7.4.2. Adding a Virtual FC Adapter

If a virtual FC adapter is to be added to an active LPAR, the LPAR must have an active RMC connection to an HMC. A free virtual slot is required for the virtual FC adapter. Since a virtual FC client adapter always works together with a virtual FC server adapter on a virtual I/O server, a server adapter must always be created on a virtual I/O server for each client adapter. Therefore, a free virtual slot is also required on the virtual I/O server.

Which virtual slots are available on the client LPAR can be determined with “lpar lsvslot” (list virtual slots):

$ lpar lsvslot aix22
SLOT  REQ  ADAPTER_TYPE   STATE  DATA
0     Yes  serial/server  1      remote: (any)/any connect_status=unavailable hmc=1
1     Yes  serial/server  1      remote: (any)/any connect_status=unavailable hmc=1
5     No   eth            1      PVID=100 VLANS= ETHERNET0 1DC8DB485D1E
10    No   fc/client      1      remote: ms03-vio1(1)/5 c05076030aba0002,c05076030aba0003
20    No   fc/client      1      remote: ms03-vio2(2)/4 c05076030aba0000,c05076030aba0001
$

Here, for example, the virtual slot 11 is still available.

The available virtual slots on a virtual I/O server can be determined in the same way, here for ms03-vio1:

$ lpar lsvslot ms03-vio1
SLOT  REQ  ADAPTER_TYPE   STATE  DATA
0     Yes  serial/server  1      remote: (any)/any connect_status=unavailable hmc=1
1     Yes  serial/server  1      remote: (any)/any connect_status=unavailable hmc=1
5     No   fc/server      1      remote: aix22(5)/10
11    No   eth            1      PVID=900 VLANS= ETHERNET0 1DC8DB485D0B
20    No   eth            1      PVID=1 VLANS= ETHCTRL 1DC8DB485D14
21    No   eth            1      TRUNK(1) IEEE PVID=1 VLANS=100,200 ETHERNET0 1DC8DB485D15
22    No   eth            1      TRUNK(1) IEEE PVID=2 VLANS=150,250 ETHERNET0 1DC8DB485D16
125   No   fc/server      1      remote: aixsap01(9)/10
181   No   fc/server      1      remote: aixdbp02(11)/10
182   No   fc/server      1      remote: aixdbi02(13)/10
$

The virtual slot 111 would be available here.

The command “lpar addfc” (add virtual FC adapter) is used to create a virtual FC client adapter for an LPAR. In addition to the client LPAR, the virtual I/O server for the virtual FC server adapter must also be specified:

$ lpar addfc aix22 11 ms03-vio1 111
aix22 slot 11 c05076030aba000e,c05076030aba000f -> ms03-vio1 slot 111 added by DLPAR operation
aix22 slot 11 c05076030aba000e,c05076030aba000f -> ms03-vio1 slot 111 added to current profile (standard)
ms03-vio1 slot 111 -> aix22 slot 11 added by DLPAR operation
$

The output of the command shows that a virtual FC client adapter is first added via DLPAR operation. Next, the current profile of the LPAR is adapted and then the associated FC server adapter is created on the virtual I/O server. The command automatically creates both adapters; if desired, this can be prevented by using the appropriate options (“-cclient adapter only).

Finding a free virtual slot number on the virtual I/O server can be tedious in larger environments, since a virtual I/O server can easily have several hundred virtual adapters. In principle, the virtual slot number on the virtual I/O server is irrelevant. In addition, there is no guarantee that the virtual slot number on the virtual I/O server will remain the same after an LPM operation. (The virtual slot 111, for example, could already be in use on the target virtual I/O server.) If you simply omit the specification of the virtual slot number on the virtual I/O server in the “lpar addfc” command , then a free slot number is automatically determined on the virtual I/O server:

$ lpar addfc aix22 11 ms03-vio1
aix22 slot 11 c05076030aba0010,c05076030aba0011 -> ms03-vio1 slot 38 added by DLPAR operation
aix22 slot 11 c05076030aba0010,c05076030aba0011 -> ms03-vio1 slot 38 added to current profile (standard)
ms03-vio1 slot 38 -> aix22 slot 11 added by DLPAR operation
$

Here, for example, slot number 38 was used on the virtual I / O server.

If you do not want to specify the slot number on the client LPAR either, you can omit it as well. A free virtual slot number for the virtual FC client adapter is then also determined for the client adapter. Usually this is the first free slot number. However, this can be configured.

If an LPAR has no active RMC connection or is not active, a virtual FC adapter can only be added to one of the profiles of the LPAR. This is always the case, for example, if the LPAR has just been created and has not yet been installed.

In this case, the option “-p” with a profile name has to be used for the commands above. Which profiles an LPAR has, can easily be found out using “lpar lsprof” (list profiles):

$ lpar lsprof aix22
NAME                      MEM_MODE  MEM   PROC_MODE  PROCS  PROC_COMPAT
standard                  ded       7168  ded        2      default
last*valid*configuration  ded       7168  ded        2      default
$

(The last active configuration is stored in the profile with the name last*valid*configuration.)

The virtual adapters defined in the profile standard can be displayed by specifying the profile name with “lpar lsvslot“, using the option „-p“:

$ lpar -p standard lsvslot aix22
SLOT  REQ  ADAPTER_TYPE   DATA
0     Yes  serial/server  remote: (any)/any connect_status= hmc=1
1     Yes  serial/server  remote: (any)/any connect_status= hmc=1
5     No   eth            PVID=100 VLANS= ETHERNET0
10    No   fc/client      remote: ms03-vio1(1)/5 c05076030aba0002,c05076030aba0003
20    No   fc/client      remote: ms03-vio2(2)/4 c05076030aba0000,c05076030aba0001
$

When adding the adapter, only the corresponding profile name has to be given, otherwise the command looks exactly as above:

$ lpar -p standard addfc aix22 11 ms03-vio1
aix22 slot 11 c05076030aba0010,c05076030aba0011 -> ms03-vio1 slot 38 added to current profile (standard)
ms03-vio1 slot 38 -> aix22 slot 11 added by DLPAR operation
$

In order to make the new adapter available in slot 11, the LPAR must be reactivated using the profile standard.