HP Virtual Server Environment: Tips for Application Developers

HP Virtual Server Environment and ISV Applications
The HP Virtual Server Environment (VSE), HP’s integrated virtualization solution for HP Integrity and
HP 9000 servers, provides the flexible capacity that can help IT departments increase their return on
IT investments and be more agile at the same time. HP VSE allows real time optimization of server
utilization by creating virtual servers that can automatically grow and shrink based on business
priorities and service-level objectives. HP VSE is application-transparent: The great majority of third-
party HP-UX applications run as expected without modification in a VSE environment. In some rare
cases, performance may suffer when resources are removed or the application may not scale with the
addition of new resources, but the application will run without interruption. Applications that require
system topology information can be enhanced to adjust their use of system resources as the actual
capacity of the system varies over time. This paper describes the mechanisms available to make these
enhancements. This paper is primarily intended for use by application developers looking to
understand how VSE interacts with their application. It will also be of interest to system administrators
seeking a better understanding of VSE and how applications work within a VSE.
Introduction
In the HP Virtual Server Environment multiple applications run in separate secure partitions, sharing a
common pool of resources on the same physical server. Resources are shifted from one partition to
another, dynamically and automatically, by the workload management control layers of VSE.
Workload managers monitor resource consumption or application performance against defined
service-level objectives or policies and continuously redistribute system resources to meet those service-
level objectives. In addition, inactive reserve capacity is automatically activated and later deactivated
to address peaks in demand or to address workload migration caused by a failover condition.
HP Virtual Ser
ver Environment
Intelligent control
Unified infrastructure management
Configuration
Automation
Planning
Virtual servers
Availability
Utility pricing
Partitioning
•
Clustering
• Disaster
tolerance
•
Instant capacity
• Usage-based
pricing
•
Hard
• Soft