Introducing HP-UX 11i Virtual Partitions

Sep 2007 11
Managing vPars
HP-UX Administration
Each virtual partition functions like a standalone server and thus is administered by the root user
like any other HP-UX server. Once a vPar is booted, all the HP-UX administration activities can be
performed by the root user just the same way it is done on an nPar. All applications run on a vPar
just the same way they run on an nPar.
vPars Administration
vPars administration, typically involves the following tasks
• Create a new virtual partition.
• Modify an existing virtual partition.
• Delete an existing virtual partition.
• Display the resources assigned to each virtual partition.
• Display the status of each virtual partition.
• Display logs of vPars activity.
• Boot a virtual partition.
• Reset a virtual partition.
vPar commands to modify vPars are performed by root.
Flexible vPars Administration
By default, the root user on any vPar has the flexibility to run vPar commands for its vPar or any
other vPar on the system. However, vPars also provides a flexible admin option whereby one or
more vPars can be designated as primary vPars. Only the root user of a primary vPar can do any
vPar administrative operation targeting another vPar. The root user of a secondary vPar can only
perform vPar administrative operations targeting the local vPar.
vPars Components
The vPar product consists of the following components.
- Virtual Partition monitor installed as /stand/vpmon
- Virtual Partition commands and daemons
- Virtual Partition kernel component
All of the above components get installed when the vPars product is installed.
The vPar definitions created using the vPar commands is stored in a vPars database file saved as
/stand/vpdb. The virtual partition monitor uses the definitions in the vPar database to create and
manage vPars.
vPars Monitor
The vPars monitor is a layer of software that resides beneath the individual vPar OS instances. In a
typical vPars environment, the vPars monitor is booted first, which allows booting of other vPar OS
instances as defined in the vPars database.
The monitor code is loaded from the file /stand/vpmon on the system boot device in the same way
as a normal HP-UX kernel would be loaded from the file /stand/vmunix. The monitor loads the
partition database from /stand/vpdb and creates vPars according to the resource allocations in the
database. If there are no command-line options, the monitor is booted in interactive mode with a
command-line interface. Once the vPars are up and running, the vPars Monitor is infrequently