Intel Itanium 2 and PA-RISC nPartition Mixing - HP Superdome Hybrid Servers

HP Superdome Hybrid Servers with Mixed Intel Itanium 2 and PA-RISC

nPartitions

HP Superdome servers based on the HP sx1000 chipset can support configurations with both

PA-RISC nPartitions and Intel® Itanium® 2 nPartitions in the same server. This document

addresses the hardware, firmware, operating systems, and management tools required and

supported for mixing PA-RISC nPartitions and Intel Itanium 2 nPartitions on Superdome hybrid

servers.

CAUTION:

HP Recommends All Firmware Components Be Updated to the Specified Revision When updating

firmware to the minimum required revisions specified in this document, you must update the

entire server complex so that all firmware is at the revision corresponding to the release number

(SMS rel_#.#) required for your mixing scenario. While each nPartition might have a different

“Minimum Required Firmware” release specified, you must update the server complex using

the highest release number for the nPartitions in the complex.

Failing to update all firmware components can result in an unsupported or untested system

configuration. Each SMS software release includes all firmware components for Superdome

servers.

Supported Processors

As Table 1-1 lists, the supported processors for Superdome hybrid servers are PA-8800, PA-8900,

and the Intel Itanium 2 single-core processor with 9 MB cache. Older PA-RISC processors are

not supported on the HP sx1000 chipset so they cannot be mixed with the Intel Itanium 2

single-core processor with 9 MB cache. The Intel Itanium 2 single-core processor with 6 MB cache

and the HP mx2 dual-processor module with Intel Itanium 2 processors are not supported for

mixing and they have not been qualified in Superdome hybrid servers.

Table 1-1 Supported Processors for Superdome Hybrid Servers

Not SupportedSupported

PA-8600, PA-8700, PA-8700+PA-8800, PA-8900

Intel Itanium 2 single-core processor with 6 MB cache

HP mx2 dual-processor module with Intel Itanium 2

processors

Intel Itanium 2 single-core processor with 9 MB cache

(A1 stepping and A2 stepping)

Mixing Scenarios

Table 1-2 lists operating systems supported on PA-8800, PA-8900, and the Intel Itanium 2

single-core processor with 9 MB cache. The two oldest HP-UX releases that support the PA-8800

processor are not supported in Superdome hybrid servers.

HP Superdome Hybrid Servers with Mixed Intel Itanium 2 and PA-RISC nPartitions 5