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Partition Manager Help

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  About Partitioning   

About Partitioning

»Table of Contents
»Index
»Assistance
»Overview
»Features & Capabilities
About Partitioning
»Configuration Guide
»Configuration Privilege
»Starting & Stopping
»Complex Scope
»Partition Scope
»Cell Scope
»I/O Chassis Scope
»Actions
»Status Indicators
»Messages
»Release Notes
»About Partition Manager
»Glossary
»Using Help
» Types Of Partitions
» The Complex

Types Of Partitions

Partitioning on HP servers refers to the ability to run multiple instances of the operating system (OS) on a single server. Partitioning is accomplished by allocating different subsets of the server's hardware resources to different partitions, each of which can run a single instance of an OS, with isolation from other partitions. HP's partitioning technologies include both nPartitions and virtual partitions. Depending on your server model, one or both types of partitions may be supported.

nPartitions

nPartitions provide both hardware and software isolation between different instances of the operating system running on a single server system. Each nPartition consists of an assigned group of cells (containing CPUs and memory), and I/O chassis (through which peripheral devices can be attached).

Each nPartition operates independently of other nPartitions, and can run a single instance of an OS, or can be further divided into virtual partitions (on systems that support vPars).

The number of nPartitions supported on a server, and the resource configurations allowed, varies by server model.

virtual partitions

Virtual partitions provide software isolation between different instances of the HP-UX operating system running on a single server or nPartition. Each virtual partition runs its own instance of HP-UX.

Virtual partitions are provided by installing the vPars product on an HP server system, or on an nPartition of an HP server system. When the server or nPartition is booted, the vPars monitor is initialized in place of an operating system kernel. The monitor retrieves configuration information from the vPars partition database, allocates system resources to virtual partitions, and can automatically boot selected virtual partitions.

An nPartition can be subdivided into virtual partitions, but the reverse is not true. A virtual partition cannot span multiple nPartitions.

For additional documentation of HP servers and HP partitioning products, refer to the assistance help topic.

The Complex

The server system hardware that supports nPartitions is referred to as a complex. A complex comprises one or more cabinets that are cabled together.

Information about the configuration of a complex is stored in the Complex Profile maintained by the service processor. Partition Manager interacts with the service processor to read and update the Complex Profile as needed.

A Compute cabinet in each complex contains the service processor for the complex. The service processor is not needed for booting partitions or ordinary system operation, but is needed to power on/off cells or chassis, to control attention indicators, to change cell assignments, and to make other changes to the Complex Profile.