Readme for IBM PowerVM NovaLink 1.0.0.4
This is the December 2016 release of IBM PowerVM NovaLink. Learn more about PowerVM NovaLink at
Download of the IBM PowerVM NovaLink installation media is available at the Entitled Systems Support site (ESS).
http://www-304.ibm.com/servers/eserver/ess/OpenServlet.wss
NovaLink is entitled for download if you have a license for IBM PowerVM
Table of Contents
Upgrading from Ubuntu 15.10 to 16.04.1 LTS
Fixes and service packs for
this product are available in the following online repositories:
· Ubuntu: https://public.dhe.ibm.com/systems/virtualization/Novalink/debian
· RHEL 7.3: https://public.dhe.ibm.com/systems/virtualization/Novalink/rhel/73/novalink_1.0.0
To upgrade to the 1.0.0.4
release, run the following:
· If you are currently running Ubuntu 15.10, you will
need to upgrade
to Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS as 15.10 is no longer supported by Canonical. You should do this before you update NovaLink.
· Update the apt repository cache
o
sudo apt update
·
Upgrade to
1.0.0.4. The ‘upgrade’ will upgrade all
software, or you can specifically only update the NovaLink
and RSCT portion.
o
sudo apt
upgrade (or alternatively: sudo apt install pvm-novalink rsct.basic)
·
Remove old
packages that are no longer used (optional)
o
sudo apt-get autoremove
See the Knowledge Center
documentation for more information on installing fixes and updates
· http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/POWER8/p8eig/p8eig_updating_ubuntu_online.htm?cp=POWER8
·
Support for RHEL
7.3
·
Support for
Multiple MSPs for Migration
·
Support for
Inactive VIOS Migration
·
Support for
SR-IOV and VNIC
·
Support for IBMi Network Boot
·
Support for IBMi 5250 Console
·
Support for
Software Defined Networking (SDN) Technology Preview
·
Issues affecting
HMC Co-Management
o
Prior to
converting a system to a co-managed environment, the user should create a
backup of the profile data (bkprofdata) on the
HMC. This will allow the user to revert back to the state prior to
co-management should they desire.
o
Any LPAR that
has not been powered on at least once prior to switching over to a co-managed
mode will need to be re-created.
o
The HMC Enhanced
UI should be used when using the HMC in a co-managed mode. The classic UI
is missing key functionality due to the lack of partition profiles when running
co-managed.
o
NovaLink does not
currently have support for Active Memory Sharing or Hibernation.
·
Issues affecting
full installs (where NovaLink deploys the entire PowerVM stack including the VIOS).
o
When performing
a full install on a new system, if any error occurs before the VIOS server(s)
have been created or installed, you will need to reset the system in order to
try again.
Resolution:
If
you encounter an error during the creation or installation of the VIOS
Server(s), you will need to reset your system to the initial factory settings.
This can be done via the ASMI interface or by rebooting the NovaLink
partition and use the 'Reset System' under the 'Choose to repair a system'
option of the NovaLink installation wizard.
o
When performing
a full install on a new system, the IP addresses associated with NovaLink and the VIOS should not use the 192.168.128.1 network
(or any superset). NovaLink sets up a
192.68.128.1 network through which to install the VIOS, and allocating that
same network for the external facing IPs will cause the install to fail.
·
Issues affecting
installation in an HMC environment.
o
NovaLink supports
using multipath I/O of physical volumes via redundant VIOSs. However, when using Virtual Optical DVD (vtoptX)
to perform an installation of the NovaLink software,
the same vhostY hosting the NovaLink
LPARs disk must be used if the disk has multiple paths. The following is an example lsmap (on VIOS) output showing vhost0 serving both vtopt0
and vtscsi0 for hdisk1.
$
lsmap -all
SVSA
Physloc Client Partition ID
---------------
-------------------------------------------- ------------------
vhost0
U9119.MHE.21BB977-V1-C5 0x00000003
VTD
vtopt0
Status
Available
LUN
0x8200000000000000
Backing
device /var/vio/VMLibrary/novalink-installer-96-ISO
Physloc
Mirrored
N/A
VTD
vtscsi0
Status
Available
LUN
0x8100000000000000
Backing
device hdisk1
Physloc U78CD.001.FZH8538-P1-C4-T1-W5005076802161E9F-L1000000000000
Mirrored
false
·
Issues affecting
SDN Technology Preview
o
When installing NovaLink using the SDN Technology Preview mode, it is not
possible to enable Link Aggregation for the Open vSwitch
bridge using the installer. You can
enable link aggregation after the install is complete using the following:
Right after Novalink installation, login to NovaLink partition console (not via SSH) and perform
following steps:
(1) replace following
lines (following the OVSBridge definition) in the /etc/network/interfaces file
##############################################
allow-ovs br-ex
iface br-ex
inet static
address <IPADDR>
netmask <NETMASK>
gateway <GATEWAY>
dns-nameservers <NAMESERVER>
dns-search <DOMAIN>
ovs_type OVSBridge
ovs_ports br_ex_port
allow-br-ex br_ex_port
iface br_ex_port
inet manual
ovs_bridge br-ex
ovs_type OVSPort
##############################################
into:
##############################################
allow-ovs br-ex
iface br-ex
inet static
address <IPADDR>
netmask <NETMASK>
gateway <GATEWAY>
dns-nameservers <NAMESERVER>
dns-search <DOMAIN>
ovs_type OVSBridge
ovs_ports br_ex_bond
allow-br-ex br_ex_bond
iface br_ex_bond inet manual
ovs_bridge br-ex
ovs_type OVSBond
ovs_bonds br_ex_port <additional ports to add to
the bond>
ovs_options bond_mode=active-backup other_config:bond-detect-mode=carrier
##############################################
(2) Bring down
the br-ex interface by "sudo
ifdown br-ex".
(3) Bring up
the br-ex interface using “sudo
ifup br-ex”.
================
Additional
Notes
================
The full list
for tested ovs_options for the bond are:
ovs_options bond_mode=active-backup
other_config:bond-detect-mode=carrier
ovs_options bond_mode=balance-slb other_config:bond-detect-mode=carrier
ovs_options bond_mode=active-backup
other_config:bond-detect-mode=miimon
ovs_options bond_mode=balance-slb other_config:bond-detect-mode=miimon
Installation
instructions for PowerVM NovaLink
are available on the on-line Knowledge Center.
· http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/POWER8/p8eig/p8eig_installing.htm?cp=POWER8
NovaLink
1.0.0.4 has full support for Ubuntu 16.04.1, and will install 16.04.1 by
default. If you have an existing NovaLink installation based on Ubuntu 15.10 (1.0.0.2 or
earlier based NovaLink), you should plan on upgrading
to Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS as the 15.10 release is out of support (see http://www.ubuntu.com/info/release-end-of-life).
The following is
a one-time upgrade procedure and follows the standard Ubuntu release upgrade
procedure. The network device names do change,
so follow this procedure to maintain network connectivity.
*-network:0
description: Ethernet interface
physical id: 1
logical name: eth0
serial: 1a:3a:1a:0f:c9:10
size: 1Gbit/s
capacity: 1Gbit/s
capabilities: ethernet
physical fibre 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on
broadcast=yes driver=ibmveth driverversion=1.05 duplex=full ip=X.XX.XXX.X
link=yes multicast=yes port=fibre speed=1Gbit/s
*-network:1
description: Ethernet interface
physical id: 2
logical name: eth1
serial: 7e:e2:03:12:79:0d
size: 1Gbit/s
capacity: 1Gbit/s
capabilities: ethernet
physical fibre 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on
broadcast=yes driver=ibmveth driverversion=1.05 duplex=full ip=X.XX.XXX.X
link=yes multicast=yes port=fibre speed=1Gbit/s
· If the network interfaces use ibmveth, you must edit and change their name in the /etc/network/interfaces file. Beginning with
16.04.1, the IBM virtual ethernet device's name will
be renamed to ibmveth and use the location with the
name to uniquely identify it.
· To determine the name to use run lscfg command and find the location associated with each
interface:
o sudo lscfg | grep
eth
+ eth0
U8247.22L.212A90A-V1-C3-T1
+ eth1
U8247.22L.212A90A-V1-C6-T1
In this example, eth0 is at slot 3
(C3), while eth1 is at slot 6 (C6).
o Make a backup of your network
interfaces file:
§ sudo cp /etc/network/interfaces ~/network-interfaces.bak
o Edit the /etc/network/interfaces file using sudo and replace all occurrences of eth0 with ibmvethX, then all occurrences of eth1 with ibmvethY, where X and Y match the slot numbers found above.
In our case, eth0 -> ibmveth3 and eth1 -> ibmveth6
o NovaLink repository
§ sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pvm.list.distUpgrade /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pvm.list
o RSCT repository (if enabled)
§ sudo apt install software-properties-common
§ sudo rm -f /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ibmpackages-ubuntu-rsct-wily.list*
§ sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ibmpackages/rsct
PowerVM NovaLink uses versioning
in the form of Version, Release, Mod Level and Fix (VRMF). Example
1.0.0.4
· Version and Release increments have a 3 year software support Lifecycle and follow IBM’s standard software lifecycle (http://www-01.ibm.com/software/support/lifecycle/lc-policy.html).
· Mod Level (third digit) increments have an N-1 support policy. The current available Mod Level and the previous release of a Mod Level are supported.
o For example if 1.0.1.x is currently the latest shipped release, then 1.0.0.x versions are in support. Once 1.0.2.x release is available, support for 1.0.0.x ceases.
· Fix (fourth digit) increments indicate fix and service pack levels for the Mod Level of the release. PowerVM NovaLink uses the Debian method of delivering fixes via a fix repository.
See the Knowledge Center for more information. Errata for service fixes will be posted to Fix Central.