Introducing HP-UX 11i Virtual Partitions

Sep 2007 14
among several vPars, a system administrator with access to the system console may cycle through
console sessions of any of those vPars using a keystroke (Ctrl-A) at the console.
Compatibility with HP Virtual Server Environment and HP
OpenView
HP-UX 11i Virtual Partitions are an important component of the HP Virtual Server Environment for
HP-UX 11i. vPars are well integrated with many of the other elements of the Virtual Server
Environment as well as with many of HP’s extensive line of OpenView enterprise management
products, a few of which are highlighted here.
VSE Partitioning
vPars is compatible with other partitioning elements within the Virtual Server Environment. vPars
are supported running on nPartitions. Intra-OS resource partitioning for HP-UX 11i, such as that
offered by PRM groups, both processor sets and sub-CPU groups, also work within vPars. While
vPars and HP Integrity Virtual Machines cannot be run simultaneously in the same hard partition,
they can run on the same server in separate hard partitions.
VSE Availability
HP Serviceguard is supported with HP-UX 11i Virtual Partitions, providing high availability of
applications on virtual partitions. With Serviceguard, an application that fails in a virtual partition on
one host can be automatically started in another virtual partition on the same host, a virtual partition
hosted by another host, or another physical server not running HP-UX 11i Virtual Partitions.
However, special care needs to be taken when designing the highest availability within a vPar
environment. The Serviceguard Support Organization has supplied recommended guidelines when
using vPars in mission critical implementations.
VSE Utility Pricing
Utility Pricing is an option available on many of the HP9000 and HP Integrity servers running HP-UX
11i. With Instant Capacity or Temporary Instant Capacity, you can purchase a fully CPU populated
server up front, but only activate a sub-set of the total CPUs. Instant Capacity allows you to
purchase the remainder of the CPUs as you require them. Temporary Instant Capacity allows you to
purchase CPU time to activate and deactivate CPUs as required by the workloads.
Another alternative is Pay-per-use. This allows customers to pay for their server resources partially
based on a right to access fee, and partially based on actual usage.
vPars works seamlessly with all utility pricing options. Additional CPU capacity can be turned on or
off and added or removed from vPars dynamically, without a reboot.
VSE Intelligent Control
While the partitioning, availability, and utility pricing components of the HP Virtual Server
Environment provide a flexible environment, that is just the beginning of the story. The VSE goes
beyond creating just a flexible environment by automating it. The intelligent control products are
designed to work with the flexible environment, including vPars, and help automate it.
.
HP Integrity Essentials Global Workload Manager and HP-UX Workload Manager are the
automation tools in the VSE. They contain the business policies for the environment, measure
current performance or utilization, and automatically move CPU resources among vPars or other
types of partitions based on the actual resource demands. These products also automate the
activation and deactivation of utility pricing components.
The HP Integrity Essentials products support not only HP-UX 11i on HP Integrity Servers, but also
HP-UX 11i on HP 9000 servers.