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2.10.1 Advanced POWER Virtualization feature
The Advanced POWER Virtualization feature is a hardware feature (FC 7941 for the p5-550)
that is available as an option on all IBM Sserver POWER5 processor-based systems. The
Advanced POWER Virtualization feature is a combination of hardware enablement for
Micro-partitions and software that supports the Virtual I/O environment on POWER5
processor-based systems.
The Advanced POWER Virtualization feature includes:
Firmware enablement for Micro-partitions
Installation image for the Virtual I/O server software that supports:
– Ethernet adapter sharing
– Virtual SCSI server
Partition Load Manager
2.10.2 Virtual I/O server
The Virtual I/O server is a special purpose partition to provide virtual I/O resources to client
partitions. The Virtual I/O server owns the real resources that will be shared with the other
clients. The Virtual I/O technology allows a physical adapter assigned to a partition to be
shared by one or more partitions, enabling clients to minimize their number of physical
adapters. Virtual I/O will be used to reduce costs by eliminating the requirement that each
Micro-partition has a dedicated network adapter, disk adapter, and disk drive.
It is preferred that you use the Virtual I/O server in a partition with dedicated resources to help
ensure stable performance.
Three major functions are provided from the Virtual I/O Server, as described in the following
sections.
Virtual Ethernet
To enhance intercommunication between partitions, either dedicated partitions or
Micro-partitions, Virtual Ethernet allows in-memory connections at a high bandwidth from
partition to partition. Virtual Ethernet working on LAN technology allows a transmission speed
in the range of 1 to 3 GB/sec depending on the MTU
to 256) are supported in a partition, where a single Virtual Ethernet resource can be
connected to another Virtual Ethernet, a real network adapter, or both in a partition.
Shared Ethernet adapter
The Shared Ethernet adapter is a new service that acts as a layer 2 network switch to route
network traffic from a Virtual Ethernet to a real network adapter. The Shared Ethernet Adapter
must run in a Virtual I/O Server partition.
The advantages of the virtual Ethernet services is that partitions to communicate outside the
system without having a physical network adapter attached to the partition. At the time of
writing, up to 16 Virtual Ethernet x 18 VLANs can be shared on a single network interface.
The amount of network traffic will limit the number of client partitions served through a single
network interface.
4
Maximum Transmission Unit
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p5-550 Technical Overview and Introduction
4
size. Virtual Ethernet connections (up
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