The PCI hot-plug function allows you to remove adapter cards and replace them with other adapter cards similar in type and function, without extensive system reconfiguration. The PCI hot-plug function works in the virtual shared disk environment. The preferred mode of operation would be to stop the RVSD subsystem before attempting a hot-plug function. The following scenarios document effects and consequences of hot-plugging active shared disks. See the POWER3 SMP High Node Service Guide (GA22-7448).
When a disk adapter is powered off, I/O to that disk will get an EIO error which will drive "EIO Recovery". Recoverable Virtual Shared Disk will varyon the virtual shared disk volume groups on a secondary server and route I/O requests to the secondary server. After powering on the disk adapter, use the vsdchgserver command to switch the virtual shared disk server for the associated disks back to the primary server. This command will vary off the disks at the secondary server and vary on the disks at the primary server.
When a disk adapter is powered off, I/O to that disk will get an EIO error with will cause Concurrent Virtual Shared Disk to route I/O requests to the active server. After powering on the disk adapter and issuing varyonvg -c to vary on the disks, concurrent virtual shared disks automatically resume access of the disks through the disk adapter.
When a disk adapter is powered off, I/O to that disk will get an EIO error which will cause the virtual shared disks to be placed in stopped state. After powering on the disk adapter and issuing varyonvg to varyon all associated volume groups, you can restart the virtual shared disks using the startvsd command on all the nodes for the affected shared disks.