Getting To Know Npartitions; Partitioning Continuum; Partitioning Continuum; Cell Structure Of Npartitions - HP Integrity rx7620 Installation Manual

Getting to Know nPartitions

Partitions are physical or logical mechanisms for demarcating operational environments within
a single system or across multiple systems. Partitioning lets you consolidate systems, allocate
computing resources in response to fluctuations in demand, maximize resource use, and protect
operating environments from disruptive events.

Partitioning Continuum

HP offers a continuum of partitioning technologies, as shown in
NOTE:
Virtual Partitions are only available in systems running HP-UX.
Figure C-2 Partitioning continuum
Node Partition
Virtual Partition
Resource Partition

Cell Structure of nPartitions

HP Integrity mid-range and high-end servers (rx7620/rx7640, rx8620/rx8640, and Superdome)
are composed of cells or cell boards. A cell consists of up to four processor modules, contains
memory modules (up to 32 DIMMs for Superdome cells, up to 16 DIMMs for rx7260 and rx8620
cells), and can connect to an I/O chassis that has I/O cards. A server cabinet can have several I/O
chassis. Some cell-based servers support I/O expansion cabinets to provide additional I/O chassis.
86 nPartitioning
Hard Virtual Partitions
Partitions
within a node
nPartition
nPartition
nPartition
Partitioning
Isolation
Continuum
A node partition (nPartition) is a hard partition in a cell-based server.
Cell-based servers can be configured as single large symmetric
multiprocessors or as several independent systems. An nPartition
has exclusive use of the memory, processor, and I/O resources
belonging to the cells assigned to that partition and can execute its
own operating system image.
A virtual partition is a soft partition in a node or an nPartition. A
virtual partition uses a subset of the system processor, memory,
and I/O resources, and includes OS and application-related software.
A resource partition is a soft partition in hard partitions or virtual
partitions and is controlled by workload management services in
the OS. Resource partitions enable an OS instance to allocate
resources between competing applications.
Figure
Resource
within a hard Partitions
partition within an OS
virtual
application
partition
application
application
virtual
partition
application
Flexibility
C-2.