HMC

Hi all,

Not sure if this is the right forum to ask but I have an LPM question.

I'm trying to script LPAR migrations from old frames to new frames that I not yet up and running. Once they are ready, I really need to be off to a flying start.

Our old VIOs have three vSwitches and three SEAs and about 30 VLANs spread across them. The new ones will have only one vSwitch. My question is whether the migration tools will be clever enough to move the LPARs without my specifically mapping the VLANs in the migrlpar command, i.e. will it just spot the VLANs being available and map through that vSwitch regardless of the name of the vSwitch and the fact that there is only one?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Henrik Morsing

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Henrik Morsing
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Hi Henrik,
We wrote a LPM command to make some trick. Plus I think renaming of vSwitch was required.
In terms of tool, maybe LPM migration tool can do that, but I don't know. Anyhow, do you want to pay for something which generates one command?

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Bartlomiej Grabowski
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Original Message:
Sent: Wed March 31, 2021 03:32 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: LPM from three vSwitches to one

Hi all,

Not sure if this is the right forum to ask but I have an LPM question.

I'm trying to script LPAR migrations from old frames to new frames that I not yet up and running. Once they are ready, I really need to be off to a flying start.

Our old VIOs have three vSwitches and three SEAs and about 30 VLANs spread across them. The new ones will have only one vSwitch. My question is whether the migration tools will be clever enough to move the LPARs without my specifically mapping the VLANs in the migrlpar command, i.e. will it just spot the VLANs being available and map through that vSwitch regardless of the name of the vSwitch and the fact that there is only one?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing
------------------------------

Hi Henrik,

HMC is the orchestrator of the LPM operations and with default settings, it needs to configure the LPAR on the target frame with exact configuration from source managed system. If some of the resources are not available on the target machine, the validation will fail. HMC is not designed to make decisions on admin(s) behalf and pick one of the available SEA bridges on the target.

However, there is a flag in migrlpar command that you would find useful for validation operations: --vlanbridge (1|2)
default value is 1, which means if source config VLAN-ID & vSwitch combination doesn't exist on the target system, the validation will fail.
Other value:2 means, virtual ethernet adapters should be bridged on the target system if possible. If not, the migration will NOT fail but your partition won't be connected to the correct vSwitch(es) if you carry on with actual migrations.

Another important option is: vswitch_mappings where you can specify which vSwitches you will be using on the target machine. This is exactly what you are looking for in your scripts. The syntax is "6/srcSwitch/dstSwitch" and you can comma separate your multiple Virtual Ethernet adapters like this (assuming your target virtual switch is ETHERNET0): "vswitch_mappings=vlanid1/switch1/ETHERNET0,vlanid2/switch2/ETHERNET0,vlanid3/switch3/ETHERNET0"

Finally, if you are looking for a tool to automate and simplify your LPM operations, you may want to check out our (IBM Systems Lab Services) LPM & SRR Automation Tool v9, which does all of these (and a lot more) for you with a few simple clicks with a nice GUI where you can create evacuation plans, validate many LPM operations in one go, save or schedule or execute your validated plans. In fact I had introduced this tool to Phil in 2018, though that version is outdated and not usable with HMC v9 or POWER9 Processor based systems. Please send me an email if you are interested in having a chat about this tool. You can find more info in here: http://ibm.biz/lpm_srr_tool
and my recent session in PowerVUG covering entire Lab Services tools (with some demos) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAALYrgTDew

Cheers,
Turgut

------------------------------
Turgut Genc
Senior Lab Services Consultant
IBM UKI
London
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Wed March 31, 2021 03:32 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: LPM from three vSwitches to one

Hi all,

Not sure if this is the right forum to ask but I have an LPM question.

I'm trying to script LPAR migrations from old frames to new frames that I not yet up and running. Once they are ready, I really need to be off to a flying start.

Our old VIOs have three vSwitches and three SEAs and about 30 VLANs spread across them. The new ones will have only one vSwitch. My question is whether the migration tools will be clever enough to move the LPARs without my specifically mapping the VLANs in the migrlpar command, i.e. will it just spot the VLANs being available and map through that vSwitch regardless of the name of the vSwitch and the fact that there is only one?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing
------------------------------

Thanks for the replies. I think we have decided to setup a like-for-like three vSwitch configuration after-all.

I did look at the SSR tool, but there won't be money for something like that, for a one-off project.

Regards,
Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Wed March 31, 2021 07:25 PM
From: Turgut Genc
Subject: LPM from three vSwitches to one

Hi Henrik,

HMC is the orchestrator of the LPM operations and with default settings, it needs to configure the LPAR on the target frame with exact configuration from source managed system. If some of the resources are not available on the target machine, the validation will fail. HMC is not designed to make decisions on admin(s) behalf and pick one of the available SEA bridges on the target.

However, there is a flag in migrlpar command that you would find useful for validation operations: --vlanbridge (1|2)
default value is 1, which means if source config VLAN-ID & vSwitch combination doesn't exist on the target system, the validation will fail.
Other value:2 means, virtual ethernet adapters should be bridged on the target system if possible. If not, the migration will NOT fail but your partition won't be connected to the correct vSwitch(es) if you carry on with actual migrations.

Another important option is: vswitch_mappings where you can specify which vSwitches you will be using on the target machine. This is exactly what you are looking for in your scripts. The syntax is "6/srcSwitch/dstSwitch" and you can comma separate your multiple Virtual Ethernet adapters like this (assuming your target virtual switch is ETHERNET0): "vswitch_mappings=vlanid1/switch1/ETHERNET0,vlanid2/switch2/ETHERNET0,vlanid3/switch3/ETHERNET0"

Finally, if you are looking for a tool to automate and simplify your LPM operations, you may want to check out our (IBM Systems Lab Services) LPM & SRR Automation Tool v9, which does all of these (and a lot more) for you with a few simple clicks with a nice GUI where you can create evacuation plans, validate many LPM operations in one go, save or schedule or execute your validated plans. In fact I had introduced this tool to Phil in 2018, though that version is outdated and not usable with HMC v9 or POWER9 Processor based systems. Please send me an email if you are interested in having a chat about this tool. You can find more info in here: http://ibm.biz/lpm_srr_tool
and my recent session in PowerVUG covering entire Lab Services tools (with some demos) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAALYrgTDew

Cheers,
Turgut

------------------------------
Turgut Genc
Senior Lab Services Consultant
IBM UKI
London

Original Message:
Sent: Wed March 31, 2021 03:32 AM
From: Henrik Morsing
Subject: LPM from three vSwitches to one

Hi all,

Not sure if this is the right forum to ask but I have an LPM question.

I'm trying to script LPAR migrations from old frames to new frames that I not yet up and running. Once they are ready, I really need to be off to a flying start.

Our old VIOs have three vSwitches and three SEAs and about 30 VLANs spread across them. The new ones will have only one vSwitch. My question is whether the migration tools will be clever enough to move the LPARs without my specifically mapping the VLANs in the migrlpar command, i.e. will it just spot the VLANs being available and map through that vSwitch regardless of the name of the vSwitch and the fact that there is only one?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Henrik Morsing

------------------------------
Henrik Morsing
------------------------------