Logical partition configuration data is automatically maintained for the life of the physical server.
Each i5/OS® partition load source contains a copy of the configuration data. A logical partition start devices do not contain partition configuration data. Systems comprised solely of a single primary i5/OS partition and one or more logical partitions should have mirrored i5/OS load source devices in the primary partition. For more information on how to save logical partition data for one or more logical partitions, refer to Save all configuration data.
Only disaster recovery to a different physical server would require that you rebuild the configuration from the beginning. You should print your server configuration when you make changes to your logical partition configuration. This printout will help you as you rebuild the configuration. See Print server configuration for logical partitions for more information.
During a save operation, the configuration data for the logical partition is not saved to the media volume. This allows data to be restored to a server whether or not it has logical partitions. However, you can work with the configuration data for logical partitions as needed for recovery purposes.