Fibre Channel Boot Notes

Notes for migrating to EMC or Shark with Fibre Channel boot
R. Ballough, 1/15/2004
Planning Notes
1. Reference document SANBootQA0103.pdf for a complete list of requirements when

booting from SAN attached disk http://w3-
1.ibm.com/sales/systems/portal/_s.155/254?navID=f220s240&geoID=AM&prodID=pS
eries&docID=wsfcupdate1107
2. PowerPath is allowed with boot devices; SDD is not at this time. With SDD, rootvg
should be mirrored at the host level across two separate HBAs for redundancy.
3. PowerPath or SDD are preferred options for multipathing at this time. MPIO, native
to AIX, is also available for multipathing; however, support for features such as
loadbalancing vary by vendor, and some implementations may only support path failover.
4. Check Maintenance Level on AIX using ‘oslevel’ command. With AIX 5.2, make sure
that ML2 is installed.
5. Make sure FC microcode is at current levels. Check with the command ‘lscfg –vl
fcsX’, where fcsX is the fibre channel adapter to be connected. Field (Z9) indicates
the microcode level. Verify this with current microcode at
https://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/mdownload
6. If the adapters are being added to an existing server, the following filesets may need
to be installed:
devices.fcp.disk.rte -> Required for any FC attachment to AIX
devices.common.IBM.fc.rte -> Required for any FC attachment to AIX
devices.pci.df1000f7.com -> Required for any FC attachment to AIX
devices.pci.df1000f7.rte -> Required for 6227 adapter
devices.pci.df1000f7.diag -> Required for 6227 adapter
7. Identify WWPN of HBA to give to SAN administrator for LUN configuration. In
‘lscfg –vl fcsX’ output, this is the Network Address field.
Implementation Notes
EMC:
The following are instructions to install & configure EMC Symmetrix devices, with all
devices (including rootvg) using PowerPath .
1. Install EMC ODM Support Package:

• Download from ftp://ftp.emc.com/pub/symm3000/aix/ODM_DEFINITIONS/
• Install and reboot
• If using LPARs, make the following entry in /etc/environment:
PP_LPAR_KEY_FIX=1
2. Have SAN administrator assign EMC LUN(s) to one HBA (or alternatively, assign them
to all desired HBAs and disconnect the fibre from all but 1 HBA)
3. Detect new disk(s)
cfgmgr –vl fcsX
4. Assign PVID to new disk(s)
chdev –l hdiskX –a pv=yes
5. Clone rootvg to new hdisk. The alt_disk_install command is nice for this because it
copies the data, creates the boot image, and changes the bootlist. Be careful if the
existing rootvg is mirrored, as alt_disk_install will then expect the target disk(s) to have
enough space to contain two mirrors.
alt_disk_install –C hdiskX
• reboot
6. Install PowerPath software + applicable patches through SMIT
7. Register PowerPath software
• emcpreg –install
• ‘powermt check_registration’ command checks to make sure registration key is
valid
8. Initialize the Powerpath hdiskpower devices:
powermt config
9. Enable PowerPath for rootvg:
• pprootdev on
• reboot
10. Have SAN administrator assign EMC LUN(s) to remaining HBAS (or plug in fibre ports)
11. Run EMC’s version of cfgmgr to detect new paths:
/usr/lpp/Symmetrix/bin/emc_cfgmgr
12. Bosboot now needs to be run, but it expects an hdisk device, but instead now has an
hdiskpower device. Run the following command to fix this:
pprootdev fix
13. Rebuild boot image on new hdiskpower boot device:
bosboot –ad /dev/ipldevice
14. Manually update bootlist to include ALL hdisks that correspond to the hdiskpower boot
device:
• Identify hdisks to hdiskpower relationship using ‘powermt display dev=all’
• Update bootlist to include all hdisks corresponding to the hdiskpower boot
device:
bootlist –m normal hdiskX hdiskY
• Reboot
SHARK:
The following are instructions to install & configure Shark LUNs with all except rootvg
using SDD.
1. Download & Install 2105 host attachment package:

http://www-
1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=540&context=ST52G7&q=host+scripts&uid=ssg1
S4000106&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=en+en
• reboot
2. Download & Install SDD package:
http://www-
1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=540&context=ST52G7&q=&uid=ssg1S4000065
&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=en+en
• no reboot needed
3. Have SAN administrator assign SHARK LUN(s) to appropriate HBAs. In the case of
the LUNs for rootvg, make two separate LUNs. Each rootvg LUN should be visible off of
only one HBA. For redundancy, make the first LUN for rootvg off of a different HBA
than the second LUN. Redundancy should also be planned across switches if possible.
4. Run ‘cfgmgr’ to detect LUNs.
5. Run ‘lsdev –Cc disk | grep 2105’ to check that LUNs are configured
6. For all devices to be exluded from SDD control (rootvg devices, for example) run
`querysn –l hdiskX`. This places an entry into /etc/vpexclude.
7. Change the qdepth_enable field to ‘no’ if running a database:
• /usr/lib/methods/defdpo
• chdev –l dpo –a “qdepth_enable=no”
• Verify using ‘lsattr –El dpo’
8. Configure all vpaths. The disks in /etc/vpexclude will remain outside of SDD control
cfallvpath
9. Assign PVID to new boot disks:
chdev –l hdiskX –a pv=yes
10. Clone rootvg to new hdisk. The alt_disk_install command is nice for this because it
copies the data, creates the boot image, and changes the bootlist. Be careful if the
existing rootvg is mirrored, as alt_disk_install will then expect the target disk(s) to
have enough space to contain two mirrors.
alt_disk_install –C hdiskX
reboot
11. Mirror rootvg to target LUN.

mirrorvg rootvg hdiskY
bosboot –ad /dev/hdiskY
bootlist –m normal –o hiskX hdiskY
References:
EMC references:
PowerPath version3.0 for UNIX Installation and Administration Guide, PN 300-00-511 REV
A02, available for download from http://powerlink.emc.com
IBM references:
Fibre Channel Marketing Bulletins at http://w3-
1.ibm.com/sales/systems/portal/_s.155/254?navID=f220s240&geoID=AM&prodID=pSeri
es&docID=rsfcsk.skit&docType=SalesKit&skCat=DocumentType
IBM TotalStorage Enterprise Storage Server Host Attachment Guide, pub SC26-7446-04,
online at http://publibfp.boulder.ibm.com/epubs/pdf/f2bhs04.pdf
Subsystem Device Driver User’s Guide, pub SC26-7608-00, online at

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ssg1S7000303&aid=1
Software Required for Fibre Channel Attachment to AIX:

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg1hintsTips1304

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Notes for migrating to EMC or Shark with Fibre Channel boot

1. Reference document SANBootQA0103.pdf for a complete list of requirements when

1. Install EMC ODM Support Package:

1. Download & Install 2105 host attachment package:

11. Mirror rootvg to target LUN.

Subsystem Device Driver User’s Guide, pub SC26-7608-00, online at

Software Required for Fibre Channel Attachment to AIX:

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