A Hardware Management Console (HMC) is an Linux based appliance used to manage IBM Power Systems servers. HMC is used to:
A single HMC can control multiple Power Systems servers and multiple HMCs can manage a single Power System. An HMC can be used via either an X-Windows graphical user interface (GUI) or an SSH command line interface (CLI).
An HMC is necessary only to manage Power Systems servers. Once configured, Power Systems servers continue to operate normally even if the HMC is shut down. But please note that larger Power Systems servers (Power 760 and above) require an HMC to successfully power up. Once a server is powered up, the HMC is no longer required for the server to continue to operate normally. An HMC also provides access to the console of every virtual machine (LPAR) on every managed server.
As of July 2016, the latest version of HMC is V8R8.4.0
Note: LPAR (Logical Partitioning) is a way of subdividing all of a computer’s resources, including the memory, storage, and processors, and splitting them up into smaller logical units that can each be run as a separate part of the operating system (OS)
- Add / Remove LPARs
- Manage logical partitions and partition profiles
- Perform Dynamic LPAR (DLPAR) operations. (DLPAR operations that change the resource allocation (such as processor, memory, physical I/O, and virtual I/O) dynamically for the specified partition)
- Activate and manage Capacity on Demand resources
A single HMC can control multiple Power Systems servers and multiple HMCs can manage a single Power System. An HMC can be used via either an X-Windows graphical user interface (GUI) or an SSH command line interface (CLI).
An HMC is necessary only to manage Power Systems servers. Once configured, Power Systems servers continue to operate normally even if the HMC is shut down. But please note that larger Power Systems servers (Power 760 and above) require an HMC to successfully power up. Once a server is powered up, the HMC is no longer required for the server to continue to operate normally. An HMC also provides access to the console of every virtual machine (LPAR) on every managed server.
As of July 2016, the latest version of HMC is V8R8.4.0
Note: LPAR (Logical Partitioning) is a way of subdividing all of a computer’s resources, including the memory, storage, and processors, and splitting them up into smaller logical units that can each be run as a separate part of the operating system (OS)