Finally, IBM’s license terms must be confirmed by entering “1” for “accept the agreement”:

International Program License Agreement         

Part 1 - General Terms                                                     

BY DOWNLOADING, INSTALLING, COPYING, ACCESSING, CLICKING ON       
AN "ACCEPT" BUTTON, OR OTHERWISE USING THE PROGRAM,                            
LICENSEE AGREES TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU ARE                     
ACCEPTING THESE TERMS ON BEHALF OF LICENSEE, YOU REPRESENT   <F12> next screen
THAT YOU HAVE FULL AUTHORITY TO BIND LICENSEE TO THESE
TERMS.

IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS OR DO NOT HAVE
AUTHORITY: i) DO NOT DOWNLOAD, INSTALL, COPY, ACCESS, CLICK
ON AN "ACCEPT" BUTTON, OR USE THE PROGRAM; AND ii) PROMPTLY
RETURN THE UNUSED MEDIA, DOCUMENTATION, AND PROOF OF

Press Enter to continue viewing the license agreement, or
enter "1" to accept the agreement, "2" to decline it, "3"
to print it, "4" to read non-IBM terms, or "99" to go back
to the previous screen.
1

A short time later the reboot is completed and the login prompt appears:

Restoring HMC data...
Processing HMC archive files ...
No backup critical console data to restore
Restoring saved upgrade data.....
Saved upgrade data was successfully restored

IBM Linux 9 (hmc9_0p)
Kernel 4.18.0-193.14.3.el8.ibm.1.ppc64le on an ppc64le

localhost login:

Logging in is possible with the account hscroot and the default password “abc123“:

IBM Linux 9 (hmc9_0p)
Kernel 4.18.0-193.14.3.el8.ibm.1.ppc64le on an ppc64le

localhost login: hscroot
Password: abc123
hscroot@localhost:~>

However, the HMC still needs some time to start some other components. This can be checked with the command “lshmc -V”:

hscroot@localhost:~> lshmc -V
connect: Connection refused
A connection to the Command Server failed.
hscroot@localhost:~>

As long as the message “Connection refused” appears, the HMC is not yet ready. Once the command server is ready, the command output will look something like this:

hscroot@localhost:~> lshmc -V
"version= Version: 10
Release: 3
Service Pack: 1050
HMC Build level 2310272020
","base_version=V10R3
"
hscroot@localhost:~>

The password for the user hscroot should be changed. To do this, you can use the “chhmcusr” command on the HMC command line:

hscroot@localhost:~> chhmcusr -u hscroot -t passwd
Enter the new password: XXXXXXXX
Retype the new password: XXXXXXXX
hscroot@localhost:~>

Next, a hostname should be set. This can be done with the command “chhmc -c network”:

hscroot@localhost:~> chhmc -c network -s modify -h vhmc01
hscroot@localhost:~>

In order for the vHMC to be accessible via the network, an IP address must be configured:

hscroot@localhost:~> chhmc -c network -s modify -i eth0 -a 172.16.199.58 -nm 255.255.255.0
hscroot@localhost:~>

Setting a default gateway then completes the basic IP configuration:

hscroot@localhost:~> chhmc -c network -s modify -g 172.16.199.1
hscroot@localhost:~>

In order for admin access via the network to be possible, SSH and/or remote web access must be activated:

hscroot@localhost:~> chhmc -c ssh -s enable
hscroot@localhost:~>
hscroot@localhost:~> chhmc -c remotewebui -s enable -i eth0
hscroot@localhost:~>

Note: SSH access is required to use the LPAR tool.

To activate remote web access, the interface through which web access should take place must be specified.

However, logging in remotely is still not possible. SSH access via the network is blocked by default by the HMC firewall. When you try, you will see corresponding messages on the console:

[ 1523.210757] DROPPED PACKET:IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=9a:6c:51:6b:c8:02:00:1c:7f:a2:c9:f8:08:00 SRC=172.16.199.167 DST=172.16.199.58 LEN=64 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=57 ID=34650 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=36392 DPT=22 WINDOW=29200 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0
[ 1524.211223] DROPPED PACKET:IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=9a:6c:51:6b:c8:02:00:1c:7f:a2:c9:f8:08:00 SRC=172.16.199.167 DST=172.16.199.58 LEN=64 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=57 ID=34651 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=36392 DPT=22 WINDOW=29200 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0
[ 1526.215128] DROPPED PACKET:IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=9a:6c:51:6b:c8:02:00:1c:7f:a2:c9:f8:08:00 SRC=172.16.199.167 DST=172.16.199.58 LEN=64 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=57 ID=34652 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=36392 DPT=22 WINDOW=29200 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0

Therefore, a firewall rule that allows SSH must first be added:

hscroot@localhost:~> chhmc -c ssh -s add -a 0.0.0.0 -nm 0.0.0.0
hscroot@localhost:~>

Note: The combination with IP address 0.0.0.0 and netmask 0.0.0.0 allows SSH access for all IP addresses.

Remote web access must also first be permitted via another rule:

hscroot@localhost:~> chhmc -c SecureRemoteAccess.name -s add -a 0.0.0.0 -nm 0.0.0.0 -i eth0
hscroot@localhost:~>

The vHMC should then be accessible via SSH:

$ ssh -l hscroot vhmc01
The authenticity of host 'vhmc01 (172.16.199.58)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:l9FcdVUdd/3erCRFT+oNWDETZkb/QdtHVaxik1dyrj4.
ECDSA key fingerprint is MD5:48:cb:f6:c9:da:ca:73:ec:40:1e:31:1e:89:0d:08:14.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added 'vhmc01,172.16.199.58' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.
Password: XXXXXXXX
Last login: Mon Dec 11 08:07:15 2023 from 172.16.199.55
/usr/bin/xauth:  file /home/hscroot/.Xauthority does not exist
hscroot@vhmc01:~>

After the vHMC can be reached using SSH, it can be registered with the LPAR tool using the command “hmc add” (the vHMC must be licensed for this). The vHMC can be temporarily added using the hscroot account:

$ hmc add hscroot@vhmc01
Password: XXXXXXXX
vhmc01:
$

Checking the installed version:

$ hmc version -i vhmc01
vhmc01   V10R3 SP1050
$

This completes the installation of the vHMC. Any further configuration can then be done using the LPAR tool.