Shared Ethernet Adapters on VIO server can be configured in two different modes while accessing the external network.
1. Simple mode
2. Trunk mode or 802.1Q mode
In a Simple mode, the SEA is not aware of any VLAN information and bridges all the network packets to the external switch. the external switch then determines the target and routes/discards it accordingly. This is very useful when there is only one VLAN that needs to be serviced through the SEA to the LPARs using these VIO servers. The configuration on the switch as well as the VIO (SEA) is simple and straight forward.
In a Trunk mode (802.1Q complaint), the SEA is aware of the VLANs and bridges only the packets that is part of the ‘Additional VLANs’ list. The external switch then determines the target and routes/discards it accordingly. This is very useful when there is a need to service multiple VLANs through the same SEA adapter. This will provide the ability to create LPARS from multiple networks to reside on the same physical nodes. This requires additional configuration on the switch as well as the VIO servers.
The configuration part of the SEA on the VIO are discussed here
This post will discuss the steps needed to convert a SEA from simple mode to a trunk mode. The following is the current set up assumed on this post:
Hardware – Power 7
VIO Servers – Dual
VIO Server IOS Level: 2.1.2.13-FP-22.1 SP-02
HMC Version: Version 7, Release 7.2.0, SP2
SEA – Simple mode
The ports on the external network switches are configured as ‘Access Port’ (cisco term) with allowed VLAN set to 22
Ethernet Adapters used (on both the VIO Servers)
ent2 – Physical Ethernet Adapter on each VIO Servers (P2-C1-T1)
ent0 – Virtual Ethernet Adapter that will act as the bridge to the external network (PVID – 1002) (V1-C10-T1)
ent1 – Virtual Ethernet Adapter used for control Channel (V1-C11-T1)
ent3 – Virtual Ethernet Adapter used for VIO Server’s management interface (V1-C12-T1)
ent4 – SEA created with ent0 and ent1
All the LPARs under these VIO Servers have the Virtual Ethernet configured to use 1002 as their PVID
Steps to convert this setup to a trunk mode:
- Shutdown all the LPARs (except the VIO servers)
- Login to the VIO Servers through a console from the HMC
- Change the network ports on the external switch as Trunk port with required VLANs (22)
- Shutdown one of the VIO servers (vio2 for instance). This is to avoid any possible network issues while reconfiguring one of the VIO servers
- From the HMC, uncheck ‘Access external network’ from the current Virtual Ethernet that is configured as the bridge (Adapter ID 10)
- From the HMC, add a new Virtual Ethernet Adapter to the VIO Server (vio1) – configure it to
Enable ‘Access external network ‘
Enable ‘IEEE 802.1q compatible’
Add ‘Additional VLAN IDs to 22’
Set Trunk Priority to 1 (2 for the other VIO Server)
- Shutdown and Activate the VIO Server if the virtual Ethernet was not added with DLPAR. Restarting the VIO Server will not bring in the changes made on the profile. A complete shutdown and activation of the profile is needed
- This should create a new adapter ent5 on the VIO Server (V1-C13-T1)
- Reconfigure the SEA to use the new virtual Ethernet Adapter as the bridge. You can leave the current virtual Ethernet as part of the SEA’s virtual adapter list if there are some LPARS that would need it to communicate internally.
# chdev –dev ent4 –attr virt_adapters=ent5 pvid_adapter=ent5
- Restart the VIO server
- The VIO Server should be available on the network now through ent3
- This will convert the SEA to use 802.1q compatible adapter as the network bridge to the external network
Shutdown this VIO Server and execute the similar procedure on the other VIO Server (vio2). Once VIO2 has been successfully converted, bring up VIO1 as well.
From the HMC, change the PVID for all the LPARs to use 22 and activate the saved profile for each LPAR.
At this point all the LPARs will be communicating to the external network using the new 802.1Q compatible adapter.