AIX VIOS IVM Ethernet problem

Hi All,

I have a p520 box running 3 LPARs, 1 x VIOS, 1 x AIX 6.1 and 1 x AIX 7.1 and no HMC, all configuration is performed via VIOS/IVM

Until recently the box did not have the AIX7.1 LPAR and everything was fine with the box.

We needed to use AIX 7.1 for a new project, so I created a new LPAR and configured it to share the non-VIOS resouces equally with the AIX6.1 LPAR. Everything seemed to go well and I was able to install AIX 7.1 successfully and start using that via PuTTy and FTP as required.

However, it seems that everytime we need to cold-boot the machine, the AIX7.1 LPAR looses visibility of the network. The VIOS and AIX6.1 LPARs remain fine with full network connectivity.

In my investigations so far I have found the following from the VIOS LPAR:

 
$ lsdev
name             status      description
L2cache0         Available   L2 Cache
VMLibrary        Defined     Logical volume
VMrootvg         Defined     Volume group
cd0              Available   SATA DVD-RAM Drive
en0              Defined     Standard Ethernet Network Interface
en1              Stopped     Standard Ethernet Network Interface
en2              Defined     Standard Ethernet Network Interface
en3              Defined     Standard Ethernet Network Interface
en4              Defined     Standard Ethernet Network Interface
en5              Defined     Standard Ethernet Network Interface
en6              Available   Standard Ethernet Network Interface
en7              Defined     Standard Ethernet Network Interface
ent0             Available   Logical Host Ethernet Port (lp-hea)
ent1             Available   Logical Host Ethernet Port (lp-hea)
ent2             Available   Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan)
ent3             Available   Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan)
ent4             Available   Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan)
ent5             Available   Virtual I/O Ethernet Adapter (l-lan)
ent6             Available   Shared Ethernet Adapter
ent7             Defined     Shared Ethernet Adapter
et0              Defined     IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Network Interface
et1              Defined     IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Network Interface
et2              Defined     IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Network Interface
et3              Defined     IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Network Interface
et4              Defined     IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Network Interface
et5              Defined     IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Network Interface
et6              Defined     IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Network Interface
et7              Defined     IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Network Interface

I can activate the AIX7.1 LPAR and watch the boot process via the IVM Web interface's Java Console facility. When I do this, the boot is very slow and eventually reports the following messages (full boot console dump in attachment):

AIX Version 7                                                                   
Copyright IBM Corporation, 1982, 2012.                                          
Console login: 0513-059 The ctrmc Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 5
046438.                                                                         
       Starting The LWI Nonstop Profile...                                      
                                          JVMJ9VM090I Slow response to network q
uery (150 secs), check your IP DNS configuration                                
                                                Trying to obtain process id.    
                                                                            Tryi
ng to obtain process id.                                                        
                        Trying to obtain process id.                            
                                                    Trying to obtain process id.
 
Trying to obtain process id.                                                    
                            Trying to obtain process id.                        
                                                        Could not obtain process
 id.                                                                            

I cannot see anything else wrong with the configuration, but then I am not an expert in these things.

In summary, I have a p520 box; 3 LPARs and no HMC; I use VIOS/IVM for configuration changes; one LPAR looses ethernet access when the box is cold booted.

I am the "part-time" Unix System Admin in a small company (not my main role in the Co.), so detailed help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

So, I'm assuming that VIO/IVM is installed and owns all the hardware and the other partitions a guests rather than hardware partitions. That's what I have too.

There may be an issue with running an IVM based on AIX 6 with guests of AIX 7. Are you able to get to the shell prompt?

telnet (IVM001)

IBM Virtual I/O Server

login: padmin
padmin's Password: 
Last unsuccessful login: Mon Jan  7 16:18:07 GMT 2013 on /dev/pts/1 from 192.168.20.30
Last login: Mon Mar  4 14:06:44 GMT 2013 on /dev/pts/0 from 192.168.20.30

$ ioslevel
2.1.3.10-FP23
$ oem_setup_env
# oslevel
6.1.0.0
# exit
$

you would be best checking with IBM about supported configurations. It may be that you need to upgrade the IVM first, which might have an impact on you running AIX 6.1 partition. At the least, it will reboot, but I would be more concerned about any co-requisite updates your partition will need.

Robin
Liverpool/Blackburn
UK

I have a serial console cable connecting my Desktop to the p520 box and am therefore able to get to the VIOS LPAR via HyperTerminal. From that I can also get to both AIX LPARs using the "mkvt -id x" command

Here's the output from that command from the box

$ ioslevel
2.1.2.13-FP-22.1 SP-02
$ oem_setup_env
# oslevel
6.1.0.0
# exit
$

Surely I am not the only one trying this combination?

I'll start researching that line of thinking and see what comes out.

Thanks for the idea...

There is nothing wrong with your VIOS level for doing what you want to do.

The most likely cause is that the virtual interface you defined is not on the shared ethernet adapter. The slow startup is probably being caused by DNS timeouts.

To speed that up add:

RES_RETRY=2
RES_TIMEOUT=2

the the end of your /etc/environment file.

I have been supporting AIX 5.3.X, AIX 6.1 TLX and AIX 7.1 TLX in many combinations on p51a for years, and recently on a p505.

p.s. - there are newer versions of VIOS (2.2.2.something now) but that has nothing to do with your problem. And VIOS is on AIX 6.1 by design (AIX 6.1 may even live longer to prevent any forced update of VIOS to AIX >6).

---------- Post updated at 04:02 PM ---------- Previous update was at 03:52 PM ----------

--- update ---
Command output I would like to see is:
padmin@x101:[/home/padmin]lssyscfg -r prof -F name,os_type,virtual_eth_adapters --header

name,os_type,virtual_eth_adapters
x101,vioserver,"3/0/1//1/0,4/0/2//1/0,5/0/3//1/0,6/0/4//1/0"
x102,aixlinux,4/0/1//0/0
x103,aixlinux,4/0/1//0/0
x104,aixlinux,4/0/1//0/0
x105,aixlinux,4/0/1//0/0
x106,aixlinux,"4/0/2//0/0,5/0/1//0/0"
x107,aixlinux,"4/0/2//0/0,5/0/1//0/0"

Thanks for the reply.

How would I confirm that is the problem and then fix that if it turns out to be the case?

In my mind I think that there is a 1:1 relationship between physical ethernet adapter ports and LPAR connections, but I guess this might not be the case.

thb I don't fully understand how this all ties together...

Update for your update:

$ lssyscfg -r prof -F name,os_type,virtual_eth_adapters --header
name,os_type,virtual_eth_adapters
06-AFCE5,vioserver,"3/0/1//1/0,4/0/2//1/0,5/0/3//1/0,6/0/4//1/0"
aix2.61,aixlinux,4/0/1//0/0
aix2.71,aixlinux,4/0/2//0/0

The two in this says you have the port attached via VLAN 2, rather than one. So it is not going over your SEA.

Do you know how to change this using the IVM web interface (I do not know how to add a picture to the forums; I'll workout the CLI if you do not.

Anyway, issue is crystal clear - second partition is not using the SEA provided by VIOS partition.

No (how), and yes please (CLI)...

Before (not I changed from above - watch line x104)

name,os_type,virtual_eth_adapters
x101,vioserver,"3/0/1//1/0,4/0/2//1/0,5/0/3//1/0,6/0/4//1/0"
x102,aixlinux,4/0/1//0/0
x103,aixlinux,4/0/1//0/0
x104,aixlinux,4/0/2//0/0
x105,aixlinux,4/0/1//0/0
x106,aixlinux,"4/0/2//0/0,5/0/1//0/0"
x107,aixlinux,"4/0/2//0/0,5/0/1//0/0"

Change lpar with name x104
padmin@x101:[/home/padmin]chsyscfg -r prof -i "lpar_name=x104","virtual_eth_adapters=4/0/1//0/0"
After:

padmin@x101:[/home/padmin]lssyscfg -r prof -F name,os_type,virtual_eth_adapters --header        
name,os_type,virtual_eth_adapters
x101,vioserver,"3/0/1//1/0,4/0/2//1/0,5/0/3//1/0,6/0/4//1/0"
x102,aixlinux,4/0/1//0/0
x103,aixlinux,4/0/1//0/0
x104,aixlinux,4/0/1//0/0
x105,aixlinux,4/0/1//0/0
x106,aixlinux,"4/0/2//0/0,5/0/1//0/0"
x107,aixlinux,"4/0/2//0/0,5/0/1//0/0"

So, for your system the command is:

chsyscfg -r prof -i "lpar_name=aix2.71","virtual_eth_adapters=4/0/1//0/0"

For "fun", start by pinging your AIX 7.1 partition before you run the command, and once it completes you should see your pings responding!

Thanks for your help, I tried this and get this result:

$ chsyscfg -r prof -i "lpar_name=aix2.71","virtual_eth_adapters=4/0/1//0/0"
[VIOSE03000147-0520] Virtual adapter defined for virtual slot number 4 is in use and cannot be removed.

And the ping still is not returning anything.

Do I need to shutdown my aix271 and/or aix261 LPARs first?

There is a force option, I am sure. But for now, just shutdown the aix2.71 partition.

Excellent, thanks a million... that worked once I had shutdown the LPAR run the command and restarted the LPAR

I can now access that 71 LPAR via PuTTy and the ping works now too

Glad it is all working.

Next time you create a partition, choose " Create based on " from the pull down menu.