N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) is a technology that allows a Fibre Channel adapter to be configured with multiple virtual world-wide port names (WWPNs); in other words it is a technology that enables you to connect multiple logical partitions to one physical port of a physical fibre channel adapter.
There are some hardware and software requirements to use NPIV, you can find a link in the resources sectionwith all this information. There is one requirement, I'd like to remark, you should pay attention to the Fibre Channel switch which must also support NPIV.
How can you check this?
You can log into the IVM system and run the command lsnports, if it is enable you should see 1 in the fabric attribute, if it is set to zero, you'll have to change that.
You can do it following the resources link but take into account that to make the changes effective you will have to shutdown the IVM and the rest of partitions.
Once NPIV is enabled in the fabric, open the properties of the VFC client and go to the storage tab, click on "Add" and select the new entry.
Under Physical Port, select the Physycal Adapter and click ok. Once the adapter has been created you should see the new WWPNs.
Note: The client has to be shutdown so you don't have these options in grey.
Once you have done these operations, take a look in the IVM partition with lsmap -all -npiv, and you'll see all the information
Note: The client has to be shutdown so you don't have these options in grey.
Once you have done these operations, take a look in the IVM partition with lsmap -all -npiv, and you'll see all the information
There are a couple of things to take into account when configuring NPIV:
- The physical WWN of the adapter belonging to the VIOS must not be in the same zone as a virtual WWN from a virtual Fibre Channel adapter.
- The queue depth (num_cmd_elems) and maximum transfer (max_xfer_size) configured on the virtual fiber channel adapter in AIX, must match what is configured on the VIOS.
It is also important to note that there are two WWPNs for each virtual fiber channel adapter.
Both WWPNs for each virtual adapter need to be zoned to the storage for live partition mobility to work. Only one appears on the SAN fabric at any one time, so one of them needs to be added manually. The two WWPNs for one virtual fiber channel adapter can exist in the same zone. If they do not exist in the same zone, they must be zoned to the same target devices.
Both WWPNs for each virtual adapter need to be zoned to the storage for live partition mobility to work. Only one appears on the SAN fabric at any one time, so one of them needs to be added manually. The two WWPNs for one virtual fiber channel adapter can exist in the same zone. If they do not exist in the same zone, they must be zoned to the same target devices.
