Using Virtual Media to Install System i with IVM Managed System

Resolving The Problem

You can use virtual media to install System i from within IVM. It is highly recommended to perform the installation using this method. There are several possibilities on how to get the media imported into IVM. The first step is to create a Virtual Media Library, if there isn't one already there. To work with optical within IVM, select the View/Modify Virtual Storage option. Then click on the Optical/Tape tab. You will see a section called Virtual Optical Media. In this case, the Virtual Media Library already exists, so it shows a size and the media that is available:



To add new .iso images, you can use the Add Media button:



Note that there is a 2 GB limit when uploading the file through an internet connection so there are a couple of options. If you have .iso images, you can ftp them to VIOS which, by default, puts the files in /home/padmin directory. If you have the media on DVD, you can use the Import from physical optical device option.

A couple of issues I have encountered with importing files from /home/padmin. VIOS does not like the .iso extension on the file name and there have been problems with the Add existing file when the file name has a .iso extension on the file name. There have also been problems with special characters, such as the underline character. If you have already FTPed the files to VIOS with the extension or special characters, you can rename the file from the VIOS command line using the mv command:

mv <original file name> <new file name>

If there is no Service Pack installed on VIOS, you can run into an bug where you receive an error message about the 2 GB size limit when using Add Existing file. This bug is fixed in the Service Pack. The real answer to this problem is to install the Service Pack on VIOS; however, there is a work-around. The Virtual Media library is a directory in VIOS. The directory is /var/vio/VMLibrary. If you change the authority of this directory to allow reads and writes, you can move the file directly into this directory. This should be done only if the normal import methods are not working and it can cause problems with VIOS. When you move the file directly, none of the normal checking is done to ensure you do not exceed the size of the Virtual Media Library, and so on. VIOS has had to be reinstalled after making errors importing directly into the directory, so use the following steps at your own risk:

$ oem_setup_env
# chmod oa+r /var/vio/VMLibrary
# exit
$ mv <filename> /var/vio/VMLibrary/<filename>

To use the virtual media image on the i partition, you should make sure the i partition has a virtual optical device and then assign the media to that partition. To verify that the partition has a virtual optical device to View/Modify Partitions, select the appropriate partition and then select the task properties:




Click on the Optical/Tape Devices tab, and verify that there is at least one virtual optical device:




If there is not at least one virtual optical device, click on the Create Device button to create a virtual optical device.

To assign the media, you can either click on the word Modify under Current Media from the partition properties:




Or you can modify it from the View/Modify Storage, Optical/Tape tab, and then click on Modify partition assignment: