Product data

Preface

IT environments in organizations today face more challenges than ever before.

Server rooms are crowded, infrastructure costs are climbing, and right-sizing

systems is often problematic. In order to contain costs there is a push to use

resources more wisely by minimizing waste and maximizing the return on

investment. Virtualization technology was developed to answer these objectives.

More and more organizations will deploy (or are in the process of deploying)

some form of virtualization. However, parts of an organization's systems may use

earlier storage equipment. In these contexts, knowing how to migrate from

physical, often direct-attached storage, to a virtual storage environment becomes

valuable.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication introduces techniques to use for the migration

of storage from physical to virtual environments and introduces several new

features in POWER6® technology-based systems. These features include:

򐂰 The chkdev command, added in Virtual I/O Server 2.1.2 FP22 to assist in

identifying physical-to-virtual candidates and to ensure that device

identification is consistent

򐂰 Extensive use of NPIV technology for both disk and tape devices

򐂰 The use of file-backed optical technology to present virtual CD media as a

means of restoration

This publication is organized into the following chapters:

򐂰 Chapter 1, “Introduction” on page 1, provides an introduction into the material

that will be presented.

򐂰 Chapter 2, “Core procedures” on page 9, provides detailed core procedures

that will be used throughout the remaining chapters. By examining and

learning the core procedures, more experienced users can proceed directly to

any of the fully documented migration cases without needing to read all the

chapters. Newer users can learn the core procedures and then examine the

different migration techniques and choose the appropriate ones that apply to

their organizations.

򐂰 Chapter 3, “Standalone SCSI rootvg to virtual SCSI” on page 43, through

Chapter 7, “Direct attached Fibre Channel devices partition to virtual Fibre

Channel” on page 153, provide lab-tested migration examples that build on

the core procedures learned in Chapter 2, “Core procedures” on page 9.

Detailed figures and output listings take the users through the migrations