SmartCloud Entry - Further Configuration

Billing and Metering

Now that we have the our SmartCloud up, we need to get familiar with how it works and what we can do with it.  Now most of us will be interested in setting up request approval, billing, and user/project control. But before we do those things we need to enable them and check the values are what we require.  Now in the previous blog entry we mentioned how to turn these on -


To turn on billing, configure these in the properties files in the .skc dir in the user home dir

.skc/approval.properties -> com.ibm.cfs.request.lifecycle.enabled=true

.skc/billing.properties -> com.ibm.cfs.billing.enabled=true

To turn on metering, configure these in the properties files in the .skc dir in the user home dir

.skc/approval.properties -> com.ibm.cfs.request.lifecycle.enabled=true

.skc/metering.properties -> com.ibm.cfs.metering.enabled=true

Once this is enabled we can also look at changing and update the cpu, memory, disk value.

This is the directory tht is used by IBM SmartCloud Entry as a product catalog -

.skc/products

Three files that effecgt billing charges rates - 

.skc/products/ram.xml
.skc/products/cpu.xml
.skc/products/disk.xml

 (taken from the readme) -

The default collector will look at a specific virtual machine property (as defined by the Cloud) and use the value of the property as the units of product to buy, at the products price. For example, IBM VMControl 2.3.x exposes a VM property called "Processor.VirtualQuantity", this property can be used to know the amount of CPUs allocated to a VM, and hence used to charge the VM for a "CPU Cloud product."

For example take a look at the following product:

<cloudProduct id="com.ibm.cfs.services.billing.products.cpu">
<name>CPU</name>
<description>The amount of CPUs used in a virtual machine at a rate of $1 per hour.</description>
<pricing currency="USD" interval="60" price="0.0167"/>
<collector property="Processor.VirtualQuantity"/>
</cloudProduct>

The product above specifies that the default SKC collector will collect charges on virtual machines using the amount of CPUs assigned to them, exposed via the "Processor.VirtualQuantity" property, at a rate of 0.0167 cents every 60 seconds or roughly $1 per hour. The reason why it is important to collect at an interval less than the actual described rate (i.e., seconds instead of hours), is so that users looking at their bills get a higher resolution approximation of their actual charges, having an accurate look at the charges might be important for accounting purposes, or in situations where account credit is limited.

E-mail

SmartCloud Entry can send e-mail notification for several user and admin related events, such as the completion of a workload, account creation, and more.  In order to get these notifications it is necessary to configure a properties file in the home directory.

To setup notification for SmartCloud Entry follow the steps described below:

1. Open the email.properties file in the SCE home directory.
2. Set the com.ibm.cfs.email.relay.host property to the hostname of the relay host that IBM Starter Kit for Cloud should use for outgoing SMTP emails.
3. Optionally, you can set the e-mail subject prefix for all SmartCloud Entry e-mails and the “from” name, by setting the following properties respectively:
• com.ibm.cfs.email.subject.prefix
• com.ibm.cfs.email.from.name
• com.ibm.cfs.email.from.address
4. Save the email.properties file and restart the SmartCloud Entry server.

You can globally disable e-mail notifications in SmartCloud Entry completely by setting the com.ibm.cfs.email.default.notifications property in the email.properties file to false.

Configuring Advanced Features

Virtual Appliances   

The administrator can pre-configure the appliances to simplify its deployment for the users. Configuration the properties can be made through the SmartCloud Entry web user interface or through the deployment.properties file in the SCE home directory.

In order to simplify the deployment process for the users, it is recommended that an administrator configures all of the virtual appliances prior to making SmartCloud Entry available to its users. Virtual appliance customisation often requires knowledge of the low level details of the environment or having advanced knowledge of the data centre of which the user may not be familiar.  

Configuring a staging project

By default, SmartCloud Entry will scan the cloud for new appliances periodically.  When SCE finds a new appliance it places it in the Public project where anyone can deploy it.  SCE also allows configuring of a 'Staging' project where newly discovered appliances will show up rather than having them put directly into the Public project.  This allows the adminstrator to configure the the appliances and to then move them to a different project (Public or a specific project) to give the correct visibility to the users.  

So to configure this staging project add or uncomment this line in the deployment.properties file: 

com.ibm.cfs.staging.project=Staging   

Deployment Visibility

You can also choose whether you want your users to see the advanced deployment options or just the basic options.
The advanced options gives the user a finer-grained level of control over the level of resources consumed by the appliance. You may or may not want to show this advanced panel to the end-user, so to configure the visibility of the advanced deployment options, please follow these steps:  

• Open the deployment.properties file in the SCE home directory.
• Set the deployment.advanced.form.enabled property to false. This will disable the advanced deployment option and it will not be shown to the end user. However, administrators will continue to see the advanced deployment option in the user interface. The default value of this property is true.
• Save the deployment.properties file and restart the SmartCloud Entry server. 

These are by no means all the advanced features of SmartCloud Entry, if you want to know more then I would recommend that you take a look at the Administrators Guide

 
 

IBM SmartCloud Entry on POWER.

These are my build notes take from work that I have done, along with this I have tried to include any important information from the build guides and other information that I have found. From this you should be able to deploy a working POWER SmartCloud Entry.

First you will need to deploy the basic VMControl, IBM Systems Director on POWER frame work. The details of this are covered in my other blogs, So make sure you have that working before you go further else you could spend time debuging a issue that is nothing to do with SmartCloud Entry.

Installation -

Ensure you have Java 1.6 installed (from the command line issue java -version and verify it is 1.6.x)

JRE is min required, A full SmartCloud Entry will work as well;

For power (AIX) installs, a 32-bit JRE is requied; for x86 (windows or linux) 64-bit JRE is required and can be checked with -

# java -version

Obtain the installation package and copy it over to the server that you wish to run SmartCloud Entry on, in this example we are running it on our Systems Director/NIM sever.

# cd /tmp/sce

# ls

skc220_aix_installer.bin

Then issue a chmod for execute authority on the installer

Chmod +x skc220_aix_installer.bin

• Install IBM SmartCloud Entry as follows:
  ./skc220_aix_installer.bin
• Select your Locale and press Enter.
• Then accept the license once you have paged through all the screens.
• Keep the default option or for example enter option 3 for another location such as - /SCE
• Type Y to verify the details if changed.
• Press Enter to accept the default to Install File Sets.
• Choose install folder. Press Enter and Y to verify.
• Note: If accepting default - /opt/ibm/SCE
• Enter a location for the Property File Install Folder if you changed it above.
• Verify the Pre-Installation Summary, Press Enter.
• Verify the Installer finished successfully. To enter configuration options through the wizard, press Enter. This is the default for the installer.
  Note: You will not be able to connect to the cloud until the hostname of the target cloud is defined.
• Accept the default for the initial admin user of admin. Press Enter.
• Enter the password twice for the admin user. Press Enter.
• Accept the default value for cloud properties of IBM Systems Director, VMControl. Press Enter.
• Enter Cloud hostname of your IBM Systems Director VMControl Server. Press Enter.
• Enter the cloud username and password. Default is root. Press Enter to accept that default and then enter the password twice for verification. Press Enter.
• Verify the installation completed successfully. Press Enter to exit the Installer.

Setting up SmartCloud Entry -

Now before we start SKC edit the /opt/ibm/SCE/skc.ini file to update the very first line -console, as follows and save it -

-console

7777 ← Add this line

-clean

-vmargs

Now when you want to get to the SCE console just run this from a command prompt on the skc server -

# tn localhost 7777

If you want to enable approvals and billing (and metering), which are off by default then do the following -

To turn on billing, configure these in the properties files in the .skc dir in the user home dir

.skc/approval.properties -> com.ibm.cfs.request.lifecycle.enabled=true

.skc/billing.properties -> com.ibm.cfs.billing.enabled=true

To turn on metering, configure these in the properties files in the .skc dir in the user home dir

.skc/approval.properties -> com.ibm.cfs.request.lifecycle.enabled=true

.skc/metering.properties -> com.ibm.cfs.metering.enabled=true

Starting SmartCloud Entry -

Now all this is complete we can look at starting the service.

Open URL - http://localhost:8080/cloud/web/login.html

Or you can used - http://localhost:8080/cloud/web/index.html?preventCache=true

Note: this is to keep the browser from caching objects for SmartCloud Entry - useful during development drivers.

Login as admin using the default password you set earlier.

Once you have logged in you will need to set the 'Cloud Status' on the right hand side, so select – Edit Cloud connection. Then enter the relvant details, be this hostname or IP address, user id and password of the system, in our case it was the root user. If the test comes back OK then you can update the settings with those entries.

Updates to SmartCloud Entry -

Now it is installed we can download the update package (zip file) from IBM Fix Central to the computer running the IBM Starter Kit for Cloud application. Create a directory on the local file system of the computer running the IBM SmartCloud Entry application. For example in - /tmp/sce and then extract the update package (zip) to the directory created. Once completed run the following from the IBM SmartCloud Entry OSGi console:

# addrepo file:PATH_TO_DIRECTORY

Where PATH_TO_DIRECTORY is the full file path to the directory the update zip was extracted to. From the example directory given above, type: addrepo file:/tmp/sce

# installupdates

Then CLI output from the installupdates command should indicate installation success.

After installing the updates to the application, IBM SmartCloud Entry should be restarted. To restart:

Type close into the OSGi console in which the application is running.

Once the application ends, the console window will close indicating the application has stopped.

Start IBM SmartCloud Entry, and the installed fixes should now be active.

Updates for IBM Systems Director -

Once the updates above have been completed we can add further updates to IBM Systems Director that are specific for SCE. So once again download the packages to a directory on the servers and extract them from the zip. When extracted run the following -

# smcli importupd -vr /tmp/sce/ISDskc9

.ATKUSC206I Generating SDDs for path: "/tmp/sce/ISDskc9".

..ATKUPD293I Update "com.ibm.director.core.database.feature_6.2.1.2-20111009-LAFix" was successfully imported to the library......

ATKUPD573I Running compliance for all new updates that were found.

..ATKUPD286I The import updates task has completed successfully.

This will import all the fixes in to the system to allow you to update them as follows –

# smcli installupd -v -n pclm2_sdnim -u com.ibm.director.core.database.feature_6.2.1.2-20111009-LAFix

Which you can do for each fix, then as below for the next set of fixes -

# smcli importupd -vr /tmp/sce/VMCUpdate2312

.ATKUSC206I Generating SDDs for path: "/tmp/sce/VMCUpdate2312".

.ATKUPD293I Update "com.ibm.director.mgr.virtualization.server.feature_6.2.1.2-e20110803-LAFix" was successfully imported to the library......

ATKUPD573I Running compliance for all new updates that were found.

.....ATKUPD286I The import updates task has completed successfully.

# smcli installupd -v -n pclm2_sdnim -u com.ibm.director.mgr.virtualization.server.feature_

6.2.1.2-e20110803-LAFix

Now this is all complete you will need to stop SmartCloud Entry and then restart Systems Director.

I will deal with the Cloud tasks and options in a later update.

OVF to OVA Conversion

Now that you have your VMControl working and have used it you capture a virtual appliance you might want to move it to other environments, such as importing it into IWD to deploy on any number of environments.  The best thing to do is convert it to a ova, which just happens a tar file, just remember AIX tar files are limited to 8GB.


First you will need to log onto the Systems Director and take a note of its unique identifier, this is located as follows -
Left task menu -> System Configuration -> VMControl. Once this is open select the 'Virtual Appliances' tab followed by the 'Image Repository', then just select the relevant one if you have more and you should then see a field called 'Unique Identifier'.


Now we have the identifier from the NIM master, perform the following steps as the root user-
Change to the appliance directory of the virtual appliance that you want to export using the following command:
    # cd /export/nim/appliances/<unique identifier>

Copy the .ovf file, the mksysb file found in the directory to a new location.

In the copied .ovf files, change all file reference to use a relative path -
    <ovf:File ovf:href="file:///export/nim/appliances/<Unique Identifier>/image1.mksysb" ovf:id="vimRef1" ovf:size="<size>"/>
    to:
    <ovf:File ovf:href="image1.mksysb" ovf:id="vimRef1" ovf:size="<size>"/>

Now we can create our tar achive ensuring that the ovf is the first file in the archive -
    # tar xvf <file-name>.ovf <file-name>.ova

    # tar uvf <file-name>.mksysb <file-name>.ova

Virtual Appliance Errors

    DNZIMN867E Could not exchange SSH key with 172.19.105.25 due to the following error:
    2760-287 [dkeyexch] Internal error - exchange script returns unknown error: 1

This means your ssh keys have not been set-up, or you have simply never logged into the HMC from you NIM server to do the ssh exhange, so check with -
# ssh hscroot@cld_hmc1 lssyscfg -r sys -F name

If that fails then take a look at this Developer works page -
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/WikiPtype/Manual+steps+to+enable+NIM+master+to+HMC+or+IVM+communication

    DNZIMN880E Failed to extract NIM Shared Product Object Tree (SPOT) resource from image appliance-0_image-1

There are two possible reasons for this, one is /export/nim filesystem needs more space, or its trying to locate a language file. So check in the Director agents error log here -
# /opt/ibm/director/agent/logs/error-log-0.html

For this message - 0042-001 nim: processing error encountered on "master":
Then along with it you should find something like this - /usr/lib/nls/msg/de_AT not found
/usr/lib/nls/msg/de_LU not found

Just touch these files on the NIM server and you should be able to rerun your deploy with no further occurrences of this error.

    DNZIMN356E Could not connect to the image repository

This means that there is a issue talking to the image repository on the NIM from the System Director, which while it might still show up on VMControl all your deploys continue to fail.  In some cases this is a issue with what network interface the system is talking over, so if you do have multipule interfaces then you can lock it down as follows -
# vi /opt/ibm/director/data/IPPreference.properties
com.ibm.director.server.preferred.ip=<preferred IP>
com.ibm.director.endpoint.excluded.ip.prefix=<excluded IP>,<excluded IP>

This is not true in all cases, it could relate to firewall issues, or in my case is issue with the levels of the system, so if you run the following on the NIM server to check the install -
# /opt/ibm/director/agent/bin/./lwiupdatemgr.sh -listFeatures|grep nim       
    com.ibm.director.im.rf.nim.subagent_2.3.1.2 Enabled

So we can see that the nim subagent is enabled, then look to see if the plugin is now active -
# /opt/ibm/director/agent/bin/./lwiplugin.sh -status | grep com.ibm.director.im
214:ACTIVE:Events Plug-in:2.3.1.2:com.ibm.director.im.rf.events
215:RESOLVED:NIM RF NLS Fragment:2.3.1.2:com.ibm.director.im.rf.nim.imaster.nl1
216:ACTIVE:NIM Master Interfaces Plug-in:2.3.1.2:com.ibm.director.im.rf.nim.imaster
217:ACTIVE:NIM Master CAS Agent Plug-in:2.3.1.2:com.ibm.director.im.rf.nim.master

Above is a correctly active agent, if you see the following -
214:ACTIVE:Events Plug-in:2.3.1.2:com.ibm.director.im.rf.events
215:RESOLVED:NIM RF NLS Fragment:2.3.1.2:com.ibm.director.im.rf.nim.imaster.nl1
216:((LAZY)):NIM Master Interfaces Plug-in:2.3.1.2:com.ibm.director.im.rf.nim.imaster
217:INSTALLED:NIM Master CAS Agent Plug-in:2.3.1.2:com.ibm.director.im.rf.nim.master

Then the agent is not installed correctly and it probably means your fix level is to high, in my case when I performed the following updated -
6100-06_AIX_ML:DirectorCommonAgent:6.2.0.1:6.2.0.0:-:AIX 6100-06 Update
6100-06_AIX_ML:DirectorPlatformAgent:6.2.0.1:6.2.0.0:-:AIX 6100-06 Update

From 6.2.0.0 issue above occurred and the only way I could recover the problem was restoring my server from mksysb.

POWER Cloud Build Notes

- Requirements -
- IBM Systems Director with VMControl -
    1/2 Procs Ent1 - Uncapped - 2/4 Virt - 4Gb Mem - 4-8Gb storage, extra if it is to be the NIM Master too.  OS 5.3 - 6.1 - 7.1
NIM Server requires Director Common Agent installed if it is not on the same node + VMControl sub agent
POWER System 6/7
HMC
Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM)

NOTES -
After a initial install I hit a number of problem getting the director server to install NIM agents on the NIM server and other issues such as complete System Director failure after it not being used for a week.  In addition there where further problems getting the VMControl to work and Director rediscovering and inventorying known systems correctly.  This revision should resolve those issues and get a system built ready to be integrated in any Cloud environment.
It should be stated that this is only the second revision, so some details have been take from memory is searches of history files from when I progressing round a problem.  I have plans for further systems and more test when more equipment arrives.
I will also be looking into a possible issue that I can't get VMControl working correctly due to the HMC and System Director/NIM Server being on different VLANs, the plan being to see if I get the same failure when the HMC is moved to the same VLAN as everything else.

- VIO/System Director server install -
First you will need to get a VIO server installed - normal details can be followed to do this.  Once its up and running and you can created a number of Virtual adapters to use you will need to create a partion for the systems director to be installed on using the specifications above, so we need some system pools created -
- Good VIO quick sheet - http://www.tablespace.net/quicksheet/powervm-quickstart.html

First lets create a boot volume group on the VIO Server, this is where we will keep all the boot/rootvg data, then followed by a data VG.
Create boot storage pool - # mksp cloud_boot hdisk1

Then the data pool -
# mksp cloud_data hdisk2 hdisk3

Note- the disks for the storage pool can be anything you like, either from the POWER systems internal disk or SAN attached, its your choice depending on what is available.  In this case its all internal disk.

Then change the default storage pool from rootvg to cloud_boot -
# chsp -default cloud_boot

list those pools -
# lssp
Pool              Size(mb)   Free(mb)  Alloc Size(mb)    BDs Type     
rootvg                  69888      46848             128      0 LVPOOL   
cloud_boot           69888      69888              64      0 LVPOOL   
cloud_data          139776     139776              64      0 LVPOOL

Create a client disk for the System Director on adapter vhost0 from cloud_boot storage pool -
# mkbdsp -sp cloud_boot 20G -bd lv_pclm1_boot -vadapter vhost0

This server will also be a NIM server so we will need to create some data storage for it -
# mkbdsp -sp cloud_data 40G -bd lv_pclm1_data -vadapter vhost0

Note- keep the lv names no longer the 15 characters, else it will not map the disks correct to the vhost as is passes the command over, so 'lsmap -all' fails.

To list the details in the storage pool -
# lssp -bd                    - shows the default pool, in this case cloud_boot
# lssp -bd -sp cloud_data    - to list other pools.

Once these pools are created and assigned over to the server you can get it booted for the network install, at this stage you need to boot into SMS and select the network device and configure the ip details.

- System Director Install -
Obtain the latest System Director code, this example is 6.2.1.2 -
Extract the gzip/tar file into a relevant dir with enough space, about 3Gb in all.  Source file is - "SysDir6_2_Server_AIX.tar"
Kick of the install with ./dirinstall.server
It should automatically expand the /opt filesystem to ensure that there is sufficient space for the install.

For proper environment setup for the database on this platform, please go to the IBM Systems Director Info Center:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/director/v6r2x/topic/com.ibm.director.install.helps.doc/fqm0_t_install_config_database_application.html

You must configure the agent manager prior to starting the server.
To configure the agent manager, run # /opt/ibm/director/bin/configAgtMgr.sh
This will allow you to set the System Director user (root) and the default passwords, in our working environment they all match that of 'root'.

To start the server manually, run
# /opt/ibm/director/bin/smstart    (this path can be added to the .profile PATH variable)

Monitor the status of the start with the following command as it can take some time to start -
# smstatus -r
Ctrl-c breaks out once the status changes to active.

- Install the IBM Systems Director VMControl 2.3.1 Plugin -

Confirm that IBM System Director 6.2.1.2 is installed on your IBM Systems Director server.

Open a browser to https://<director>:8422/ibm/console and log on.
On the Welcome to IBM Systems Director panel, click on the Manage tab.  Confirm IBM Systems Director 6.2.1.2 is installed

Logout of IBM Systems Director.
Start a telnet (or ssh) session to your IBM Systems Director server and sign on.
Create a directory for installing VMControl Enterprise Edition 2.3.1 and then change directories to it. # mkdir /tmp/sd
# cd /tmp/sd

The IBM System Director VMControl Enterprise Edition 2.3.1 for AIX 60 day trial can be downloaded at ->
http://www.ibm.com/systems/software/director/vmcontrol/enterprise.html
Unzip and decompress the IBM System Director VMControl Enterprise Edition 2.3.1 installation file # gunzip –c /tmp/sd/SysDir_VMControl_2_3_1_Linux_AIX.tar.gz | tar xvf –

Using VI from PuTTY or other editor, edit the /tmp/sd/installer.properties file as follows and save it.
Installer_UI = silent
License _accepted = true

Install IBM System Director VMControl Enterprise Edition 2.3.1 as follows:
# /tmp/sd/IBMSystemsDirector-VMControl-Setup.sh –i silent

When completed successfully, stop and restart IBM System Director
  # /opt/ibm/director/bin/smstop
# /opt/ibm/director/bin/smstart
# /opt/ibm/director/bin/smstatus –r

Once IBM Systems Director is active, point your browser to https://<director>:8422/ibm/console and log on.
On the Welcome to IBM Systems Director panel, click on the Manage tab.  
You should find that VMControl 2.3.1 is now listed.

- Part 2: Installing the VMControl 2.3.1.2 fix pack -
Start a telnet (or ssh) session to your IBM Systems Director server and sign on.
Log into the System Director and create the following dir for the download to be installed to. # mkdir /tmp/sd/vmc
# cd /tmp/sd/vmc

This fixpack can be downloaded from IBM Fix Central at -> http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/ - Package should be com.ibm.director.vmc.collection_2.3.1.2
Confirm that the VMControl 2.3.1.2 fix pack files are located in the /tmp/sd/vmc directory.
I have tried at this point installing this on the local server using the graphical interface, but so far it fails.  I have found that I need to run a up-to-date dicovery of the system - # smcli collectinv -p "All Inventory" -n <node_name>

Once this has completed you can then update the system with the VMControl package.
# smcli importupd -vr /tmp/sd/vmc
# smcli installupd -v -n pclm1_sdvmc -u com.ibm.director.vmc.collection_2.3.1.2

When completed successfully, stop and restart IBM System Director
  # /opt/ibm/director/bin/smstop
# /opt/ibm/director/bin/smstart
# /opt/ibm/director/bin/smstatus –r

When IBM Systems Director is active, point your browser to https://<director>:8422/ibm/console and log on.

Confirm that VMControl is now at 2.3.1.2 via the Welcome to Systems Director/Manage tab
 - NIM Master install -
Build the LPAR you are going to install the NIM master on either a standalone LPAR or in this case the Service Director LPAR -

Install the AIX OS release that you want to the NIM master to serve, remembering that the NIM server has to be at the current or higher OS/patch level then the clients it serves.

Make sure you are happy with the network setup of the NIM master, speed and such, so you can get things set-up.  Remember you can always make changes later, but it is easier to ensure this is all correct first.

Install the following filesets if they are not installed already:
dsm.core
openssh.base.client
openssl.base
bos.sysmgt.nim.master
bos.sysmgt.nim.spot
bos.sysmgt.nim.client
bos.net.nfs.server

Now we can create the NIM master with the following script -
# /usr/sbin/nim_master_setup -a mk_resource=yes -a volume_group=nimvg -a device=/mnt/610TL06_lpp_res

In the example above I had mounted a known good lpp source from another nim server and used that, but you can use mksysb's or a DVD image (default).
# lsnim        - list the now created NIM resources.

From here you can then add other LPP sources and SPOTs but at the moment we want to make sure that the System Director picks up the NIM respository and installs the NIM agent.  So now you have created the NIM filesystem it would be best to increase the size to about 30-40Gig.
# chfs -a size=30G /export/nim

Then perform a inventory on the Director server to pick up the changes to the server.
# smcli collectinv -p "All Inventory" -n <node>


- Installing the VMControl NIM subagent -

In the IBM Systems Director navigation pane, expand Systems Configuration and then click VMControl -
Notice message DNZIMC7081 – No image repositories were detected in IBM Systems Director.  Click Install Agents.

On the Welcome to Agent Installation Wizard panel, click Next.

Click on Common Agent Subagent Packages.

Select CommonAgentSubagent_VMControl_NIM-2.3.1.2 and click Add then click Next.

Select your IBM Systems Director server and click Add. And then click Next.

Review the summary of the Install Agent Task and then click Finish.

Run the job now and display its properties.  Monitor the job for a successful completion.

Collect inventory on your IBM Systems Director (and NIM master) server

When complete, in the IBM Systems Director navigation pane, expand Systems Configuration and then click VMControl.

Ensure that message DNZIMC709I is now displayed indicating that No virtual appliances were found.

Then ensure that you restart the Director service -
# smstop;smstart;smstatus -r

- NIM Server further configuration -

We can now update the bosinst_data resource so that we have hands free installation, we copy a file from the master system to the NIM volume group and define it. This time though, we also modify the resource. Read carefully!
# cp /bosinst.data /export/nim/bosinst_data/6100-05bid_ow
        This was the NIM resource - lsnim -l 6100-05bid_ow that the NIM creation script created.

For an automatic installation there are a number of lines we need to change:

The lines to change are from:

    PROMPT = yes
    RECOVER_DEVICES = Default
    ACCEPT_LICENSES =
    ACCEPT_SWMA =
    IMPORT_USER_VGS =
    CONSOLE = Default
    CREATE_JFS2_FS = Default
to:     PROMPT = no
    RECOVER_DEVICES = no
    ACCEPT_LICENSES = yes
    ACCEPT_SWMA = yes
    IMPORT_USER_VGS = no
    CONSOLE = /dev/vty0
    CREATE_JFS2_FS = yes
add
    ENABLE_64BIT_KERNEL = yes

And simplify the target_disk_data: stanza from:
target_disk_data:
        PVID = 00f67207e26dbb8d
        PHYSICAL_LOCATION = U8233.E8B.107207P-V41-C21-T1-L8100000000000000
        CONNECTION = vscsi0//810000000000
        LOCATION =
        SIZE_MB = 70006
        HDISKNAME = hdisk0
to: target_disk_data:
        HDISKNAME = hdisk0

Remember it is the file /export/nim/bosinst_data/6100-05bid_ow that needs to be edited, though you can of course change any more lines that you might want.

If you want to create and add any other additional resources then the following commands should help -

First this a package check to pick out any duplicate files in any lpp sources -
# /usr/lib/instl/lppmgr -d /export/nim/lpp_source/<lpp_source>  -u -b -x -r

From a lpp source you can then create a SPOT, in this case from lpp 610TL06-lpp into a spot called 610TL06_spot.
# nim -o define -t spot -a server=master -a source=610TL06-lpp -a location=/export/nim/spot/610TL06_spot 610TL06_spot

To perform a command line discovery -
# smcli discover -i <ip-address>,<ip-address>

Then you should be able to perfrom a install via the NIM server
# nim -o bos_inst -a lpp_source=<lpp-source> -a spot=<spot> -a bosinst_data=<bos-inst> -a no_client_boot=no <server-name>