Edit: I updated Chris’ post to reflect that he has moved his archives to gibsonnet.net.
Originally posted June 1, 2010 on AIXchange
I use the VMLibrary almost constantly. Virtual media is faster than optical media, and I can mount virtual media to different client LPARs at the same time.
Typically when I load a new machine in a new environment that doesn’t already have a NIM server, I’ll boot my first VIO server from optical media loaded in the DVD drive. Then I’ll use the mkvopt command to copy the physical media I’ll need — usually including any relevant VIO and AIX CDs — and create .iso images in my virtual media repository.
After I boot from my AIX .iso image and build my first AIX client, I’ll build it as a NIM server. Then I’ll map my AIX .iso image for the smitty bffcreate command to copy the AIX filesets. I’ll use my NIM server to load any other VIO servers in the environment; then I’ll use the NIM server to build the rest of my AIX client LPARs. I can load each system in minutes with NIM, whereas with optical media it takes much longer.
Many of you rely on virtual media as well. For instance, recently one of my customers was trying to back up his VIO servers, but because of his huge virtual media library, he was getting errors. When he called IBM Support, he was told to move the .iso images off of the machine and remove the virtual media library, and then back up the vio server — a recommendation that wasn’t practical given how much the customer relies upon the virtual media library.
Fortunately, I’d just come across information about an interesting new backupios option, nomedialib, that can exclude the VMLibrary. Chris Gibson e-mailed me about it, explaining that by using the /etc/exclude.rootvg feature of the mksysb command, the -nomedialib flag excludes the contents of the virtual media repository from the backup. When the -nomedialib flag is specified, the backupios command copies the original contents of the /etc/exclude.rootvg file to a repository, appends the /var/vio/VMLibrary string to the /etc/exclude.rootvg file, ensures that the -e flag is passed to the mksysb command and restores the original contents of the /etc/exclude.rootvg file.
Having this -nomedialib flag in your back pocket simplifies the process of backing up VIO servers, because you don’t need to copy the .iso images — that results in smaller backup images.
Speaking of Chris, I recently saw a tweet linking to his blog post about shared Ethernet adapter statistics, which can be displayed per VIO client using the seastat command.
As Chris says: “This is a great way to monitor traffic/activity over a particular SEA. It can be very useful when determining if an SEA is currently being using — i.e. during troubleshooting network connectivity issues between client LPARs and an external network that is bridged via a SEA.”
He closes his post with an IBM link to seastat information.
I’m continually building new servers for customers, and I’m always looking for new and better ways of doing things. If you have some tips about building a new machine from scratch, please post them in Comments.