Hi, > I would like to clone a VM system in order to build a new VM lpar; > Is there a documented process to perform this function? We have been doing this with 5.4. It is not simple (I'm not a VM guru so that may be part of the problem :)) One danger is that one system will come up and "find" another system's page and spool volumes since they are referenced by volsers not by real addresses. When that happens the saved segments on the default spool volume get hosed and you can no longer IPL CMS, just IPL 190. If I fall into that hole, I just start over. So with that warning this is the approach we have taken:
-) Install a z/VM system onto DASD with the *highest* 5 addresses we have (we install onto 3390-3s). Use the default labels of 540RES, 540SPL, ... -) Immediately shut this system down and never IPL it again - this is the "golden image" (OK, "never" is a strong word - later you may want to put an RSU on it). -) Clone the 5 volumes to the target DASD (we use FLASHCOPY. Any disk copy tool should work assuming you have access to both source and target disks) -) IPL the RES volume from the first target DASD in the correct LPAR - you should not run into the problem I describe above since these DASD have lower addresses -) Run IPWIZARD to get 3270 emulator access (I don't have access to a physical HMC and don't like to do much via the Integrated 3270 Console) -) Relabel the system volumes - then you will not have systems with duplicate volsers - we put the real address in the last 4 characters of the volser to guarantee uniqueness. Relabelling the system volumes is tricky. It's not rocket science, but it's easy to make a mistake. Then strange and interesting things happen (Pop quiz - what happens when you forget to change the labels in SYSTEM CONFIG?). This is documented and there are some small REXX EXECs and XEDIT macros to help reduce mistakes in section 4.11 of the Virtualization Cookbook. (See http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247493.html?Open). Hope this helps. "Mike MacIsaac" <mike...@us.ibm.com> (845) 433-7061
