Today I’ll explain how to move an IBM System i partition between phisical blades; this can be done if you are using an external storage (SAN) and not internal disks..

This is the configuration:

BLADE 6 
partition 1 ->Vios
partition 2 ->Galileo (production System i)
partition 3 -> ArchimedeBK (backup partition)

BLADE 7
partition 1 ->Vios
partition 2 -> Archimede (production System i partition)
partition 3 -> GalileoBK (backup partition)

The goal is to move Archimede production partition from BLADE 7 host to ArchimedeBK partition in BLADE6.

First of all power down the partition, then from the BLADE 7 Vios web interface, check what are disks attached to this partition:

then login to the Vios console with padmin user and check the hdisk devices assignment (in my configuration HDISK>1 because hdisk1 is the internal SAS disk)

$ lsmap ­all
SVSA            Physloc                                      Client Partition ID
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
vhost0          U7778.23X.067976A­V1­C11                     0×00000000
VTD                   vtopt0
Status                Available
LUN                   0×8400000000000000
Backing device
Physloc
VTD                   vtscsi0
Status                Available
LUN                   0×8100000000000000
Backing device        hdisk2
Physloc               U78A5.001.WIH68A0­P1­C11­L1­T2­W200500A0B8500BB8­L1000000000000
VTD                   vtscsi1
Status                Available
LUN                   0×8200000000000000
Backing device        hdisk3
Physloc               U78A5.001.WIH68A0­P1­C11­L1­T2­W200500A0B8500BB8­L2000000000000
VTD                   vtscsi2
Status                Available
LUN                   0×8300000000000000
Backing device        hdisk4
Physloc               U78A5.001.WIH68A0­P1­C11­L1­T2­W200500A0B8500BB8­L3000000000000
SVSA            Physloc                                      Client Partition ID
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
vhost1          U7778.23X.067976A­V1­C12                     0×00000000
VTD                   vttape0
Status                Available
LUN                   0×8100000000000000
Backing device        rmt0
Physloc               U78A5.001.WIH68A0­P1­T5­LC000­L0
SVSA            Physloc                                      Client Partition ID
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
vhost2          U7778.23X.067976A­V1­C14                     0×00000000
VTD                   vtopt1
Status                Available
LUN                   0×8400000000000000
Backing device        /var/vio/VMLibrary/AbetSystemi1
Physloc

VTD                   vtscsi3
Status                Available
LUN                   0×8100000000000000
Backing device        hdisk6
Physloc               U78A5.001.WIH68A0­P1­C11­L1­T2­W200500A0B8500BB8­LA000000000000
VTD                   vtscsi4
Status                Available
LUN                   0×8200000000000000
Backing device        hdisk7
Physloc               U78A5.001.WIH68A0­P1­C11­L1­T2­W200500A0B8500BB8­LB000000000000
VTD                   vtscsi5
Status                Available
LUN                   0×8300000000000000
Backing device        hdisk8
Physloc               U78A5.001.WIH68A0­P1­C11­L1­T2­W200500A0B8500BB8­LC000000000000

Now you can remove vtscsiX devices relative to hdisksX

$ rmdev ­dev vtscsiX

Then remove the hdiskX devices
$ rmdev ­dev hdiskX

Now open the DS storage manager (I have an IBM DS4700 SAN)

Select the Phisical blade containing the partition you want move, on the right, select (once at time) the logical drives and select change mapping and assign to the BLADE 6.

Be carefully to maintain the current LUN ID….

Now login into the Vios console of the second blade (padmin user) and list current devices:

$ lsdev |grep hdisk
hdisk0        Available SAS Disk Drive
hdisk1        Available MPIO Other DS4K Array Disk

we have no disks (or you can see other System i partition’s disks); so scan for new disks:

$ cfgdev

and relist devices

$ lsdev |grep hdisk
hdisk0        Available SAS Disk Drive
hdisk1        Available MPIO Other DS4K Array Disk
hdisk2        Available MPIO Other DS4K Array Disk
hdisk3        Available MPIO Other DS4K Array Disk
hdisk4        Available MPIO Other DS4K Array Disk

On the new blade vios’s web interface we can assign the “new” disks to the preconfigured backup partition by going to the Storage tab, and flagging the relative hdisks

You can now power on the partition on the second blade..

N.B.
this how to require you know what are you doing.
I'm not responsible if you destroy your production machine following my instruction.