Re: VIO Server, and virtual resource provisioning

michael.shulman wrote:
I'm in a similar prediciment with 2 highly virtualized 570s and a
couple of 520s and power4 systems scattered about. Management is asking
for something similar, and here's what I'm doing:
Making a database.
The reason is so that you can input each LPAR individually. So for
example, a row might have the values of: Managed system, LPAR name, OS,
Physical storage, SAN storage, virtual storage, physical ethernet,
virtual ethernet, CPU min/des/max, memory min/des/max, stuff running on
the LPAR, class of system (dev, prod, test, sandbox).
Then you make another table with the total resources of each managed
system so it can all be cross referenced in a query. You don't need a
massive db for this, even msaccess will do. I strongly reccommend doing
this on some sort of relational db, however these concepts could be
applied toward a spread*** as well.
If you have monitoring software deployed, it might also be worthwhile
to have basic trends in resource utilization with an emphasis on time
so you can maximize your planning.
Let me know if you have any questions.
p595pimp wrote:
my boss wants me to make a 1-2 page spread*** for
identifying/managing/provisioning all of the resources (virtual &
physical) on our p570 (3xLPAR's, 1xVIOS, 2xD20's, lots of vhost
adapters, and fibre-channel to our D4800). Basically, he wants to be
able to look at this spread*** for 2 seconds and see 1)- what are all
the active resources, where are they coming from, what are they
assigned to? All for the purpose of provisioning new LPAR's.
and 2)- what are all the available resources, etc,
etc...
He also wants to be able to see the relationship between the VIRTUAL,
the LOGICAL, AND the PHYSICAL resources.
The guy is a prefectionist, to say the least (a Phd. uber-genius
type)... I made him a spread*** that was basically the output of the
following commands (run mostly on the VIO Server & the main production
LPAR), mixed in with some info culled from the HMC... and he HATED it.
(the hated commands):
$lsdev -slots
%lsdev -Cc disk
%lsattr -El hdiskX
$lsdev -type disk
$lsmap -all
$lsdev -dev hdiskX -attr
$lsdev -dev fscsiX -attr
$lsdev -virtual
$lsdev -type adapter -virtual
$lspv/lsvg/etc...
What I'm wondering is... (and I asked him this, but he won't tell
me)... what am I missing, exatly, what is it that I'm not putting on
the spread*** that would be helpful in determining exactly what all
resources we have, how they are used, and how they are seen, from the
Virtual/Logical/AND Physical viewpoints (AND what is the best
FORMAT)... in order to be able to look at this piece of paper and
instantly see how we will provision the next LPAR????
BTW... its okay to have a seperate spread*** for
processors/IO/disks/etc...

Thanks in advance for the help.
and if Dan (the Man) is reading this... your 2cents are always worth a
fortune!


....or he's really looking for you to "paint a picture" (as in a an actual system diagram/picture) so he can actually "picture" what the system looks like?? In my 10 years experience, management types like the one you described feel they need to "know the system" in the shortest time possible (especially if they've never had experience with "the system" :-} )and usually the easiest way is via a "pictogram" that has a box with lines and arrows and network clouds and such. So, why not take the output of all those commands and "translate them" into a picture of the system (with the technical "labels", like ent0, managed system capabilities, etc...)?

Pete
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