POWERVC - MAINTENANCE

PowerVC Upgrade/Install

After extracting the content of the downloaded package, the same install script will be used for installing or upgrading PowerVC. This script will recognize if PowerVC is already installed. (If we do an upgrade, one of the steps during the upgrade is to uninstall current PowerVC version and then install the new one.)

0. Backup
  - vmware snapshot


1. Red Hat update if needed (for PowerVC 1.4.4 minimum RHEL 7.7. is needed):
   # cat /etc/redhat-release
  Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 7.6 (Maipo)

  # sudo yum check-update
  # sudo yum update -y
  # sudo shutdown -r now

  Updating to a specific release with "releasever" parameter:
  (system should be registered with subscription manager, if releasever is not specified, system will be updated to latest major release)
  # yum --releasever=7.7 update


2. PowerVC  Install/Upgrade
  - download tgz (from ESS)
  - copy to PowerVC node and
  - as root:
  # tar -vzxf …
  # cd <local directory>/powervc-1.4.4.0/
  # ./install

  Upgrade/Install complained about these missing prerequisites:
  - missing python packages: # yum install python-fpconst-0.7.3-12.el7.noarch.rpm python-twisted-core-12.2.0-4.el7.x86_64.rpm python-twisted-web-12.1.0-5.el7_2.x86_64.rpm python-webob-1.2.3-7.el7.noarch.rpm python-webtest-1.3.4-6.el7.noarch.rpm python-zope-interface-4.0.5-4.el7.x86_64.rpm SOAPpy-0.11.6-17.el7.noarch.rpm
  - disabling epel repository: # /usr/bin/yum-config-manager --disable epel
  - disabling ipv6 kernel module: # export ERL_EPMD_ADDRESS=::ffff:127.0.1.1
  - disabling IPv6 entirely: export EGO_ENABLE_SUPPORT_IPV6=N

  If everything is fine, it will do the upgrade… ask license, firewall questions etc, logs can be checked in /opt/ibm/powervc/log
  (as I saw during upgrade it uninstalled current PowerVC, then did a new installation.)
  # if it is a new installation it will ask edition: Standard, Cloud PowerVC Manager
  # License text --> press  1 and  Enter
  # Do you want the IBM PowerVC setup to configure the firewall? 1-Yes or 2-No? 2
  # Continue with the installation: 1-Yes or 2-No? 1


It will take long (about an hour) until it is finished and output will show something like this:
...
...
...
Installation task 7 of 7

Done with cleanup actions.

The validation of IBM PowerVC services post install was successful.

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IBM PowerVC installation successfully completed at 2020-01-22T17:41:07+01:00.
Refer to /opt/ibm/powervc/log/powervc_install_2020-01-22-170753.log for more details.

Use a web browser to access IBM PowerVC at
https://powervc.lab.domain.org

Firewall configuration may be required to use PowerVC.
Refer to the Knowledge Center topic 'Ports used by PowerVC'.

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Removing and adding back SSP to PowerVC

Once PowerVC behaved strangely when Image or Volumes were created (it was hanging, new items did not show up) and IBM recommendation was to remove SSP from PowerVC then adding back should help. (Below steps will not delete data from SSP, the volumes and all data in SSP will remain there, these will be removed from PowerVC only.)


1.Backup PowerVC
  - powervc-backup: https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSXK2N_1.4.3/com.ibm.powervc.standard.help.doc/powervc_backup_data_hmc.html

2.in PowerVC UI record details (print screen)
  - each network: name,vlan id, subnet mask, dns,ip range, SEA mappings , SR-IOV mappings
  - each host: display name, management server (hmc or novalink name), DRO options, Remote restart value
  - each image in SSP: name of the image, OS type, version, details of each VOLUME in that image: volume details, wwn, storage provider name, storage id name etc.
  - export images to file from SSP:
     # cd /var/vio/SSP/SSP_Cluster_1/D_E_F_A_U_L_T_061310/IM
     # dd if=volume-Image_AIX-72_TMP_volume_1-61475a18-3726.fdb060e56143f9e7408e2ffe78de92ea of=/backup/powervc_image_dd/AIX-61_TMP bs=1M


Next steps will impact powervc management - NO impact on running VMs or systems

3.Unmanage all VMs and Hosts 
  - in Virtual Machines: unmanage each VM
  - in Hosts: "remove host" on each host which uses the SSP
  - confirm SSP no longer exists in storage view of PowerVC UI

4. Remove HMC
  - record details of HMC: hmc name and ip, user id, password
  - from hosts view of PowerVC click on the HMC connections tab, remove the HMC which had hosted the SSP

VMs, Hosts, Storage and Images have been removed from PowerVC, next steps will rebuild the environment.

5. Add back HMC and hosts
  - in Hosts view, HMC connections tab, click add HMC: enter hmc name, ip , user and password
  - in Hosts view, add host, leave hmc as connection type, select HMC addeded above
  - Select to add all hosts

6. Confirm SSP was added back to PowerVC
  - in storage view SSP should exist again

7. Create networks (if needed)
  - adding hosts will "discover" networks defined, any manually created networks may be recreated.

8. Recreating images (https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSXK2N_1.4.3/com.ibm.powervc.standard.help.doc/powervc_manually_import_export_volumes_hmc.html)
  - PowerVC cannot "discover" the old images that existed, the volumes from those images remain in the SSP
     To import the volume from a file to SSP:
     # create a volume
     # cd /var/vio/SSP/SSP_Cluster_1/D_E_F_A_U_L_T_061310/VOL1
     dd if=/backup/powervc_image_dd/AIX-61_TMP of=volume-AIX-61_TMP-ci-4043e86a-8e35.5249022804b1cebcc0bbf569fd2b5bd3 bs=1M

9. Validate the environment

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