Virtual I/O Server installation overview

The Virtual I/O Server The Virtual I/O Server is a dedicated partition that runs a special operating system called IOS. This special type of partition has physical resources assigned to it in its HMC profile. The administrator issues server partition IOS commands to create virtual resources which present virtual LAN, virtual SCSI adapters, and virtual disk drives client partitions. The client partition’s operating systems recognize these resources as physical devices. The Virtual I/O Server is responsible for managing the interaction between the client LPAR and the physical device supporting the virtualized service. Once the administrator logs in to the Virtual I/O Server as the user padmin, he or she has access to a restricted Korn shell session. The administrator uses IOS commands to create, change, and remove these physical and virtual devices as well as to configure and manage the VIO server. Executing the help command on the VIO server command line lists the commands that are available in padmin’s restricted Korn Shell session

Virtual I/O Server installation

VIO Server code is packaged and shipped as an AIX mksysb image
on a VIO DVD

Installation methods
– DVD install
– HMC install - Open rshterm and type “installios”; follow the
prompts
– Network Installation Manager (NIM)

VIO Server can support multiple client types
– AIX 5.3
– SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 or 10 for POWER
– Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS for POWER Version 3 and 4


Virtual I/O Server Administration

The VIO server uses a command line interface running in a restricted shell
– no smitty or GUI

There is no root login on the VIO Server

A special user – padmin – executes VIO server commands

First login after install, user padmin is prompted to change password

After that, padmin runs the command “license –accept”

Slightly modified commands are used for managing devices, networks,
code installation and maintenance, etc.

The padmin user can start a root AIX shell for setting up third-party
devices using the command “oem_setup_env”

We can get all commands by executing help on padmin user id

$ help
Install Commands
Physical Volume Commands
Security Commands
updateios
lspv
lsgcl
lssw
migratepv
cleargcl
ioslevel
lsfailedlogin
remote_management
Logical Volume Command
oem_setup_env
lslv
UserID Commands
oem_platform_level
mklv
mkuser
license
extendlv
rmuser
rmlv
lsuser
LAN Commands
mklvcopy
passwd
mktcpip
rmlvcopy
chuser
hostname
cfglnagg
netstat
Volume Group Commands
Maintenance Commands
entstat
lsvg
chlang
cfgnamesrv
mkvg
diagmenu
traceroute
chvg
shutdown
ping
extendvg
fsck
optimizenet
reducevg
backupios
lsnetsvc
mirrorios
savevgstruct
unmirrorios
restorevgstruct
Device Commands
activatevg
starttrace
mkvdev
deactivatevg
stoptrace
lsdev
importvg
cattracerpt
lsmap
exportvg
bootlist
chdev
syncvg
snap
rmdev
startsysdump

cfgdev
topas
mkpath
mount
chpath
unmount
lspath
showmount
rmpath
startnetsvc
errlog
stopnetsvc