Displaying the Cluster Components

After installing or reconfiguring your cluster, you may want to see the list of installed servers and switches that is visible to the HMC. To do that:

  1. In the navigation area, select Switch Management>Switch Network Manager.

  2. In the Switch Network Management Overview pane, select Display Cluster Components. This will be possible only if the SNM Software is not enabled.

  3. A panel appears containing the list of hardware components visible to the HMC. If you don't see all the components you expected to see, you can wait a bit and then press Refresh.

  4. When you are finished with this display, press OK.

Enabling and disabling Switch Network Management

Setting the Logical Topology

In order to make the Switch Network Manager software available, you must select a topology for your network from among the supported topologies. To do that:

  1. In the navigation area, select Switch Management>Switch Network Manager.

  2. In the Switch Network Management Overview pane, select Set Logical Topology.

  3. Using the panel which appears, select the Number of Networks, Number of Planes, and Topology, then press OK.

This task can also be used to display the currently selected topology, although the task is selectable only if the SNM software is not enabled.

Enabling the SNM software for Switch Network Verification

You can make the Switch Network Manager software available for Switch Network Verification. In this mode, you can verify that your HPS network is correctly wired and the hardware components are functional. To make the Switch Network Manager available for Switch Network Verification, you must first have used the Set Logical Topology task to select a network topology from among the supported topologies. After you have done that:

  1. In the navigation area, select Switch Management>Switch Network Manager.

  2. In the Switch Network Management Overview pane, select Enable SNM Software for Switch Network Verification.

  3. From the Hardware Management Console View menu, select Reload.

For more information about the steps involved in Switch Network Verification, see Verifying Switch Cluster Components below.

Enabling the SNM software for Normal Operation

To use and manage any 4 GB switch networks or adapters connected to your system and to enable switch clustering, you must make the Switch Network Manager software available after it has been installed. This also allows you to perform other switch management tasks.

To make the Switch Network Manager available for Normal Operation, you must first have used the Set Logical Topology task to select a network topology from among the supported topologies. After you have done that:

  1. In the navigation area, select Switch Management>Switch Network Manager.

  2. In the Switch Network Management Overview pane, select Enable SNM Software for Normal Operation.

  3. From the Hardware Management Console View menu, select Reload.

Disabling the SNM software

If you are no longer using the 4 GB switch networks or adapters connected to your system, you can make the Switch Network Manager software unavailable, which also makes switch clustering unavailable.

To make the Switch Network Manager unavailable after making it available for either Switch Network Verification or for Normal Operation:

  1. In the navigation area, select Switch Management>Switch Network Manager.

  2. In the Switch Network Management Overview pane, select Disable SNM Software.

  3. From the Hardware Management Console View menu, select Reload.

Verifying Switch Clustering Components

After installing or reconfiguring your cluster, you can use the following procedure to verify the components used for switch clustering.

  1. Emergency Power Off, then Emergency Power on (EPO) all frames in the switch network cluster.

  2. Verify that the HMC can communicate with all cluster components (servers and switches. Do this by using the Display Cluster Components task, as described above in Display Cluster Components.

  3. Use the Set Logical Topology task as described above to set the logical topology for your cluster.

  4. Use the Enable SNM software for Verification Mode task as described above to enable the SNM daemon in verification mode.

  5. Use Service Focal Point (SFP) and the Switch Management GUI to verify that your HPS network is correctly wired and the hardware components are functional. During this step, the switch network Reset facility can be invoked from the Switch Topology View to clear errors and re-explore the switch network. Refreshing the GUI after using the Reset facility helps to show whether problems have been fixed.

  6. Use the Switch Topology View to identify switch-to-switch miswires.

  7. Power on the servers and use the End-Point View to identify adapter miswires.

  8. Once all links in the network are functional and all miswires are corrected, on one of your LPARs, run the host-based verification tool (/usr/bin/aix52/verifiation_test) that will send data through all source-destination pairs in the network.

  9. Use SFP and the Switch Management GUI to identify any hardware problems that occur during the running of the host_based verification tool.