Build new VIO server how do disk get allocated

[jpn1]

I am currently in all the VIO docs learning as fast as I can. I have a P520 express server that has 6 disk slots in it. I am going to split the backplane and install 2 146GB and 4 450GB drives.

I'm trying to figure out how the disks will get assigned if I want to install 1 VIO server and then have 2 LPARs, 1 for AIX6 and 1 for AIX 5.3.

I see how the VIO server can be 1 LPAR. I'm just not understanding how I can assign my 6 disks to the various LPAR's. I'm just looking for some general knowledge on building small VIO server in regards to disk drives.

I have all the redbooks and pdf's surrounding the P520 and VIO. I'm wanting to hear about someone else setup. I'm also building various system plans with the system planning tool.

 

[TSch]

Hi jpn1,

this is not going to be easy to explain in English for all our menus are in German ;-) but I'm going to try:

First you need to create a "virtual SCSI Adapter" within the Default Profile of your VIO Server. It is important to check the "required" box as well as to limit access to one (your target) LPAR only. You need to provide an ID as well. To make it a bit easier later on we ourself e.G. chose to create this unique ID for each new LPAR like this: LPAR ID <+> 2. So if your LPAR ID would be 9 than this ID would be 92.

Now you need to enter the default profile of your LPAR and assign this virtual SCSI adapter as client adapter.

Next log on to your VIO using PuTTY or similar and enter the following commands:

cfgdev
lsmap -all | grep vhost

The output should look something like this:

vhost0       U9133.55A.101292H-V7-C92              0x00000003
(Note that C92 is your chosen ID from above. That way you will always know what vhost0 represents which LPAR.)

Last but not least you need to create a virtual SCSI disk out of one or more of your system's hdisks and give it to your desired LPAR:

mkvdev -vdev hdisk1 -vadapter vhost0

Note: Case your planning to use more than one VIO server to provide the same hdisk to one LPAR in order to use path failover it is important to turn off the reserve_lock paramter of every hdisk before giving it to an LPAR !

Hope it helps a bit.
Sorry for the "bad" english ...

Regards,
Thomas

 

[jmc0031]

Hi,

you have 6 disks: 2 146GB and 4 450GB.
I think you'll use the 2 146GB of your VIO servers (with LVM mirror) and thus you will remain 4 450 GB drives will be seen by the VIO server and then you map to your client partitions (LPARs 2) (with the mkvdev "post of Thomas")

You want to map 2 hdisk (450Go) to each LPARs ?

Regards
Jmc0031

 

[cspilman]

I agree with leaving the 2 146GB drives for the VIO server. As far as the 4 450GB drives, those are awfully large just to be used for just 2 VIO Clients.

Personally, I would split them up. One example is below (for performance, you might want to put all rootvg’s on one mirror set and all the data disks on another):

2 x 450GB drives (1 on each backplane) as one VG:

[red]NOTE: I'm going off memory so please check the man pages before running your commands[/red]

Also, these are example naming conventions.

mkvg –f –vg <vioclient>_vg hdisk# hdisk#

Then create logical volumes that will later be assigned that will show up as disks on the to the VIO client(s):

mklv -mirror –lv <vioclient>_rvg <vioclient>_vg 30G
mklv -mirror –lv <vioclient>_data1 <vioclient>_vg 30G
mklv…

and so on.

Then map the LV’s to the VIO client(s):

mkvdev –vdev <vioclient>_rvg –vadapater vhost# -dev [b]v[/b]<vioclient>_rvg

That way, you’ve got more granularity with the space allocation for your VIO Clients. You’re also not limited to just 2 VIO clients at this point. If you need another VIO client down the road, create more LV’s and map them out.

You limit yourself if you map out whole drives in this case.

Just my 2 cents.


Regards,
Chuck