IBM Support

IBM PowerVM (VIOS) - Quick reference guide for performing configuration validation and health checks

How To


Summary

This document provides a combination of commands and online documentation which provides a comprehensive guide to assist with configuration validations or system health checks.

Objective

As documented by:

IBM Support Guide: How technical questions (Q&A) are handled by IBM Support
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/796206

IBM Power: What to expect when requesting or needing IBM Services
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7029780

System health checks and hands on assistance with a configuration validation is beyond the scope as defined by the standard maintenance (support) contract coverage for the IBM Remote Technical Support teams.

While the details listed below do provide the most commonly used instructions to help in your effort to validate the configuration of your IBM PowerVM environment, IBM strongly recommends that your company engages with an IBM Services team or an IBM Business Partner to perform a comprehensive assessment of your custom configuration and workload, to ensure your critical business systems meet the requirements business requirements, with no disruption to your business and users.

When customers open support cases and request hands on, or in-depth assistance with the configuration validations and health checks for their custom environment, IBM Remote Support teams will refer customers to this documentation and an IBM Services team for continued assistance.

Environment

 

Steps

Reading, understanding, and implementing the instructions provided by these online documentation and commands will help ensure a more successful implementation and reduce the risk of unplanned outages for your business.

Step 1. Use the following commands to quickly collect, review, and compare your system details

For each of the configuration areas listed below, references will be provided (1) to commands that can be executed directly from the command line and (2) to the files collected when using a snap command to capture a snapshot of your configuration. Once you have collected the configuration details, you can then review and confirm the configuration is consistent for your infrastructure and across systems.

  • Virtual Network Configuration
    The list of SEA (Shared Ethernet Adapter) adapters is available from:
    command: $ lsdev -type adapter | grep Shared
    snap file: /tmp/ibmsupt/general/lsdev.adapter (look for "Shared")

    To view the status of the SEA adapters:
    command: $ entstat -all ent#
    (replace ent# is replaced from SEA listed in above step)
    snap file: /tmp/ibmsupt/tcpip/tcpip.snap

     
  • Virtual SCSI Configuration
    The list of VSCSI (Virtual SCSI) is available from:
    command: $ lsdev -type adapter |grep vhost
    snap file: /tmp/ibmsupt/general/lsdev.adapter (look for "vhost")

    To view the status and mappings of the VSCSI :
    command: $ lsmap -all (for all the vhost)
    command: $ lsmap -vadapter vhost# (for a specific vhost)
    snap file: /tmp/ibmsupt/svCollect/vscsi/vhost#.map
    (replace vhost# with the vhost to be viewed)

     
  • NPIV Configuration
    The list of NPIV adapters is available from:
    command: $ lsdev -type adapter |grep vfchost
    snap file: /tmp/ibmsupt/general/lsdev.adapter (look for "vfchost")

    To view the status and mappings of the vfchost:
    command: $ $ lsmap -all -npiv (for all the vfchost)
    command: $ lsmap -vadapter vfchost# -npiv (for a specific vfchost)
    command: $ lsmap -all -npiv -cpid#
    (replace cpid# is the LPARid to list all the vfchost adapters of one LPAR)
    snap file: /tmp/ibmsupt/svCollect/sfc/vfchost#.map
    (replace vfchost# with the vfchost to be viewed)

     

Step 2. Know if your VIOS is eligible for support

Review these documents to ensure your VIOS will continue to be eligible for support and that you have the right level of support coverage to be entitled to receive assistance through IBM Remote Technical Support teams.

 

Step 3. Review these best practices and tuning online documentation

 

Step 4. Double-check and triple-check your non-standard configurations and installation of additional software products.

It is important to completely understand the IBM support statement when making changes to your VIOS where these changes can impact the operational stability of the frame (the VIOS and LPARs):

The oem_setup_env command places the padmin user into a non-restricted UNIX root shell (/home/padmin) with full root authority.

Commands run in oem_setup_env can modify VIOS and may impact system configuration, stability, or operability. Users must not make changes that alter the operational configuration of VIOS. The primary purpose for providing the oem_setup_env command is to allow the installation and setup of vendor software, such as device drivers. If IBM Support determines that issues are caused by changes made under oem_setup_env, the system may need to be restored to its default configuration before troubleshooting can continue. Requests to make additional commands available in the padmin environment should be submitted through the IBM Idea (RFE) process.

It is imperative you work with the vendors (support teams), or an IBM Services team, for the installed software to confirm the configuration will not negatively impact the stability of your business critical systems. Keep in mind that once the systems are rolled out (e.g., into production) and these systems experience issues, especially outages, which are contributed to non-default (non-standard) configurations, the next steps recommended by IBM Remote Technical Support teams will be to remove or disable all non-standard configurations to restore the system to normal operational status. Requests for root cause analysis (RCA) for these non-standard configuration will be referred to an IBM Services team or IBM Business Partner for the in-depth assessment of this custom and non-standard configuration. The following document provides a list of recognized non-IBM products for VIOS:

IBM PowerVM VIOS Recognized List of 3rd Party Software
https://community.ibm.com/community/user/viewdocument/vios-recognized-list?CommunityKey=71e6bb8a-5b34-44da-be8b-277834a183b0&tab=librarydocuments&

Additional Information

 

Document Location

Worldwide

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Document Information

Modified date:
25 February 2026

UID

ibm17261544

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