Originally posted by: zoran

I'm using IVM with PowerVM/VIOS 2.2.2.3.

I allocated an NPIV Virtual Fibre Channel port to my new lpar. 

I did the SAN zoning for the NPIV WWPN. I can install the OS onto the mapped LUN, but after the install and the lpar reboots, it fails to boot off the SAN. It doesn't matter which OS I install, aix 6.1 or Redhat, both fail to boot from the SAN after the OS install.

It looks like the SMS (v1.7) isn't logging into the fabric, OR somehow it's logging in briefly but not finding a bootable image.

I can choose option 4 for SAN zoning in the SMS menu, and then it logs into the fabric, but as soon as I exit that SMS option, it logs out of the fabric.

I've searched all over and can't figure out how to make it boot off the SAN. If the boot OS is on a vScsi disk and booted up, the NPIV mapped SAN LUN works fine. Even the OpenFirmware can make it login to the fabric, but it seems to be temporary. 

What's the trick? How to boot off the SAN via NPIV?

Originally posted by: j.gann

what type of storage and multipath drivers do you use?

do these support san boot?

(ibm storage with sddpcm does, 
emc  with powerpath, hitachi/hp with hdlm, netapp with aix mpio all do with some caveats,
for other vendors consult their docs)

important for ibm, for other vendors see docs: have you included the multipath drivers in the nim spot used for installation?

I observe many sites choose to boot from vscsi for simplicity and only attach non-rootvg volumes via vfc.

Originally posted by: zoran

Storage is my own built FC SAN with Ubuntu and ZFS.

Not using multipath at the moment. This is just a playground.

Do I need multipath drivers to allow boot from SAN over FC? Is there a generic aix driver? I presume aix mpio is.

I can see the LUN from the Openfirmware (fcinfo), but it doesn't show as bootable and fails to boot if I choose option 98 (boot from this device). It looks like the OS install doesn't install the bootloader, yet I don't get any errors during install. I've tried AIX 6.1, RHEL 6.4 and Fedora 19. All behave the same. OS installs ok, without errors, but upon reboot it wont' boot. I know SMS won't show a boot device if it doesn't see it's bootable, but with the FC there's the concept of logging in. Maybe it does login briefly but doesn't see the LUN as bootable so it gives up.

I was going to experiment with iscsi boot from the same SAN next to see if that works.