AIX VIOS support

Usage and Config Platform
1

(imported topic written by SystemAdmin)

Hi,

I’ve installed Tivoli Endpoint Manager 8.1. Could I install the BES agent on an AIX VIOS?

Is it supported?

Thanks in advance

Graziano

2

(imported comment written by NoahSalzman)

While we are poking around to see if QA tests in such a configuration (my guess is that they don’t) why don’t you give it a try and let us know. :slight_smile:

For non-AIX experienced folks reading this thread here is an intro to VIOS:

What is a VIO Server?

pSeries servers from IBM have, since October 2001, allowed a machine to be divided into LPARs, with each LPAR running a different OS image – effectively a server within a server. You can achieve this by logically splitting up a large machine into smaller units with CPU, memory, and PCI adapter slot allocations.

The new POWER5 machines (pSeries p5 and OpenPower servers) can also run an LPAR with less than one whole CPU – up to ten LPARs per CPU. So, for example, on a four CPU machine, 20 LPARs can easily be running. With each LPAR needing a minimum of one SCSI adapter for disk I/O and one Ethernet adapter for networking, the example of 20 LPARs would require the server to have at least 40 PCI adapters. This is where the VIO Server helps.

The VIO Server owns real PCI adapters (Ethernet, SCSI, or SAN), but lets other LPARs share them remotely using the built-in Hypervisor services. These other LPARs are called Virtual I/O client partitions (VIO client). And because they don’t need real physical disks or real physical Ethernet adapters to run, they can be created quickly and cheaply.

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-aix-vioserver-v2/index.html

3

(imported comment written by NoahSalzman)

Some guy here in the office just ran our AIX 8.1 client in VIOS 2.2 and gave it a 30-second smoke test: it worked. This is not a officially tested nor supported configuration at the moment… but thought you might want to know that at least the basics were functional.

4

(imported comment written by SystemAdmin)

Thank you Noah and all… I hope to try the same soon, now I know that at least the installation works and the process is able to run

5

(imported comment written by Jeff Saxton)

The installation process was a little non-standard. Please bear in mind that this is not currently a supported configuration.

  1. FTP the .pkg file and masthead to the vios server using the padmin account

  2. telnet to the padmin account on the vios server

  3. run oem_setup_env to become root (vios equivilent of su)

  4. install the client usint the normal installp command (installp –agqYXd ./BESAgent-8.0.627.0.ppc_aix51.pkg BESClient)

  5. move the masthead file to /etc/opt/BESClient/ and set the owner/group and permissions

  6. start the client using the rc script.

6

(imported comment written by JimCate)

This thread has been inactive for quite some time. I’m researching clients for VIOS and can’t really find any updated information. Is this still an “officially” unsupported thing?

7

I had a recent customer query on this support. It appears that BigFix agent might run on AIX VIO server, but is not officially supported. I opened an RFE on our behalf today to gauge level of interest for this support.

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rfe/execute?use_case=viewRfe&CR_ID=87297