Powervm driver does not support IBM i

[Daniel Fu]

Rationale:
    Currently OpenStack does not support IBM i in powervm driver. Although the underground virtualization mechanism of IBM i is the same as current supported PowerLinux in PowerVM, IBM i instances can not be deployed correctly.

Overview:
    To support IBM i in powervm, the implementation of the enhancement will be based on current powervm implementation, which includes IVM managed system, single VIOS support and logical volume support. It enrolls a difference in image meta to distinguish IBM i image and Power Linux/AIX. PowerVM will distinguish OS type based on image meta to generate partition accordingly.

Use Cases:
     1. Create new IBM i instance based on file-based IBM i image.
     2. Start IBM i instance.
     3. Stop IBM i instance.
     4. Create snapshot on a IBM i instance.
     5. Delete an IBM i instance.

Design:
    The changes for IBM i supporting are within powervm of Nova, which may include:
     1. Specify partition property lpar_env for IBM i instance.
     2. Specify partition property ipl_source as b for IBM i instance.
     3. Specify LPA_PROFILE_ATTRIBUTES load_source_slot and console_slot for IBM i instance.
     4. Specify partition keylock position as norm during powering on IBM i instance.
     5. Check lpar_started status for IBM i instances according to refcode and running state.

[Mathew Odden (locke105)]

This should probably be proposed in a blueprint so it can be put on a timeline and design/implementation details worked out.

[Daniel Fu (lifubj)]

Hi, Mathew: I've talked to Michael about this, and propose this as a bluepint.
here is the bp link: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/nova/+spec/ibmi-supporting-in-powervm

[Matt Riedemann (mriedem)]

Marked as invalid since this is a wishlist item and there is a blueprint for it (and linked the bug to the blueprint).

[Matt Riedemann (mriedem)]

The powervm driver is getting removed: https://review.openstack.org/#/c/57774/

So if the plan was to work the ibm i support into that, it's not going to happen now. There has been no movement on the blueprint so I'm going to mark this bug as invalid. If there is still a plan for the blueprint, it should be worked there.