Edit: More than one option is always useful.
Originally posted March 12, 2019 on AIXchange
Back in 2013 I wrote about using the chnportlogin and lsnportlogin commands to display and change N_Port ID virtualization (NPIV) mappings. This same operation can be accomplished using the HMC, which came in handy for me when I was recently asked how to get secondary World Wide Names (WWNs) logged in to use for live partition mobility:
A login operation may need to be initiated to facilitate SAN Administrators zoning of new virtual WWPNs (vWWPN), including all inactive WWPNs (2nd WWPN in the pair), which are used in Partition Mobility environments.
When performing a login operation, all inactive WWPNs will be activated, including the second WWPN in the pair assigned to each virtual Fibre Channel client adapter. When performing a logout operation, all WWPNs not in use will be deactivated.
To successfully log in a virtual Fibre Channel client adapter, the corresponding virtual Fibre Channel server adapter must exist and it must be mapped.
The primary intent of the login operation is to allow the system administrator to allocate, log in and zone WWPNs before the client partition is activated. With best practices, the WWPNs should be logged out after they are zoned on the Storage Area Network (SAN) and before the partition is activated. If a partition is activated with WWPNs still logged in, the WWPNs used for client access are automatically logged out so they can be logged in by the client.
The login operation can also be used to zone the inactive WWPNs in preparation for a partition mobility operation. If the login operation is performed when a partition is already active, only the inactive WWPNs are activated to the “constant login” state similar to physical Fibre Channel adapters. The WWPNs that are already in use by the virtual Fibre Channel client adapters remain in control of the virtual Fibre Channel clients and are not under the control of this command. This means that active client virtual Fibre Channel WWPNs do not achieve a “constant login” state similar to physical Fibre Channel adapters.
The login operation can interfere with partition mobility operations. Best practice is to perform a logout operation for a partition before attempting to migrate the partition to another server. If a mobility operation is attempted with WWPNs still logged in, the firmware will attempt to automatically log out the WWPNs. However, in some cases, the logouts may not complete in time and may therefore cause the mobility operation to fail.
This IBM Support doc was last modified in December 2016, so the screen shots depict the classic HMC interface. Nonetheless, it’s a good starting point should you need to manually log in ports.