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Storage spaces for an IBM i client partition do not have to match physical disk sizes; they can be
created from 160 MB to 1 TB in size, as long as there is available storage in the host. The 160
MB minimum size is a requirement from the storage management Licensed Internal Code (LIC)
on the client partition. For an IBM i client partition, up to 16 NWSSTGs can be linked to a single
NWSD, and therefore, to a single virtual SCSI connection. Up to 32 outstanding I/O operations
from the client to each storage space are supported for IBM i clients. Storage spaces can be
created in any existing Auxiliary Storage Pool (ASP) on the host, including Independent ASPs.
Through the use of NWSSTGs, any physical storage supported in the IBM i host partition on a
POWER6-based system can be virtualized to a client partition.
3.3. Optical virtualization
Any optical drive supported in the host IBM i LPAR can be virtualized to an IBM i client LPAR. An
existing virtual SCSI connection can be used, or a new connection can be created explicitly for
optical I/O traffic. By default, if a virtual SCSI connection exists between host and client, all
physical OPTxx optical drives in the host will be available to the client, where they will also be
recognized as OPTxx devices. The NWSD parameter Restricted device resources can be
used to specify which optical devices in the host a client partition cannot access.
A virtualized optical drive in the host partition can be used for a D-mode Initial Program Load
(IPL) and install of the client partition, as well as for installing Program Temporary Fixes (PTFs) or
applications later. If the optical drive is writeable, the client partition will be able to write to the
physical media in the drive.
3.4. Network virtualization
Virtualizing a network adapter and using a virtual LAN (VLAN) for partition-to-partition
communication within a system are existing IBM i capabilities. In order for a client to use a host's
physical network adapter, a virtual Ethernet adapter must be created in the HMC in both partitions.
To be on the same VLAN, the two virtual Ethernet adapters must have the same Port Virtual LAN
ID (PVID). This type of adapter is recognized by IBM i as a communications port (CMNxx) with a
different type. In the host partition, the virtual Ethernet adapter is then associated with the
physical network adapter via a routing configuration – either Proxy ARP or Network Address
Translation (NAT). This allows the client partition to send network packets via the VLAN and
through the physical adapter to the outside LAN. The physical adapter can be any network
adapter supported by IBM i 6.1, including Integrated Virtual Ethernet (IVE) ports, also known as
Host Ethernet Adapter (HEA) ports.
4. Prerequisites for implementing IBM i hosted LPARs
4.1. Storage planning
Because virtual disks for the IBM i client LPAR are NWSSTG objects in the host LPAR, the main
prerequisite to installing a new client LPAR is having sufficient capacity in the host to create those
objects. Note that the host partition is not capable of detecting what percent of the virtual storage
is used in the client. For example, if a 500-GB storage space is created, it will occupy that
amount of physical storage in the host IBM i LPAR, even if the disk capacity is only 50% utilized
in the client LPAR.
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