Question & Answer
Question
How to migrate SDDPCM to AIXPCM with or without SAN Boot?
Cause
Conditions where SDDPCM and host attachment should be removed:
- Customers who perform AIX migrations without taking into account the need to migrate SDDPCM and host attachment first, results in additional downtime to remove and/or upgrade SDDPCM to match the new OS level.
Example: devices.sddpcm.61.rte on AIX 7.1 system
- The P9 series host architecture does not use SDDPCM and host attachment for multi-pathing failover and recovery. Instead, the recommendation is to use AIXPCM. Therefore, when migrating to this platform, users should opt to use AIXPCM - Native MPIO. If SDDPCM and host attachment were installed on P9, they should be removed by running the manage_disk_drivers command explained in the Answer section below.
- An important condition for the removal of SDDPCM and host attachment is predicated by the recommendation IBM has made to migrate from SDDPCM to AIXPCM. This recommendation is documented in the link references below. Customers should plan to use the options in this Techdoc to successfully perform this multi-path transition.
Answer
Customers should remove SDDPCM and host attachment from host LPARs, allowing for AIXPCM to manage disk multi-pathing management by default. The following link stipulates support for SDDPCM will be removed for IBM storage in June of 2020:
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/1106937?myns=s035&mync=E&cm_sp=s035-_-NULL-_-E
The link provided below has the steps needed to accomplish this activity:
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/migrate-aixpcm-using-managediskdrivers-command
This method is especially useful when customers do not want extended down time of application services to change PCMs. The legacy SDDPCM removal script used previously required longer system outages. However, a reboot will be needed to make the change effective, and should be scheduled for a time when there is less impact.
Contact the IBM Support Center if there are questions or concerns.
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Document Information
Modified date:
06 January 2020
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