| nPartitions are hard partitions within a Superdome platform. A Superdome server can support anywhere from one to 16 nPartitions, each supporting its own operating system, applications, peripherals, and networks. Currently, each nPartition can host HP-UX operating environments. When the Intel IPF versions of Superdome are available, nPartions will support Linux and Windows environments as well. There are currently two nPartitions supported on an rp8400. Superdome is based on a modular set of components. The system is built on a cell-based hierarchical crossbar architecture that can be configured as one large symmetric multiprocessor or as several independent partitions. A cell, or cell board, is the basic building block of the Superdome system; it is asymmetric multiprocessor (SMP), containing up to four processors and up to 16 GBytes of main memory. At their core, nPartitions support a user-defined partitioning of resources and isolate hardware and software errors. A Superdome nPartition consists of one or more cells that communicate over a high-bandwidth, low-latency crossbar fabric. Cells are grouped into physical structures called cabinets or nodes. Special programmable hardware in the cells defines the boundaries of a partition in such a way that isolation is enforced from the actions of other partitions. Each partition runs its own independent operating system. Different partitions may be executing different versions of the operating system. In the future, when Itanium Processor Family (IPF) CPUs are supported, different operating systems, such as HP-UX, Linux, and Windows, will be supported simultaneously in different partitions. Each partition has its own CPUs, memory, and I/O resources, consisting of the resources of the cells that make up the partition. Resources may be removed from one partition and added to another without having to physically manipulate the hardware, just by using commands that are part of the systems management interface. Additionally, dynamic additions of new nPartitions are supported. Adding or removing cell boards to or from existing nPartitions does not affect other partitions. |
