HP-UX 11i Version 2 December 2007 Release Notes

Obsolescence
Not applicable.
HP Partitioning and Virtual Server Environment
HP offers a full line of hardware and software partitioning capabilities, including nPartitions,
virtual partitions, and HP Integrity Virtual Machines. The HP Virtual Server Environment (VSE)
builds on HP partitioning products and the VSE Management Software to help you maximize
the use of your server resources in response to changing business needs.
The HP-UX Operating Environments include WBEM providers and agent software that enable
your systems to operate in the VSE. The VSE Management Software is not included in the
Operating Environments, but is available for download from the following Web site:
http://docs.hp.com/en/vsemgmt/
Accelerated Virtual I/O
The HP Integrity Virtual Machines (HPVM) 3.5 release supports two new Accelerated Virtual
I/O device drivers that significantly improve HPVM I/O performance. The HPVM 3.5 product
is shipped via HP Independent Media and is not included with the December 2007 Operating
Environment Update Release (OEUR) of HP-UX 11i v2.
The Accelerated Virtual I/O (AVIO) solution is composed of four new products: GuestAvioLan,
HostAvioLan, GuestAvioStor, and HostAvioStor. The initial version for these products
is B.11.23.0712 for all and, as stated above, all are supported with the HPVM release 3.5.
The configuration process for the new AVIO devices is basically the same as the existing VIO
devices. The only difference is the device names used in the hpvmcreate/hpvmmodify
commands. The names of the AVIO devices are aviolan (or avio_lan) and aviostor (or
avio_stor).
Summary of Change
The new AVIO storage and lan devices deliver a new re-architected I/O path for HPVM. These
products are shipping for the first time on the HP-UX 11i v2 December 2007 Operating
Environments.
All four AVIO products are Default-Installed on the December 2007 Foundation Operating
Environment.
Impact
The new AVIO storage and lan products provide significant performance improvements over
the existing VIO products.
These new HPVM AVIO devices provide significant performance improvement (up to 60%
decrease in Service Demand and up to 2X increase in throughput) over the existing (fully
emulated) Virtual I/O (VIO) devices.
Compatibility
The new AVIO products can coexist with the existing VIO products. In order to select the new
AVIO products as your guest driver, use aviolan (or avio_lan) and aviostor (or
avio_stor).
Performance
This new HPVM AVIO devices provide significant performance improvement (up to 60% decrease
in Service Demand and up to 2X increase in throughput) over the existing (fully emulated) Virtual
I/O (VIO) devices.
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