Chapter Overview

On September 12, 2000, the CEO of HP, Carly Fiorina, stood in front of a live audience in New York and unveiled the first HP server to support nPartitions, the HP Superdome. Since the unveiling in New York, numerous world-record benchmarks have been set by the HP Superdome and related HP nPartition server family. After several years of development and multiple generations of hardware enhancements, HP nPartition servers continue to serve as the cornerstone of HP's Virtual Server Environment. A firm understanding of nPartitions and nPartition management enables a planner or administrator to take full advantage of HP's Virtual Server Environment.

This chapter starts with an overview of HP nPartition servers. The hardware components are discussed, along with an explanation of their role in an nPartition. Next, the fundamental data structures which allow the system to be divided into one or more nPartitions will be described. The chapter then moves into a description of the available nPartition management paradigms. This section provides a detailed view into how the nPartition management tools can be utilized to maximize the efficiency of system administration. The chapter ends with an example usage scenario that covers the viewing of an HP nPartition server's configuration, the modification of an existing nPartition, and the creation of a new nPartition.