How can a Virtual Ethernet Adapter be dynamically created and added to the SEA on VIOS?

Answer

Here are the steps to to dynamically create a Virtual Ethernet Adapter with Port VLAN ID 4 and VLAN Tag ID 758, and add it to SEA ent8 on both VIOS paritions.

(1) Identify the managed system name on the HMC

On HMC, run following command to find the name of the managed system.

lssyscfg -r sys -F name

The output will list SAP2-9105-42A.

(2) Synchronize the active profile

On HMC, run following commands to synchronize with current active profile.

chsyscfg -m SAP2-9105-42A -r lpar -i "name=sap2-vios1,sync_curr_profile=1”
chsyscfg -m SAP2-9105-42A -r lpar -i "name=sap2-vios2,sync_curr_profile=1”

(3) Check the RMC connection status

lssyscfg -r lpar -m SAP2-9105-42A -F name,rmc_state

Verify that the RMC state is active for both sap2-vios1 and sap2-vios2.

(4) Create a Virtual Ethernet Adapter on sap2-vios1

On HMC, run following commands to create a Virtual Ethernet Adapter on sap2-vios1.

chhwres -m SAP2-9105-42A -r virtualio -o a -p sap2-vios1 --rsubtype eth -a "ieee_virtual_eth=1,port_vlan_id=4,addl_vlan_ids=758,is_trunk=1,trunk_priority=1,vswitch=ETHERNET0"

(5) Create a Virtual Ethernet Adapter on sap2-vios2

On HMC, run following command to create a Virtual Ethernet Adapter on sap2-vios2.

chhwres -m SAP2-9105-42A -r virtualio -o a -p sap2-vios2 --rsubtype eth -a "ieee_virtual_eth=1,port_vlan_id=4,addl_vlan_ids=758,is_trunk=1,trunk_priority=2,vswitch=ETHERNET0"

(6) Verify the newly created Virtual Ethernet Adapter

On sap2-vios1 and sap2-vios2, run following commands to verify newly created Virtual Ethernet Adapter

As root:
cfgmgr
lsdev -Cc adapter

The lsdev command will list newly created Virtual Ethernet Adapter ent3.

Run the following command to verify the VLAN configuration:

entstat -d ent3 | egrep ‘Port VLAN|VLAN Tag”

Verify that Port VLAN ID=4 and VLAN Tag ID=758 are configured.

(7) Add the Virtual Ethernet Adapter ent3 to SEA ent8

On sap2-vios1 and sap2-vios2, run the following command to add ent3 to the SEA ent8.

As root:
chdev -l ent8 -a virt_adapters=ent2,ent3

(8) Verify the SEA configuration

On sap2-vios1 and sap2-vios2, run the following command to verify the configuration.

entstat -d ent8 | egrep ’State|ETHERNET STATISTICS|Port VLAN|VLAN Tag’

Verify that the state is PRIMARY on sap2-vios1 and BACKUP on sap2-vios2. Also verify tgar the Port VLAN ID and VLAN Tag ID are configured as follows.

ent2: Port VLAN ID=30 and VLAN Tag IDs=239

ent3: Port VLAN ID=4 and VLAN Tag IDs=758

The new configuration is illustrated in Figure 2.

Author: Darshan Patel
Platform: AIX on Power
Feedback: aix_feedback@wwpdl.vnet.ibm.com