are associated with the LPAR, only the active profile is maintained by the Live Update operation. The other profiles are not preserved after the Live Update operation is complete.
    • The virtual adapter ID values, also known as slot numbers, might change during the Live Update operation.
  • The running workload must be able to accommodate the blackout time. The blackout time is the duration when the running processes are paused during the Live Update operation. The blackout time can be estimated by running the Live Update operation in the preview mode. Protocols such as transmission control protocol (TCP) use a back-off retransmit timeout that allows TCP connections to remain active during the blackout time, so the blackout time is not apparent to most workloads.
  • The bos.liveupdate fileset must be installed to use the Live Update feature. This fileset is installed as part of the base AIX filesets, but could be missing if a migration installation was performed to migrate to AIX 7.2.
  • The dsm.core and dsm.dsh filesets must be installed to use the Live Update feature with NIM.
  • In the logical partition profile on the HMC, the minimum memory setting must be greater than or equal to 2 GB, which is the minimum amount of memory that is required to boot the AIX operating system.
  • The Kerberos service is supported starting with IBM AIX 7.2 with Technology Level 4. The Kerberos service is supported only with IBM Network Authentication Services (NAS) version 1.5 and later.