Removing virtual adapters dynamically

You can dynamically remove a virtual adapter from a running logical partition using the Hardware Management Console (HMC).

If you plan to dynamically remove a virtual SCSI adapter, vary off any devices that are attached to the managed system through the virtual SCSI adapter that you want to remove. You can vary off devices using operating system commands.

Attention: The dynamic removal of a virtual adapter that controls disk drives can cause unpredictable results, such as logical partition failure or loss of data.

A Linux logical partition supports the dynamic removal of virtual adapters only if the DynamicRM tool package is installed on the Linux logical partition. To download the DynamicRM tool package, see the Service and productivity tools for Linux on POWER® systems Web site.

To dynamically remove a virtual adapter from a running logical partition using the HMC, you must be a super administrator, service representative, product engineer, or operator of the HMC.

To dynamically remove a virtual adapter from a running logical partition, follow these steps:
  1. In the navigation pane, expand Systems Management > Servers.
  2. Click the server on which the logical partition is located.
  3. In the work pane, select the logical partition from which you want to remove a virtual adapter.
  4. From the Tasks menu, click Dynamic Partitioning > Virtual Adapters. The Virtual Adapters window is displayed.
  5. Select the virtual adapter that you want to remove.
  6. Click Actions > Delete.
  7. Click OK.
If you removed a virtual adapter from a logical partition that uses shared memory (hereafter referred to as a shared memory partition), you might want to adjust the amount of I/O entitled memory that is assigned to the shared memory partition.
  • If the I/O entitled memory mode of the shared memory partition is set to the auto mode, then you do not need to take action. When you remove the new virtual adapter, the HMC automatically decreases the I/O entitled memory of the shared memory partition accordingly.
  • If the I/O entitled memory mode of the shared memory partition is set to the manual mode, consider decreasing the I/O entitled memory that is assigned to the shared memory partition to improve performance. For instructions, see Determining the I/O entitled memory for a shared memory partition.

If you removed a virtual fibre channel adapter from a client logical partition, the hypervisor deletes the worldwide port names (WWPNs) assigned to the virtual fibre channel adapter and does not reuse the WWPNs. You must either repeat this procedure to remove the associated virtual fibre channel adapter from the Virtual I/O Server, or edit the partition profile properties to associate it with another virtual fibre channel adapter on a client logical partition.

If you removed a virtual fibre channel adapter from a Virtual I/O Server logical partition, you must do one of the following tasks:

  • Repeat this procedure to remove the associated virtual fibre channel adapter on the client logical partition.
  • Edit the partition profile properties to associate the virtual fibre channel adapter on the client logical partition with another virtual fibre channel adapter on the Virtual I/O Server logical partition.
Parent topic: Managing virtual adapters dynamically
Related concepts:
Virtual Fibre Channel for HMC-managed systems
I/O entitled memory
Related tasks:
Changing partition profile properties


Last updated: Fri, July 05, 2019