Troubleshooting
Problem
IBM PowerVC offers a VNC-based console to the client LPAR when Novalink managed, and the console might fail to open
Symptom
Console reports 1006 error and fails to open connection to the Client LPAR
Cause
PowerVC makes a remote call via VNC to the Novalink host, Novalink then opens a console to the client LPAR. The failure could be a number of points in this transaction.
1. Network between PowerVC and Novalink
- VNC uses port 5901 to connect the console, PowerVC host and Novalink hosts must allow flow of traffic on port 5901
- Test SSH from the PowerVC host to Novalink
- Test telnet on port 5901 to the Novalink host
2. The service application on Novalink might be missing
If AIX/Linux Consoles work but IBM i consoles fail, you might be missing the 5250console service, which is provided by pvm-core-5250. Here is an example of how you could check for the package on an Ubuntu system:
If you do not have the 5250 package, download and install it from: http://public.dhe.ibm.com/systems/virtualization/Novalink/.
user@igsnlink:~$ apt list | grep pvm-core
pvm-core/stable 1.0.0.16-210311-5869 ppc64el [upgradable from: 1.0.0.16-201028-5848]
pvm-core-5250/stable 1.0.0.16-210311-5869 ppc64el [upgradable from: 1.0.0.16-201028-5848]
pvm-core-dbg/stable 1.0.0.16-210311-5869 ppc64el
pvm-core-dev/stable 1.0.0.16-210311-5869 ppc64el [upgradable from: 1.0.0.16-201028-5848]
user@igsnlink:~$If you do not have the 5250 package, download and install it from: http://public.dhe.ibm.com/systems/virtualization/Novalink/.
The Packages file contained in the subdirectories will show what the packages contain, so you will know what to install.
For example, the /virtualization/Novalink/debian/dists/novalink_2.0.2/non-free/binary-ppc64el/Packages file contains these lines:
For example, the /virtualization/Novalink/debian/dists/novalink_2.0.2/non-free/binary-ppc64el/Packages file contains these lines:
Package: pvm-core-5250
Source: pvm-core
Version: 2.0.2-210922-483
Architecture: ppc64el
Maintainer: Chongshi Zhang <zhangcho@us.ibm.com>
Installed-Size: 32879
Depends: pvm-core, xvfb, x11vnc, tcpdump, xinit, libxi6, fonts-arphic-ukai, fonts-arphic-uming, fonts-ipafont-mincho, fonts-ipafont-gothic, fonts-unfonts-core, fonts-takao-mincho, fonts-takao
Homepage: <insert the upstream URL, if relevant>
Priority: optional
Section: unknown
Filename: pool/non-free/p/pvm-core/pvm-core-5250_2.0.2-210922-483_ppc64el.deb
Size: 30169780
SHA256: 210ae19e67db8af68b591b38e6bb6dc5d97fa6e1bc98433bc717896f594d5455
SHA1: 8c9e10097241407199a2008df58b09056cd06b02
MD5sum: 7e3cb61a753f676de412394b896e42b2
Description: PVM 5250 emulator for IBMi package3. If you have the 5250 package installed, then you may have a lower level connection failure. For that see "Diagnosing the problem."
Environment
PowerVC novalink managed hosts
Diagnosing The Problem
Possible Errors
First, check the error message you get when you try and start a console session. If you get errors like:
Unable to connect to /dev/hvcsxx. Make sure the console is not in active use by the HMC.
Device or resource busyYou can try and clean up the connection by running rmvterm --id XX on both NovaLink and the HMC if one is involved.
And you could also try and reboot the HMC which may be connected to that partition. Restarting an HMC does not affect the systems it manages.
Make sure NovaLink is the master for the system
A console will only open to a VM if NovaLink is set as the master for the system. You can check if NovaLink is the system master by running the command:
A console will only open to a VM if NovaLink is set as the master for the system. You can check if NovaLink is the system master by running the command:
pvmutil -o getmastermode
If Novalink is not the master you can run:
pvmutil -o setmastermode -i normalNote: A single NovaLink LPAR manages only one system, the one it's on. Therefore, the
setmastermode option will only affect that system. The fact that other managers (like the HMC) can be the system master may make this command confusing.
If you are unable to resolve the error, enable DEBUG logging
Start by enabling DEBUG logging for the PowerVC to Novalink novnc connection.On the Novalink host, find the /etc/nova/nova.conf file and add "?logging=debug" to the end of the line that starts "novncproxy_base_url" so it looks like:
novncproxy_base_url = https://yourhost/powervc/novnc/powervc_vnc.html?logging=debug
Repeat the same change on the PowerVC host in /etc/nova/nova.conf.
Stop and start PowerVC to pick up the changes to the configuration, and then retry the VNC console from the PowerVC UI.
As a reminder, to start and stop PowerVC services perform the following:
Stop the PowerVC services:
# /opt/ibm/powervc/bin/powervc-services stopThen check to make sure the services are stopped:
# /opt/ibm/powervc/bin/powervc-services statusAnd then restart PowerVC services:
# /opt/ibm/powervc/bin/powervc-services startThe output of enhanced logging will be on the PowerVC server at /var/log/nova/nova-novncproxy.log.
Resolving The Problem
Engage support to review the debug logging from nova-novncproxy.log.
Document Location
Worldwide
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Document Information
Modified date:
08 December 2023
UID
ibm16124923