Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4: Installation Guide for the IBM® POWER Architecture
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# 1.3. Preparation for iSeries

The installation process assumes basic familiarity with the IBM iSeries platform and makes reference to IBM's Configuring Linux in a Guest Partition. In general, this section assumes that you have read the Configuring Linux in a Guest Partition document (http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/iseries/v5r2/ic2924/info/rzalm/rzalmlinuxkickoff.htm) in its entirety.

| Tip

Additional information on the iSeries can be found online at:

    http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/iseries/linux/

To prepare your iSeries system for installation, follow the instructions in the Planning to run Linux on a logical partition and Creating a logical partition to run Linux sections of the Configuring Linux in a Guest Partition document. Consult your OS/400 command documentation for information on configuring the OS/400 facilities (http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/iseries/v5r2/ic2924/info/rbam6/rbam6clmain.htm). The basic steps for installation preparation on your iSeries are as follows:

First, create a Logical Partition in SST using the screens in Work with system partitions. The partition must be of type Guest, have some amount of processor and memory, and either a native LAN adapter or virtual Ethernet assigned. After you create your Linux partition, assign a hosting partition to it. Select option 13 on the new Linux partition in the Work with Partition Configuration screen. Next, IPL your primary partition after creating the new partition.

If you are using shared processors with V5R2 OS/400, you can dynamically change the amount of processor units assigned to your partition, as long as it is within the minimum and maximum processor units you have set for your partition. You cannot dynamically go below a minimum of 0.10 times the number of processors. Changing the processor or memory limits requires a Primary Partition IPL.

Next, create an NWSD by executing the command `crtnwsd` from the OS/400 command line. The Partition field has the name of the Logical Partition you created in SST; it should be of type Guest and Codepage 437. For a basic NWSD, use `*None` for the Resource Name and keep the defaults for all the other fields — the boot fields are setup in Section 2.1.2 Booting the iSeries Installation Program.

Assuming you plan on using a virtual disk rather than native SCSI using the `ipr` driver, create an NWSSTG (virtual disk) by executing the command `wrknwsstg` from the OS/400 command line. Once you create it, you must add a link to the NWSD you created using the name of the NWSD.

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