RMC and AIX 6.1

Reliable Scalable Cluster Technology (RMC) is essential for performing Live Partition Mobility (LPM) and Dynamic Logical Partitioning (DLPAR) operations on IBM Power for Google Cloud (IP4G). To establish a working RMC connection on an AIX 6.1 virtual machine, you must install updated Reliable Scalable Cluster Technology (RSCT) packages. This guide describes the requirements and procedures for restoring RMC functionality on AIX 6.1 VMs.

Prerequisites and Limitations

AIX 6.1 is an unsupported operating system. Using AIX 6.1 VMs in IP4G involves the following limitations and risks:

  • Production Use: AIX 6.1 is not recommended for production environments because it lacks ongoing support, security fixes, and validation and has been out of support since April 30, 2017.
  • Stability: Platform updates and maintenance activities may impact VM stability or manageability.
  • Compute Hosts: AIX 6.1 VMs only boot on Power9 compute hosts, which are available in limited regions.
  • Maintenance: If LPM fails during host maintenance, the VM will shut down automatically to allow maintenance to proceed.
  • Support: Support requests for AIX 6.1 are handled as Priority 4 (P4) with reasonable-effort support only. No AIX-specific support is provided.

Upgrading to a supported AIX release is strongly recommended to ensure stability and compatibility.

Required RSCT Filesets

To restore RMC functionality, obtain the following RSCT filesets from a more recent AIX release, such as AIX 7.1 TL4 (RSCT version 3.2.1.15).

  • rsct.basic
  • rsct.core
  • rsct.compat.basic
  • rsct.compat.clients
  • rsct.opt.stackdump
  • rsct.opt.storagerm

Installing RSCT Software

Follow these steps to install the updated RSCT filesets.

  1. Obtain the required RSCT filesets from a newer AIX release.

  2. Transfer the filesets to a directory on the AIX 6.1 VM.

  3. Change to the directory containing the filesets.

  4. Install the filesets using one of the following methods:

    Using SMIT:

    smitty update_all

    Using command line:

    install_all_updates -d .

    Using installp:

    installp -acgXYd . all

Troubleshooting

If RMC fails to start after installation, verify that the RSCT subsystems are active.

  1. Check the status of the RMC subsystem:
    lssrc -s ctrmc
  2. If the subsystem is not active, attempt to start it:
    startsrc -s ctrmc