Question & Answer
Question
How to create a Shared Ethernet Adapter (SEA) in an Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM) environment. This applies to Virtual I/O Server version 2.2 and above.
Answer
REQUIREMENTS
1. A Physical adapter, such as an Integrated Virtual Ethernet (IVE) port, also known as Logical Host Ethernet Adapter (LHEA) port or an expansion card (can be etherchannel) is required.
- If an LHEA port will be used by the SEA, the IVE port must first be changed to promiscuous mode. See "Setting Promiscuous LPAR" URL below for details. When this mode is enabled, there is only one logical port available, and it is assigned to the Virtual I/O Server (IVM server) partition.
- Make sure the physical adapter (ent#) does not have an IP address assigned. This can be checked by logging to the IVM server command line interface (CLI) and running 'lstcpip' as padmin user.
- Make sure the physical adapter is not used by another SEA. To check, login to the IVM CLI and ran
Notes:
$ lsdev -type adapter|grep -i shared => will list all SEAs
$ lsdev -dev ent# -attr|grep real_adapter => where ent# is an SEA (repeat this for each SEA) and real_adapter is the physical network adapter used by that SEA.
PROCEDURE
1. Login to the Integrated Virtualization Manager GUI as padmin user.
2. Click on "View/Modify Virtual Ethernet" link on the left navigation area.
Figure 1 View/Modify Virtual Ethernet window
If the four default virtual ethernet adapters have not already been created as shown in Figure 1, instead you will see a button to "Initialize Virtual Ethernet". Click on that button to create them.
3. Click on the "Virtual Ethernet Bridge" tab on the right area to display the virtual to physical options for creating the SEA, as shown in Figure 2, and make your selection. In this example, virtual ethernet adapter ID (PVID) 1 will be used in combination with physical adapter, ent2, to create the SEA.
Notes:
- A physical adapter can only be used to create one SEA in combination with a virtual adapter. Even though the drop-down menu allows the selection of the same adapter for another virtual Ethernet ID, an error message will occur when you click Apply.
- Etherchannel adapters, if created, will also be listed in the drop-down box., as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 View/Modify Virtual Ethernet Bridge tab
4. Click Apply. See Figure 3 for successful SEA creation
Figure 3 Successful SEA creation
5. To verify the new SEA was created
- On the left navigation, click "View/Modify TCP/IP Settings" under "IVM Management"
- On the right navigation, click on the "Network Interfaces" tab and look for new SEA.
In this example, ent8 is the new SEA
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Modified date:
19 February 2022
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