ibm and hp virtualization

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At the same time, IT managers are also trying to increase the workload utilization ofthese resources to maximize the efficiency of a company's hardware investment.Ten years ago, whenever business needed a new application, a new server wouldbe purchased to support that application. Today, through virtualization, we have theability to quickly carve out environments on existing infrastructure to support new

demands.

Because virtualization solutions are so different from vendor to vendor, it isextremely important to understand the capabilities of each vendor's offering andwhat makes the most sense for you environment. On their midrange platform, HPhas technologies such as HP-VSE, vPars, nPartitions, and Integrity VerticalMachines (IVMs). IBM has one solution: PowerVM. This article discusses thefeatures and functionality of these systems -- their history, the underlyingtechnology, and what makes sense for your environment.

IBM virtualizationThis section first looks at the history of IBM's virtualization and then looks at thePowerVM technology in depth.

A history of IBM's virtualization technology

Contrary to what many PC VMWARE techies believe, virtualization technology didnot start with VMWARE back in 1999. It was pioneered by IBM more than 40 yearsago. It all started with the IBM mainframe back in the 1960s, with CP-40, anoperating system which was geared for the System/360 Mainframe. In 1967, the firsthypervisor was developed and the second version of IBM's hypervisor (CP-67) wasdeveloped in 1968, which enabled memory sharing across virtual machines,providing each user his or her own memory space. A hypervisor is a type of softwarethat allows multiple operating systems to share a single hardware host. This versionwas used for consolidation of physical hardware and to more quickly deployenvironments, such as development environments. In the 1970s, IBM continued toimprove on their technology, allowing you to run MVS, along with other operatingsystems, including UNIX on the VM/370. In 1997, some of the same folks who wereinvolved in creating virtualization on the mainframe were transitioned towardscreating a hypervisor on IBM's midrange platform.

One critical element that IBM's hypervisor has is the fact that virtualization is part of

the system's firmware itself, unlike other hypervisor-based solutions. This is becauseof the very tight integration between the OS, the hardware, and the hypervisor,which is the systems software that sits between the OS and hardware that providesfor the virtualization. In 2001, after a four-year period of design and development,IBM released its hypervisor for its midrange UNIX systems, allowing for logicalpartitioning. Advanced Power Virtualization (APV) shipped in 2004, which was IBM'sfirst real virtualization solution and allowed for sharing of resources. It was

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clients that use these servers. They permit physical adapters to be sharedby one or more VIO client partitions. This helps reduce cost by eliminatingthe requirement to have dedicated network and/or I/O adapters. IBM'simplementation uses Shared Ethernet and Virtual SCSI to allow forsharing network and disk I/O.

Micro partitioning and Shared Processor Logical Partitioning(SLPAR)-- This allows clients to cut up their CPUs into virtual partitions,with the granularity of supporting up to 1/10th of a CPU. Virtual serverscan run on any of the physical servers, as the physical processors arefully shared. You can also exceed the amount of CPUs, their EntitledCapacity (EC), which are configured while creating their profile, by using afeature called uncapping partitions. This is an important feature, as itfacilitates workload management in a dynamic way by allowing systemsto use untapped CPU resources (from other logical partitions that share aprocessor pool) during bursty CPU intensive periods, which otherwisewould be idle.

Live Partition Mobility-- This feature, introduced with IBM's POWER6architecture, allows you to move running LPARs (can be either AIX orLinux) from one physical server to another.

Shared Dedicated Capacity-- This permits the donation of spare CPUcycles from dedicated processor partitions to be used in the sharedprocessor pool.

Multiple Processor Pools-- This allows for the balancing of processingpower between partitions assigned to shared pools, which results in betterthroughput.

Lx86-- This technology provides for the ability to run x86 Linuxapplications that are not specifically ported to the Power Architecturedirectly on a Linux partition without the necessity of a recompile.

Workload Partitioning (WPARs)-- While more of a feature of AIX V6.1than PowerVM, WPAR is an important virtualization element, as it allowsfor further granularity of workloads. Similar to Solaris containers/zones, itprovides for the ability to slice up logical partitions into workloads. Eachworkload has its own contained environment, but does not have its ownkernel. A configured WPAR is a part of an LPAR and reduces the amountof AIX images that need to be maintained. WPARs share system

resources within the AIX instance: directories, CPU, RAM, and I/O.

Recent innovations include Active Memory Sharing, which allows for the exchangeof memory between running partitions. This increases optimization of physicalresources similar to how CPUs are shared with Shared Processor logical partitions.It enables the sharing of a pool of physical memory among the logical partitions. Oneof the key benefits is that it provides the ability to configure systems with less




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physical memory. When a system needs more physical memory, it can beconfigured to grab the memory from the shared pool. Basically, this shifts memorydynamically from idle LPARs to active ones. This feature is available on AIX V6.1and SLES 11. A VIO server must also be deployed for partitions that use ActiveMemory Sharing, and all I/O access needs to be virtualized by using these partitions.

Two other innovations include:

N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) provides direct access to fibre channeladapters from multiple client LPARs, which simplifies the management ofFibre-Channel SAN environments. The adapter is actually owned by theVIOs LPAR.

VIOs Virtual tape drive support for client LPARs is another new offeringthat allows client LPARs access to SAS tape resources. This has theeffect of reducing the amount of tapes needed to backup systems. It also

reduces the headache of having to attach tape drives to different LPARs.The SAS tape adapter is owned by the VIO server partition, similar toNPIV.

PowerVM also contains three editions: Express, Standard, and Enterprise. Eachedition contains various features. For instance, if you are running an enterpriseenvironment, you can take advantage of Live Partition mobility, which is availableonly on the Enterprise edition. SeeResourcesfor more details.

HP's virtualization

This section discusses HP's virtual Server Environment (VSE) as well as VirtualvPars, nPartitions, and Integrity Virtual Machines (IVMs).

The history of HP virtualization technology

While HP-UX has a 25-year history, partitioning itself for HP did not start until theadvent of the nPartition, which is based upon hard partitioning, first introduced in2000. In some ways, this is similar to IBM Logical partitioning. In August of 2001, HPannounced HP-UX Virtual Partitions (VPARs), separate operating systemsinstances, which run either an nPartition or physical severs. These provide for someelements of virtualization, though they do not allow one to share resources between

partitions themselves, nor can you dynamically allocate CPU resources betweenpartitions. They are more comparable to Logical partitioning, as each virtual partitionis assigned its own resources. Each partition can be on different operating systemreleases and patch levels and can also be rebooted without effecting otherpartitions. This provides greater computer utilization and operating system isolation,but is really more of a partitioning technology rather than a virtualization solution.There is no way to share resources, because there is no virtualized layer to manage

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has the benefit of allowing you to service partitions while others areonline, similar to IBM's logical partitioning.

vPars-- These are similar to logical partitions and allow for separateoperating systems instances on the same nPartition or server. Further, itallows you to dynamically move either CPU or memory resources

between partitions as the workload requirements change. It also allowsyou to run multiple copies of HP-UX on the same physical hardware.

Resource Partitions-- These partitions are created from the HP Processresource manager and allow resources for specific applications withinsingle operating systems. This is also a resource management tool thatallows you to manage CPU, memory, and disk bandwidth. It allowsminimum allocations of CPUs and even provides you with the ability tocap a CPU by group. In many ways this is similar to Solaris containers orAIX WPARs, in that it allows one to have several applications reside inone copy of HP-UX. This feature has been available since HP-UX 9.0.

Version 4.1 of VSE, which arrived in January of 2009, provides for the ability ofvirtualization to be extended to physical servers through their logical servercapabilities. It allows for logical server movement through the enablement of serverprofiles to be moved from one physical server to another. HP virtualization manager,HP Capacity Advisor, and Virtual Machine migration (for IVM's) allow a running VMand its applications to be moved to a different VM host without service interruption.

IBM and HP virtualization comparison

Now that you've seen the specifics of the IBM and HP implementations ofvirtualization, let's do a side-by-side comparison. The following list illustrates some ofthe fundamental differences between HP and IBM virtualization.

Integrity Virtual Machines (IVMs) limitations. The downside here isscalability. With HP's Virtual machines there is a limitation of 4 logicalCPUs per partitions, as well as a RAM limitation of 64GB. Reboots arealso required to add processors or memory. There is also no support forfeatures such as uncapped partitions or shared processor pools. Finally,it's important to note that HP PA RISC servers are not supported; onlyIntegrity servers are supported. Virtual storage adapters also cannot be

moved, unless the virtual machines are shut down. You cannot dedicateprocessing resources to single partitions.

nPar limitations. Systems will require a reboot when moving cells fromone partition to another. It's important to note that while nPartitionssupport HP-UX, Windows, VMS, and Linux, they only do so on theirItanium processors, not on their HP9000 PA Risc architecture. Partitionscalability also depends on the OS running in the nPartition. Another




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downside is that entry level servers do not support this technology, onlyhigh-end and midrange servers. They also do not support movingresources to and from other partitions without a reboot. They also do notallow for core sharing.

vPar limitations. vPars do not allow for sharing of cores, because there

is no virtualized layer in which to manage the interface between thehardware and the operating systems. This is one reason whyperformance overhead is limited, a feature that HP will market withoutdiscussing its clear limitations. The scalability is also restricted to thenPartition that the vPar is created on, the maximum being an 8-celllimitation. There is also limited workload support; resources cannot beadded or removed. Finally, vPars do not allow you to share resourcesbetween partitions. You cannot dynamically allocate processing resourcesbetween partitions.

Memory Sharing. Neither HP nor SUN has anything similar to

PowerVM's Active Memory Sharing (AMS).

Table 1 compares HP's vPars and IVMs with PowerVM.

Table 1. Comparing IBM's PowerVM with HP vPars and IVMs

Functionality IBM HP HP

Solution PowerVM, IBM Power vPars, HP 9000,Integrity

IVM, HP Integrity only

OS supported AIX, Linux, i5/OS HP-UX HP-UX 11i. WindowsServer 2003, Linux

Secuity/Fault isolation Hypervisor

(hardware/firmware)

Not hardware enforced Not hardware enforced

Granularity (Min CPUsper partition)

1/10 1 1/20

Scalability (Max CPUsper partition)

64 64-128 4

CPU capacity sharing Yes No Yes

I/O sharing Yes No Yes

Dedicted I/O Yes Yes No (All I/O must bevirtualized)

Partition Migration Dynamic (POWER6) No Manual

CoD integration Reserve CoD Yes (Integrated utilitypricing)

Yes (gWLM addstemporary instantcapacity

License Additional Fee (peractive CPU) Standardon P5-59x

Additional Fee (peractive CPU)

Additional Fee (peractive CPU)




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When comparing the business benefits of PowerVM versus HP Integrity machines,the picture becomes even clearer. PowerVM scales better, has dynamic logicalpartitioning, security/fault isolation, support for dedicated I/O dynamic processorsharing, and live partition mobility. Table 2 illustrates some of the advantages.

Table 2. Virtualization: PowerVM vs. HP IVMVirtualizationCapability

PowerVM HP IVM Business Benefit

Scalability 64 CPUs 2TB RAM 4 CPUs and 64 GBRAM

Improves utilization andTotal Cost ofOwnership

Dynamic LogicalPartitioning (DLPAR)

Yes Requires a reboot Increased availabilityand flexibility

Security Isolations CAPP/EAL none Enhanced security

Support for dedicatedI/O

YES NO Provides for increasedperformance for certain

workloads

Dynamic ProcessorSharing

Yes No More flexibility

Live Partition Mobility Yes NO Enhanced availability

Summary

In their advertising, HP likes to boast that they have the most advanced virtualizationportfolio. While they may have more offerings, many are not compatible with one

another, and even put together, they have less functionality than PowerVM. Thehardware itself is also important because the future of HP is through Itanium, whichhas lower performance than Power. One advantage HP does have is its ability to runWindows; however, it is a very expensive platform run and consolidateWindows-based applications on, without any real added value.

IBM's history of virtualization cannot be matched by any vendor. IBM has one clearsolution and virtualization strategy, PowerVM, rather than a half dozen partitioningand virtualization elements. More importantly, from a feature/functionality standpoint,IBM clearly leads the way in virtualization technology and innovation. Theirvirtualization systems scale better, are designed with smarter technology (type-1

hypervisors), have more features, and run on faster and more reliable hardware.




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Resources

IBM PowerVM: Learn about the different editions of IBM's PowerVM.

PowerVM Virtualization on IBM System p: Introduction and Configuration Fourth

Edition: Read this Redbook for an introduction to PowerVM virtualizationtechnologies on IBM System p servers.

"An Introduction to Virtualization"by Amit Singh is a great introduction tovirtualization and the varying implementations that are available. In addition toLinux, this article also covers other operating system virtualization (Windows,Solaris) and other means of virtualization (such as network stack virtualization)

AIX 6 Workload Partition and Live Application Mobility: Read a white paper thatintroduces WPAR concepts, gives hands-on details to show ease of use, andprovides steps that correctly outline the Live Application Mobility function.

Workload Partitioning (WPAR) in AIX 6.1(Ken Milberg, developerWorks, April2008): Read an article that shows you how and when should you use WPARalong with how to create, configure, and administer workload partitions.

IBM Redbooks: Read Advanced Workload Management: Using WorkloadPartitions in AIX 6 for detailed information on WPAR.

New to AIX and UNIX?: Visit the "New to AIX and UNIX" page to learn moreabout AIX and UNIX.

AIX Wiki: A collaborative environment for technical information related to AIX.

Optimizing AIX 5L performance: Tuning network performance, Part 1(Ken

Milberg, developerWorks, November 2007): Read Part 1 of a three-part serieson AIX networking, which focuses on the challenges of optimizing networkperformance.

For a three-part series on memory tuning on AIX, seeOptimizing AIX 5Lperformance: Tuning your memory settings, Part 1(Ken Milberg,developerWorks, June 2007).

Read the IBM whitepaperImproving Database Performance with AIXconcurrent I/O.

Learn aboutAIX memory affinity supportfrom the IBM System p and AIX

InfoCenter. The Redbook,Database Performance Tuning on AIX, is designed to help

system designers, system administrators, and database administrators design,size, implement, maintain, monitor, and tune a Relational DatabaseManagement System (RDMBS) for optimal performance on AIX.

Learn about IBM'sPower Architecture: High-Performance Architecture with a


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History.

ReadPower to the People; A history of chip making at IBM(developerWorks,December 2005) for coverage of IBM's power architecture.

CPU Monitoring and Tuning(Wayne Huang et al. developerWorks, March,

2002): Read this article to learn how standard AIX tools can help you determineCPU bottlenecks.

For a comprehensive guide about the performance monitoring and tuning toolsthat are provided with AIX 5L Version 5.3, see the IBM Redbook AIX 5LPractical Performance Tools and Tuning Guide.

Learn what features you can benefit from in AIX 5L Version 5.3, inAIX 5LVersion 5.3: What's in it for you?(developerWorks, June 2005).

Operating System and Device Managementfrom IBM provides users andsystem administrators with complete information that can affect your selection

of options when performing such tasks as backing up and restoring the system,managing physical and logical storage, and sizing appropriate paging space.

The AIX 5L Differences Guide Version 5.3 Edition(developerWorks, December2004) redbook focuses on the differences introduced in AIX 5L Version 5.3when compared to AIX 5L Version 5.2.

The AIX and UNIX developerWorks zoneprovides a wealth of informationrelating to all aspects of AIX systems administration.

Open source: Visit the developerWorks Open source zone for extensive how-toinformation, tools, and project updates to help you develop with open sourcetechnologies, and use them with IBM products.

developerWorks technical events and webcasts: Stay current withdeveloperWorks technical events and webcasts.

Podcasts: Tune in and catch up with IBM technical experts.

About the author

Ken Milberg

Ken Milberg is the President of PowerTCO (formerly known asUNIX-Linux Solutions), a NY based IBM Business Partner specializingin Power Systems (AIX & Linux) with a focus on server/datacenterconsolidation and program/project management. Ken is also a writerand technical editor for IBM Systems Magazine, Power Systems editionand a frequent contributor of content for IBM developerWorks. He is atechnology writer and site expert for techtarget.com and provides Linuxtechnical information and support at searchenterprise.com. He is the


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founder and group leader of the NY Metro POWER-AIX/Linux UsersGroup. Ken serves as a permanent guest on the Board in an advisoryrole as an AIX expert for COMMON. He also is a former Board memberof Unigroup. Through the years, Ken has done work for many GlobalFortune 500 companies and also has experience with the SMB market;

having held such diverse positions from CIO to Senior Unix Engineer.Ken is a PMI certified Project Management Professional (PMP), an IBMCertified Advanced Technical Expert (CATE) System p (AIX & Linux),and also holds certifications in Solaris and HP-UX. Ken has 20+ yearsof experience with Unix/Linux. Ken holds a Bachelor of Science degreein Computer and Information Science, as well as a Master of Sciencedegree in Technology Management from the University of MarylandUniversity College.



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