IBM VIO Server Basics

VIO Server:

 

What is VIO? Why do we need?

VIO Server (Virtual I/O Server) is an lpar used to virtualize physical adapters such as ethernet using Shared Ethernet Adapter, Fibre Channel adapter using NPIV and Physical volumes using Virtual SCSI.

This is needed to share the physical adapters between the lpars. To overcome the limitations in number of physical adapters.

 

What are the different versions?
VIO 1.5, 2.1, 2.2.1

 

how do you login to VIO Server?
use ssh padmin@vioservername and once logged in you can execute all the VIO commands. Once you login as padmin, execute "oem_setup_env" command as padmin to login as root. padmin shell is a restricted shell. Not all unix commands will work as padmin. Underlying operating system in VIO is AIX. Most of the AIX commands will work once you login as root using "oem_setup_env" but IT IS NOT RECOMMENDED by IBM

 

What hardware is supported?
Starting from POWER5, then POWER6 and POWER7. Different editions are explained below. To use advanced features such as  Active Memory Sharing and Live Partition Mobility you need Enterprise Edition

Basic commands which can be run as padmin:

license -accept : Use this command to accept license after the installation or migration or upgrade.
 of VIO server

ioslevel : To find out the current VIO version or level

mkvdev -lnagg : Command to create Ethernet link aggregation; Mainly to bundle two or more ethernet connections
mkvdev -sea ent0 -vadapter ent1 -defaultid 1 -default ent1 : Command to create Shared Ethernet Adapter
mkvdev -dev hdisk2 -vadapter vhost2 : Command to create Virtual SCSI mapping to share a disks (physical volume)

lsmap -all : To list all Virtual SCSI mapping i.e. vhost - hdisk
vfcmap : To create Virtual Fibre Channel adapter mapping to share fibre channel adapter (HBA)
lsmap -all -npiv : To list all Virtual Fibre Channel adapter mapping (NPIV Configuration)
lsnports : to verify if a fibre channel adapter supports NPIV

backupios -file /home/padmin/mnt/mksysb-backup -mksysb : To backup VIO to a file /home/padmin/mnt/mksysb-backup
updateios : To upgrade IOS level of VIO server Steps explained below

shutdown -force : to shutdown

shutdown -force -restart : to reboot

Migration and Upgrade methods:

Migration can be performed from version 1.5 to 2.1 using VIO MIGRATION DVD MEDIA. steps are explained in the below URL

For Upgrade from 2.1 to 2.2 or within 2.2 level, steps are explained in the below URL.

Example Steps:
Login to VIO server as padmin
Login as root "oem_setup_env"
mount nfsserver:/viopatches /mnt
exit to padmin "exit"
updateios -commit
updateios -install -accept -dev /mnt/viofixpackFP24
shutdown -force -restart
license -accept
ioslevel
updateios -commit

 

Read the following URLS:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/powersys/v3r1m5/index.jsp?topic=/p7eeo/GI11430205.htm
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/powersys/v3r1m5/index.jsp?topic=/p7eeo/GI11430205.htm

POWERVM:

PowerVM, formerly known as Advanced Power Virtualization (APV), is a chargeable feature of IBM POWER5, POWER6 and POWER7 servers and is required for support of micro-partitions and other advanced features. Support is provided for IBM i, AIX and Linux.
 

Description

IBM PowerVM has the following components:
A "VET" code, which activates firmware required to support resource sharing and other features.
Installation media for the Virtual I/O Server (VIOS), which is a service partition providing sharing services for disk and network adapters.
 
IBM PowerVM comes in three editions.

1.) IBM PowerVM Express
 Only supported on "Express" servers (e.g. Power 710/730, 720/740, 750 and Power Blades).
 Limited to three partitions, one of which must be a VIOS partition.
 No support for Multiple Shared Processor Pools.

This is primarily intended for "sandbox" environments

2.) IBM PowerVM Standard
 Supported on all POWER5, POWER6 and POWER7 systems.
 Unrestricted use of partitioning - 10x LPARs per core (20x LPARs for Power7+ servers) (up to a maximum of 1,000 per system).
 Multiple Shared Processor Pools (on POWER6 and POWER7 systems only).

This is the most common edition in use on production systems.

3.) IBM PowerVM Enterprise
 Supported on POWER6 and POWER7 systems only.
 As PowerVM Standard with the addition of Live Partition Mobility (which allows running virtual machines to migrate to another system) and Active Memory Sharing (which intelligently reallocates physical memory between multiple running virtual machines).