IBM Systems Director VMControl Installation and User''''s Guide Version 2 Release 4 pdf

Use IBM Systems Director VMControl ExpressEdition, IBM Systems Director VMControl Standard Edition, and IBM SystemsDirector VMControl Enterprise Edition or IBM Systems Director VMControl

IBM Systems Director VMControl

Installation and User's Guide

Version 2 Release 4



IBM Systems Director VMControl

Installation and User's Guide

Version 2 Release 4



Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in “Notices” onpage 431

About this publication v

Who should read this book v

Conventions and terminology v

Publications and related information v

How to send your comments vi

What's new in IBM Systems Director VMControl V2.4 vii

IBM Systems Director VMControl V2.4.2 1 Overview of IBM Systems Director VMControl 1

Understanding the components of your IBM Systems Director VMControl environment 2

License information 12

Accessibility features 15

Planning for IBM Systems Director VMControl 15

Hardware and software requirements for VMControl 15

IPv6 compliance 16

Supported virtualization environments 18

Recommendations for configuring IBM Power Systems that are using IBM Systems Director VMControl 79

Preparing your Power Systems environment for server system pools 83

Installing IBM Systems Director VMControl 84

Activating IBM Systems Director VMControl 84

Installing IBM Systems Director VMControl permanent license key using the installation wizard 85

Installing the IBM Systems Director VMControl permanent license key silently 86

Installing IBM Systems Director VMControl agents and subagents 88

Upgrading and migrating to IBM Systems Director VMControl 2.4 115

Updating IBM Systems Director VMControl 118

Deactivating and uninstalling IBM Systems Director VMControl 118

Configuring after installation 119

Navigating and managing VMControl resources 135 Using the VMControl summary page 135

Viewing resources in the Platform Managers and Members view 137

Viewing resources in the Virtual Servers and Hosts view 137

Viewing virtualization properties 138

Viewing monitors 139

Managing storage 147

Storage system pools overview 147

Managing storage system pools 149

Managing networks 152

Managing virtual servers 153

Creating a virtual server 153

Creating a virtual server for guest operating system installation in a KVM environment 154

Editing host resources 158

Editing a virtual server 158

Deleting a virtual server permanently 159

Relocating virtual servers 160

Managing power operations on virtual servers 171 Launching VMware management software 174

Managing virtual appliances and workloads 175

Creating and discovering image repositories 175

Deleting image repositories 183

Getting started with virtual appliances and workloads 183

Managing virtual appliances 197

Managing virtual appliances with Tivoli Provisioning Manager for Images 209

Managing workloads 213

Managing virtual farms 213

Adding a host to a virtual farm 214

Creating a virtual farm 214

Deleting a virtual farm from IBM Systems Director and VMware vCenter 215

Removing a virtual farm from IBM Systems Director 215

Editing a virtual farm 216

Removing a host from a virtual farm 216

Viewing virtual farms 216

Entering maintenance mode 217

Exiting from maintenance mode 217

Managing server system pools 218

Configuring SAN storage for Power Systems server system pools 218

Creating server system pools 219

Renaming a server system pool 221

Server system pool optimization 221

Adding hosts to server system pools 222

Removing a host from a server system pool 223

Putting a host into maintenance mode 223

Removing a host from maintenance mode 224

Permanently deleting a server system pool 224

Troubleshooting and support 224

Installation troubleshooting 225

Discovery and connectivity troubleshooting 228

Import troubleshooting 235

Capture troubleshooting 236

Deploy troubleshooting 242

Virtual server troubleshooting 250

Virtual appliance troubleshooting 260

Reference 261

VMControl commands 261

OVF specifications for IBM Systems Director VMControl 402

Notices 431

Trademarks 432

Index 435

About this publication

This publication provides instructions for installing and using IBM®SystemsDirector VMControl Express Edition, IBM Systems Director VMControl StandardEdition, and IBM Systems Director VMControl Enterprise Edition Use VMControl

to manage virtual servers, virtual appliances, workloads, and system pools acrossmultiple hardware platforms and virtualization environments from one location.This documentation describes how to use the Web interface as well as thecommand-line interface (smcli) to complete tasks You can also findtroubleshooting information, and a reference section that contains IBM SystemsDirector VMControl-specific requirements for Open Virtualization Format (OVF)virtual appliance packages

Who should read this book

This book is for system administrators and operators using the IBM SystemsDirector VMControl plug-in for IBM Systems Director to capture, import, anddeploy virtual appliances in the data center

Conventions and terminology

These notices are designed to highlight key information:

Note: These notices provide important tips, guidance, or advice

Important: These notices provide information or advice that might help you avoidinconvenient or difficult situations

Attention: These notices indicate possible damage to programs, devices, or data

An attention notice appears before the instruction or situation in which damagecan occur

Publications and related information

You can view the same content as is in this IBM Systems Director VMControl PDFdocument in the Information Center In addition to this documentation, there isadditional information related to IBM Systems Director VMControl

To view a PDF file, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded forfree from the Adobe Web site at http://get.adobe.com/reader/

IBM Systems Director VMControl resources on the World Wide Web

v IBM Systems Director VMControl information center

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/director/pubs/topic/

com.ibm.director.vim.helps.doc/fsd0_vim_main.htmlFind information for installing and using IBM Systems Director VMControl

v IBM Systems Director VMControl Web site

http://www.ibm.com/systems/software/director/vmcontrol/

See an overview of IBM Systems Director VMControl and links to download theproduct.

v IBM Systems Director Web site

Locate support for IBM hardware and systems-management software

v IBM Systems Director VMControl Implementation Guide on IBM Power Systems ™

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247829.htmlProvides information about installing and configuring IBM Systems DirectorVMControl in a Power Systems environment, including implementationscenarios

v IBM Systems Director Best Practices Wiki

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/WikiPtype/

IBM+Systems+Director+Best+Practices+WikiIncludes additional information related to using IBM Systems DirectorVMControl For example, you can read about troubleshooting tips for a PowerSystems environment, as well as information about the latest patches requiredfor software supported by VMControl

v IBM Systems Director API Usage & Licensing

http://www.ibm.com/vrm/4api1Find out how you can potentially use IBM Systems Director programminginterfaces to extend the capabilities of IBM Systems Director VMControl

How to send your comments

Your feedback is important in helping to provide the most accurate and highestquality information

If you have any comments about this book or any other IBM Systems Directorpublication, go to the IBM Systems Director information center Web site atpublib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/director/pubs/index.jsp There you will findthe feedback page where you can enter and submit comments

What's new in IBM Systems Director VMControl V2.4

IBM Systems Director VMControl Version 2.4 provides a number of new featuresand enhancements

Functional enhancements

VMControl provides several functional enhancements including the following tasksand commands:

v VMControl is automatically installed and uninstalled with IBM Systems Director

so there is no need for a separate installation or uninstallation However youmust activate VMControl before you can use it

v Messages for VMControl are now included in this information center To find amessage, type the message ID in the Search field and click Go

v IBM Systems Director VMControl for IBM PowerLinux is available, providingthe same functionality as IBM Systems Director VMControl Enterprise Edition

v Support for an integrated System Pools view on the VMControl summary page.From the System Pools tab you can access server system pools, storage systempools, and if IBM Systems Director Network Control is installed and activated,network system pools

v Support on KVM and IBM Power Systems for integration with IBM SystemsDirector Network Control network system pools (NSPs) for automated networkrelocation and logical network provisioning across network resources

v Support on KVM and Power Systems for integration with IBM Systems DirectorNetwork Control and IBM Systems Director Network Management logicalnetwork profiles to provision new and existing networks for capturing virtualservers and deploying virtual appliances

v Support on KVM and IBM Power Systems to capture and deploy virtual serversthat have multiple virtual disks, including the operating system (boot) disk andadditional data disks For Power Systems, the virtual disks can be block type.For KVM, the virtual disks can be block or file type

v Support on Power Systems for deploying to new virtual servers that use N-port

ID Virtualization (NPIV) This support is for HMC-managed systems in both aNIM-based and SCS-based virtualization environment

v Support for managing agentless operating-system resources that use alternateSSH software (non-OpenSSH software) This function is supported for thecapture and deploy tasks in the following virtualization environments:

– AIX®in a Power Systems virtualization environment that relies on AIXNetwork Installation Manager (NIM)

– AIX and Linux in a Power Systems virtualization environment that relies onstorage copy services (SCS)

v Support for decreased copy times when capturing workloads and deployingvirtual appliances by utilizing FlashCopy® in the storage environment, using one

of the following options:

– By creating a remote service access point (RSAP) connection to an IBM Tivoli®

Storage Productivity Center for Replication server For more information, seePreparing to use FlashCopy with TPC-R and mktpcrrsap

– By creating an SSH remote service access point (RSAP) connection for theSAN Volume Controller or IBM Storwize®V7000 For more information, seePreparing to use FlashCopy with SSH and mksvcsshrsap

v Support for new monitors that report data for workloads and server systempools In addition, enhanced resource views can be filtered to displayinformation such as storage, network, and top resource consumers for aworkload or server system pool.

v Support for the VMware vCenter virtualization environment:

– VMware vCenter systems are now managed without agents A VMControlsubagent for VMware vCenter is no longer required

– The Connect task is no longer required on VMware vCenter systems toestablish credentials for the system Discover and request access to theVMware vCenter system and proceed with management tasks

– After the request access task for the VMware vCenter system completes, all ofits managed VMware ESX Server and VMware ESXi hosts are discoveredautomatically The request access task is then performed by default onVMware ESXi systems Request access to VMware ESX Server hosts must still

– Support for NFS and SAN storage pools to share storage between servers in aserver system pool or farm for the following:

- Capture to an image repository

- Deployment from an image repository

- Relocation– Support for turning maintenance mode on and off for server system poolhosts

– Support for paravirtualization drivers on a guest operating system to improveyour virtual server performance, and support for paravirtualized networks ordevices for your virtual server

– Support for providing CPU used time, ready time, and demand estimationusage metrics information about your virtual server

– Support for validating system compatibility for relocation of your hosts,including provision of relocation failure details, prevention of relocationsbetween incompatible hosts, and presentation of only those hosts that arecompatible during server system pool creation or host addition

– Support for adding new virtual disks or deleting virtual disks that are notassigned to a virtual server through the Edit Host function

– Support for specifying the primary and secondary boot device types of avirtual server

– Support for creating or editing a virtual server such that a serial consoledevice is made available, and for starting remote control from IBM SystemsDirector to access your virtual server guest operating system

v Support for IBM i virtualization environment:

– Support for creating, editing, and deleting virtual servers– Support for capturing virtual servers or workloads, importing and deployingvirtual appliances

– Support for creating, editing, starting, stopping, and deleting workloads

v Support for changing default settings and customizing your Network InstallationManager (NIM) environment as follows:

– Specifying the IP addresses that the NIM master uses to communicate withthe platform manager

– Specifying the IP addresses that the NIM master uses to communicate withthe client virtual server during capture operations

– Specifying where the NIM master image repository stores images

– Optimizing the deploy operation for NIM

– Allowing the configuration of secondary network adapters that cannot bereached by the NIM master during the deploy operation

v Support for a new activation engine for AIX and Linux using SCS

For AIX and Linux using storage copy services (SCS) in a Power® virtualizationenvironment, you must install and use the Virtual Solutions Activation Engine(VSAE) The VSAE is shipped with VMControl 2.4 and enables you to apply IPconfigurations from a virtual appliance captured with VMControl 2.4 Theactivation engine shipped with previous VMControl versions will not work

v Support for IBM Flex System Manager managing Power Systems

v CLI commands that are new to VMControl:

on whether you install the Express®, Standard, or Enterprise Edition of IBM

Systems Director VMControl For more information, see Overview of IBM SystemsDirector VMControl

IBM Systems Director VMControl V2.4.2

IBM Systems Director VMControl is designed to simplify the management ofworkloads in your IT environment Use IBM Systems Director VMControl ExpressEdition, IBM Systems Director VMControl Standard Edition, and IBM SystemsDirector VMControl Enterprise Edition or IBM Systems Director VMControl forIBM PowerLinux to manage virtual servers, virtual appliances, workloads, andsystem pools across multiple hardware platforms and virtualization environmentsfrom one location

Overview of IBM Systems Director VMControl

This section provides an overview of IBM Systems Director VMControl ExpressEdition, IBM Systems Director VMControl Standard Edition, IBM Systems DirectorVMControl Enterprise Edition, and IBM Systems Director VMControl for IBMPowerLinux, including accessibility and license information

IBM Systems Director VMControl is a cross-platform product that assists you inrapidly deploying virtual appliances to create virtual servers that are configuredwith the operating system and software applications that you want It also enablesyou to group resources into system pools, which enable you to centrally manageand control the different workloads in your environment

IBM Systems Director VMControl Express Edition includes features that wereformerly part of IBM Systems Director virtualization manager With VMControlExpress Edition, you can complete the following tasks:

v Create virtual servers

v Edit virtual servers

v Manage virtual servers

v Relocate virtual servers

v Discover virtual server, storage, and network resources and visualize thephysical-to-virtual relationships

IBM Systems Director VMControl Standard Edition is a licensed feature ofVMControl With VMControl Standard Edition, you can complete the followingtasks:

v Create new image repositories for storing virtual appliances and discoverexisting image repositories in your environment

v Import external, standards-based virtual appliance packages into your imagerepositories as virtual appliances

v Capture a running virtual server that is configured just the way you want,complete with guest operating system, running applications, and virtual serverdefinition When you capture the virtual server, a virtual appliance is created inone of your image repositories with the same definitions and can be deployedmultiple times in your environment

v Import virtual appliance packages that exist in the Open Virtualization Format(OVF) from the Internet or other external sources After the virtual appliancepackages are imported, you can deploy them within your data center

v Deploy virtual appliances quickly to create new virtual servers that meet thedemands of your ever-changing business needs

v Create, capture, and manage workloads.

IBM Systems Director VMControl Enterprise Edition and IBM Systems DirectorVMControl for IBM PowerLinux are also licensed features of VMControl WithVMControl Enterprise Edition and IBM Systems Director VMControl for IBMPowerLinux, you can complete the following tasks

v Create server system pools, which enable you to consolidate your resources andworkloads into distinct and manageable groups

v Deploy virtual appliances into server system pools

v Manage server system pools, including adding hosts or additional storage spaceand monitoring the health of the resources and the status of the workloads inthem

v Group storage systems together using storage system pools to increase resourceutilization and automation

v Manage storage system pools by adding storage, editing the storage system poolpolicy, and monitoring the health of the storage resources

You are granted an evaluation period for VMControl Standard Edition andVMControl Enterprise Edition or VMControl for IBM Linux on Power Systemswhen you download and install VMControl For more information, see the LicenseInformation topic

The IBM Systems Director VMControl Summary page guides you through thetasks you need to complete to get started using the product: installing agents,discovering or creating image repositories, capturing or importing virtualappliances Once you are up and running, the Summary page gives you quickaccess to the main tasks and views that you can use in IBM Systems DirectorVMControl The Summary page also helps you manage your licenses forVMControl Standard Edition and VMControl Enterprise Edition For moreinformation, see "Navigating and managing VMControl resources."

Related information:Navigating and managing VMControl resourcesDownloads

Supported virtualization environments

Understanding the components of your IBM Systems Director VMControl environment

IBM Systems Director VMControl enables you to manage various components inyour virtualization environment

Platform managers

A platform manager manages one or more host systems and their associated virtual

servers and operating systems

Here are some examples of platform managers:

v IBM Flex System Manager

v Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM)

IBM Systems Director does not recognize a managed system as a platform manageruntil the managed system has been unlocked (The padlock icon in the Accesscolumn for a managed system indicates that it is secured.) To request access to the

managed system, right-click the managed system and click Request Access By

providing a valid user name that has local administrative rights to that managedsystem and its password, you can unlock and access the system

IBM Flex System Manager serves as both a platform manager and the managementserver Therefore, you do not need to request access to it

Hosts

In an IBM Systems Director environment, a host is a system that contains resources

from which virtual servers are constructed

Hosts can be any of the following systems that are configured for the IBM SystemsDirector environment:

v A BladeCenter®Chassis

v IBM Flex System Enterprise Chassis

v A RHEL 6.0 or 6.1 server that has Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)

virtualization support enabled

v IBM Power Systems that are under the control of an IBM Hardware

Management Console (HMC)

v An IBM Power Systems server that is under the control of IBM IntegratedVirtualization Manager (IVM)

v A system running VMware ESX Server or VMware ESXi that is under the

control of VMware vCenter

v Windows Server 2008, Enterprise, Standard, and Datacenter x64 Editions withHyper-V role enabled, Release 2

v A System z®LPAR running z/VM®hypervisor

v A Power Systems compute node

A host can manage multiple virtual servers and their guest operating systems

Virtual servers

A virtual server is associated with a host system The host must be part of a

virtualization environment that is supported in IBM Systems Director An

operating system and other software can be installed on a virtual server In aPower Systems environment, a virtual server is called a logical partition or

partition In z/VM and VMware environments, virtual servers are often calledvirtual machines

A virtual server is the logical equivalent of a physical platform After IBM SystemsDirector discovers a host, it continues the discovery process for all the virtualservers that are associated with the host After virtual servers are discovered, theycan be powered on and turned off through IBM Systems Director In addition, youcan edit resources that are assigned to virtual servers, and in some virtualizationenvironments you can relocate a virtual server from one host to another You canalso create additional virtual servers to meet your needs

The following diagram shows a virtual server with an operating system andsoftware application installed

A guest-operating-system represents an operating system that is running on a virtual

server on which Common Agent is installed A guest-operating-system is aparticular type of managed system

The standard IBM Systems Director discovery process for managed systems candiscover guest operating systems However, if a guest operating system is notrunning Common Agent, it is not recognized as a guest-operating-system object inIBM Systems Director

Virtual farms

A virtual farm logically groups like hosts and facilitates the relocation task —

moving a virtual server from one host to another host within the virtual farm

A virtual farm can contain multiple hosts and their associated virtual servers Avirtual farm can contain only hosts of the same type For example, a virtual farmthat begins with a KVM host can contain only other KVM hosts When a virtualfarm is configured, you can relocate virtual servers between hosts in the farm.You use the Create Virtual Farm wizard to group hosts together and enablespecialized capabilities for the virtual servers running on the hosts You can enablecapabilities such as high availability, workload management, live relocation, andstatic relocation Not all capabilities are supported on all platforms

VMware vCenter farms discovered or created in the VMControl environment

During discovery, IBM Systems Director VMControl identifies a system that isrunning VMware vCenter server as a platform manager As the discovery processcontinues, farms that exist in the VMware vCenter environment are identified Ifnecessary, you can manually request the discovery of farms after VMControl hasdiscovered a platform manager Alternatively, you can create VMControl virtualfarms for a platform manager

VMControl virtual farms are not identical to farms in VMware vCenter becauseVMControl does not use the hierarchical model that VMware vCenter uses

VMware vCenter supports collections of farms, which are referred to as farm

groups This concept enables VMware vCenter to present farms in hierarchical

groups within the VMware vCenter client However, VMControl does not have afarm group concept and does not support displaying the farm groups in the sametype of farm hierarchy When VMControl creates a virtual farm for a VMware

vCenter farm that is a member of one or more farm groups, the name of theVMControl virtual farm is displayed, but the hierarchy is not displayed You canfind the full path that VMware vCenter uses in the Virtualization Properties Seethe Vendor identifier field.

Note: If a farm that is contained within a farm group is discovered and later thatfarm group is renamed in VMware vCenter, unexpected behavior can occur withthe virtual farm in the VMControl environment This unexpected behavior for theVMControl virtual farm occurs for all instances of IBM Systems Director Serverthat are tracking activity on that virtual farm

The farm type of a VMControl virtual farm that exists in a VMware vCenter

environment is VMware vCenter.

VMControl virtual farms for other virtualization environments

You can create virtual farms for use with other supported virtualization

environments These virtual farms are not defined in any virtualization application,but exist only in IBM Systems Director VMControl

The virtual farm type of a VMControl virtual farm is undefined until you add ahost to it Then, the virtual farm type becomes one of the following values:

Virtual appliances

A virtual appliance is a ready-to-deploy operating system and software package that

is stored by IBM Systems Director VMControl A virtual appliance contains animage of a full operating system, and can contain software applications and

middleware A virtual appliance also contains metadata describing the virtualserver that the image requires

VMControl enables you to capture a virtual appliance from a virtual server alreadydeployed with an image, capture a virtual appliance from a single-virtual serverworkload, or import a virtual appliance package that was created outside of

VMControl

The following diagram shows a virtual appliance

Importable virtual appliance packages must conform to the DistributedManagement Task Force (DMTF) Open Virtualization Format (OVF) Version 1.1.0.They also must abide by the limitations and restrictions imposed by VMControl.For more information, see "OVF specifications for VMControl."

You can deploy a virtual appliance to a host, to a server system pool, or to existingvirtual servers When you deploy a virtual appliance to a host or a server systempool, a new virtual server is created for you Additionally, the deploy operation inVMControl creates a workload to represent the deployed virtual appliance Theinformation described in this topic applies in a Power Systems environment Somelimitations exist in other environments

Related information:Workloads

OVF specifications for VMControl

Workloads

A workload represents one or more virtual servers that can be monitored and

managed as a single entity For example, you can manage a workload that mightcontain both a web server and a database server

You can start and stop a workload, and thus the virtual servers it contains, as oneentity You can monitor the overall state and status of the workload by viewing theWorkloads dashboard A workload is automatically created when you deploy avirtual appliance You can also create a workload by grouping one or more virtualservers that are not already part of an existing workload

The following diagram shows a workload created when a virtual appliance isdeployed The resulting workload contains a single virtual server

The following diagram shows a workload created by grouping three virtual

servers

A workload must meet the following specifications:

v An application instance can be part of only one workload For example, anapplication instance such as a database cannot be shared by more than oneworkload

v A workload can consist of only virtual servers A workload cannot consist ofphysical machines

v All virtual servers in a workload must either be members of a server systempool, or must exist outside of a server system pool A workload cannot consist ofboth types of virtual servers.

v A workload in a server system pool that supports the resilience policy cancontain only virtual servers that also support the resilience policy

v A workload in a server system pool that supports the resilience policy forremote restart can contain only virtual servers that also support the resiliencepolicy for remote restart

v To suspend a workload, the workload must be in Started state, which meansthat all of the virtual servers in the workload are started To resume a workload,the workload must be in Suspended state, which means that all of the virtualservers in the workload are suspended A workload that contains virtual servers

in mixed states cannot be suspended In this case, you can invoke poweroperations on individual virtual servers within the workload, so that all of thevirtual servers are in the same state The workload state will be automaticallysynchronized as the states of its virtual servers are changed

To create a workload by grouping one or more virtual servers, use the Group asWorkload wizard You can specify certain criteria for the workload that you want

to create Then, you can select one or more virtual servers that match the criteriaand add them to the workload

You can choose from the following criteria:

This workload can be captured

After selecting this option, you can select a single virtual server from afiltered list of virtual servers that support the VMControl capture task.After the workload is created, you can capture it and deploy it in thefuture

This workload can be activated for resilience policy and its virtual servers will

be managed by the server system pool

This criteria applies to the relocation resilience policy; it does not apply tothe remote restart resilience policy After selecting this option and selecting

a server system pool that manages the virtual servers, you can selectadditional virtual servers from a filtered list of virtual servers that supportthe relocation resilience policy

Related information:Virtual appliancesRelocating virtual servers using the resilience policy

System pools

A system pool groups similar resources, so that you can manage the resources

within the system pool as a single unit You can create storage system pools andserver system pools You can perform basic tasks such as creating and deletingsystem pools and adding and removing resources from the system pools

Additional system pool functions are available, depending on the type of systempool you have created

Getting started with system pools:

After you have discovered and collected inventory on your systems, you can workwith different types of system pools to optimize your resource usage and workloadresilience

System pools and virtualization

You can group resources into system pools to centrally manage and control thevirtual servers and workloads that are deployed in your environment You cancreate the following types of system pools:

v Storage system pools

v Server system pools

v Network system pools

Network system pools enable automated network relocation and logical network

provisioning across network resources for the servers in related server systempools You can combine the following different types of system pools to increaseworkload resilience:

v Using storage system pools and server system pool to leverage automatedstorage provisioning In this scenario, you can take advantage of the integrationbetween IBM Systems Director Storage Control and VMControl to automatestorage provisioning during tasks such as virtual appliance deployment andvirtual server relocation

Restriction: This scenario is not supported for KVM.

v Using server system pools with network system pools to leverage automatednetwork relocation and logical network provisioning In this scenario, you cantake advantage of the integration between IBM Systems Director NetworkControl and VMControl to simplify the network configuration of server systempools during virtual server relocations Users can also deploy VLANs acrosstheir entire networks For more information, see "System pools and automatednetwork relocation."

Understanding system pool configuration

Set up your system pools in the following order:

1 Storage system pools: Group similar storage subsystems to create storagesystem pools For more information, see "Storage system pools overview."

2 Network system pools (NSPs): If you have Network Control installed andlicensed, and you intend to use automated network relocation or logical

network provisioning, set up network system pools after setting up yourstorage system pools For more information, see "Network system pools."

3 Server system pools: Specify storage during server system pool creation andadd hosts to the server system pool that are connected the same shared storage

as the server system pool For KVM hosts, this shared storage can be eitherfile-backed (NFS) or block-backed (SAN) If you intend to use automatednetwork relocation, create your server system pool, or pools, from serversconnected by the same NSP For more information, see "Server system pools."

Storage system pools:

A storage system pool groups similar storage subsystems with the goal of better

resource usage and workload resilience A storage system pool automates

placement within the storage system pool to simplify workload deployment

operations

When virtual servers are relocated from one host to another host in a server

system pool, or when a virtual server is deployed into a server system pool, theassociated storage system pool can simultaneously reallocate storage to maintain

workload resilience Storage system pools enable the use of storage tiers whenstorage subsystems have storage pools of differing RAID levels.

All storage subsystems within the storage system pool must be part of the sameactive zone configuration Storage subsystems can be members of multiple storagesystem pools

You use the Create Storage System Pool wizard to combine storage and filterstorage based on criteria, such as the zone membership

After a storage system pool is created, the interface displays a list of known RAIDlevels for the storage system pool The RAID levels list is comprised of the RAIDlevels for all the internal storage pools within the storage system pool Somestorage pools may have undefined RAID levels Only the known RAID levels arelisted

The following diagram shows three storage subsystems in a storage system pool

Storage system pool tasks

With IBM Systems Director VMControl you can perform the following storagesystem pool tasks:

v Create a storage system pool

v View a real-time dashboard to view storage system pools; view aggregatedstorage utilization; and check the status of all the resources managed by yourstorage system pool

v View and modify the default storage policy for a storage system pool

v Rename a storage system pool

v Optimize the server system to improve performance

v Add storage subsystems to a storage system pool

v Remove storage subsystems from a storage system pool

v Permanently delete a storage system pool

Related concepts:Storage system pools overview

Server system pools:

A server system pool logically groups similar hosts with the goal of better resource

usage and workload resilience A server system pool comprises multiple hosts andtheir associated virtual servers, along with attached shared storage A server

system pool facilitates the deployment of new workloads including automaticplacement, as well as relocation of virtual servers from one host to other hosts inthe server system pool By relocating virtual servers within a server system pool,you can maintain the high availability and resilience of your workloads.

You use the Create Server System Pool wizard to group hosts and filter hostsbased on their capabilities, such as live relocation and automated network

relocation

The following diagram shows three hosts and attached, shared storage in a serversystem pool

Server system pool criteria

A server system pool must meet the following criteria:

v A server system pool groups similar hosts For example, a server system poolcan contain hosts that are managed by Hardware Management Consoles

(HMCs), or it can contain hosts that are managed by Integrated VirtualizationManagers (IVMs), but the server system pool cannot contain both types of hosts

v A host can be a member of only one server system pool

v All hosts in a server system pool must use the same shared storage

v A server system pool that supports the workload resilience policy for live virtualserver relocation must contain hosts that are capable of live virtual server

relocation

v A server system pool that supports automated network relocation must containhosts that are connected by a network system pool (NSP) and capable of

automated network relocation

v All hosts in a server system pool must be compatible to share workloads based

on specific criteria required by each platform VMControl helps you create serversystem pools with compatible hosts When you select an initial host for yourserver system pool, VMControl provides a list of compatible hosts from whichyou can select other hosts to add to the server system pool

Server system pool tasks

With IBM Systems Director VMControl you can perform the following serversystem pool tasks:

v Create a server system pool

v View a real-time dashboard to view server system pools; view monitors such asCPU utilization; and check the status of all the resources managed by yourserver system pool

v Rename a server system pool

v Add and remove hosts from a server system pool

v Permanently delete a server system pool

v Enter and exit maintenance mode for the hosts in the server system pool

v Deploy a virtual appliance to the server system pool

Relocation resilience in a server system pool

IBM Systems Director VMControl can detect problems that occur in your serversystem pool For example, your server system pool might experience resourceshortages, high CPU utilization, or hardware failures related to processors, memorysubsystems, power source, or storage When these types of problems occur in yourserver system pool, virtual servers can be relocated from one host to another host

to ensure that your workloads remain resilient You can perform the relocation taskmanually, you can activate the resilience policy for the workloads in your serversystem pool for relocation that is initiated by the server system pool, or you cancreate an automation plan to relocate virtual servers based on events of yourchoosing Additionally, if you have IBM Systems Director Network Controlinstalled and licensed, you can use NSPs with VMControl to implement automatednetwork mobility

Related information:Relocating virtual servers

When you activate VMControl, you are granted an evaluation period for IBMSystems Director VMControl Standard Edition image management functions andIBM Systems Director VMControl Enterprise Edition and IBM Systems DirectorVMControl for IBM PowerLinux system pool functions During the evaluationperiod, you can capture, import, and deploy virtual appliances in yourenvironment and create and manage system pools When the evaluation periodexpires, you must purchase a license to continue using VMControl StandardEdition, VMControl Enterprise Edition, or IBM Systems Director VMControl forIBM PowerLinux

The evaluation period begins when you activate IBM Systems Director VMControlExpress Edition The number of days left in the evaluation period is displayed onthe bottom of the summary page The day the evaluation period expires is alsodisplayed, as well as a link for purchasing a license If you deactivate VMControl,the evaluation period of IBM Systems Director VMControl Standard Edition, IBM

Systems Director VMControl Enterprise Edition, and IBM Systems Director

VMControl for IBM PowerLinux is not suspended and does not restart when you

Table 1 Access to product features when the evaluation period expires

When the evaluation period

expires for You are still able to You are no longer able to

VMControl Standard Edition v View virtual appliances

v Delete virtual appliances

v Discover imagerepositories

v Deploy virtual appliances

v Use Tivoli ProvisioningManager for Imageslaunch-in-context tasks forVMware and Hyper-Vvirtual appliancesVMControl Enterprise

Editionor IBM Systems

Director VMControl for IBM

to storage system pools

v Edit an existing serversystem pool

v Relocate one or all virtualservers in a server systempool

v Use network system pools

to simplify the networkconfiguration on the targethost during virtual serverrelocations within a virtualfarm

v Enter or exit maintenancemode for hosts in a serversystem pool

v Activate a resilience policy

on a workload

However, when you purchase and install the licenses for VMControl StandardEdition, VMControl Enterprise Edition, or IBM Systems Director VMControl forIBM PowerLinux, any image repositories, virtual appliances, or system pools thatyou created during the evaluation period are still usable

To purchase a license, contact your IBM representative, an IBM Business Partner, orIBM Americas Call Centers at 800-IBM-CALL After you purchase a license, youwill receive a CD-ROM containing a permanent license key and installationprogram After you install the license key, VMControl Standard Edition,VMControl Enterprise Edition, or IBM Systems Director VMControl for IBMPowerLinux function just as they did during the evaluation period.

VMControl uses a per-processor or per-server charging metric, depending onplatform For Power Systems, a processor license is required for every processor onevery Power Systems server being managed by the program Servers are

categorized as small, medium, or large based on criteria such as server model Ifyou want to move the authorization to manage a Power Systems server that has ahigher authorization requirement or manage additional Power Systems servers,you agree to notify IBM or its reseller and agree to acquire the required

authorization For System x®, a server license is required for every IBM x86 serverbeing managed by VMControl

The following table shows the authorizations you need for different scenarios:

Table 2 Authorization needed for VMControl functions

If you want to use You must obtain an authorization for

One of the following to manage IBM x86servers:

v VMControl Standard Edition imagemanagement functions

v VMControl Enterprise Edition system poolfunctions

v IBM Systems Director VMControlEnterprise Edition

v VMControl Standard Edition imagemanagement functions to manage IBMSystem z servers

v IBM Systems Director Standard Editionfor Linux on System z

One of the following:

v VMControl Standard Edition imagemanagement functions to manage IBMPower Systems servers

v VMControl Standard Edition imagemanagement functions to manage IBMSystem z servers

One of the following:

v IBM Systems Director Standard Editionfor Power

v IBM Systems Director VMControlStandard Edition

v IBM Systems Director Standard Editionfor Linux on System z

v VMControl Enterprise Edition system poolfunctions to manage IBM Power Systemsservers

One of the following:

v IBM Systems Director Enterprise Editionfor Power

v IBM Systems Director VMControlEnterprise Edition

v VMControl to manage IBM PowerLinuxservers

v IBM Systems Director VMControl for IBMPowerLinux

Contact your IBM marketing representative or IBM Business Partner for detailedlicensing and pricing information

Related information:DownloadsVMControl Standard Edition Web pageVMControl Enterprise Edition Web page

Accessibility features

This topic provides information about the accessibility features of IBM SystemsDirector VMControl

Accessibility features help users who have a disability, such as restricted mobility

or limited vision, to use information technology products successfully The IBMSystems Director VMControl plug-in for IBM Systems Director supports theaccessibility features that are supported in IBM Systems Director

When using JAWS screen reader with VMControl, follow these tips to improveJAWS usability:

v Access IBM Systems Director Server using a supported Mozilla Firefox browser

v Enable accessibility features in the IBM Systems Director Web interface:

1 Open Settings > Navigation Preferences.

2 Turn on the following options:

– Enable tables for accessibility– Play sound when data on the page changes– Use resource table view as default view for topology perspectives

3 Click OK or Apply to save your settings.

For more information, see the Accessibility features for IBM Systems Director topic

Planning for IBM Systems Director VMControl

Before using IBM Systems Director VMControl, review the virtualizationenvironments that VMControl supports and tasks supported for each virtualizationenvironment You can also find information about planning for each virtual

environment and learn how you can prepare for creating and using system pools

Related tasks:Installing VMControlInstalling VMControl agents and subagents

Hardware and software requirements for VMControl

Previously, IBM Systems Director VMControl was installed separately from theinstallation of IBM Systems Director Starting with version 2.4, VMControl isinstalled during the installation of IBM Systems Director You do not need todownload and install VMControl independently However, you do need to activateVMControl This section contains information about the minimum hardware andsoftware requirements for your IBM Systems Director management system

Hardware requirements

For all hardware requirements, the VMControl plug-in has the same requirements

as IBM Systems Director 6.3 For a list of requirements, see Hardware

requirements (http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/director/pubs/topic/com.ibm.director.plan.helps.doc/fqm0_r_hardware_requirements.html)

Software requirements

For more information about compatability, and to ensure that you have followedthe correct steps to obtain IBM Systems Director version 6.3, see Installing IBMSystems Director

Firewalls and proxy servers

VMControl supports the same firewall and proxy server as IBM Systems Director.For more information see, Preparing firewalls and proxies for IBM SystemsDirector (http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/director/pubs/topic/

IBM Systems Director VMControl version 2.4.1 is IPv6 compliant

To find out about general IPv6 compliance for IBM Systems Director, see "IPv6compliance." Then, read the following information to understand the restrictions orprerequisites that pertain to VMControl

With VMControl, you can create virtual servers on the types of virtualization hostsshown in the following table However, the support for specific hosts depends onthe networking characteristics of those hosts Some might have one or more IPv4network connections, one or more IPv6 network connections, one or more dualstack network connections, or a combination of these types of connections Thefollowing table describes the level of IPv6 support provided by VMControl ExpressEdition:

Table 3 IPv4/v6 support provided by VMControl Express Edition

Virtualization host type Level of support or restriction

Power Systems v No known restrictions

Table 3 IPv4/v6 support provided by VMControl Express Edition (continued)

Virtualization host type Level of support or restriction

Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) v IPv4 and IPv4/v6 dual stack support only

Note: In order to support NFS Version 3,each NFS server and the NFS client(s)(KVM endpoints and repository server)must have an IPv4 interface enabled.VMware (ESX4.x, ESXi 4.x, vSphere 4.x

running on Windows Server 2008, Enterprise,

Standard, and Datacenter x64 Editions)

v IPv4 and IPv4/v6 dual stack support only

Windows Server 2008, Enterprise, Standard,

and Datacenter x64 Editions with Hyper-V

role enabled, Release 2

v IPv4 and IPv4/v6 dual stack support only

restrictions shown below.)

Table 4 IPv4/v6 support provided by VMControl Standard Edition and VMControl Enterprise Edition

Virtual server type Level of support or restriction

Power Systems For NIM-based deploys of AIX virtual

servers:

v Single stack, static IPv4 onlyFor storage copy services (SCS)-baseddeploys of AIX or Linux virtual servers:

v Single stack, static IPv4, static IPv6, orIPv6 autoconf OR dual stack, static IPv4with IPv6 autoconf only

Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) v Single stack, static IPv4, IPv4 DHCP, or

static IPv6 OR dual stack, static IPv4 withstatic IPv6, static IPv4 with IPv6 autoconf,

or IPv4 DHCP with IPv6 autoconf only

Note: The system hosting the NFS servermust have at least one IPv4 interfaceenabled and accessible from IBM SystemsDirector Server

Table 4 IPv4/v6 support provided by VMControl Standard Edition and VMControl Enterprise Edition (continued)

Virtual server type Level of support or restriction

z/VM v For a layer-2 network interface, any

combination of the following:

– Static IPv4– DHCP (IPv4)– Static IPv6– IPv6 autoconfiguration that iscontrolled by the presence or absence

of a router advertisement daemon onthe network, not by the activationengine

v For a layer-3 network interface, anycombination of the following:

– Static IPv4– DHCP (IPv4)

Related information:IPv6 (Power Systems) developerWorks wikiIPv6 compliance

Supported virtualization environments

This topic lists the virtualization environments that are supported by IBM SystemsDirector VMControl, and the tasks that are supported in each environment

Virtualization environment

Supported tasks

AIX and Linux

on IBM Power Systems in a virtualized environment 1

VMware vCenter and VMware ESX or ESXi managed by VMware vCenter

Windows Server

2008, Enterprise, Standard, and Datacenter x64 Editions with Hyper-V role

Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)

IBM i on IBM Power Systems

in a virtualized environment 1

Create, edit, and

delete virtual

servers

Create, edit, and

Put hosts into

Virtualization environment Capture

workloads

Deploy virtual

appliances

Start, stop, and

delete

workloads

Create, edit, and

delete

workloads

Create, edit, and

delete server

system pools

Create, edit, and

4 Not supported for IBM Flex System Manager

5 Relocation of IBM i virtual servers is supported only for virtual servers that arerunning IBM i v7.1, TR4 PTF group SF99707 level 4, or later The virtual servermust be running on a POWER7® host that has firmware release 730.51 or later.The following topics provide more information about the support and

requirements for each of these virtual environments

Power Systems requirements and support

This topic describes the requirements and support for AIX and Linux virtualappliances, virtual servers, and workloads in the Power Systems virtualizationenvironment

Related tasks:Preparing to install NIM subagentInstalling VMControl agents and subagents

Requirements and support for AIX using Network Installation Manager (NIM):

Ensure that your environment satisfies the requirements and support for AIXvirtual appliances, virtual servers, and workloads in a Power Systemsvirtualization environment that relies on AIX Network Installation Manager (NIM)

Related reference:Minimum Fix Levels for VMControl 2.4.2 Dependencies

Related information:Task support for storage productsNIM from A to Z in AIX 5L

Understanding how VMControl uses AIX NIM:

This topic provides an overview of how IBM Systems Director VMControlautomates AIX Network Installation Manager (NIM) for importing, capturing,deploying, and deleting virtual appliances.

NIM is widely used to install AIX on Power Systems servers VMControl supportfor AIX virtual appliances that contain mksysb and lpp_source images relies onNIM This topic describes how VMControl uses NIM and eliminates, in most cases,the need to run any NIM commands yourself VMControl automates the use ofNIM

Role of the NIM master

There can be one or more NIM masters that serve as VMControl image repositories

in the IBM Systems Director environment The NIM master is instrumental inimporting, capturing, deploying, and deleting AIX virtual appliances For each AIXvirtual appliance in VMControl, there is a mksysb file or lpp_source directory, and

a corresponding NIM mksysb or lpp_source resource on a NIM master

NIM masters that are used by VMControl need minimal configuration After you

set up and discover your NIM masters, you generally do not need to log on to

these NIM masters to create NIM resources or to run NIM commands VMControlcreates the NIM resources and calls the NIM and AIX commands required toaccomplish its import, capture, deploy, and delete tasks

Note: IBM Systems Director VMControl update manager also relies on a NIMmaster for updating AIX systems VMControl and update manager can use thesame NIM master, or separate ones

Import

When an AIX virtual appliance package is imported into VMControl, the mksysbfile within it is stored on a NIM master in a virtual appliance subdirectory of/export/nim/appliances, along with some other files Additionally, on the NIMmaster, VMControl creates the NIM mksysb resource corresponding to the mksysb

file using the nim -o define -t mksysb command.

Capture

With VMControl, you can capture a virtual server (LPAR) running AIX as a virtualappliance containing a mksysb image To accomplish this capture, VMControl runscommands on the source virtual server and on the NIM master, as necessary On

the source virtual server, VMControl might run the niminit, nimclient, and other commands On the NIM master, VMControl might run the nimquery and other commands, and ultimately runs nim -o define -t mksysb to capture the AIX

image and create the NIM mksysb resource VMControl also creates and populates

a new virtual appliance subdirectory under /export/nim/appliances

With VMControl, you can also capture a preexisting mksysb file or NIM mksysbresource, or a preexisting lpp_source directory or NIM lpp_source resource, as avirtual appliance This capability exists in the VMControl command-line interface

only with the captureva command To accomplish this type of capture, VMControl uses an appropriate form of the nim -o define -t mksysb/lpp_source command.

As part of the capture operation, VMControl creates and populates a new virtualappliance subdirectory under /export/nim/appliances

To deploy an AIX virtual appliance, containing a NIM mksysb or lpp_sourceimage, VMControl runs many commands on the NIM master These commands

can include dpasswd, dkeyexch, and dgetmacs Additionally, VMControl calls the

nim -o define and nim -o change commands as necessary to create or update hmc

or ivm, cec, ent, spot, bosinst_data, image_data, adapter_def, script, and standalone

NIM resources Ultimately, VMControl calls nim -o bos_inst to deploy the mksysb

or lpp_source image to the target virtual server

Delete

To permanently delete an AIX virtual appliance, VMControl removes the

corresponding mksysb or lpp_source resource by running a nim -o remove

command on the NIM master Furthermore, VMControl removes the correspondingvirtual appliance subdirectory and all its contents from /export/nim/appliances

If the virtual appliance was captured from a preexisting NIM mksysb or

lpp_source resource, that resource is not removed Similarly, if the virtual appliancewas captured from a preexisting mksysb file or lpp_source directory, that file ordirectory is not removed

NIM resources

This section describes in more detail the NIM resources used by VMControl, andthe impact on any NIM resources you might have created Generally, becauseVMControl automates the use of NIM, its use of the NIM master is privileged and

it creates, changes, and removes resources as needed If VMControl needs anyresources that you might have manually created, VMControl changes and removesthem as necessary

VMControl uses the following NIM resources:

standalone resources

The standalone resources represent virtual servers

During a capture operation, VMControl removes the preexisting standaloneresource, if present, and creates one itself When the capture completes,successfully or not, the standalone resource is removed

During a deploy operation, VMControl creates the required standaloneresource if necessary If the required standalone resource exists, VMControluses it rather than creating one; however VMControl generally changes apreexisting standalone as necessary to perform the deploy When thedeploy completes, successfully or not, VMControl removes the standaloneresource, irrespective of whether it was created or preexisted

ent resources

VMControl creates and changes these resources as needed If ent resourcespreexist, VMControl uses and changes them as needed After ent resourcesexist, whether you have created them manually or VMControl has createdthem, VMControl never removes them

hmc, ivm, and cec resources

VMControl creates and changes these resources as needed If they preexist,VMControl uses and changes them as needed After they exist, whetheryou have created them manually or VMControl has created them,

VMControl never removes them

mksysb and lpp_source resources

Any mksysb and lpp_source resources that you might have createdmanually are never removed by VMControl

When you capture a virtual server running AIX or import a virtualappliance package containing an AIX image, VMControl creates a mksysbresource while constructing the virtual appliance If you permanentlydelete that virtual appliance, VMControl removes the mksysb resource ithad created

If you capture a preexisting mksysb file or lpp_source directory,VMControl creates the corresponding mksysb or lpp_source resource whileconstructing the virtual appliance If you permanently delete that virtualappliance, VMControl removes the mksysb or lpp_source resource it hadcreated

If you permanently delete a virtual appliance, the spot that VMControlcreated for it, if any, is removed If the virtual appliance has a spot thatyou had created, it is not removed This latter case pertains to virtualappliances captured from user-created mksysb resources that haveuser-created spots

bosinst_data, image_data, and adapter_def resources

Generally, these resources are newly created on each deploy, and removedwhen the deploy completes, successfully or not If you create one or more

of these resources manually, they are ignored unless you specify themthrough the optional, deploy-time “NIM Resource or Resource Group”property of VMControl The bosinst_data, image_data, and adapter_defresources that you have created manually, if any, are never removed byVMControl

Related concepts:Creating and discovering NIM image repositories for AIX

Related tasks:Installing VMControl agents and subagents

Related information:NIM from A to Z in AIX 5L

Component support and requirements in a NIM-based Power Systems virtualization environment:

Ensure that your environment satisfies the support and requirements for thecomponents in a NIM-based Power Systems virtualization environment, includingthe management server, host, operating systems, and storage.

The following diagram shows an example Power Systems virtualization

environment for AIX virtual appliances, virtual servers, and workloads that rely onNIM In this example, the Power Systems server is managed by Hardware

Management Console (HMC)

v IBM Systems Director Server is installed on a supported server

v IBM Systems Director VMControl Standard Edition or IBM Systems DirectorVMControl Enterprise Edition is activated

v At least one NIM master is available

v IBM Systems Director Common Agent and the VMControl NIM subagent areinstalled on the NIM master (after you install dsm.core fileset on the NIMmaster)

Restriction: You must install dsm.core fileset on the NIM master before the NIMsubagent will install successfully

IBM Systems Director Server recognizes this NIM master as a VMControl imagerepository The /export/nim filesystem in which the virtual appliances are storedmust not be NFS mounted to the NIM master The NIM master exports thisfilesystem itself, and NFS does not support export of a mounted filesystem

Note: The image repository is shown as a stand-alone server in the diagram.However the image repository can also be on the same Power Systems serverthat hosts the AIX virtual servers that you can capture from and deploy to usingVMControl

v At least one Power Systems 5, 6, or 7 server or blade exists to host virtualservers that you can capture from and deploy to using VMControl

1 If you plan to use N-Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) with Fibre Channelstorage, the Power Systems server must be a POWER6®processor-basedserver, or higher

2 If manual or automated virtual server relocation capabilities are needed,multiple Power Systems 6 or 7 servers are required

v The Power Systems server can be managed by the HMC as shown in thediagram, by IBM Flex System Manager, or by Integrated Virtualization Manager(IVM)

Note: For blades and low-end Power Systems servers, you can use IVM on theVIOS virtual server instead of the HMC

v The Power Systems server is typically attached to a SAN as shown in thediagram The SAN is used for the Fibre Channel storage or the virtual disks ofthe virtual servers that are hosted by the Power Systems server A SAN isrequired to use the following capabilities:

– VMControl Enterprise Edition server system pools– Relocation

Supported AIX and firmware versions

You must use the following AIX and firmware versions in this environment:

IBM Systems Director Server

You can use any IBM Systems Director Server V6.3 with IBM SystemsDirector VMControl V2.4 activated If the IBM Systems Director Server is

an AIX system, you can use any version of AIX that is supported by IBMSystems Director Server V6.3 If you plan to use NPIV with Fibre Channelstorage, you must use the following versions of IBM Systems DirectorVMControl:

v If you plan to deploy a NIM virtual appliance to a host, you must useIBM Systems Director VMControl V2.4, or higher

v If you plan to deploy a NIM virtual appliance to a server system pool,you must use IBM Systems Director VMControl V2.4.2, or higher

v If the Power Systems server is managed by IBM Flex System Manager,you must use IBM Systems Director VMControl V2.4.2, or higher

NIM master

The NIM master must be AIX 6.1 TL03 or newer

Note: The level of AIX on the NIM master must be the same or higherthan the level of AIX on the virtual servers that you capture or the virtualappliances that you deploy

and all available updates

VIOS For POWER5 and POWER6, use a minimum of VIOS 2.1.2.0 and all

available updates

For POWER7, use a minimum of VIOS 2.2.1.0 and all available updates

If you plan to use NPIV, the VIOS virtual servers with paths to the storage

on the SAN cannot be configured in a VIOS cluster VIOS clusters use onlyvirtual SCSI and not NPIV

Virtual appliances

You can capture any AIX Version 5.3, AIX Version 6.1, or AIX Version 7.1virtual server or workload as a virtual appliance, and you can import ordeploy any AIX Version 5.3, AIX Version 6.1, or AIX Version 7.1 virtualappliance

To capture, import, or deploy AIX virtual appliances and virtual serversthat use NPIV, AIX must be one of the following versions:

v AIX Version 5.3 Technology Level 9, or later

v AIX Version 6.1 Technology Level 2, or later

NPIV requirements

v NPIV is supported only if both of the following two conditions are met:– The network switch must be an IBM Flex System FC5022 16Gb SANScalable Switch

– The SAN storage must be virtualized by IBM System Storage SANVolume Controller (SVC) or the storage array is either an IBM FlexSystem V7000 Storage Node or an IBM Storwize® V7000 system

v You cannot manage the storage devices by using the SMI-S providerthrough IBM Systems Director

v NPIV supports multi-disk virtual server disk attachment; if a virtualserver has multiple disks, you can attach some of the disks with NPIVand others with vSCSI The virtual servers can have the following types

of paths to the storage on the SAN:

– A combination of virtual SCSI and NPIV paths

– Only NPIV paths

v Each disk that is allocated to the operating system on the virtual servermust access its storage through a VIOS virtual SCSI path or a VIOSNPIV path A disk cannot access its storage through one VIOS virtualSCSI path and another VIOS NPIV path

Supported tasks

In this environment, you can perform these tasks:

v Create, edit, and delete virtual servers

v Relocate virtual servers

v Import a virtual appliance package containing an AIX mksysb image

v Capture an AIX workload or virtual server, an AIX mksysb image file or NIMresource, or an AIX lpp_source directory or NIM resource

v Deploy an AIX mksysb or lpp_source virtual appliance

v Group virtual servers to create a workload

v Start, stop, and edit a workload

v Create, edit, and delete system pools

Import support and requirements in a NIM-based Power Systems virtualization environment:

This topic describes the support and requirements for importing an AIX mksysbvirtual appliance package in a NIM-based Power Systems virtualization

environment

You can import a virtual appliance package containing an AIX mksysb image forIBM Power virtual servers (logical partitions) You can import this type of virtualappliance package when the following requirements are met:

v Your virtualization environment is configured as described in "Requirements andsupport for AIX using NIM."

v The virtual appliance package is an Open Virtualization Format (OVF) packagecontaining one, rootvg-only AIX mksysb image, and the description of one,single-disk Power virtual server to accommodate the image

v There is sufficient space on the NIM master image repository under/export/nim/appliancesto store the AIX mksysb image file associated with thevirtual appliance package that you want to import

Capture support and requirements in a NIM-based Power Systems virtualization environment:

This topic describes the support and requirements for capturing AIX virtualappliances in a NIM-based Power Systems virtualization environment The result

of this capture operation is a virtual appliance that you can deploy to create a newvirtual server

Sources that you can capture

You can create a virtual appliance by capturing any of the following sources:

A virtual server (logical partition) or a workload

v You can capture a virtual server (logical partition) or a workload thatcontains a virtual server running AIX 5.3.8 or higher

v You can capture a virtual server (logical partition) on a Power Systemsserver that is managed by Hardware Management Console (HMC), IBMFlex System Manager, or Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM)

v You can capture a virtual server on a Power Architecture®BladeCenterserver that is managed by IVM

Notes:

v You can use either the VMControl Capture wizard or the Systems

Management command-line interface (smcli) captureva command to

capture a virtual server or workload

v When capturing a NIM master and deploying it as a virtual appliance,the deployed virtual server is not automatically configured to be a NIMmaster You must configure the NIM master after it is deployed Forinstructions, see “Preparing to install IBM Systems Director VMControlNIM subagent” on page 88.

v Only single-virtual server workloads can be captured

v Only the root volume group (rootvg) of the virtual server is captured

v If rootvg spans multiple virtual disks, metadata for just a single virtualdisk is saved, albeit large enough to hold the entire rootvg

v When capturing an AIX virtual server using NIM, VMControl calculatesthe size of the rootvg and uses that value when deploying the virtualappliance as follows:

– The capacity value is calculated from the size of all file systems inrootvgand is indicated by the USED PPs value in the output of the

lsvgcommand This value is used to determine the size of the newdisk created when the virtual appliance is deployed to create a newvirtual server

– The populatedSize value is the amount of space used by files in therootvgfile systems This value is used when deploying the virtualappliance to an existing virtual server The value validates that thedisk on the target virtual server is large enough to accommodate thevirtual appliance being deployed

The total size of the rootvg, indicated by the TOTAL PPs in the output of

the lsvg command, is not used Therefore when a virtual appliance is

deployed to create a new virtual server, the new virtual server couldhave a smaller total disk size than the captured virtual server To makesure that the capacity value of the captured virtual server is equal to thefull size of the rootvg, you can:

– Expand the file systems on the virtual server before the capture– Create a file system on the virtual server before the capture

An existing mksysb image file

You can capture an existing mksysb image file from the following locations:

v Your IBM Systems Director Server

v Your NIM master

v A Microsoft Windows server that is sharing the file (if your IBM SystemsDirector Server is a Windows system)

v A web server

Note: You cannot capture an image from a secure web server

An existing NIM mksysb resource, lpp_source directory, or lpp_source resource

on your NIM master

You must use the Systems Management command-line interface (smcli)

captureva command to capture a mksysb image or resource or an

lpp_sourceresource, or directory

Capture requirements

Your NIM-based Power Systems virtualization environment is configured as

described in “Component support and requirements in a NIM-based Power

Systems virtualization environment” on page 22

The following additional requirements apply when capturing a virtual server orworkload containing a single virtual server:

v There is sufficient space on the VMControl NIM master image repository tostore the virtual appliance image that is created by the capture operation

v Your VMControl NIM master image repository system is running and hasnetwork connectivity to the virtual server you want to capture

Note: If there are multiple networks connecting the NIM master imagerepository with the virtual server that you want to capture, you can specify the

IP address for the network that you want to use for the capture operation Forinstructions, see “Configuring network communications between NIM mastersand capture sources” on page 122

v The instance of AIX running on the virtual server is able to resolve the NIMmaster host name with DNS or the /etc/hosts file

v The instance of AIX running on the virtual server is at a level that is equal to orlower than the AIX level that is running on the NIM master

v The HMC, IBM Flex System Manager, or IVM that manages the virtual serverthat you want to capture is discovered, accessed, and inventoried with IBMSystems Director Access status is listed as OK

v The Power Systems server hosting the virtual server is inventoried with IBMSystems Director

v The operating system on the virtual server that you want to capture isdiscovered, accessed, and inventoried with IBM Systems Director

v The virtual server that you want to capture is not a full system partition, or theonly partition on the host to which all host resources are dedicated

v The virtual Ethernet adapters of the virtual server are connected to the defaultvirtual network switch (ETHERNET0)

v If you are managing multiple NIM masters, the virtual server that you want tocapture is not another NIM master A NIM master can be captured only if thatsame NIM master is used as the image repository on which to store the resultingvirtual appliance

v The maximum file size on the virtual server is set to unlimited

v The IBM Systems Director Common Agent on the virtual server is not at version6.2.1.2 or 6.2.1.3 If the Common Agent is at version 6.2.1.2 or 6.2.1.3, upgradethe Common Agent to a newer version before you capture the virtual server Forinstructions, see Upgrading IBM Systems Director agents

You can capture a virtual server that uses:

v Disks that are attached by using virtual SCSI

v Disks that are attached by using NPIV

Single-virtual disk Open Virtualization Format (OVF) packages, virtual servers, andvirtual appliances are supported Single virtual server OVF packages and virtualappliances are supported For AIX mksysb OVF packages and virtual appliances,only the rootvg volume group is supported