58
20-port full-fabric switch; therefore, the IPM can be upgraded to one of the supported FC switch
modules above by purchasing an additional license.
Note that while all supported FC adapters and most supported FC switch modules operate at
8Gb/s, the rest of the SAN does not have to operate at that speed. Additional FC switches
outside of the chassis can operate at 4Gb/s or 2Gb/s. While this difference in throughput will
have an effect on performance, it will not prevent NPIV from working. Similarly, only the first FC
switch connected to the NPIV adapter must be NPIV-enabled. For this solution, that first FC
switch is one of the supported switch modules above.
The following are the
minimum
hardware, firmware and software requirements for FC tape
library support for IBM i on a Power blade:
•
One supported FC tape library (can be shared among all blades in a chassis and other
servers)
•
One supported FC I/O module
o
If using the #8271 QLogic 8Gb Fibre Channel Expansion Card (CFFh) on the
Power blade,
one #3239 Multi-switch Interconnect Module is also required
o
If using the #3243 or #3244 QLogic 4Gb 10- or 20-port switch module, firmware
level 6.5.0.22.00 or later on it is required
o
If using the #3284 QLogic 8Gb switch module, firmware level 7.10.1.04 or later
on it is required
•
One supported FC expansion adapter
per blade
o
If using the #8271 QLogic 8Gb Fibre Channel Expansion Card (CFFh) or #8242
QLogic 8Gb Fibre Channel Card (CIOv), firmware level 5.02.01 on it is required
•
FC cables to connect the FC I/O module in the chassis to the tape library
•
Power blade service processor firmware version 350_xxx from October 2009 or later
(verified with the
lsfware
command on the VIOS command line)
•
VIOS 2.1.2 or later (verified with the
ioslevel
command on the VIOS command line)
•
IBM i 6.1.1 or later with the latest PTF package from October 2009 or later
While IBM announced the ability to connect the IBM DS8000 storage subsystem through NPIV to
IBM i on Power servers in October 2009, that solution is not yet supported for IBM i on Power
blades. As with other support statements, this document reflects the current support and its
online master version will be updated as IBM’s support position changes. The supported
hardware, software and firmware for IBM i on a Power blade are also listed in
IBM on Power
Blades Supported Environments
at:
http://www.ibm.com/systems/power/hardware/blades/ibmi.html (the same location as this
document).
7.3.3. Creating the VFC configuration
Before the tape library can be mapped to IBM i in the SAN, the VFC server and client adapters
must be created in VIOS and IBM i, and the IBM i LPAR must be associated with the physical FC
adapter. IVM makes these tasks easier by automatically creating the VFC server adapter in
VIOS once the VFC client adapter is created in IBM i. IVM also allows an administrator to directly
map an IBM i VFC client adapter to a physical port on the NPIV adapter:
•
Open a browser connection to VIOS and sign on with padmin or another administrator
userid
•
Click the correct IBM i LPAR to open its properties window
•
Click
Storage
•
Click
the
Virtual Fibre Channel
twist arrow
•
Click
Add.
IVM will temporarily show
Automatically generate
for the new VFC client
adapter’s WWPNs. The reason is that the new WWPNs are not generated by the
