Deploying a system plan by using the HMC

You can use the Hardware Management Console (HMC) to deploy all or part of a system plan to a managed system.

When you deploy a system plan, the HMC creates logical partitions on the managed system according to the specifications in the system plan. Depending on the contents of the system plan, you can also install operating environments on the logical partitions in the plan, including the Virtual I/O Server (VIOS), AIX® or Linux®.

Note: The HMC cannot install the IBM® i operating environment on a logical partition.

If the plan contains VIOS provisioning information for a logical partition, such as storage assignments and virtual networking for the client logical partitions of the VIOS. the HMC can make these resource assignments for the client logical partitions.

You do not have to deploy a system plan in its entirety, but can instead partially deploy a system plan on the target system by selecting which logical partitions in the plan to deploy. You can run the Deploy System Plan Wizard again at another time to deploy the remainder of the logical partitions in the system plan. However, if you select a VIOS partition to be deployed, the wizard deploys all the VIOS provisioning items that are planned for that partition even if the client logical partition that uses the provisioned item is not selected for deployment.

If the system plan contains installation information for the VIOS, you can use the Deploy System Plan Wizard to install the VIOS and to set up virtual networking and storage resources for the client logical partitions of the VIOS.

Before you deploy a system plan, complete the following tasks:

Ensure that the system-plan file exists on the HMC. If the system-plan file does not exist on the HMC, you must import the system-plan file into the HMC. For instructions, see Importing a system plan into an HMC.
Ensure that you meet all the appropriate requirements for deploying the system plan. SeeSystem plan deployment requirements for more information.

Deploying a system plan

To use the HMC to deploy a system plan on a managed system, complete the following steps:

In the navigation area of the HMC, select System Plans.
In the contents area, select the system plan that you want to deploy.
Select Tasks > Deploy system plan. The Deploy System Plan Wizard starts.
On the Welcome page, complete the following steps:
1. Select the system-plan file that contains the system plan that you want to deploy.
2. Choose the managed system to which you want to deploy the system plan and click Next. If the system plan does not match the managed system to which you want to deploy the plan, the wizard displays a window that informs you of this. Click OK to continue or Cancel to select a different system plan.
  Note: If the system-plan file contains multiple system plans, the wizard provides a step so that you can select a specific system plan from the file. This step does not occur unless there is more than one system plan in the specified file.
On the Validation page, complete the following steps:
1. Wait for the wizard to validate the managed system and its hardware against the system plan. The validation process can take several minutes.
2. If the validation process completes successfully, click Next.
3. If the validation process fails, correct the problems that the error messages describe, click Cancel to exit the wizard, and restart this procedure from the beginning. To help you correct any validation problems, you might want to create a system plan that is based on the current configuration of the managed system. Such a system plan allows you to compare the system plan that you want to deploy with the current configuration of the managed system. You can do this by using the Create System Plan task in the HMC, or you can run the following command from the HMC command line:
```
mksysplan -m name_of_managed_system -f name_of_new_system_plan.sysplan
```
  This action creates a new system plan that you can view and compare to the old system plan to help diagnose any problems.
Optional: On the Partition Deployment page, if you do not want to create all of the logical partitions, partition profiles, virtual adapter types, or virtual adapters in the system plan, clear the boxes in the Deploy column beside the logical partitions, partition profiles, virtual adapter types, or virtual adapters that you do not want to create. Virtual serial adapters are required in virtual slots 0 and 1 for each logical partition. You cannot create the logical partition unless you create these virtual serial adapters.
Optional: On the Operating Environment Install page, if there is operating environment installation information specified in the system plan, complete the following steps:
1. Select the operating environments that you want to deploy to the managed system for each logical partition. For HMC V7R3.2.0 or V7R3.1.0, you can deploy only the Virtual I/O Server operating environment. For HMC V7R3.3.0, or later, versions, you also can select to deploy the AIX or Linux operating environments if the system plan contains installation information for them.
2. Enter the location of the Virtual I/O Server installation image.
3. Enter or change late-binding installation settings for the specified Virtual I/O Server, AIX, or Linux operating environment. Late-binding installation settings are settings that are specific to the installation instance and must be supplied during the installation step to ensure that the settings are accurate for the installation instance. For example, you can enter the IP address of the target logical partition on which you are installing the operating environment.
  Note: If you need to use automatic installation files to deploy an operating environment, you cannot add them during the HMC deployment process. You must use the System Planning Tool (SPT) to create any necessary automatic installation files separately and attach them to the system plan prior to deploying the system plan.
4. Save any changes that you make to late-binding installation settings. You can save them to the current system-plan file or to a new system-plan file.
On the Summary page, review the system deployment step order and click Finish. The HMC uses the system plan to create the specified logical partitions and to install any specified operating environments. This process can take several minutes.

After you finish the deployment of the system plan, install operating environments and software on the logical partitions, if they did not install as part of system plan deployment.