HP Integrity VM Accelerated Virtual I/O Overview

Abstract

This white paper discusses the Accelerated Virtual I/O (AVIO) solution, originally introduced with

Integrity Virtual Machines (VM) Version 3.5 in December 2007and now supported on Integrity VM

Version 4.0 as of September 2008. It is intended for system administrators who have experience with

Integrity VM and manage storage or networking I/O devices in an Integrity VM environment.

Introduction

Integrity VM Version 3.5 introduced new storage and networking AVIO guest drivers for use with HP-

UX 11i v2 guests and corresponding AVIO host drivers for use with the HP-UX 11iv2 host. Together,

these new drivers deliver a streamlined and re-architected I/O path for both storage and networking

which results in improved performance for I/O intensive workloads.

Integrity VM Version 4.0 extends the AVIO solution to HP-UX 11iv3 guests

and HP-UX 11iv3 hosts.

This enables AVIO Storage integration with one of the key features of the HP-UX 11iv3: The Next

Generation Mass Storage Stack. In addition, both AVIO Storage and Networking can now take

advantage of the new High Availability features of HP-UX 11iv3: Online Deletion of I/O Adapters

and Dynamic Loading and Unloading of I/O device drivers.

The release of Integrity VM Version 4.0 and AVIO delivers significant improvements in storage

management capabilities, storage LUN and logical volume capacity, high availability, and

performance.

This white paper provides the following details on the AVIO solution:

Benefits, features, limits, and restrictions of AVIO

Describes the benefits, features, and restrictions of the Integrity VM AVIO solution.

This will include a high-level description of the key benefits of Integrity VM 4.0 and

AVIO.

Introduction to the AVIO Storage and Networking solutions

Describes the AVIO solution and its impact on Integrity VM I/O. This is a high-level

description of new AVIO components as well as changes to the Integrity VM I/O

subsystem. This includes how guest isolation is maintained in the presence of AVIO.

Emulated versus Accelerated Integrity VM Guest Drivers

Describes the benefits and drawbacks of both emulated and accelerated Integrity VM

guest drivers. This includes a description of the Integrity VM emulated guest driver

model and a summary of how it compares to the Integrity VM accelerated guest

driver model.

Changes to Integrity VM Storage and Networking I/O commands

Describes the impact on Integrity VM I/O commands. This includes new options to

existing Integrity VM commands as well as the introduction of a new storage

command.

Migrating from SCSI or LAN to AVIO

Provides an overview of how to migrate from SCSI or LAN to AVIO. This includes

example configurations with SCSI and LAN and the corresponding changes to

AVIO Networking delivered support for HP-UX 11iv3 Guests with Integrity VM 3.5 in March 2008.