Originally posted by: bivy@teamhuber.com

When working with the Classic view in the HMC 8.8.4 (or any 8.8.x level) we are able to specify specific adapter slots.  In the environments I set up we will typically align our slots in the following manner:

• Client LPAR
  • Slots 2 thru 10 we reserve for virtual ethernet adapters
  • slots 11 thru 20 (or however many adapters we need) are reserved for disk fiber channel adapters
  • Slots 50 & 51 (or however many tape adapters are needed) are reserved for virtual tape fiber channel adapters
• VIO Servers
  • Slots 2 thru 10 we reserve for virtual ethernet adapters
  • slots 11 thru 499 are reserved for disk adapters are reserved for disk fiber channel adapters
  • slots 500+ are reserved for virtual tape fiber channel adapters.

By using this pattern I can run "lsmap -all -npiv" from both VIO servers and know immediately which adapters are used for tape and which are used for disk.  The Enhanced+ HMC view does not allow us to build our servers this way (unless you build every server via command line).  It will automatically place the virtual ethernet, and virtual fiber channel adapters (regardless of disk or tape) on the lowest available virtual slot.  By doing this we can no longer easily tell what is defined as a tape adapter or a disk adapter in our environment.  IBMi best practice is to not share the tape/disk workload over the same physical adapter.  Since this is the future of the HMC with what I had heard is being required with Power9 (Classic mode is rumored to be gone forever), how are we to easily distinguish between what is a tape adapter and what is a disk adapter.  The current design works for small scale entry level Power servers (824 models), but is really going to cause problems for enterprise class servers where we may have 150+ lpar's.  Please consider one of two things...  Put the old method of allowing us to define adapter slots back into the Enhanced+ view as an "advanced" option, or allow us to put an alias name on a the fiber channel adapters (fcs devices) so we can specify which is disk or tape. 

Originally posted by: sashok

The user model the enhanced+ UI presents is one where you don't manipulate adapters, and so don't need to "tell what is defined as a tape adapter or a disk adapter in our environment".  Rather, you manage storage and / or network.  For example, "attach LPAR x to network Y."  However, you can customize the slots used with the 'Edit Connections' button.

Originally posted by: bivy@teamhuber.com

Thank you for the response.  I did test what you are referencing and I think this will serve as a nice work around to the issue I was having.