Virtualized HBA

[rondebbs]

Hello, I am a SAN engineer in a mixed environment with many different Operating Systems including AIX 6x. I've worked with several AIX engineers (that have since left the company) zoning Virtualized HBAs to different EMC arrays. A normal non-virtualized host will log into out CISCO MDS switches with a WWN similar to 10:00:00:00c9:b1:c3:fb. We then zone the HBA starting with 10 to the EMC array port.

With virtualization a WWN port name starting with c0 is created - like c0:50:76:04:84:df:00:02. In this case we zone the c0 WWN to the array port. The previos AIX engineers did something to make the HBA (fcs0 or fcs1) login with the c0 number so that I could zone to that c0 number. I would then map and mask the array to that c0 WWN and they would use the array volume to set up boot from SAN. With the new AIX engineers we are not getting logged in with the c0: WWN - only the 10: WWN.

Is there something the AIX guys need to do to make sure we get logged into the switch with the c0: WWN? I will try to include attachment.

 

[cspilman]

Are they mapping the virtual HBA's (vfchost adapters) on the VIO server to the physical HBA's?

Regards,
Chuck

 

[rondebbs]

Yes, I beleive so. Currently the HBAs on the VIO server are not being shared between multiple host LPARS. Only one AIX LPAR owns the HBA. The VIO server may have an FCS0 with 10: while on the LPAR that HBA may be FCS1 with a 10: and c0: HBA. Problem is we are not seeing the c0: WWN on the new LPAR.

The other thing that complicates this is that the Host is not even up yet as it needs to boot from SAN. I'm trying to pre-zone and pre-map/mask the new boot LUN to the host before the host is evern up. I think the other AIX guys may have temporarily booted up on a DVD or internal drive and then they were able to see the HBA and make it log into the MDS switch with the cO:. Then things were changed over to boot from the new SAN disk.

Unfortunately the old AIX guys are not here for me to verify this with. I'm just going with my fuzzy memory of the past.

 

[cspilman]

Really, there's not much to the configuration. You assign the corresponding virtual adapters on the VIO server and VIO clients (LPAR's), then you map the vfchost adapters (VIO server adapters) to the physical adapters on the VIO server.

Depending on Firmware levels of the manage system (is the hardware p5, p6, p7?), you might have an option available in the SMS menus. The AIX folks will need to boot the LPAR up in SMS mode and go to:

5. Select Boot Options --> 4. SAN Zoning Support

From there, if you have that option under the boot options menu, you can have the adapter log into the switch to help with zoning.

Regards,
Chuck