Introduction to nPartitions

Hard Partitions (nPartitions) have dedicated hardware within an HP 9000 that work independently from other nPartitions within the same server. This independence includes both hardware and software isolation from other nPartitions. Virtual Partitions (vPars) covered in an Chapter 16 have full software isolation from one another. nPartitions have both software and hardware isolation from one another. An nPartition could be divided into multiple vPars.

The basic building block of an nPartition is the cell . Each cell has on it processors and memory that are assigned exclusively to that nPartition. I/O chassis are also exclusively assigned to nPartitions. Multiple cells can be combined to produce large nPartitions.

nPartitions are supported on many HP 9000s and operate in a similar manner on all models. I'll use a few different models in the examples in this chapter; however, the operation of nPartitions varies very little going from model to model, so most of the commands and principles apply regardless of the model on which you're using nPartitions.

Although the operation of nPartitions is nearly identical going from model to model, the number of supported nPartitions does indeed vary based on the cell capacity of a given model. Some models support only two nPartitions and others support many more. I'll focus on working with nPartitions in this chapter so you can use the topics covered on any cell-based system that supports nPartitions.

This chapter provides an introduction to working with nPartitions. There is a lot involved in managing nPartitions, so this chapter covers some of the more common nPartition- related work you might perform. For a complete guide to managing nPartitions please print the document HP System Partitions Guide: Administration for nPartitions , available on docs.hp.com. This document covers a lot more detail than is found in this chapter. Although nPartitions are supported on a number of HP 9000 platforms, there are some additional aspects of managing a Superdome complex (the overall system on which nPartitions run) that are covered in detail in Managing Superdome Complexes: A Guide for HP-UX System Administrators also found on docs.hp.com. There are many fine documents on this Web site related to many topics covered in this book that can help you in your work.