Click through provisioning demonstration - IBM i

Use the click through demonstration below to practice provisioning an IBM i virtual server instance (VSI).

Important

If you skipped the Part 3 Introduction and are not familiar with the features of PowerVS like storage pools, storage tiers, etc. you should consider going back and reading it.

Note: Access to provision a new VSI is not provided in the IBM Technology Zone cloud account. Use this click through demonstration to simulate this activity. Fields that require a text entry are pre-populated in the click through demonstration.

Tip

Not sure where to click or what to do next? Click anywhere on the screen and the spot to click next is highlighted.

1. Open the following link and then click play to begin the demonstration.

   Click through demonstration: Create an IBM Power Virtual Server Instance

2. Click PowerVS-L3-2024 in Workspaces table.

3. Click View virtual servers.
4. Click Create instance +.

The next steps refer to the entries in the General section of the Create virtual server instance form.

5. Click the Instance name field.
6. Click the Add to a server placement group information icon () and read the helpful information.
7. Click the information dialog to close it.
8. Click the Add to a shared processor pool information icon () and read the helpful information.
9. Click the information dialog to close it.
10. Click the Virtual server pinning information icon () and read the helpful information.
11. Click the information dialog to close it.
12. Click the Select virtual server pinning pull-down.
13. Click None.
14. Click the Select SSH key pull-down.
15. Click PowerVS-key.
16. Click Continue in the General section.

The next steps refer to the entries in the Boot image section of the Create virtual server instance form.

17. Click the Select OS pull-down.
18. Click IBM i.
19. Click the Select image pull-down.
20. Click IBMi-75-03-2924-2.
21. Click the Tier pull-down.
22. Click Tier 3 (3 IPOs/GB).
23. Click the IBM i Licenses information icon () and read the helpful information.
24. Click the information dialog to close it.

Change in IBM Cloud Portal

During the creation of this course, a new feature was added to PowerVS that is not reflected in this click through demonstration. The Advanced configurations option allows users to specify cloud-init user data.

This data is used when the VSI is first booted. This capability only applies to Full Linux Subscription boot images. Learn more about these user defined scripts here.

26. Click the Continue button under the Boot image section.

The next steps refer to the entries in the Profile section of the Create virtual server instance form.

27. Click the Select machine type pull-down.
28. Click s1022.
29. Click the Core type information icon () and read the helpful information.
30. Click the information dialog to close it.
31. Click the Cores information icon () and read the helpful information.
32. Click the information dialog to close it.
33. Click Continue under the Profile section.

The next steps refer to the entries in the Storage volumes section of the Create virtual server instance form.

34. Click Create volume +.
35. Click the Name in VSI field.
36. Click + to increase the size of the volume to 2 GB.
37. Click the Tier pull-down (set to Tier 3 (3 IOPs/GB) by default).
38. Click Tier 3 (3 IOPs/GB).
39. Click Create and attach.
40. Click Continue under the Storage volumes section.

The next steps refer to the entries in the Network interfaces section of the Create virtual server instance form.

Note: for this demonstration, the instance is provisioned with a public network (internet facing). A public network simplifies demonstrating access to instances. However, most production deployments of PowerVS use private networks and control access with Direct Link, Virtual Private Network (VPN), or Megaport Software Defined Network (SDN). To learn more about PowerVS networking options, look here.

41. Toggle Public networks to On.
42. Click Attach +.
43. Click the Select Network pull-down.
44. Click private-powervs-2024.
45. Click Attach.
46. Click Finish under the Network interfaces section.
47. Click I agree to the Terms and conditions.
48. Click Create.

The IBM i PowerVS instance is now being provisioned. This process took approximately 15 minutes. Notice the value under the Status column of the Virtual server instances table. When the status changes to an Active state, the instance is ready to be accessed. For IBM i instances, there are additional steps that must be completed to accept the IBM software licenses that are deployed as part of the base image. These steps are documented here.