SEA (Shared Ethernet Adapter) Configuration Information for i Client LPAR Hosted by VIOS (Virtual I/O Server)

To verify if a VIOS partition has physical adapters associated with it, get to a terminal screen for the VIOS partition. In the example, find the virtual I/O server partition and place a checkmark next to it. There will be an arrow to the right of the partition name. You should choose Console Window and then choose Open Terminal Window. A terminal window should pop up. Use PADMIN (lowercase) as the user and the provided password.




In the terminal window, type lsdev -type adapter |grep en. In the example below, resources ent0 and ent1 belong to one dual port adapter. Resources ent9 and ent10 belong to another dual port adapter.

A user needs to create a virtual ethernet adapter or several virtual Ethernet in the VIOS partition. One way to create a virtual Ethernet adapter is from the HMC. Using the same VIOS partition as above, go to Dynamic Logical Partitioning.

Note: Dynamic Logical Partitioning will create resources immediately without an IPL. However, if the partition is restarted, the information is lost. One must go into Configurations-->Manage Profiles, select the intended profile, and make the changes there. There is an example below. Both are necessary if a user wishes to use the configuration without restarting the VIOS partition and have the VIOS partition use it again after a restart.

Dynamic Logical Partitioning (temporary change until restart)

Go to Dynamic Logical Partitioning --> Virtual Adapters




Click on Actions and go to Create-->Ethernet Adapter.



When creating the virtual Ethernet adapter, the system may choose the VLAN ID. You can put your own in here. The VLAN ID 67 in the example should be unique to the SEA and 802.1Q. Place a checkmark in IEEE 802.1Q and Access External Network.



Note: After this virtual Ethernet adapter is created by the VIOS partition, this will be available to guest partitions such as i OS. This will be explained later. Also, this same virtual adapter can be used by more than 1 partition. For example, i OS partition A and i OS partition B can use the same VIOS virtual ethernet resource independently. It is not necessary a requirement to create additional virtual Ethernet adapters for each guest partition.




After dynamically creating the Adapter you have to run cfgdev command in VIOS either from the HMC or the VIOS command line.

Adding To VIOS Partition Profile

Go to Configuration --> Manage Profiles




Select the profile, go to Actions --> Edit.





Click on the Virtual Adapters tab. Click on Actions --> Create --> Ethernet Adapter. The same window should appear to create a virtual Ethernet adapter as above.

From the above example, a virtual Ethernet adapter with a VLAN ID of 67 was created. To see what resource was assigned to the VIOS partition, go to Hardware Information --> Virtual I/O Adapters --> Ethernet from the HMC.





Resource ent5 is created in the VIOS partition.
Note: ENT5 has VLAN ID as 67, so we know that was the virtual resource that was defined.





Get a command line to VIOS (follow Step A). From the command line, verify if the resource is there. Type lsdev -virtual |grep en. Below we see ent5.

In this procedure, we are telling the VIOS partition which virtual Ethernet adapters should it route to a physical adapter's port. A command line to VIOS is needed (follow Step A).

Following the example used, we will tell VIOS to use virtual Ethernet ENT5 to use the first port of a 2 port adapter owned by the VIOS partition. In Step A, ENT0 is the first port of a dual port Ethernet card.

lsdev -sea <physical port> -vadapter <virtual adapters to be used, separated by spaces> -default <put in a default virtual ethernet adapter> -defaultid <the VLAN ID of the default ethernet adapter>

Using the above example:

mkvdev -sea ent0 -vadapter ent5 -default ent5 -defaultid 67

After completion, the VIOS will create a SEA adapter. This adapter has no bearing for i OS.

From the HMC, go to Hardware Information --> Virtual I/O Adapters --> Ethernet.




ENT5 now shows ENT0 under the Shared Adapter column.

Note: As mentioned in Step D, the SEA resource that was created in VIOS is not the one being selected for the i OS partition.

In this step, a virtual Ethernet adapter needs to be created for an i OS partition using the VLAN ID of the virtual Ethernet that was created by VIOS in Step B. In that step, a virtual ethernet adapter with VLAN ID 67 was created.

Note: In this step, Dynamic Logical Partitioning method is used. As mentioned in Step B, this will procedure will not survive an IPL of the i OS partition. For a permanent method, add the virtual Ethernet adapter through the profile configuration.

Go to Dynamic Logical Partitioning --> Virtual Adapters




Click on Actions --> Create --> Ethernet Adapter.





The only parameter that should be necessary is the VLAN ID parameter. That VLAN ID must match a VLAN ID that was created in VIOS in Step B. In that step, VLAN ID 67 was created.





On the i OS command line, a resource should have been created. To verify the correct resource (type F/C268C), go into communications hardware resources (Go Hardware Option 1, WRKHDWRSC TYPE(*CMN), and so on). Select the virtual Ethernet resource with an Option 7 and press Enter.

Work with Communication Resources
Sys
Type options, press Enter.
5=Work with configuration descriptions 7=Display resource d

Opt Resource Type Status Text
CMB10 268C Operational Comm Processor
LIN06 268C Operational LAN Adapter
7 CMN06 268C Operational Ethernet Port
CMB11 268C Not detected Comm Processor
LIN07 268C Not detected LAN Adapter
CMN07 268C Not detected Ethernet Port


Page down to parameter Adapter and a number should appear. That value should match the Adapter ID when the virtual ethernet was created.

Display Resource Detail

Resource name . . . . . . . : CMN06
Text . . . . . . . . . . . . : Ethernet Port
Type-model . . . . . . . . . : 268C-002
Serial number . . . . . . . : 00-00000
Part number . . . . . . . . :



Location : U9406.675.107074C-V5-C7-T1

System card 7
Communications:
I/O bus 208
Adapter 7
Port 0