Datasheet

7 Attaching open storage to IBM i through VIOS

As described in the “IBM i using open storage throughhosted by VIOS

Virtual SCSI and Storage virtualization conceptsconcepts” section, IBM i joins the VIOS

virtualization environment, allowing it to use open storage. The setup process involves the

following steps:

 Open storage configuration

 VIOS installation and configuration

 SAN zoning

 IBM i installation and configuration

The VIOS and open storage configuration steps are the same as for existing clients of VIOS,

such as AIX and Linux. These steps are well documented and any existing skills in those areas

would apply to IBM i as a client partition, as well. The only significant difference with IBM i is the

specific open storage configuration requirements in order to achieve good performance, as

referenced in the “Performance” section.

7.1 Open storage configuration

All open storage subsystems follow similar general configuration steps:

 Perform physical disk and Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) configuration

 Create volumes (LUNs)

 Attach those volumes to a host (VIOS in this case)

Naturally, the detailed steps and graphical interfaces used vary by subsystem. Locate the correct

documentation for your supported subsystem in IBM Redbooks at: http://www.redbooks.ibm.com.

Importantly, follow the instructions for creating and attaching LUNs to an AIX host if you are

planning to use VSCSI adapters. For virtual FC the IBM i host type is used. Refer to the

associated sections for more information.

7.2 VIOS installation and configuration

Refer to the VIOS planning, installation and configuration topics in the PowerVM Editions Guide,

available at:

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/systems/scope/hw/index.jsp?topic=/arecu/arecukickoff.ht

As described in the “VIOS configuration and HMC enhancementof virtual storages” section, as

soon as VIOS is installed and physical I/O resources are assigned to it, those resources can be

virtualized to IBM i using the HMC/SDMC. It is typically not necessary to use the IVM/VIOS

command line to assign virtual disk, optical and network resources to IBM i.

As you add client workload behind VIOS, consider increasing the VIOS CPU and memory

allocations. Using a shared processor pool with uncapped resources for the VIOS CPU is

recommended. When using high speed adapters (10Gb Ethernet or 8Gb FC) the amount of

memory used by the VIOS partition will increase. Increase the memory allocation to the VIOS

partitions to 6-8GB.

7.3 SAN Zoning

Fibre channel SAN switches can be zoned using their CLI or GUI. The GUI’s are similar across

the vendors, but the terms used are different. You create an Alias name that is associated with a

WWPN from a host adapter on a server or a host port on the SAN controller. The aliases are

then combined into sets comprised of a host WWPN and the SAN host port’s WWPNs that the