This page provides an introduction to Partition Manager, including a general description
of the user interface and an explanation of the concepts and terminology used
throughout the program. Click on any of the topics above to go directly to the
corresponding section of this page.
For information about the online help system, refer to the using help page. For links to related documentation,
product support services, and other online resources, refer to the assistance page. To see the product
version number, copyright, and other legal notices, refer to the
about partition manager page.
Introduction to Partition Manager
Partition Manager (parmgr) is a Web-based application that allows system
administrators to use a convenient graphical user interface
(GUI) to configure and manage nPartitions
on HP server systems. Partition Manager can also detect several
types of configuration problems.
Partition Manager is accessed from a Web browser. For information about starting
Partition Manager, refer to the starting &
stopping help topic. For more information about Partition Manager features,
refer to the features & capabilities help
topic.
In order to use Partition Manager, you need a basic understanding of the concepts and
terminology associated with HP partitioning products. If you are not familiar
with nPartitions, virtual partitions, and the HP server
components that support them, please review the about partitioning help topic.
Common Components of Partition Manager Views
Figure 1 shows a typical Partition Manager view. The
components of the view are described in more detail in the following sections.
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The scope indicator shows what portion of the
complex you are currently viewing. In this example, the current scope is the
entire complex named “Dept Complex”.
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Tabs are used to move between different views at
the same scope.
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The time of the Last Complex Scan indicates when this
session started, or when Partition Manager last cleared its cache of information
about the state of the complex components. All data being displayed by
Partition Manager is therefore guaranteed to be no older than this time. The cache
can be cleared manually, updating the Last Complex Scan
time, by clicking the Partition Manager [Refresh] button or
selecting
Tools Refresh Data from the actions menu.
See Refreshing the Data below for more
information.
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Click the Log off link to end your Partition Manager session
and return to the login screen.
This link does not appear when Partition
Manager is running as a workspace under HP System Management Homepage.
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The partition key identifies which components belong to each
nPartition, and which are available resources.
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The actions menu provides the actions that can
be performed from the current view.
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Objects with a selection box can be selected
for further action. To select an object, click in its selection box, and a
check mark will appear there. The Selected Items table is updated whenever
you select or deselect objects in the view.
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An active text object can be clicked to change
to the scope of the named object.
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An active image object can be clicked to change
to the scope of the associated object.
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The hardware status legend shows the meaning
of each icon representing the status of an object in the view.
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Using the Interface
There are typically four ways to change the current view or perform other actions
from a Partition Manager view.
Click on an active text object in the scope indicator to change to a new
scope. See the scope indicator section below for more information.
Click on a tab to change to another view in the current scope. See the Use Tabs to Change Views section below for more information.
Click on an active image object or active text object. This will change the
scope to show more details about the object. See the Active Objects section below for more information.
Select an action from the actions menu on the right
side of the view. See the actions menu section below for more
information.
The Scope Indicator
Scope refers to the field of view that is being displayed
by Partition Manager at one time. A broader scope allows you to see more components of
the system, but with less detail than a narrower scope. The scope hierarchy
is shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Levels of Scope (broadest scope) | The complex scope encompasses all of the
hardware and software components of the server system,
including the nPartitions within the complex. | | The partition scope encompasses all of the
resources belonging to a single nPartition. | (narrowest scope) | The cell scope encompasses the CPUs and memory
within a single cell, and any I/O chassis connected to the cell. The I/O chassis scope encompasses a single I/O
chassis, its I/O card slots, and the I/O cards installed in those slots. |
The scope indicator is displayed at the upper left of each Partition Manager view (see
Figure 1). The scope indicator shows your current
location in the hierarchy of scopes. The levels of the hierarchy are shown from
top to bottom, starting with the complex scope, down to the current scope. Each
level includes the scope identifier followed by the name of the object that the
scope refers to.
Figure 2 shows an example of what the scope indicator might
look like in an I/O chassis scope view. Note that the scope indicator does not
show how you got to this view. For example, you could have
reached the I/O chassis view from a cell scope view, but the cell scope will not
appear in the scope indicator.
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You are currently in the I/O chassis scope, viewing I/O chassis number 1 in
cabinet 0, I/O bay 0.
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This I/O chassis is assigned to nPartition number 0, with partition name
“Test”. You can switch to the
partition scope hardware view for
this nPartition by clicking on the partition name.
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This nPartition is in the complex named “Dept
Complex”. You can switch to the complex scope hardware view by clicking on
the complex name.
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The scope indicator does not show any scope narrower than the current scope. In the
partition scope, only the first two lines would be shown. In the complex scope,
only the first line would be shown.
Refreshing the Data
The Last Complex Scan time is displayed at the top right of
each view (see Figure 1). This is the time when this
session started, or when Partition Manager last cleared its cache of information about
the state of the complex components. All data being displayed by Partition Manager is
therefore guaranteed to be no older than this time.
Partition Manager clears some of its cached information when performing actions that
change the complex state. To clear the entire cache, updating the Last
Complex Scan time, click the Partition Manager
[Refresh] button or select
Tools Refresh Data from the actions menu.
The state of the complex can be changed by actions that Partition Manager is
unaware of, for example through
partition(1)
commands, or by another instance of Partition Manager acting on this complex.
Refreshing the data will update the display.
Refreshing the data will also clear up problems caused by using your browser's
“Back” and
“Forward” buttons. If you use these buttons,
Partition Manager cannot tell that you have changed to a different view. This can
cause problems, including incorrectly displaying which objects are selected in the
current view (see Important note about the Back and Forward buttons above).
Use Tabs to Change Views
A view is a single page displayed by Partition Manager. Each
view shows a subset of the components in the complex. You can select any view
within the same scope by clicking that view's tab near the top of the page (see
Figure 1).
Each scope presents its own set of views. For information about the views
available for each scope, click the links in Table 1
above.
The Partition Key
The partition key appears near the top of most views (see
Figure 1).
The partition key lists the name of each nPartition in the complex.
Each nPartition has its own color code and its own
partition number, which is shown inside a small
circle icon, like this:
.
The color code and the partition number icon are used to
associate each nPartition with its displayed resources.
If the complex contains cells and I/O chassis that are not assigned to any
nPartition, the partition key will also include an entry named
Available, with a white background and the icon
.
You can click on any nPartition name to see details on that nPartition. This will
take you to the partition scope hardware view for
that nPartition.
You can click on the Available entry to see the available resources
details. This will take you to the partition
scope hardware view for available resources.
To perform an action on a specific nPartition, select it by clicking the selection
box in front of the partition name. You will then be able to choose actions from
the actions menu that operate on the selected nPartition.
Active Objects
Active objects can be clicked on to change the current
view. The active objects available will vary depending on the type of view (see
Figure 1 for some examples).
Active text objects are preceded by the symbol
» and are shown in a bold blue font.
Active images are indicated in a browser-dependent
manner. Typically, the cursor will change to a pointing finger or other icon.
With most browsers, a pop-up tool tip box will appear when
the mouse cursor hovers over an active image. The tool tip will contain brief
text that identifies the object under the mouse cursor.
The Actions Menu
At the right side of each view is a menu of actions that
Partition Manager can perform (see Figure 1). These actions
are grouped into six submenus. To expand a submenu, click on the
icon to the left of the submenu name. The actions under
that submenu will be shown, and the icon will change to
.
Click on that icon to collapse the submenu. The actions under the submenu will be
hidden, and the icon will change back to
.
When Partition Manager begins, each submenu is collapsed. When you
change views, submenus that you have expanded will remain
expanded, and submenus that are collapsed will remain collapsed.
Not all actions are available from each view. Actions that are disabled are
dimmed in the menu and cannot be clicked. If you position the mouse cursor over
the name of an action, a pop-up tool tip
will appear. If the action is currently enabled, the text will explain what the
action does. If the action is currently disabled, the text will explain why it is
disabled. Actions are enabled or disabled based on the current state of the
system, including which view you are in, and which objects in that view are
currently selected.
For more information about selecting objects, see Selecting Objects below.
For more information about the actions menu, refer to the
actions help page.
Selecting Objects
Some actions are disabled unless you select one or more objects first. Disabled
actions are dimmed in the actions menu, and cannot be clicked.
To select an object that is displayed in the view, click on the checkbox attached
to the object. A check mark will appear inside the checkbox when the object is
selected. To clear the check mark and cancel the selection, click the box again.
You can select multiple objects in the view, but some actions will be disabled
when multiple objects are selected.
Objects can also be implicitly selected in the current scope.
In an nPartition scope the displayed nPartition is implicitly selected.
In a cell or I/O chassis scope the displayed cell and attached I/O chassis are
implicitly selected, and so is the nPartition containing the cell and I/O chassis.
Implicitly selected objects do not have a check mark, and are not counted in the
selected items table, but they do enable the actions that require those objects to
be selected.
Below the actions menu is a table containing a summary of all the items currently
selected. This table is automatically updated as you select and deselect objects.
Some selected objects may not be visible in the current view, or they may have
scrolled off the bottom of the page. If you want to cancel all selections, or
start over selecting objects, click the [Deselect All] button
at the bottom of the table.
If any items are selected, the title of the selected items table becomes an active link.
Clicking this link will bring up a page listing each selected item. You can click on any
item in this list to see additional details about the selected item.
Table 2 Selected Items Table nPartitions |
The number of nPartitions that are selected.
| Cells |
The number of cells that are selected.
| I/O Chassis |
The number of I/O chassis that are selected.
| I/O Slots |
The number of I/O card slots that are selected.
| [Deselect All] |
Cancel all selections, removing the checkmark from each object's
checkbox, and resetting all of the selected object values to zero.
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