This IBM® Redpaper™ provides steps, considerations, limitations, and links to information regarding the creation of IBM i Client Partitions using the third generation of Virtual Partition Manager (VPM).

Beginning with IBM i 7.1, the Virtual Partition Manager was enhanced and now allows you to create and manage Linux partitions and IBM i partitions without the use of the Hardware Management Console (HMC), Systems Director Management Console (SDMC), or Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM). It involves the use of VPM and the new support for Ethernet layer-2 bridging between a physical Ethernet adapter and a virtual Ethernet adapter that provides the ability for an IBM i partition to share a physical Ethernet connection with other partitions in the same system.

The intended audience for this Redpaper publication is advanced system administrators.