Running HMC in VMware

UPDATE: Please refer to the following post as the entry point http://www.pseriestech.org/forum/har....html#post5026 (Running HMC in VMware)


Hi all,

I am new to System p. Found a unused OpenPower (w/APV) in my company's datacentre and decided to learn.

Discovered that running LPARs without HMC requires VIOS and IVM which could not be downloaded from Internet. Therefore, I try to install HMC which recovery media could be downloaded.

Found that HMC is designed to run on System x servers, and is locked to the specific machine types by checking Vital Product Data.

Managed to skip all checks, fixed it, and run it within VMware WS6.

I saw in the forums that some is interested in running the HMC outside the designated hardware. I would like to share my research, but will I violate any "legal terms" in doing so?

(Some spoilers below)
1. Use a BIOS editor to change the BIOS to reflect correct product types
or
1. Change initrd.gz in the DVD + hmcConfig after installation to skip checks altogether

2. Change XF86Config to reflect the correct graphics adapter (Not required if yours is ATI)

Tried to post screenshots, but found that I could only do that after 5 posts

hxxp://img9.imagepile.net/img9/45108hmc.png
hxxp://img9.imagepile.net/img9/34932hmc2.png (P/N, S/N, BIOS ver can be changed as required)

Please change hxxp to http to see images.

Well, if no one else is going to post, I will I think this is brilliant.

IBM should seriously consider re-packaging the HMC as a VM image + license, in addition to the current options (if not replacing them entirely).

The option to run the HMC (or slice off a new HMC to test updates etc..) from ESX would be a welcome option in many sites, if not for the flexibility but for the increased hardware utilisation and reliability. Unfortunately, until IBM does this and supports it, not many sites would be interested in even testing it.

waxling, Thanks for the encouragement!

For those who are interested, please PM me for details. I will not publish the inner details publicly until someone provides me "legal advice".

Anyway, I believe IBM will not crackdown on this kind of stuff. Any company running System p will not sacrifice their production environment for an IBM unsupported scenario. Their system stability is worth much more than an IBM support contract. (Of course, it is very useful for testing and learning without a spare HMC)

I discovered that the system(OpenPower/APV) I have in my office is a loan machine from IBM.

Some Questions:
1. Without calling IBM(which might remind them of the overdue loan), can anybody advice me on the possiblity on getting the VIOS DVD installation media or image? (The nearest I found was FIX PACK 9.2 which does not contain installation images)

2. SuSE SLES9 can be modded into VIOS, found this from a wiki dated 2005. Is there any significance difference between IBM VIOS 1.4 and SuSE VIOS?

Thankful for some answers!

The VIO install image is a bit of a bone of contention - as it won't install without the Virtualisation Feature Code being enabled. Especially when new hardware comes out we often need the latest version of the VIO in order have the hardware recognised, and getting anew CD (even for us) can be a real pain.

__________________
Ross Mather, IBM AIX IT Specialist.
That said anything I say here is my own opinion and not anything that you can ever hold against IBM.
Ohhh and don't forget that I make mistakes too....

Hello everybody! Nice to meet you!

Hi

Yes. It can be done. IBM will not support such configuration, remember that selling HMCs is one of the best deals IBM has.

I know of a guy that have installed an HMC in a virtual machine on VMWare on a T42 and use it as backup of the primary one. Older pSeries servers using Power4 processors had to use a serial adapter to connect to the HMC (pSeries p690 Regatta as sample) and it was somehow difficult to use another approahc of an HMA, but since Power5 based pSeries HMC changes the way your servers can connect and today we HMC serving as a DHCP server for a private LAN of all your pSeries p5 servers. Since you can create a virtual machine in VMware that connects to a given network you can install an DHCP on a Virtual Machine and this should do its work.

Some customizations are required.

__________________
cd3lgad0p

V1.3 - 03-Feb-2009 - "initrd" D.I.Y instructions verified for V7 R3.4 by Sentinel http://www.pseriestech.org/forum/har....html#post8026 (Running HMC in VMware)
V1.2 - 29-Oct-2008 - Instructions for D.I.Y "initrd" http://www.pseriestech.org/forum/har....html#post7142 (Running HMC in VMware)
V1.1 - 17-Apr-2008 - Added more download links for pserieshmc.zip (MegaUpload and FileFront)
V1.0 - 30-Mar-2008 - Original Version

Hi all,

I just received a PM from the Administrator

Quote:

Feel free to post your HMC instructions. You will have no personal liability. I accept the liability for providing the information to the public.

First of all, I would like to thank all those who have provided me information on how to obtain VIOS.

I also noticed many who PMed me have 0 post, meaning they registered just to PM me to get this information. Around 100 users have PMed me so far. (This would also meant alot of people turned away because they didn't want to register or PM)

With support from the Administrator and the rest, I have made the guide public.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Files you need is available below (select your favorite 1-click host / whichever is working)
http://rapidshare.com/files/53815793/pserieshmc.zip
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JBC25T6F
http://files.filefront.com/pserieshm.../fileinfo.html

-initrd.gz (For skipping checks on installation media)
-getHMCVPD (For skipping checks on installed machine)
-XF86Config (For setting graphic driver to vmware)

I tested mine using the HMC V7 R3.1.0 recovery image from the IBM web site (https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/hmc/home.html)

For the installation media, you can use MagicISO to replace the initrd.gz file in the first DVD. By doing so, the installation will skip VPD checks and assume machine type to be 7042-CR4.
You can choose burn (for physical machines) or mount (for virtual machines).

First you need to create a new VM machine (or use a physical machine if u prefer, provided the drivers needed is on the HMC DVD)


1. I recommend using IDE HDDs under VMware as there is problems detecting SCSI HDDs using HMC media

2. I did a installation using a max disk size of 8GB and it failed, when I set the maximum capacity to 160GB, it install without problems. I am sure it will work with a smaller capacity, but I got no time to try. (alti informed me that he tried 70GB and it works)

3. Once installed and rebooted, it should display login prompt after all services as X windows will fail to start.
-You can
Login using hscroot, passw0rd
OR If login prompt does not show
Boot the system using some Linux LiveCD and mount /dev/hda2 (Recommended)
OR
When the system is in the GRUB menu, press 'e' and scroll to 2nd line and press 'e' again. Remove the 'ro' option and replace it with 'single'.

4. Transfer the following files into the HMC (SSH via LiveCD is the easiest)
getHMCVPD
to /opt/hsc/bin
Needed for getting VPD on bootup, if not X windows will not run. Hardcoded to machine type 7042-CR4
More files need to be changed so that the correct stuff gets displayed in some screens, but this file alone will get the machine running

XF86Config
to /etc/X11
Needed for getting X windows to run with the correct display driver, the great thing is that the vmware driver is included in the HMC installation. (For physical machines, change the driver to your display adapter)

5. Umount and reboot. Your HMC is ready.

You might not be able to change network settings in the GUI, suspect it to be related to sl0, as it fails on startup.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi all,

I am the one who pm yikching to get the information before. And I don't think it will affect I** business as nobody would use vmware+hmc to manage p server is production environment. Oppositely, I believe it can help us to familiar hmc and increase the growth of I** business.

Anyway, I setup hmc in vmware and got some problem to open lpar console window. The connection between hmc and p machine is fine and I can create lpar and move cpu/mem/io. However, sometimes (actually it is "always" right now) I cannot open lpar console window. The message is :

The connection to the server is not available. Recevied invalid connection information, operation cancelled.

All network connection (hmc, lpar ethernet) are all connect to one switch.

Would anyone know what is the problem?

I guess I'm lucky that this topic has just recently come up, as I have been trying to determine whether or not it's possible to do the logical partitioning on an OpenPower 710 without an HMC!

I'm downloading the recovery ISO as I type this, and I'm hoping it will work with VMWare Fusion on my macbook pro.

I think it's great that it's possible to do this, as without an HMC, the features of these machines seem out of reach for people who just want to fiddle and test...

I shall reply again once I have failed and need to ask questions - or in the unlikely event of complete success, I'll also reply and share the information I learned.