Edit: A mention of Systems Director. Yikes. The literature page link still works, but there is not much there anymore.
Originally posted April 21, 2009 on AIXchange
I’m a big NIM fan. I’m also a big fan of installing VIOS (along with regular AIX LPARs) using NIM, which is described in the IBM Redbooks publication, “IBM BladeCenter JS21: The POWER of Blade Innovation.” One reason I like NIM is you can use it to quickly get a system up and running (as I explain in previous IBM Systems Magazine articles here and here).
When I’m doing a new server build, especially for a large deployment across an enterprise, I rely on NIM. I can install once, create a “golden image,” take a mksysb of it, and then clone that image using NIM. I mean, why install the same tools and software 30 times across 30 LPARs?
Speaking of NIM’s benefits, I recently found on a mailing list this great tip on using NIM with VIOS 2.1:
The install may hang after the message: “Mounting File Systems.”
Why? VIOS 2.1 requires more than the 1GB of memory typical for VIOS 1.5.
According to the release notes, each LHEA *port* assigned to the VIO server requires a minimum of 612MB of memory — and no, that isn’t a typo. This is in addition to the base memory that VIOS 2.1 itself requires (typically 512MB).
Example:
If you have two LHEAs assigned to VIOS 2.1, the VIOS will need a minimum of:
612 MB + 612 MB + 512 MB = 1,736MB
(LHEA) + (LHEA) + (Base) = Minimum RAM
On an unrelated note, if you’re ever asked to articulate the benefits of Power Systems, the IBM Power Systems Literature page is a good place to start. This page includes three different whitepapers that detail how Power Systems are designed for serviceability, availability and reliability. You’ll also find papers on using Performance Manager (PM) for Power Systems, why you should upgrade to IBM i 6.1, and how to manage Power Systems with Systems Director 6.1.