Readme for IBM PowerVM NovaLink 1.0.0.3

This is the June 2016 release of IBM PowerVM NovaLink. Learn more about PowerVM NovaLink at

https://ibm.biz/pvm224-novalink (Blog)
https://ibm.biz/novalink-whatsnew-1003 (Blog - what’s new in 1.0.0.3)
https://ibm.biz/novalink-kc (Knowledge Center)

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

IBM PowerVM Virtual I/O Server Enterprise Version 2.2.4 5765-PVE
IBM PowerVM Virtual I/O Server Standard Version 2.2.4 5765-PVS
IBM PowerVM for IBM PowerLinux Virtual I/O Server Version 2.2.4 5765-PVL

Table of Contents

How to update. 1

Changes in 1.0.0.3. 1

Known Issues. 1

Installation. 1

Upgrading from Ubuntu 15.10 to 16.04 LTS.. 1

Software Life Cycle. 1

How to update

Fixes and service packs for this product are available on an online repository

· https://public.dhe.ibm.com/systems/virtualization/Novalink/debian

To upgrade to the 1.0.0.3 release, run the following:

· You should consider upgrading to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS as the next version of NovaLink will not be supported on 15.10. You can do this either before or after you update NovaLink.

· Add the RSCT PPA to your list of repositories. The RSCT code is now delivered in a public general repository instead of the NovaLink specific repository. The following will add the repository as well as repository key.

o sudo apt install software-properties-common

o sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ibmpackages/rsct

o NOTE: If you need to clone the repo internally, the location is: http://ppa.launchpad.net/ibmpackages/rsct/ubuntu

· Update the NovaLink GPG repository key.

o wget http://public.dhe.ibm.com/systems/virtualization/Novalink/debian/novalink-gpg-pub.key

o sudo apt-key add novalink-gpg-pub.key

· Update the apt repository cache

o sudo apt update

· Upgrade to 1.0.0.3. 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 Knowledgecenter documentation for more information on installing fixes and updates

· http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/POWER8/p8eig/p8eig_updating_ubuntu_online.htm?cp=POWER8

Changes in 1.0.0.3

· Support for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. The NovaLink installer will install 16.04 by default. The 1.0.0.3 code can run on either Ubuntu 15.10 or 16.04, but it’s recommended you upgrade to 16.04.

· Support for Multiple Shared Processor Pools.

· Support for the Power Enterprise Pools component of Dynamic Resource Optimizer (DRO).

· Support for Remote Restart

Known Issues

· 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 SRIOV, vNIC, 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 Partition Mobility

o Mobility is fully supported using the latest levels of software for both HMC and NovaLink

§ HMC (co-managed and master or not co-managed) V8.840 SP1 or later <-> NovaLink 1.0.0.2 or later

§ NovaLink 1.0.0.2 or later <-> NovaLink 1.0.0.2 or later

o Mobility is not supported using older levels of software.

§ NovaLink 1.0.0.2 <-> NovaLink 1.0.0.1 is not supported.

§ HMC V8.840 or earlier <-> NovaLink is not supported

· The IBM NovaLink application will be translated in a future release. It will be U.S. English only initially.

Installation

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

Upgrading from Ubuntu 15.10 to 16.04 LTS

NovaLink 1.0.0.3 has full support for Ubuntu 16.04, and will install 16.04 by default. If you have an existing NovaLink installation, you should plan on upgrading to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS as the 15.10 goes out of support shortly (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.

Only do this if you are running Ubuntu 15.10. Verify your current release with:

lsb_release –a

Make sure you have upgraded PowerVC to 1.3.1 or later first. PowerVC 1.3.0.2 will not work when managing a NovaLink running on Ubuntu 16.04.
Backup your system

Copy off /var/backups/pvm/

Clean up your /etc/apt/sources.list file – remove any non-valid repositories. It only needs to contain the following (uncommented) lines:

deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu wily partner
deb http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/ wily main restricted
deb http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/ wily universe
deb http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/ wily-security main restricted
deb http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/ wily-security universe
deb http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/ wily-updates main restricted
deb http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/ wily-updates universe
NOTE: If you are using an internal mirror of the Ubuntu repository, make sure your sources.list reflects the mirror location

Run sudo apt update. This will update the package list.
Run sudo apt install apt. This will make sure you have the latest version of apt which is needed for the release upgrade
Before you upgrade, you need to update the names off your network devices to avoid loss of network connectivity after the system reboots.

Check to see if you have this file on the system: /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-ibmveth-net.rules
If you do, move it to your home directory's folder. You can delete this backup once things are complete:

sudo mv /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-ibmveth-net.rules ~/

Check to see if the device driver for these network interfaces is ibmveth by running lshw:

lshw -c network

  *-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, 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

Run sudo do-release-upgrade

Follow the prompts and enter 'y' to all the questions. It’s recommended to accept the package maintainers version if asked unless you’ve installed custom software (other than NovaLink). The system will eventually reboot.

When the system comes back up, you will need to re-enable the following repositories:

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

Check to make sure you have all the latest software

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

You have now completed the upgrade process for Ubuntu 16.04. If you haven’t already, you should update NovaLink.

Software Life Cycle

PowerVM NovaLink uses versioning in the form of Version, Release, Mod Level and Fix (VRMF). Example 1.0.0.3

· 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.