AIX VIOS

This article shows you how to install a VIOS server on a blade and what post-installation steps should or could be taken.

Installation

This installation is done by CDROM on a blade. After starting up you'll see the first screen:

Press F1 and continue to the next screen:

Press 1 to have English during install and continue to the next screen:

Press 2 to see the installation options:

If you press now you'll start the installation right away:
 

Post-Installation

You have to login using the account padmin. After login you'll have to change the password immediately. After that you'll have to do a couple of things to get everything started:

• Accept the license
• Configure tcpip
• Configure date and time

The license

You can accept the licence with this command:

license -accept

TCP/IP

You can configure tcpip with this command:

mktcpip -hostname vios -inetaddr 10.10.10.10 -interface en0 -netmask 255.255.0.0 -gateway 10.10.10.1 -nsrvaddr 10.10.10.100 -nsrvdomain company.local -start

Explanation:

• interface
  • The network card you want to configure. You need this option in cas eyou have multiple networkcards
• nsrv
  • name server / dns server
• start
  • Start the network card after configuration

Date and Time

All previous steps and also this one can also be performed using the cfgassist tool. Enter this command:

cfgassist

And you'll see this screen:

Select “Set Date and TimeZone” and answer the questions about the timezone. Afterwards you can set the time and date:
 

What you should know about VIOS

Login

There is no root account on a vios, the admin account is called padmin.

IVM

When the VIOS gets installed it tries to detect a HMC. If it does not detect one, IVM gets automatically installed. IVM stands for Integrated Virtualization Manager and is accessible through a web interface (port 80) on the same IP-address you configured the VIOS on. It provides most (but not all) of the functionality your HMC would normally. See, for example this page on how to create a LPAR in IVM.

Commandline

Before going on there is something you should know about the command line in VIOS. After you log in as padmin you'll work in a restricted shell. In this shell there are only a few commands you can perform, there's no way to change directories and most commands have changed names. You can become root so these restrictions do not apply anymore:

login as: padmin
padmin@10.10.10.10's password:
Last login: Wed Mar 11 08:01:15 CDT 2009 on /dev/lft0 from localhost
$
$ oem_setup_env
#

As you can see, after entering “oem_setup_env” the prompt also changes. That's an easy way to remember you're root. You can exit this mode by typing “exit”.

Small overview of commands:

AIX	VIOS	Comment
cfgmgr	cfgdev	Discover new devices

VIOS update

VIOS updates download site When updating VIOS you should always follow the directions from the specific update/fix. These can change between fixes. Here is just an overview of some basic commands:

• ioslevel
  • Gives you the level of the current installed VIOS.
• updateios -commit
  • Commits previous updates and should be done prior to installing new updates
• shutdown -restart
  • Will restart the VIOS server, and is necessary after updates.

VIOS IVM ISO library

The VIOS IVM has the possibility to create an ISO library, so you can directly attach ISOs to a partition. To create one, follow these steps:

• Go to “View/Modify Virtual Storage” and click on the “Optical Devices” tab.
• Create a Virtual Library on a volume group that still has enough unassigned PPs left.
• After creation, click on “Add Media” to add an ISO to the library:

Because of the speed of the physical CD/DVD player in the bladecenter this can take some time:

The entire creation took just over 2 hours, for a DVD of 3.6 GB. You can check the progress in the ”“View/Modify Virtual Storage”:

As you can see, the process is now 1.8 GB far, and it will update this value if you press the “refresh” button (circled in red).

Filesystem

The ISO library get created as a filesystem:

$ df -m
Filesystem    MB blocks      Free %Used    Iused %Iused Mounted on
/dev/hd4         192.00    174.03   10%     2055     5% /
/dev/hd2        3776.00    277.93   93%    82360    55% /usr
/dev/hd9var      576.00    496.54   14%      494     1% /var
/dev/hd3        2496.00   2489.92    1%       48     1% /tmp
/dev/fwdump     1088.00    892.10   19%        7     1% /var/adm/ras/platform
/dev/hd1       10240.00  10225.46    1%       45     1% /home
/proc                 -         -    -         -     -  /proc
/dev/hd10opt     960.00    266.77   73%    11212    16% /opt
/dev/VMLibrary_LV  10208.00   5796.47   44%        6     1% /var/vio/VMLibrary

$ lslv VMLibrary_LV
LOGICAL VOLUME:     VMLibrary_LV           VOLUME GROUP:   isovg
LV IDENTIFIER:      000153ba0000d400000001223c42fb0a.1 PERMISSION:     read/write
VG STATE:           active/complete        LV STATE:       opened/syncd
TYPE:               jfs2                   WRITE VERIFY:   off
MAX LPs:            32512                  PP SIZE:        16 megabyte(s)
COPIES:             1                      SCHED POLICY:   parallel
LPs:                638                    PPs:            638
STALE PPs:          0                      BB POLICY:      non-relocatable
INTER-POLICY:       minimum                RELOCATABLE:    yes
INTRA-POLICY:       middle                 UPPER BOUND:    32
MOUNT POINT:        /var/vio/VMLibrary     LABEL:          /var/vio/VMLibrary
MIRROR WRITE CONSISTENCY: on/ACTIVE
EACH LP COPY ON A SEPARATE PV ?: yes
Serialize IO ?:     NO

VIOS And LPAR Management

List all LPARs

$ lssyscfg -r lpar -F name,state
ms-vios,Running
ms-nim,Running
ms-soe6,Running
ms-lpar02,Running
ms-lpar05,Not Activated
ms-soe,Running
ms-lpar04,Running
ms-lpar06,Running
ms-lpar07,Running
ms-lpar08,Not Activated

Shutdown LPAR

$ chsysstate -o osshutdown -r lpar -n ms-lpar04

Activate LPAR

chsysstate -o on -r lpar -n ms-lpar05