Configure virtual Ethernet networks

This section will describe how to configure a virtual Ethernet network between integrated servers. (Note that if you are installing an integrated server from scratch, the installation command (INSWNTSVR) can configure virtual Ethernet networks for you.) For information about how to extend virtual Ethernet networks to other iSeries™ logical partitions, see Configure inter-partition virtual Ethernet networks. The procedure consists of the following basic steps

1. Configure a virtual Ethernet port and line description for the integrated server. Using iSeries Navigator:
   1. Expand Integrated Server Administration —>Servers.
   2. Right-click the integrated server and select Properties.
   3. On the server properties panel, click the Virtual Ethernet tab.
   4. click the Add... button to add a new virtual Ethernet port.
   5. On the virtual Ethernet properties panel, specify the values for the new virtual Ethernet port:
      1. Select the virtual Ethernet port number.
      2. Type the IP address that the integrated server will use.
      3. Type the subnet mask that the integrated server will use.
      4. You can leave the default line description name or change it to something else. The default line description name is the NWSD name followed by a v followed by the port number. For example, if adding port 3 to an NWSD named Mynwsd, then the default line description name is Mynwsdv3.
      5. Leave the associated port set to None.
      6. Leave the maximum frame size set to the default 8996.
      7. If the server is an iSCSI attached server, select the network server host adapter corresponding to the iSCSI HBA that you want i5/OS to use for this virtual Ethernet configuration to reach the hosted system.
      8. Click OK to add the new port to the Virtual Ethernet tab on the server properties panel.
   6. On the server properties panel, click OK to save the changes. This will update the NWSD and create a line description for the new virtual Ethernet port.
   7. If you want this integrated server to be connected to more than one virtual Ethernet network, repeat all of the above steps to create a virtual Ethernet port and a line description for each network, using different virtual Ethernet port numbers.
2. Repeat the procedure for all the integrated servers you want to connect to the network, specifying the same virtual Ethernet port for each one.
3. Restart the integrated servers. A virtual Ethernet adapter device driver will be automatically installed and set to the Windows TCP/IP address that has been specified for it in the NWSD. However, an IP address entered at the integrated server console overrides the values that are set in the NWSD.
4. Test to see that the virtual Ethernet network is functioning, for example by pinging from one server to the IP addresses you specified for the other servers.