VPar And NPar in HPUX

[Girish_17]

Hi Friends,
I would like know what is Npar and Vpar in Hpux. What Hardware/software/firmware i need to check and install.
What is the process involved in implementing these things.
Any documented procedure would be much helpful.
Share all your experience and tips.
Thanks a lot in Advance.
Regards,
Girish

[Devender Khatana]

Hi,

These terms refers HP Hardware rather then HP Unix & corrsponds to partitioning of one physical system in multiple systems. The no. of partitions you can create actually depends on the config of your system. Normally all 34XX, 74XX ,84XX & all Superdomes support npar & vpar both.

The difference between the npar & vpar is that npar is a hardware partitioning which consists of atleast one set of devices that is required for making a system functional in each partition & the hardware assigned to it is same as assigned initially. Whereas vpar is a virtual partiotion and can be created in a system or in a npar itself. Here the benefit will be you can reallocate resources liks processors online between vpars in a npar or a system.

Also have a glance at.
http://docs.hp.com/en/6018/T1335-90031.pdf
&
http://docs.hp.com/en/5990-8170A/index.html

HTH,
Devender

[Steven E. Protter]

Npar A hardware partitioning system that lets you subdivide a server into independent, bootable servers. You need a Network connection, some disk to boot off of and at least 1 CPU.

Npar only works on certain hardware, most of which is pretty expensive.

vPar lets you take an existing machine or nPar and subdivide it into virtual machines. You need at least 1 Network connection and 1 cpu for a vitural machine.

If your machine and OS supports this architecture and you are current on firmware, you should be able to do it. But remember, the requirements can't be bent. They require what they require and there is no way around that. You can't for example do it on an rp5450 server. You can on a rp5470 server, but you need a few network connections and at least two cpus.

This book has a few excellent and long chapters on the topic and explains it better than I can.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0131463969/qid=1119327766/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-6201214-5016035?v=glance&s=books

Firmware database:
http://www1.itrc.hp.com/service/patch/mainPage.do

Docs online:
npar
http://www1.itrc.hp.com/service/james/dispDoc.do?docURL=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.hp.com%2Fen%2FB8844-90006%2Fch09s01.html&aid=SEARCH_MANUAL&pil=1&serStr=npar+configuration

vpar
http://www1.itrc.hp.com/service/james/dispDoc.do?docURL=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.hp.com%2Fen%2Fdiag%2Fstm%2Fstm_vpar.htm&aid=SEARCH_MANUAL&pil=6&serStr=vpar+configuration

Lots more at docs.hp.com

SEP

[Girish_17]

Hi Devendra and SEP,
They were amazing replies. Now let me be very specific like i have HPUX11iv2 and Hardware platforms like rp3440,rx2600 and A500. All these have atleast 2 CPU's,2 GB RAM, 6 NIC's each and 2 internal 73GB/36GB disks.

Is it possible for me to do VPAR's and NPAR's on these Systems with 11iv2 on them.
If yes what exactly should i check like firmware version, patches/software required etc.

While connecting to GSP of some of this servers i get MP prompt. Does that mean i can go for Npar on this systems??

Thanks a lot again and waiting for your valuable suggestion.

Regards,
Girish

[melvyn burnard · Accepted solution]

>Now let me be very specific like i have
>HPUX11iv2 and Hardware platforms like
>rp3440,rx2600 and A500.....
>Is it possible for me to do VPAR's and NPAR's
>on these Systems....

The simple answer is no.
None of these systems support nPars as they are not cell based systems.

Neither do they support vPars.

For more information on supported systems I suggest reading the following:

http://docs.hp.com/en/5990-8170A/ch01s01.html#babfigjg

and

http://docs.hp.com/en/1705/oc.pdf particularly page 6.

Please also note that vPars for 11.23 has not yet been released, but this will make no difference as these servers will still not be supported with vPars

[Joseph Loo]

hi,

please refer to this site:

http://h71028.www7.hp.com/enterprise/cache/10381-0-0-0-121.html

all u need to know about npar, vpar, prm, wlm, etc.

there is even a flash demo (HP VSE Demo) on what each of this term means from that site.

regards.

[Ted Buis]

The L-class (rp5470) and N-class (rp7400) did support vPars, but not support nPars since they were not cell based. Only cell based machines have the hardware for hardware electrical isolation of nPars.