AIX Virtualization question for non-AIX user Post: 302087989

Sponsored Content

Operating Systems AIX AIX Virtualization question for non-AIX user Post 302087989 by dukessd on Thursday 7th of September 2006 08:02:22 PM

09-07-2006

Registered User

OMG, where to start.

Performance gain over hardware cost - pSeries hardware costs a lot more than the PC stuff you have.
Blades are not power5, so cannot run virtualisation (see below). Given the hardware constraints of a blade it would be pointless.
pSeries virtualisation is not the same as LPAR

LPAR (Logical PARtition) is physical partitioning of a system, so the hardware takes care of the resources that make up the partition and then you just install AIX or Linux to the partitions you have devided the hardware in to.

Say you have 2 processors, 2 disks and 2 ethernet adapters - you can have 2 LPARS each with one of each resource. So you have 2 fully functional instances of AIX running on the same machine, without the VM bloatware running underneath.
If you have 64 processors, 1000 disks, 50 network adapters.... think of the possibilities...

The virtualisaton bit is a means of configuring lots of the system to one LPAR then running AIX VIO (virtual I/O) on thet LPAR which then allows you to share those (I/O) resources among other LPARS, either in whole or in part. For example an ethernet adapter shared from a VIO LPAR can be used by several other LPARS.

You can also use DLPAR (Dynamic LPAR) to move resources between active LPARs - cool huh?

With micropartitioning you can devide a CPU into 100 and so configure a LPAR with as many percent of a processor as you think fit - even cooler!

Oh, and you'll also need an HMC for LPAR, DLPAR, VIO. An HMC (hardware management console) is a PC running a dedicated release of some form of Linux thats whole purpose in life is to manage the hardware configuration of the pSeries machine.

So not anything like VM but you can achieve a similar effect - you could just buy into x86 blades and continue with the VM / Linux thing and maybe reduce the footprint but the cost of hardware is questionable against the xSeries machines.

You need power4 hardware (and an HMC) for LPAR / DLPAR and power5 hardware (and an HMC) for LPAR / DLPAR and VIO, so even a 270 will not cut it. You'll need a power4 (p6xx) or a power5 (p5xx) machine if you want to have a play - some p6xx machines like the p620, p660, p680 and maybe others don't have power4 technology so take care, aim for one with an odd second character to be safe: p610, p630, p650, p690 and don't forget the HMC.

This User Gave Thanks to dukessd For This Post:

dukessd

View Public Profile for dukessd

Find all posts by dukessd

9 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

AIX.4 New User Help

I am sure someone will yell at me over this post, but honestly I have searched. It doesn't help that I am not sure what to search on. Little background. Working at new company, Company has a program on a Unix box AIX.4. I know virtually nothing about Unix and Neither does anyone else here ...

2. AIX

AIX virtualization: IVM initial network setup

I have a system model 505 p server. I am trying to virtualize my server. My network admin has given me 10 IP addresses (with the DNS already updated with names that map onto each ip). E.g.: IP1 maps to m1.lab, IP2 maps to m2.lab, etc I have been following the redpaper "Integrated Virtualization...

3. AIX

need advice on AIX virtualization

Hi all, first of all, beg your pardon for dummy questions. Please help me to sort it out. I'm an internal consultant in a technology unit, and currently we are relocating some applications to another Data Center. In the old Data Center, applications are running on IBM AIX, mostly AIX 5.3. The...

4. AIX

New to aix virtualization direction ?

picked up a 9111-520 p5 hardware recently with 8 Gig of RAM, lots of internal disk space...6 x 140 gig had 7.1 pre-installed, and managed to upgrade the firmware to latest SF240_xxxx goal is to virtualize this and have LPARs running aix 7.1, 6.x, and Rhat for ppc .. need some...

5. AIX

AIX : User Defined Authorizations Question

Hello everyone, We have got a Server say Testserver with AIX 6.1 running on it. We want to create user defined authorization for syslogd, ntpd and named . We don't want to use pre-defined authorization (aix.network.daemon). Is it possible to create an independent authorization for commands?...

6. AIX

Nim on AIX 7.1 used to migrate AIX 5.3 to AIX 6.1...is possible?

Using nimadm: nimadm -j nimadmvg -c sap024 -s spot_6100 -l lpp_6100 -d "hdisk1" -Y Initializing the NIM master. Initializing NIM client sap024. 0505-205 nimadm: The level of bos.alt_disk_install.rte installed in SPOT spot_6100 (6.1.3.4) does not match the NIM master's level (7.1.1.2)....

7. AIX

Cannot su to a user in AIX

Hi All, We are facing the below issue when we try to SU to a user in AIX 0:root@dehensv215:/var/adm # su - orac38 foreach: Words not ()'ed. % pwd /oracle/C38 % ls We are able to login to other admin user in the same server only problem is with this user orac38. Guess some problem...

8. AIX

Some question about AIX

I have some question about aix: i know many unix system(hpux,solaris,etc) but never work with aix.. First question: updates/fixes are free or only commercial support? Second: Is easy like hpux,there are many differences between aix and other unix system? Thanks

9. AIX

AIX Virtualization Rights

Hi people, I just registered on this forum and this is my first message. I'm trying to understand the AIX Virtualization Rights (or whatever name it's called). If I have a S814 quad-core server with licensed AIX Enterprise Edition for four cores and also licensed PowerVM Enterprise...

LEARN ABOUT REDHAT

kudzu

kudzu(1)						      General Commands Manual							  kudzu(1)

NAME

       kudzu - detects and configures new and/or changed hardware on a system

SYNOPSIS

       kudzu

DESCRIPTION

       kudzu  detects  and  configures	new  and/or changed hardware on a system.  When started, kudzu detects the current hardware, and checks it
       against a database stored in /etc/sysconfig/hwconf, if one exists. It then determines if any hardware has been added or	removed  from  the
       system.	If  so,  it gives the users the opportunity to configure any added hardware, and unconfigure any removed hardware. It then updates
       the database in /etc/sysconfig/hwconf.

       If no previous database exists, kudzu attempts to determine what devices have already been configured,  by  looking  at	/etc/modules.conf,
       /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/, and /etc/X11/XF86Config.

OPTIONS

       --usage
	      Show short usage message.

       --help, -?
	      Print help information.

       -q, --quiet
	      Run 'quietly'; do only configuration that doesn't require user input.

       -s, --safe
	      Do  only	'safe'	probes that won't disturb hardware. Currently, this disables the serial probe, the DDC monitor probe, and the PS/2
	      probe.

       -t, --timeout [seconds]
	      This sets the timeout for the initial dialog. If no key is pressed  before  the  timeout	elapses,  kudzu  exits,  and  /etc/syscon-
	      fig/hwconf is not updated.

       -k, --kernel [version]
	      When  determining  whether a module exists, use the specified kernel version. (If this is not set, it defaults to the current kernel
	      version.) Do not specify suffixes such as 'smp' or 'summit'; these are automatically searched.

       -b, --bus [bus]
	      Only probe on the specified bus.

       -c, --class [class]
	      Only probe for the specified class.

       -f, --file [file]
	      Read hardware probe info from file file and do not do an actual probe.

       -p, --probe
	      Print probe information to the screen, and do not actually configure or unconfigure any devices.

FILES

       /etc/sysconfig/hwconf
	      Listing of current installed hardware.

       /etc/sysconfig/kudzu
	      Configuration for the boot-time hardware probe. Set 'SAFE' to something other than 'no' to force only safe probes.

       /etc/modules.conf
	      Module configuration file.

       /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-*
	      Network interface configuration files.

       BUGS   The serial probe will disturb any currently in-use devices, and returns odd results if used on machines acting as  serial  consoles.
	      On some older graphics cards, the DDC probe can do strange things.

AUTHOR

       Red Hat, Inc.

4th Berkeley Distribution					   Red Hat, Inc.							  kudzu(1)