Exploiting IBM AIX Workload Partitions

Exploiting IBM AIX Workload Partitions

by Dino Quintero, Shane Brandon, Bernhard Buehler, Thierry Fauck, Guilherme Galoppini Felix, Chris Gibson, Bob Maher, Mehboob Mithaiwala, Kurosh Khan-Afshar Moha, Mathis Mueller, Bjorn Roden, Marian Tomescu
Released August 2011
Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
ISBN: None

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Book description

This IBM® Redbooks® publication provides an update of the latest AIX Workload Partition (WPAR) capabilities. It provides a how-to guide and well-defined and documented deployment model for system administrators and architects using WPARs in AIX® Version 7.1 within an IBM POWER® System virtualized environment. This book helps clients create a planned foundation for their future deployments.

This book is targeted toward technical professionals, such as business intelligence (BI) consultants, technical support staff, IT architects, and IT specialists, who are responsible for providing solutions and support for IBM POWER Systems and IBM AIX Version 7.1.

Table of contents

  1. Notices
    1. Trademarks
  2. Preface
    1. The team who wrote this book
    2. Now you can become a published author, too!
    3. Comments welcome
    4. Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
  3. Part 1: What is new with AIX workload partitioning
  4. Chapter 1: Introduction to AIX workload partitions
    1. 1.1: Workload management and partitioning in AIX systems
      1. AIX Workload Manager
      2. Logical partitions
      3. PowerVM (formerly Advanced POWER Virtualization)
      4. AIX 6.1 and AIX 7.1 WPARs
      5. Global environment
      6. System WPAR
      7. Application WPAR
    2. 1.2: AIX 7 and POWER7 features
    3. 1.3: WPAR isolation and security
      1. Processes
      2. Users
      3. Resources
    4. 1.4: Live Application Mobility
    5. 1.5: When to use WPARs
      1. Simplifying operating system and application management
      2. Protection of existing hardware investment
      3. Optimization of resource usage
      4. Running old AIX in new AIX
      5. Highly granular control of resource allocation
      6. Control of security and privilege command
      7. Virtualization capacity licensing
      8. Easily clone application environments
      9. Business continuity: Disaster or failure recovery solution
      10. Using WPAR technology for high performance computing (HPC)
      11. Supporting “Green” computing strategies
      12. Improvement of service-level agreements (SLAs)
  5. Chapter 2: Overview of the latest enhancements
    1. 2.1: WPARs and logical partitions (LPAR) comparison
    2. 2.2: WPAR features added to AIX technology level releases
    3. 2.3: WPAR enhancements since AIX 6.1 TL2
      1. Storage devices and storage adapter support
      2. Versioned Workload Partitions
      3. Root volume group (rootvg) WPARs
      4. Live WPAR mobility with IBM Systems Director
      5. Trusted Kernel Extensions in WPARs
    4. 2.4: IBM PowerHA support
    5. 2.5: IBM PowerVM Workload Partition Manager for AIX
      1. What is new in WPAR Manager V2.2.1
  6. Part 2: Installation and configuration
  7. Chapter 3: Installing IBM Systems Director
    1. 3.1: Implementation environment
    2. 3.2: Preparing for the IBM Systems Director server installation
      1. Hardware requirements
      2. Software requirements
      3. IBM Systems Director pre-installation utility
    3. 3.3: IBM Systems Director server installation
    4. 3.4: Importing the Common Agent package into the IBM Systems Director server
    5. 3.5: Installing the IBM PowerVM Workload Partition Manager for AIX
    6. 3.6: IBM Systems Director resources
      1. IBM Systems Director home page
      2. IBM Systems Director downloads
      3. IBM Systems Director documentation and other resources
      4. IBM Systems Director user forum
  8. Chapter 4: Configuring and using the IBM PowerVM Workload Partition Manager
    1. 4.1: Why WPAR Manager
    2. 4.2: WPAR Manager agent
    3. 4.3: WPAR Manager license enablement
    4. 4.4: Configuring WPAR Manager
      1. WPAR Manager setup advisor (1/2)
      2. WPAR Manager setup advisor (2/2)
      3. Defining a managed system
      4. Updating WPAR-related attributes of the managed system
    5. 4.5: Managing WPARs using WPAR Manager
      1. Working with WPARs that are created from the command line
      2. Versioned Workload Partitions
      3. Considerations for support of Live Application Mobility
      4. Creating WPARs (1/2)
      5. Creating WPARs (2/2)
      6. Creating Versioned Workload Partitions
      7. Backing up WPARs
      8. Restoring WPARs
      9. Starting a system WPAR
      10. Stopping a WPAR
      11. Synchronizing a system WPAR
      12. Cloning a WPAR
      13. Removing and deleting a WPAR
      14. Deploying a WPAR definition
      15. Viewing or modifying WPAR properties
    6. 4.6: WPAR Manager command-line interface
  9. Chapter 5: Workload partition rootvg support
    1. 5.1: System rootvg WPARs
    2. 5.2: WPAR system rootvg creation
      1. Recreating a system rootvg WPAR erased by the rmwpar command
  10. Chapter 6: Storage adapters and devices
    1. 6.1: Storage devices and adapters
      1. Storage management in inactive WPARs
      2. Storage management in an active WPAR
    2. 6.2: Storage devices
      1. Disk allocation to WPARs
      2. Disk deallocation from WPAR
      3. Listing disks allocated to a WPAR
      4. Other storage devices
    3. 6.3: Storage adapters
      1. Storage adapter allocation to a WPAR
      2. Storage adapter deallocation from a WPAR
      3. Listing storage adapters allocated to a WPAR
  11. Part 3: Resource system management in a workload partition environment
  12. Chapter 7: Resource control and management
    1. 7.1: Resource control introduction
    2. 7.2: Resource control and WPARs
    3. 7.3: Resource control attributes
      1. Resource sets
    4. 7.4: Resource default values
    5. 7.5: Share-based and percentage-based resource allocation
    6. 7.6: CPU and memory resources
    7. 7.7: Processes and threads
    8. 7.8: Pseudo terminals (PTYs)
    9. 7.9: Large pages
    10. 7.10: Pinned memory
    11. 7.11: File systems
    12. 7.12: WPAR isolation
      1. Access to storage devices and adapters
      2. File system access
      3. Network access
      4. System settings
      5. Command-line interface
      6. Security and user management
      7. Process resources and intercommunication
      8. Kernel manipulation
      9. Commands
      10. Shared Kernel
    13. 7.13: Security
      1. Enhanced and existing role-based access control (RBAC)
      2. Using RBAC to secure WPAR operations
    14. 7.14: User management
      1. Security credentials in WPAR environments
    15. 7.15: Encrypted file systems
      1. Privacy of WPAR data
      2. WPAR user access to the global environment data
    16. 7.16: Network
      1. WPAR network configuration
    17. 7.17: WPAR performance monitoring
      1. WPAR Manager and performance
  13. Chapter 8: Workload partition mobility and WPAR Manager
    1. 8.1: Potential hardware for Live Application Mobility
    2. 8.2: Current available hardware
    3. 8.3: Types of WPARs to be created on each LPAR
    4. 8.4: Mobile WPAR concepts
      1. Checkpointable flag
      2. File systems of a mobile WPAR
      3. Networking
    5. 8.5: Tips for creating a mobile application WPAR
    6. 8.6: Creating a system WPAR
      1. AIX mkwpar command full syntax
      2. WPM CLI smcli mkwpar command syntax
      3. SMIT wpar fastpath
      4. SMIT wpar fastpath for advanced system WPAR creation
    7. 8.7: Creating a local JFS2 system WPAR
      1. Mobility aspect of a JFS2 system WPAR
      2. Using SMIT
      3. Other commands to verify the WPAR information
    8. 8.8: Creating an NFS system WPAR
      1. Creating an NFS system WPAR using the vfs=nfs flag for all file systems
      2. Creating an NFS system WPAR using the vfs=directory flag for all file systems except the root
    9. 8.9: Creating a rootvg system WPAR
      1. Mobility of the rootvg system WPAR
      2. Mobility of a SAN rootvg WPAR
    10. 8.10: Creating a Versioned WPAR
    11. 8.11: WPAR mobility using WPAR Manager
    12. 8.12: System compatibility for WPAR mobility
      1. Compatibility testing for WPAR mobility
      2. Compatibility states
    13. 8.13: WPAR relocation
      1. Relocation domains
      2. Relocation policy
      3. Manual relocation (1/2)
      4. Manual relocation (2/2)
      5. Policy-based relocation
      6. WPAR relocation using WPAR Manager CLI
    14. 8.14: WPAR and GPFS
      1. Creating the GPFS test WPAR
      2. Creating a simple GPFS cluster
  14. Chapter 9: Workload partition migration scenarios
    1. 9.1: WPAR migration
      1. Migrating a detached WPAR with WebSphere Application Server
      2. Migrating a shared WPAR
      3. Migrating the rootvg WPAR
    2. 9.2: Migrating a WPAR to a separate IBM Power System
      1. Migrating a rootvg WPAR to a separate system with the same AIX level using external shared accessed storage (1/2)
      2. Migrating a rootvg WPAR to a separate system with the same AIX level using external shared accessed storage (2/2)
      3. Migrating a rootvg WPAR from an AIX 6.1 system to an AIX 7.1 system (1/2)
      4. Migrating a rootvg WPAR from an AIX 6.1 system to an AIX 7.1 system (2/2)
      5. Migrating a system WPAR to a new system with the same AIX level using a savewpar image
      6. Migrating a system WPAR from AIX 6.1 to AIX 7.1 in another system using the savewpar image (1/2)
      7. Migrating a system WPAR from AIX 6.1 to AIX 7.1 in another system using the savewpar image (2/2)
  15. Chapter 10: Software maintenance
    1. 10.1: AIX updates and WPARs
      1. Installing AIX updates in a shared WPAR
      2. Installing AIX updates in a detached WPAR (1/3)
      3. Installing AIX updates in a detached WPAR (2/3)
      4. Installing AIX updates in a detached WPAR (3/3)
      5. Additional considerations
      6. AIX updates and Versioned Workload Partitions
    2. 10.2: Managing interim fixes in a WPAR
      1. Applying iFixes to a shared WPAR
      2. Removing an iFix from a shared WPAR
      3. Applying an iFix to a detached WPAR
      4. Removing an iFix from a detached WPAR
  16. Chapter 11: Backing up and restoring workload partitions
    1. 11.1: Backing up and restoring WPARs (1/2)
    2. 11.1: Backing up and restoring WPARs (2/2)
      1. Restoring a lower level detached WPAR
    3. 11.2: Using mksysb
    4. 11.3: Backing up the WPAR using Tivoli Storage Manager (1/3)
    5. 11.3: Backing up the WPAR using Tivoli Storage Manager (2/3)
    6. 11.3: Backing up the WPAR using Tivoli Storage Manager (3/3)
  17. Chapter 12: Managing your system workload partition with Network Installation Manager
    1. 12.1: Network Installation Manager (NIM)
    2. 12.2: Adding a System WPAR to NIM
    3. 12.3: Creating a system WPAR with NIM
    4. 12.4: Starting your system WPAR with NIM
    5. 12.5: Stopping your system WPAR with NIM
    6. 12.6: Removing a system WPAR with NIM
    7. 12.7: Managing a system WPAR with NIM
      1. Changing the characteristics of your WPAR by using the chwpar command
      2. Synchronizing the WPAR software
    8. 12.8: Backing up the system WPAR
    9. 12.9: Restoring the System WPAR
    10. 12.10: Using specification files for system WPAR
      1. Specification file for system WPARs
      2. Specification file for application WPARs
    11. 12.11: Application WPARs and NIM
    12. 12.12: WPAR cloning
      1. WPAR cloning on the same LPAR (1/3)
      2. WPAR cloning on the same LPAR (2/3)
      3. WPAR cloning on the same LPAR (3/3)
  18. Part 4: Scenarios
  19. Chapter 13: Highly available workload partitions with PowerHA 7.1 and 6.1
    1. 13.1: Planning for high availability
    2. 13.2: PowerHA 6.1 and rootvg WPARs
  20. Chapter 14: Versioned workload partitions
    1. 14.1: Overview
    2. 14.2: System requirements
    3. 14.3: Installing the Oracle Database on the WPAR environment
      1. Certified AIX systems for Oracle Database 11gR2
      2. Oracle WPAR installation requirements on AIX
      3. Oracle installation guidelines
      4. Installing an Oracle Database on a non-shared system WPAR
      5. Listener configuration
      6. Oracle Database
      7. Installing Oracle on a shared system WPAR
      8. Live Application Mobility for the Oracle Database
      9. Tivoli Storage Manager data protection for Oracle
  21. Part 5: Appendixes
  22. Appendix A: Debugging, messages, and problem analysis
    1. Problems with syncwpar
    2. bos.rte.security.post_u error with mkwpar
    3. Insufficient file system space during the WPAR creation
    4. WPAR staying in the T state due to remaining mount points
    5. What to do if your WPAR ends up in the broken state
      1. A WPAR can also end up in the broken state when you attempt to start it
    6. What to do if you cannot fix the problem
  23. Appendix B: Considerations for applications in workload partitions
    1. Installing WebSphere Application Server
    2. WebSphere Application Server installation guidelines
      1. Installing WebSphere Application Server to the WPAR from the global environment
      2. Installing WebSphere Application Server from within the WPAR
    3. Installing the IBM DB2 Database Server
    4. Installing the IBM HTTP Server in a WPAR
    5. Installing the Oracle Database server in a WPAR
  24. Related publications
    1. IBM Redbooks publications
    2. Other publications
    3. Online resources
    4. Help from IBM
  25. Index (1/2)
  26. Index (2/2)
  27. Back cover

Product information

  • Title: Exploiting IBM AIX Workload Partitions
  • Author(s): Dino Quintero, Shane Brandon, Bernhard Buehler, Thierry Fauck, Guilherme Galoppini Felix, Chris Gibson, Bob Maher, Mehboob Mithaiwala, Kurosh Khan-Afshar Moha, Mathis Mueller, Bjorn Roden, Marian Tomescu
  • Release date: August 2011
  • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
  • ISBN: None