IBM i Systems attached to FlashSystem or SVC must be converted to use FlashSystem NPIV before upgrading to 8.7 or higher

Steps

1.  For a subset of the IBM i ports, make a zoning change to add the FlashSystem NPIV WWPN and remove the FlashSystem Physical WWPN at the same time
   Note: IBM i will only connect to one WWPN per storage WWNN on each of the IBM i ports - so if you leave both the Physical WWPN and the NPIV WWPN zoned to the same IBM i port - it will only log into half of the ports.
2. Using IBM i service tools, validate that the all paths to the FlashSystem are Operational
3. Validate that the multipathing driver has the correct number of paths (it has discovered all of the new WWPNs)
4. Repeat for the next subset of WWPNs.
5. If there are any IBM i systems that are using direct attach Fibre Channel connections to the same FlashSystem, use the Directly Attached procedure below to migrate those IBM i systems.
6. Once all WWPNs on all the IBM i systems have been rezoned, change the FlashSystem NPIV mode from transitional to enabled

1. Upgrade the FlashSystem to 8.6.0.4, or a later 8.6.0.X PTF.   Do not upgrade to 8.6.1 or higher.
2. Configure the FlashSystem to put NPIV into transitional mode

   chiogrp -fctargetportmode transitional <IO group ID or name>

3. This won't have any impact on the IBM i servers - they will continue to use the Physical WWPNs
4. If you have any hosts that are not IBM i attached to the same FlashSystem - migrate those hosts to the virtual WWPNs before continuing, using the standard procedures  https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/flashsystem-7x00/8.6.x?topic=virtualization-enabling-npiv-existing-system
   Important: Leave the IO group in transitional mode (not enabled) until the end of this procedure.
5. On one node canister in the system, enable some additional logic for converting IBM i to NPIV attached.   This command requires superuser access to run, and the ns_discovery_auto_mode feature is not included in the documentation for chfcportfeature.

   satask chfcportfeature -feature ns_discovery_auto_mode -enable yes

   
   This setting can be viewed by using the command sainfo lsfcportfeature
6. This node canister is now ready to begin the IBM i switchover. 
7. Perform the following steps for each FlashSystem Fibre Channel port on the node canister that is being modified, one port at a time.  Only the ports used for IBM i direct attached hosts need to be use these steps.
   1. The FlashSystem port needs to be disabled and re-enabled.    When the port is re-enabled, it will no longer present the physical WWPN to the host.  
      
      The port ID value can be looked up using the CLI command lsportfc, and looking at the fc_io_port_id field.

      satask chfcportfeature -feature port_state -enable no -fcioportid <port ID>
      satask chfcportfeature -feature port_state -enable yes -fcioportid <port ID>
   2. Using IBM i service tools, validate that the all paths to the FlashSystem are Operational
8. Once all direct attached ports have been converted for this node canister, repeat from step 5 for all other node canisters in the system (one at a time).
9. Once all node canisters have been changed, change the FlashSystem NPIV from transitional mode to enabled mode.  This will prevent any hosts from accessing LUNs via the physical WWPNs.

   chiogrp -fctargetportmode enabled <IO group ID or name>

10. Now that the the system has NPIV enabled, it can be upgraded to 8.7