Tag: shared ethernet adapter

Posted on

Error when deleting a SEA

The following SEA on a virtual I/O server is no longer required:

$ lsdev -dev ent48
name             status      description
ent48            Available   Shared Ethernet Adapter
$

Attempting to delete the SEA using rmvdev fails with the following error message:

$ rmvdev -sea ent48

Some error messages may contain invalid information
for the Virtual I/O Server environment.

Method error (/usr/lib/methods/ucfgcommo):
        0514-062 Cannot perform the requested function because the
                 specified device is busy.

$

The SEA is still in use. One possibility is the use of LLDP. This can be checked with the lsdev command:

$ lsdev -dev ent48 -attr lldpsvc
value

yes
$

In this case LLDP is active on the SEA and must first be stopped before the SEA can be deleted. Stopping LLDP on the SEA can be easily done by changing the lldpsvc attribute to the value “no“:

$ chdev -dev ent48 -attr lldpsvc=no
ent48 changed
$

Another attempt to delete the SEA ent48 is now successful:

$ rmvdev -sea ent48
ent48 deletedError deleting a SEA
$

More information on SEAs can be found here: Shared Ethernet Adapter

Posted on

Shared Ethernet Adapter

SEA with multiple trunking adapters and VLANs

Despite SR-IOV and vNIC, Shared Ethernet is still the most widely used virtualization solution, when it comes to virtualizing Ethernet. The POWER Hypervisor implements internal virtual IEEE802.1q compatible network switches, which, in conjunction with so-called shared Ethernet adapters or SEAs for short, take over the connection to external networks. The shared Ethernet adapters are implemented in software as a layer 2 bridge by the virtual I/O server.

As shown in figure 8.2, a shared Ethernet adapter can have several so-called trunking adapters. The SEA shown has the 3 trunking adapters ent8, ent9 and ent10, all 3 of which are connected to the virtual switch with the name ETHMGMT. In the case shown, all trunking adapters support VLAN tagging. In addition to the port VLAN IDs (PVIDs), the 3 trunking adapters also have additional VLANs via VLAN tagging. In addition to the connection to the virtual switch via the trunking adapter, the SEA also has a connection to an external network by the physical network adapter (ent0). Network packets from client LPARs to external systems are forwarded to the SEA via one of the trunking adapters and then to the external network via the associated physical network adapter. Network packets from external systems to client LPARs are forwarded by the SEA via the trunking adapter with the correct VLAN to the virtual switch, which then forwards the packets to the client LPAR.

SEA with multiple trunking adapters and VLANs
Figure 8.2: SEA with multiple trunking adapters and VLANs.

In the simplest case, a SEA consists of just one trunking adapter. A SEA can have up to 16 trunking adapters, whereby each of the trunking adapters can have up to 20 additional VLANs in addition to the port VLAN ID.

Which SEAs already exist on a virtual I/O server can be found out with the help of the command “vios lssea” (list SEAs):

$ vios lssea ms05-vio1
                                       TIMES   TIMES    TIMES    BRIDGE 
NAME   HA_MODE  PRIORITY  STATE       PRIMARY  BACKUP  FLIPFLOP  MODE
ent33  Sharing  1         PRIMARY_SH  1        1       0         Partial
ent34  Sharing  1         PRIMARY_SH  1        1       0         Partial
$

Some basic information is displayed for each SEA, such as the HA mode (see later), the priority of the SEA, as well as information on how often the SEA was already primary or backup.

8.5.1. SEA without VLAN Tagging

8.5.2. SEA with VLAN Tagging

8.5.3. Some SEA Attributes

8.5.4. Configuring an IP Address on a SEA

8.5.5. Adding and Removing VLANs (not HA)

8.5.6. Adding and Removing Trunking Adapters (not HA)

8.5.7. Removing a Shared Ethernet Adapter (not HA)

8.5.8. HA-SEA with Failover

8.5.9. Creating SEAs with HA Mode (HA-SEA)

8.5.10. HA-Modes auto and standby

8.5.11. Adding and Removing VLANs (HA-SEA)

8.5.12. Adding and Removing Trunking Adapters (HA-SEA)

8.5.13. Removing HA-SEAs

8.5.14. HA-SEA with Load Sharing

8.5.15. Creation of SEAs with Load Sharing

8.5.16. Adding and Removing VLANs (Load Sharing)

8.5.17. Adding and Removing Trunking Adapters (Load Sharing)

8.5.18. Changing the HA Mode between Failover and Load Sharing

8.5.19. Deleting SEAs (Load Sharing)

Posted on

LPAR-Tool 1.6.0.0 is available now

Version 1.6.0.0 of our LPAR tool is now available in our download area!

New features are:

  • Online monitoring of SEA client statistics (vios help seastat)
  • Online monitoring of virtual FC client adapters (vios help fcstat)
  • Display of historical processor and memory data (lpar help lsmem, lpar help lsproc)

In the article Monitoring SEA Traffic the possibilities of calling up SEA client statistics are shown.