Designating the service partition for your managed system using version 6 or earlier of the HMC

The service partition is the i5/OS® logical partition on an IBM® System i5® or eServer™ i5 server that you can configure to apply server firmware updates to the service processor or to the hypervisor and to communicate server common hardware errors to IBM. These abilities are useful if the Hardware Management Console (HMC) is undergoing maintenance or is otherwise unable to perform these functions.

The preferred method for applying server firmware updates and communicating server common hardware errors to IBM is by using the HMC.

IBM System p5®, eServer p5, and OpenPower® servers do not have a service partition. If an IBM System p5, eServer p5, or OpenPower server is managed by an HMC, then you must use the HMC to update the server firmware, and the server can contact service and support only through the HMC. If you use an HMC to manage IBM System p5, eServer p5, and OpenPower servers, then use a backup HMC to ensure that the servers have redundant methods for contacting service and support and for applying fixes.

You can designate only one logical partition at a time as the service partition for your managed system. The service partition for your IBM System i5 or eServer i5 server must be an i5/OS logical partition.

Before you can designate a logical partition as the service partition for your managed system, you must shut down the logical partition. You must also shut down the logical partition before you remove the service partition designation from the logical partition. If you want to change the service partition from one logical partition to another logical partition, you must shut down both logical partitions before using this procedure. Refer to the operating system shutdown procedures for information on shutting down your logical partitions normally.

Note: You must designate a service partition on a server only after you use the HMC to create, change, delete, copy, or activate any logical partitions on the managed system. You can set up the operating system on an unpartitioned server to contact service and support, and you can use the operating system on an unpartitioned server to apply server firmware updates.

To designate a service partition for your managed system using version 6 or earlier of the HMC, you must be a member of the super administrator role. For more information about user roles, refer to Tasks and roles.

To designate one of your logical partitions as the service partition for your managed system using version 6 or earlier of the HMC, follow these steps:

In the navigation area, open Server and Partition.
Select Server Management.
In the contents area, right-click the managed system and select Properties.
In the Service partition field, select the logical partition that you want to designate as the service partition. If you do not want to designate another logical partition as the service partition, select None.
Click OK.