HP-UX Virtual Partitions 6.0 Administrator Guide

vPar 6.0 allows you to create such virtual ports over a physical port on the VSP and then allocate
them as resources to a vPar. This means, with NPIV support, the resource that gets added to the
vPar is not a disk, tape, DVD, changer or a burner, but a virtual Host Bus Adapter referred to as
NPIV HBA. The vPar then discovers targets and devices behind the NPIV HBA using the same
mechanism that is used on the native host to discover devices behind a physical HBA. An NPIV
vPar will automatically discover new targets and devices behind the NPIV HBA.
With the NPIV feature, an AVIO storage driver can support two kinds of devices – the one that is
supported for Integrity virtual machines is referred to as legacy AVIO devices, and the new devices
seen via the NPIV HBA in the vPar is referred to as AVIO NPIV devices. Unlike with legacy devices,
the NPIV devices are not visible to the VSP. Hence, you can manage the storage devices that the
vPar will have access to from behind the NPIV HBA in the same way as you do for a native host.
NOTE: NPIV devices can coexist with AVIO devices.
The vPars v6.0 shared I/O uses the same AVIO drivers used for HP Integrity Virtual Machines, but
in vPars v6.0, it is integrated with a more streamlined infrastructure that decreases CPU overhead.
NPIV – supported limits
Currently, the NPIV feature is available only through Qlogic 8GB HBA.
Table 4 (page 17) lists the supported limits associated with NPIV in vPars v6.0.
Table 4 NPIV supported limits in vPars v6.0
Supported limitLimit description
8NPIV HBAs per vPar
8Number of NPIV HBAs per physical HBA
8Number of paths supported per NPIV device
2048Number of LUNs per NPIV HBA
2048Number of NPIV devices per vPar
WWNs – Finding and using WWNs
You can allocate and manage unique WWNs for NPIV HBAs using the HP-UX GUID Manager
which is a client-server based product. Using this application ensures that you do not have to
perform these tasks manually.
IMPORTANT: HP recommends using the HP-UX GUID Manager to allocate and maintain WWNs
and vWWNs. For more information about HP-UX GUID Manager, see the HP-UX GUID Manager
Administrator Guide available on the HP website at http://www.hp.com/go/hpux-hpvm-docs.
Requirements that NPIV can satisfy
The following requirements can be met using the NPIV feature:
• Storage isolation between vPar and VSP, and among vPars.
• Isolation of I/O traffic across vPars and VSP.
• Running of applications that require un-virtualized device access on the vPar.
• Monitoring the server/storage environment using charge back applications.
• Streamlining vPar migrations.
Configuring an NPIV HBA (vHBA) with vPar commands
The overall configuration process for NPIV HBA is the same as with legacy AVIO. For configuring
NPIV HBAs, a new 'storage' type called NPIV is introduced.
Configuring the VSP 17