Tag: port_vlan_id

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IBM PowerVM: Add a virtual Ethernet adapter to an LPAR

A virtual Ethernet adapter is to be added to the LPAR aix01 with IBM PowerVM. The data in detail:

    • HMC: hmc01
    • managed system: ms25
    • LPAR: aix01
    • profile: standard
    • virtual slot number: 4
    • Port-VLAN-ID: 900
    • virtual Ethernet switch: ETHERNET0(default)
    • additional VLANs: none

The command on the associated HMC hmc01 is:

hscroot@hmc01:~> chhwres -m ms25 -r virtualio --rsubtype eth -o a -p aix01 -s 2 -a 'ieee_virtual_eth=0,port_vlan_id=900'
hscroot@hmc01:~>

If the currently used profile of the LPAR is not automatically synchronized, then the additional virtual Ethernet adapter should also be added to the profile:

hscroot@hmc01:~> chsyscfg -r prof -m ms25 -i 'lpar_name=aix01,name=standard,"virtual_eth_adapters+=""4/0/900///0"""'
hscroot@hmc01:~>

With our LPAR tool, the command to use looks like this:

$ lpar addeth aix01 4 900
$

The current profile is automatically adjusted.

Detailed information on the LPAR tool and virtual Ethernet adapters can be found here: Virtual Ethernet

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Adding Logical SR-IOV Ports

SR-IOV Ethernet port with internal switch and 3 logical ports.

In order that an LPAR can use a virtual function of an SR-IOV adapter in PowerVM, a so-called logical port must be created for the LPAR. Which logical ports already exist can be displayed with the command “ms lssriov” and the option “-l” (logical port):

$ ms lssriov -l ms03
LOCATION_CODE  ADAPTER  PPORT  LPORT  LPAR  CAPACITY  CURR_MAC_ADDR  CLIENTS
$

Since the SR-IOV adapters have just been configured to shared mode, there are of course no logical ports yet. To add a logical SR-IOV port to an LPAR, the command “lpar addsriov” (add SR-IOV logical port) is used. In addition to the LPAR, the adapter ID and the port ID of the physical port must be specified. Alternatively, a unique suffix of the physical location code of the physical port can also be specified:

$ lpar addsriov aix22 P1-C11-T1
$

The creation can take a few seconds. A quick check shows that a logical port has actually been created:

$ ms lssriov -l ms03
LOCATION_CODE                   ADAPTER  PPORT  LPORT     LPAR   CAPACITY  CURR_MAC_ADDR  CLIENTS
U78AA.001.VYRGU0Q-P1-C11-T1-S1  1        0      27004001  aix22  2.0       a1b586737e00   -
$

Similar to a managed system for virtual Ethernet, an internal switch is implemented on the SR-IOV adapters for each physical Ethernet port, see figure above. One of the virtual functions is assigned to each logical port. The associated LPARs access the logical ports directly via the PCI Express bus (PCIe switch).

An LPAR can easily have several logical SR-IOV ports. With the command “lpar lssriov” (list SR-IOV logical ports) all logical ports of an LPAR can be displayed:

$ lpar lssriov aix22
LPORT     REQ  ADAPTER  PPORT  CONFIG_ID  CAPACITY  MAX_CAPACITY  PVID  VLANS  CURR_MAC_ADDR  CLIENTS
27004001  Yes  1        0      0          2.0       100.0         0     all    a1b586737e00   -
$

There are a number of attributes that can be specified for a logical port when it is created. Among other things, the following properties can be configured:

    • capacity – the guaranteed capacity for the logical port.
    • port_vlan_id – the VLAN ID for untagged packets or 0 to switch off VLAN tagging.
    • promisc_mode – switch promiscuous mode on or off.

The complete list of attributes and their possible values can be found in the online help (“lpar help addsriov“).

As an example we add another logical port with port VLAN-ID 55 and a capacity of 20% to the LPAR aix22:

$ lpar addsriov aix22 P1-C4-T2 port_vlan_id=55 capacity=20
$

The generated logical port thus has a guaranteed share of 20% of the bandwidth of the physical port P1-C4-T2! The LPAR now has 2 logical SR-IOV ports:

$ lpar lssriov aix22
LPORT     REQ  ADAPTER  PPORT  CONFIG_ID  CAPACITY  MAX_CAPACITY  PVID  VLANS  CURR_MAC_ADDR  CLIENTS
27004001  Yes  1        0      0          2.0       100.0         0     all    a1b586737e00   -
2700c003  Yes  3        2      1          20.0      100.0         55    all    a1b586737e01   -
$

After the logical ports have been added to the LPAR using the PowerVM Hypervisor, they appear in the Defined state. The logical ports appear under AIX as ent devices, like all other Ethernet adapters!

aix22 # lsdev -l ent\*
ent0 Available       Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan)
ent1 Defined   00-00 PCIe2 10GbE SFP+ SR 4-port Converged Network Adapter VF (df1028e214100f04)
ent2 Defined   01-00 PCIe2 100/1000 Base-TX 4-port Converged Network Adapter VF (df1028e214103c04)
aix22 #

After the config manager cfgmgr has run, the new ent devices are in the Available state and can be used in exactly the same way as all other Ethernet adapters.

7.6. SR-IOV

7.6.1. Activating Shared Modes

7.6.2. Configuration of Physical SR-IOV Ports

7.6.3. Adding Logical SR-IOV Ports

7.6.4. Changing a Logical SR-IOV Port

7.6.5. Removing Logical SR-IOV Ports

7.6.6. Setting an SR-IOV Adapter from Shared back to Dedicated

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Adding a Virtual Ethernet Adapter

Delivery of tagged packets, here for the VLAN 200.

If in a PowerVM environment a virtual Ethernet adapter is to be added to an active LPAR using the LPAR-Tool, the LPAR must have an active RMC connection to an HMC. This requires an active Ethernet adapter (physical or virtual). A free virtual slot is required for the virtual Ethernet adapter.

$ 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
$

The virtual slot 6 is not yet used by the LPAR aix22. A virtual Ethernet adapter can be added with the command “lpar addeth“. At least the desired virtual slot number for the adapter and the desired port VLAN ID must be specified:

$ lpar addeth aix22 6 900
$

In the example, a virtual Ethernet adapter for aix22 with port VLAN ID 900 was created in slot 6. If the slot number doesn’t matter, the keyword auto can be specified instead of a number; the LPAR tool then automatically assigns a free slot number. The virtual adapter is available immediately, but must first be made known to the operating system. How this happens exactly depends on the operating system used. In the case of AIX there is the cfgmgr command for this purpose.

After the virtual Ethernet adapter has been added, but before a run of cfgmgr is started, only the virtual Ethernet adapter ent0 is known to the AIX operating system of the LPAR aix22:

aix22 # lscfg -l ent*
  ent0             U9009.22A.8991971-V30-C5-T1  Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan)
aix22 #

After a run of cfgmgr the newly added virtual Ethernet adapter appears as ent1:

aix22 # cfgmgr
aix22 # lscfg -l ent*
  ent0             U9009.22A.8991971-V30-C5-T1  Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan)
  ent1             U9009.22A.8991971-V30-C6-T1  Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan)
aix22 #

Note: On AIX, the device name for an Ethernet adapter cannot be used to identify the type. Regardless of whether an Ethernet adapter is physical or virtual or a virtual function of an SR-IOV adapter, the device name ent with an ascending instance number is always used.

If an IEEE 802.1q compatible virtual Ethernet adapter with additional VLAN IDs is to be created, the option “-i” (IEEE 802.1q compatible adapter) must be used. Alternatively, the ieee_virtual_eth=1 attribute can also be specified. The additional VLAN IDs are specified as a comma-separated list:

$ lpar addeth -i aix22 7 900 100,200,300
$

The port VLAN ID is 900, and the additional VLAN IDs are 100, 200 and 300.
If an LPAR has no active RMC connection or is not active, then a virtual Ethernet 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, only the option “-p” with a profile name has to be used for the commands shown. 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 then be displayed by specifying the profile name with “lpar lsvslot“:

$ 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 
6     No   eth            PVID=900 VLANS= ETHERNET0 
7     No   eth            IEEE PVID=900 VLANS=100,200,300 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 shown above:

$ lpar -p standard addeth -i aix22 8 950 150,250
$

In order to make the new adapter available in slot 8, the LPAR must be activated again by default, specifying the profile name.

7.3. Virtual Ethernet

7.3.1. VLANs and VLAN Tagging

7.3.2. Adding a Virtual Ethernet Adapter

7.3.3. Virtuelle Ethernet Switches

7.3.4. Virtual Ethernet Bridge Mode (VEB)

7.3.5. Virtual Ethernet Port Aggregator Mode (VEPA)

7.3.6. Virtual Networks

7.3.7. Adding and Removing VLANs to/from an Adapter

7.3.8. Changing Attributes of a Virtual Ethernet Adapter

7.3.9. Removing a Virtual Ethernet Adapter