ROOTVG

Hi

We are currently running 2 System p environments:
The older live environment: 9113-550 , HMC 6.1.0, VIOS 1.3.0, LPAR1 - AIX 5.3 ML5, LPAR2 - AIX 5.3 ML5, 6 x 73GB internal disks - VIOS rootvg mirrored, LPAR 1 rootvg mirrored and LPAR2 rootvg mirrored, 2 x HBA's connecting to SAN. All adapters owned by VIOS and mapped to LPAR's.

The newer DR environment: 9133-55A , HMC 6.1.2, VIOS 1.3.0, LPAR1 - AIX 5.3 ML5, LPAR2 - AIX 5.3 ML5, 8 x 146GB internal disks - All data on internal disks. 2 x HBA's installed.  All adapters owned by VIOS and mapped to LPAR's.

The new machine has faster POWER5+ CPU's and more memory, the reason for wanting to use newer server for Production and older one for DR environment.

I backed up the profile data on both of the HMC's and restored it each on the other HMC. The partitions, with their profiles, were all there.
I took the internal disks from the 9113-550 and physically installed it in the 9133-55A in the same slots.
I tried activating the VIOS partition.... It couldn't see the boot disk.
I then tried activating it again, but interrupted the process by going into the SMS, to specify the correct boot device. None of the disks were available for booting!

Has anyone tried something simmilar or can anyone see an obvious flaw in my attempt?

Thanks in advance
Chris

If you boot the VIOS partition and "pretend" that you are going to install does it display the disks? In other words, are you sure you have specified the correct slot (T10, T12, T14, C6, ??). If you cant see the slots to install on them, then they wont boot either.

If the disks can be seen, but don't boot this means that the firmware does not see the disk as bootable. Generally, the easiest way to resolve this is to boot in maintenance mode and run bosboot again.

Note the kernels for POWER and POWER+ are different, but once above TL4 for AIX 5.3 your kernel should support both. VIOS 1.3.0.0 is TL04 I believe. I have Fixpack 81 installed (VIOS 1.3.0.1).


I would consider updating my VIOS (1.4 is also available) to at least 1.3.0.1

Thanks for the advice.

I think for a start I need to upgrade the 9113-550's firmware and also upgrade the VIOS software.
I will then be able to eliminate those variables and then see where I am.

Thanks again

Also check that you can see the hardware. There is a good chance that the integrated slots are not the same. Thus, when you restore the profile data, they are not really mapping to what you expect.

You could also consider managing both systems by one, or both of the HMC's. One managed system can be managed by two HMC's, and an HMC can manage up to 32 POWER5 systems.