Setting up the virtualization environment

A template is a collection of configuration preferences that can be reused and quickly applied to multiple targets. You can use templates to set up your virtualization environment. Templates simplify the deployment process because templates contain many of the settings that you previously configured by using the Hardware Management Console (HMC) command-line interface or the HMC graphical user interface (GUI) version 8.1.0, or earlier. Templates are available only when you are using an HMC Enhanced, HMC Enhanced + Tech Preview (Pre-GA), or HMC Enhanced+ interface.

The procedures and functions of the HMC Enhanced + Tech Preview (Pre-GA) login option and interface type, which was provided with the Hardware Management Console (HMC) version 8.2.0, are the same as the HMC Enhanced+ login option and interface type that is provided with HMC version 8.3.0 and later. Only the HMC Enhanced+ is referred to in the documentation, but that content also applies to the HMC Enhanced + Tech Preview (Pre-GA) interface.

The templates functions are supported only when a server is managed by the HMC, or when a server is co-managed by the HMC and PowerVM® NovaLink, with the HMC in the master mode.

The PowerVM NovaLink architecture enables management of highly scalable cloud deployment by using the PowerVM technology and OpenStack solutions. The architecture provides a direct OpenStack connection to a PowerVM server. The NovaLink partition runs the Linux operating system and the partition runs on a server that is virtualized by PowerVM. The server is managed by PowerVC or other OpenStack solutions.

There are two types of templates: system template and partition template. You can use system templates to define system configuration settings that include general system properties and virtual environment settings. You can use partition templates to specify logical partition settings that include general partition properties, processor and memory configuration, virtual networks and virtual storage configuration, logical Host Ethernet Adapters and logical single root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) port settings. Templates do not contain target-specific information. Therefore you can use templates to configure any system or partition in your environment.

Templates are further classified into quick-start templates or user-defined templates.

Quick-start templates are contained in the template folder that is accessible by using the template library. You cannot alter the quick-start template, however you can copy and change them to suit your requirements.

User-defined templates are the templates that you create. User-defined templates contain configuration details that are specific to your environment. You can create a user-defined template by using any of the following methods:
  • Copy an existing template and modify the new template according to the requirements of your environment.
  • Capture the configuration details of a currently running system or partition and save the details into a new template.



Last updated: Mon, June 11, 2018