It’s pretty new feature on IBM i, for AIX its availably since 2007. In VMware world its called VMotion. In my opinion it is still not very popular. Software vendors must still adopt their software for seamless migrations. But IBM gave us a technology which works very well.
Continue reading “Live Partition Mobility on IBM i – step by step”
Many IBM i administrators do afraid a VIOS shell. Yes, its different, completely different what we know from IBM i interface. In this post I want to show you a few commands which you know from a ‘green screen’ against its equivalent in a VIOS shell.
If you wonder what external storage can be directly attached to an IBM i, please check a document at the bottom. Continue reading “IBM i with external storage – support matrix”
In a Redbook I found a pretty serious discrepancy about disk drive location, if you run a triple split backplane. Continue reading “Triple backplane – discrepancy between Redbook vs offical doc”
It’s just a heads up how to configure a P7 hardware, if you want to have a triple split backplane.
Continue reading “Triple Split Backplane – hardware configuration”
How to perform PTF installation from a single partition across multiple systems? Let me present a solution based on IBM i functions. This solution avoids copying iso images/image catalogs to multiple LPARS. Continue reading “PTF installation from a central system”
Virtual media repository is very useful PowerVM feature. Some older IBM i administrators probably remember similar function available in iSeries ages ago. In short way, it allows to share CD/DVD images on a frame/server layer.
I use it very often, because it allows load a SLIC without physical access to a server. Practically you can install an IBM i OS, on completely new POWER server, which doesn’t even have a physical CD/DVD drive.
In this post I’d like to show different methods how to manage the Virtual Media Repository. Continue reading “Managing the Virtual Media Repository”
Big shops from time to time have a demand to prepare multiple OS installation in very short amount of time. Or maybe you want to offer ‘a cloud’ with IBM i to your clients. We all know that scratch OS installation with patching the system afterwards may take several hours.
I want to describe a concept of cloning IBM i OS. Unfortunately it requires an external storage. (I’m not sure if the same functionality could not be achieved with an internal storage and Shared Storage Pools – waiting for your feedback).
If an administrator run a VIOS within IBM i environment only, he needs to do backups anyway.
The most efficient way how to do it, is perform backups to a NFS file system exported by an IBM i .
You’ve probably noticed WWPNs are automatically generated by a HMC. But you might get to the point when you need specific World Wide Port Name. Each HBA must have an unique number. That’s why IBM didn’t give us a choice, and generates these strings automatically. First few characters (C050760….) define a virtual resource. The rest of the string is unique. A serial number of a console is used to generate distinctive identifier. The problem is when you do some maintenance work, and you lost your ‘old’ WWPN, or you need to migrate to a different VIOS. In most situation you can reconfigure your SAN infrastructure. But if you need to keep a WWPN, you can explicitly set it from a HMC command line. Continue reading “Changing WWPN of a virtual fiber adapter”
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