Migrating to the next wave of IBM Iron Alan Fulton Twitter - @The_Iron_Monger

Session objectives Brief History on Virtualization Various ways to migrate AIX systems, both disruptive and nondisruptive. Some of these methods include LPM, Enterprise Pools, mksysb, Remote Restart. Required AIX levels for the various platform levels are discussed. Planning considerations for the upgrade and/or the migration are also addressed.

Virtualization In the Beginning …. There was iron – it was all encompassing , single use , single OS , single machine

Virtualization 1990’s Began with LPAR ( Logical Partitions ) This was the virtualization of CPU / Memory Still using physical slots.

Virtualization 2002 ( approx) DLPAR ( Dynamic Logical Partitions ) This was the virtualization of CPU / Memory Still using physical slots. Good on AIX 5.2 and Power4 BETTER on AIX 5.3 and Power5

Virtualization 2007 ( approx) PowerVM and its precursor APV ( Advanced Power Virtualization ) This was the virtualization of EVERYTHING Power5 and higher

Terminology A few key items and definitions Concurrent ( non-disruptive ) migrations Non-concurrent ( disruptive ) migrations RAS Live Partition Mobility Enterprise pools Mksysb restore

One Destination – Many Paths https://www-304.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/best/Transitioning_to_POWER8.pdf

Live Partition Mobility – What’s that? vvvvvvvv Live Partition Mobility – What’s that? It’s not magic (almost ) Move a running VM from one frame to another frame with no loss of service Requirements – F/W , HMC , OS 8

Concurrent Migrations with LPM https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/wikis/home?lang=en#!/wiki/Power%20Systems/page/Live%20Partition%20Mobility%20%28LPM%29%20Performance%20Tips%20and%20Results

LPM Firmware Requirements The BIGGER question - Why are you not current on Firmware? Compatibility Matrix http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/POWER7/p7hc3/p7hc3firmwaresupportmatrix.htm

Power Enterprise Pools The capability to freely move core and memory activations between servers in a pool provides a new degree of architecture. Rebalancing Server Capacity Temp / Perm for peak activity Full blown Perf testing. LPM Power HA – Transfer between primary and HA nodes Disaster Recovery Transfer between primary and DR nodes

Since everything is virtualized – it does not matter where “there” is. “Pushing Iron” Since everything is virtualized – it does not matter where “there” is.

“Pushing Iron” Description: Setup Verify all of the pre-requisites. ( anything else is “unsupported”) Build new VM with identical virtual mappings ( all I/O) Ethernet VFC / Vscsi adapters Zone storage to new frame ( with your SAN/Stg Admin) Map Vscsi ( if needed ) Migration: Shutdown the Original VM Boot the NEW VM ( pushing all your Virtual I/O under new Iron ) Post-Migration Clean up Original VM and Virtual I/O mappings. This is incredibly important... Booting the old VM can reek havoc on that shared disk – DON’T do it.

“Pushing Iron”– Prerequisites Pre-reqs Both Frames are on the same network. Both frames must the same SAN fabric. Both frames System Clock should be synchronized. Both frames must be running same VIOS version. Both frames are same proc type and mode. If they are 64 bit then make sure on both sides. ( not sure who is running 32 bit anymore ) The slot numbers of the virtual ethernet and virtual SCSI client adapters for the VM must match on both frames. This goes for virtual SCSI client and virtual SCSI server adapter mappings also. Software on all VIOS VMs must be at the same levels. Think about your multipathing software ( like PowerPath etc. ) and why should all be the same.

“Pushing Iron” Prerequisites (cont’d) All storage has to be virtual SAN storage The attribute reserve_policy for all the SAN disks on VIOS should be set to no_reserve. This is why it is SO important not to have both VMs booted at the same - they will step on each other and it will be ugly.

Mksysb Options Mksysb restore is the gold standard of backing up and restoring rootvg. This is the most trusted and most utilized process for restoring rootvg. <stare off in the distance and reminisce on running mksysb to taping and storing offsite > Many options – depending on your shop Rootvg not on SAN , datavg is on SAN Restore mksysb for rootvg , exportvg/importvg rezone SAN disk for datavg Rootvg / datavg not on SAN , but you have good backups Restore mksysb for rootvg , then use savevg to recreate your filesystem structure for your datavgs. Then you can restore your datavg info from media/tape/etc.

Works same as “LIVE” LPM LPM (disruptive) When you cannot move lpars via LPM ( LIVE ) for any number of reasons – Source server is down An instance where you do not want the VM “UP” after migration. Vlan mismatch Works same as “LIVE” LPM Profile work happens automatically VIO work happens automatically Via the HMC you may be able to override some errors ( ie. VLANS) One caveat – It cannot move a system with NPIV if it has not moved before.

Remote Restart What is Remote Restart? High Availability function on POWER VM Enterprise Edition A mechanism to relocate and restart a partition on another frame when its original frame fails.  LPM isn’t possible as the VIOS and Hypervisor are no longer running. The partition is created similar to a LPM-capable partition such that all its I/O requirements (SAN and LAN) are done with the (VIOS). The partition MUST be marked as “remote restartable” on the HMC GUI. Need to switch on SRR on the HMC and reboot the VM ( mandatory)

Types of Remote Restart 2 types of Remote Restart (R/R) Partition Remote Restart –Power7 HMC V8R8.1 or higher Much more cumbersome and cloodgy Simplified Remote Restart- Power8 Just like it says – simplified - IBM removed the need for a Reserved Storage Device so it is much simpler to configure and allowed to change a partition to/from “remote restartable ”

Remote Restart Requirements & Setup Partition Simplified Remote Restart minimum requirements PowerVM Enterprise Edition HMC Version V8R8.1 VIOS level of 2.2.3.4 System Firmware Level 820 Setup / testing Get Live Partition Mobility (LPM) working ( It’s a must ) Set the Simplified Remote Restart flag for VM LPM Validate & Simplified Remote Restart Validate Test it BEFORE catastrophic failure via the HMC CLI Test it BEFORE catastrophic failure via PowerVC GUI Full blown step by step - https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/aixpert/entry/POWER8_Simplified_Remote_Restart_via_HMC_or_PowerVC?lang=en

Unsupported methods and errors Many objects in an AIX system that are unique to it; Hardware location codes, WWPN, Partition IDs, and VPD and much, much more…. Much of this is stuffed in the ODM When moved identically ( copied bit by bit or yanking drives to put in another machine) , you may be moving to different hardware/firmware. Devices will be seen differently in device tree. Devices that were valid before will be missing ( and possibly new ones discovered ) Supported methods link: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg3T1012273 When in doubt – call the people at Lab Services – this is one of the many things that they excel in.

AIX Versions AIX 6.1 EOS 30-April-2017 Important to stay current.

Comparison charts

Comparison charts

Designing your iron to be RAS-y RAS – Reliability , Availability , Serviceability There are a LOT of options available at each platform offering from IBM Lets take a look at just a few of the methods to build the most resiliency into your design

P770 / Dual VIOS / RAS Take advantage of all the RAS-y features and harden your iron.

E-850 / Dual VIOS / RAS Take advantage of all the RAS-y features and harden your iron.

E-870 / Dual VIOS / RAS Take advantage of all the RAS-y features and harden your iron.

E-870 / Dual VIOS / RAS Take advantage of all the RAS-y features and harden your iron.

E-870 / Dual VIOS / RAS Take advantage of all the RAS-y features and harden your iron.

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