Originally posted by: ssrjazz

So we have the 'installios' script to install VIOS, so why do we not have 'installaix' and 'installlinux' scripts and an "OS install image repository" (like the VIOS one, not the add install resource repo) in the hmc cli as well?  Looking through the installios perl script in /usr/hmcrbin and knowing NIMOL is capable of allowing this, I'm surprised this functionality hasn't been added long ago.  This would be a great option for remote admins who have to install AIX or Linux on Power on single LPAR systems or systems that are not using VIOS for whatever reason.  

Originally posted by: sashok

HMC focus is on basic virtualization / infrastructure management.  VIOS is considered part of virtualization infrastructure like the PowerVM hypervisor, so it manages deployment of that.

OS deployment is the domain of provisioning tools like PowerVC, Chef, Ansible, etc.

Originally posted by: ssrjazz

 I think you may have missed my point.

If your infrastructure is extremely basic, you won't have anything except the HMC.  Chef/Ansible does not deploy OS images, they are for configuration management after the fact.  PowerVC would only be used in very large environments.  In fact, in my time here at IBM, I have yet to see an account that has an AIX environment in which PowerVC is deployed.  My teams run into situations all the time where installing the OS from the HMC would be an extremely attractive alternative to having hands and eyes burn os discs and put them in Power servers for us.  Many times, they cannot even burn the discs correctly.

Most of the logistics for supporing this have already been written into the installios perl script.  I can't imagine it would take much engineering/development cycles to add installing AIX, at the very least, via the HMC.

Originally posted by: igrabovc

If you have a VIOS in your environment you can use Media Repository to provide installation ISOs as described in this note:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg3T1013047