aix install from scratch

[madhu120]

trying to install AIX from scratch to a LPAR which has Virtual Fiber Channels assigned (NPIV) and connected directly to nimble storage and somehow it is not recognizing the LUNS from nimble.. any help?

[chris24 · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Suggest you contact support directly to get a swift response regarding this. 

Cheers,

Chris

[madhu120]

Thanks chris.. i had with support and able to test the installation by disabling the standby path from Storage... so basically enabling only path all the way from storage to LPAR.

[jstinson105]

Hi Madhu,

We run AIX, too, but all of our AIX installs are on local disks with application data then placed on Nimble. For future reference though, are you saying that to make this work, all you had to do was set up your zoning so that the LPAR you were trying to install to could only see one path to the array? We've had to do that in order to SAN-boot some Dell servers with Windows.

Thanks in advance,

Jonathan

[madhu120]

Hi Jonathan,

below are the steps i followed, it may or may not work for you.. i suggest to test by creating sand box..

the configuration we have is two VIO servers and LPAR has one fcs from each vio server... and nimble storage has two controllers... we can achieve this by two ways.. 

1) since Nimble doesn't use both controllers as active and active (it is active on one controller and standby on second), you can disable one fcs from one of the vio and make standby connection as off-line at storage.

2) while installing aix from scratch (we use images at nim as a source), you go to SMS mode and follow the standard approach/steps until  "installation and Maintenance" Menu showed up then follow below steps..

--> select option 5 "Select Storage Adapters" and pick one fscsi (mostly fscsi0) and hit 0 to continue..

--> then go back to "installation and Maintenance" and select option 4 "More Additional Disks Available"

      then select option 2  "Remove Disk Reservations"

      then "Release a single path or persistent reservation"

      and remove reservation for each disk..

--> go back to main Menu "installation and Maintenance"

      then select option 2 " Change/Show installation settings and install"

      then option 1 "System Settings"

      then option 1 " New and Complte Overwrite" or other options based on need

      select only one disk/path on "Change disk(s) where you want to install"

      (if you see more paths than you think, go back to "Select Storage adapters" and make sure you selected only one adapter and hit "0")

      and continue

--> optional only if the disks were already used (only for base install)

      you may need to clear PVID for all disk since the LPAR has muti-paths to storage and more than one disk has same pvid

      then you need to shutdown and start in SMS mode and follow the above approach again.

so basically what i did is leaving only one path from VIOS to LPAR... i like the option 2 since AIX admin can control the selections and no need to make changes at the storage and put back the changes we did at storage once the install is done.. with option 2, once the OS is installed all the paths will be back automatically.

another thing i did is, i have added the nimble mpio drivers to lpp_source, so all the paths will be active once the system boot after the install with settings needed like reserve path and others recommended by Nimble.

[chrisbarry45]

I would temporarily install the rootvg on a vSCSI disk carved out of one of the VIO servers. This will give you a live LPAR so you can check your NPIV plumbing before tackling SAN boot installation.

make sure your VFCmap's are correct. Also, check the NPIV ports with lsnports. lsmap -all -npiv shows the virtual adapter mappings.

during the install process, reduce your mapping to one path to the Nimble volume or it will fail the bosboot at the end of the install process. Once its up and running, you can install the Nimble ODM and enable the additional paths.

Lots of step by step guides and redbooks are available.

AIX for System Administrators