Introduction to HP-UX Virtual Partitions v6 on HP Integrity blades

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Why use HP-UX vPars v6?
Most data centers have server hardware that is underutilized. These same data centers are facing increasing demand
for new applications that results in an increased demand for servers to satisfy their customers. These seemingly
contradictory situations have led CIO’s and administrators to the conclusion that they should be able to make better
use of the resources they have already deployed. The HP-UX virtualization continuum offers several virtualization and
partitioning technologies to help HP-UX customers deploy mission-critical applications in a manner that best aligns to
their business goals. HP-UX vPars v6 provides a uniquely pragmatic and effective consolidation solution preserving
mission-critical scalability, availability and separation while offering improved manageability and consolidation.
Increased utilization and scalability
HP-UX vPars v6 is supported across the entire Integrity server blades family. Virtual partitions can scale up from a
single core up to 31 cores, allowing the consolidation of workloads of various sizes. In addition, HP-UX vPars v6
features the ability to dynamically add cores to the vPars increasing the scale to meet growth demands.
More flexibility and capacity
HP-UX vPars v6 combined with the Integrity server blades technologies provide a flexible platform for deploying
many applications in a cost effective manner. The new Shared I/O functionality combined with N-Port ID
Virtualization (NPIV) technology allows for dedicated virtual paths to storage, provide cost effective but highly resilient
access methods for various storage solutions.
Improved performance and productivity
HP-UX vPars v6 has a redesigned architecture for I/O operations, dedicated core and memory resources combined to
deliver superior performance needed to run mission-critical applications. The online addition and removal of assigned
cores performed from the VSP guarantees a high level of flexibility and productivity.
HP-UX Virtual Partitions v6 features
• Support for many virtual partitions per server, each with their own instance of HP-UX 11i v3 and applications.
• Software fault isolation at operating system and application levels.
• Dedicated CPU cores (single core granularity).
• Dynamic reallocation of physical CPU cores across virtual partitions.
• Dedicated memory.
• vPar operating system fault and security isolation.
• Dedicated virtual iLO Remote Console.
• Shared network and storage I/Os.
• Support of N-Port ID Virtualization (NPIV).
• Command line and graphical user interfaces.
• Serviceguard support.