Configuring the Host Ethernet Adapter for Use by the System i

Resolving The Problem

To configure an HEA for use by an IBM i, you should perform the following steps.

Creating logical resources - Perform this step the first time the HEA is configured
Step 1: Using the Web browser of your choice, connect to your HMC and sign on.

Step 2: After you are signed on, expand Systems Management > Servers and select the server that contains the i partition that you want to configure a new Ethernet resource for. After you do this, you will see a screen similar to the one below:

Note: This is the server, not the partition itself. Do not select the partition in this step, or the correct options will be missing.


Step 3: In the Tasks section in the bottom right pane, expand Hardware Information > Adapters and select Host Ethernet. You will see a screen like the one shown below:


The ports listed here are referring to the physical ports on the Host Ethernet Adapter. In the above case, you can see that T2 is the port that is currently connected to the physical Ethernet network by looking at the Connection State column. Here you can also view other attributes of the physical Ethernet ports.

Step 4: After you click on the physical port (T2 in our case) that you would like to use in your i partition, you will see a screen similar to the following:

This shows you the current logical partitions that are using this physical port on the Host Ethernet Adapter. You can make note of the Logical Partition and
Logical Port ID here for future reference if you desire. If this is the first time you are doing this configuration, you will not see any entries in the Logical Partition
Usage table.

Note: Notice the Logical Port burned-in MAC / user-defined MAC column. Each logical port on the Host Ethernet Adapter has a unique Media Access
Control (MAC) address. This is what allows other devices and systems on the local network to see this partition as another system with a physical connection
to their Ethernet network (even though that physical access is actually provided by the Host Ethernet Adapter).

Step 5: If you click the Configure... button in the above screen, you will see a new window appear:

Important Note: The iSeries does not support Promiscuous mode. This is supported only in other operating systems. This must be set to --NONE-- or the partition may not be able to be powered up. If promiscuous mode is set for a HEA phy port cfg, the partition will fail to IPL with that code HSCL068A. Also DO NOT enable Flow Control.

The Port Group Multi-Core Scaling Value (MCS) will determine the number of 'ports' available in the port group. It is the number of fractions of a processor (HEA processor, NOT system processor) to assign to each port. If 16 ports are needed in a port group, the MCS should be set to 1. If the value is set to 4, there will be 4 ports in the group. If it is set to 16, there will be 1 port in the group. Changes to the MCS value require a full PLATFORM (all lpars etc) IPL. Please plan accordingly to avoid this step in the future.

This window allows you to change the configuration for the physical port on the Host Ethernet Adapter. As with any network adapter configuration, the Speed and Duplex parameter must match the Speed and Duplex settings on the network switch that this port is connected to. A mismatch is the number one cause for connectivity and communications performance problems. After you have this set correctly, click OK (or click Cancel if no changes were made). This brings you back to the screen from Step 4. Click OK on that screen (or click Cancel if no changes were made). This should take you back to the main HMC page from Step 2.

Everything you modified or viewed in Steps 1 - 5 refer to the Host Ethernet Adapter adapter itself. In the following sections, you will see how to configure the Host Ethernet Adapter for a specific i partition (for example, create the resource and line description). The following are the ways to assign a resource to a partition: Dynamic Logical Partitioning - This means that any changes take effect immediately, but they are in place only until the partition is IPLed. Change Partition Profile - This means that the changes will be permanent, but the changes will take effect only after an IPL. Follow the steps in the corresponding sections below to accomplish what you want to do with this resource.

Change Partition Profile - Permanently add the resources to the partition - REQUIRES an IPL
Step 1: To change the i partition profile to make this resource permanently added to the partition after the next IPL, go back to the main HMC window, and
ensure that the desired i partition is selected. In the Tasks section, expand Configuration, then click on Manage Profiles. A new window will pop up that is similar
to the one shown below:


Step 2: Select the desired profile for this partition, then click on Actions and select Edit. A new window will pop up that is similar to the following print screen
(after clicking on the Logical Host Ethernet Adapters (LHEA) tab):


Step 3: Select the Physical Port ID that you would like to use for access to this i partition and click Configure. Be sure that the LHEA Capability is set to Base
Minimum (default) or partition may not power up. You will see a window pop up that is similar to the one shown below:


Step 4: Select an available Logical Port ID that you would like to use for this i partition, and click OK. Click OK on the window from Step 2. This saves the changes that you made to the partition profile. Click on Close on the Managed Profiles window.

The Partition must then be IPLed using PWRDWNSYS RESTART(*no) and then activated from the HMC by activating the partition profile.

You can then configure your Ethernet line and TCP/IP configuration for that line. When creating your line description (CRTLINETH) for the newly created resource (whether you did dynamic logical partitioning or changed the partition profile), you should always specify *AUTO for both the Line Speed and Duplex parameters.



Dynamic Logical Partitioning - Dynamically add a resource -

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Dynamic Logical Partitioning - Dynamically add a resource -
To save this configuration, there is an option in the HMC configuration:
Configuration > Save Current Configuration.
This automatically saves the dynamic change to the profile so that it's persisted.

(There is also a partition property called Sync which will auto save any dynamic changes. If sync is enabled you don't need to do anything.)
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Step 1: Select the box for the partition that you would like to assign the resource to (in our case, it is RCHASMA3) and then wait for the Tasks section in the
bottom right to show that partition name:





Step 2: In the Tasks section, expand Dynamic Logical Partitioning > Host Ethernet and click on Add. You will see the following window:


Step 3: Select the Physical Port ID that you would like to use to assign a resource to this system and click on Configure. A window will pop up that is similar to the following window:


Step 4: Select an available Logical Port ID that you would like to use for this i partition and click OK. This takes you back to the window similar to the one shown in Step 2. The one difference is that now you see the Logical Port ID of 2 assigned to this partition, as shown in the following print screen:


Step 5: Click OK on that window and the new Ethernet resource is added to the partition. Then you can type WRKHDWRSC *CMN on that i partition to view the new resource. That new Ethernet resource appears with a type of 1818, 1819, 181A or 181C:

Work with Communication Resources System: RCHASMA3 Type options, press Enter. 5=Work with configuration descriptions 7=Display resource detail Opt Resource Type Status Text CMB02 6B03 Operational Comm Processor LIN01 6B03 Operational Comm Adapter CMN02 6B03 Operational Comm Port CMB03 6B03 Operational Comm Processor LIN02 6B03 Operational Comm Adapter CMN01 6B03 Operational Comm Port CMB05 181A Operational Comm Processor LIN03 181A Operational Comm Adapter CMN03 181A Operational Ethernet Port CMN05 181A Not detected Ethernet Port CMB08 181A Operational Comm Processor LIN04 181A Operational Comm Adapter CMN07 181A Operational Ethernet Port CMN04 181A Operational Ethernet Port CMN06 181A Not detected Ethernet Port Bottom F3=Exit F5=Refresh F6=Print F12=Cancel

Note: You can verify which resource is associated with which port by selecting Option 7 next to the appropriate resource. When displaying the resource details for all of the 181A resources, you can verify which one is the one that you just created because it will show a port value that matches the logical port ID you selected in Step 3.

There is a good Redpaper reference for this topic also. It is entitled Integrated Virtual Ethernet Adapter Technical Overview and Introduction.
This Redpaper does not discuss any i configuration, and it refers to the Host Ethernet Adapter as the Integrated Virtual Ethernet Adapter; however, all of the HMC configuration is very similar, regardless of the operating system for the partition.

This Redpaper can be found at the following Web site:
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/redp4340.html?Open