Dynamic logical partition on LinuxonPOWER

Article Title: Dynamic logical partitions on LinuxonPOWER. Linux is a technology channel of the IT lab in China. Includes basic categories such as desktop applications, Linux system management, kernel research, embedded systems, and open source.

Introduction
　　
By using a logical partition (LPAR), an IBM server with a POWER processor can support multiple system requirements on one machine. LPAR provides the ability to merge servers, which helps optimize system resources and reduce system complexity. On servers with POWER5 processors, each processor can be defined as 10 logical partitions. Each partition can be used as a separate server, which provides a more effective overall solution. However, depending on the application environment, this may be a mix of products and test environments, and it may need to control resources in other partitions. Dynamic logical partitions provide the required flexibility to control resource allocation.
　　
Dynamic LPAR allows the system administrator to add, delete, or move system resources between partitions, such as I/O adapter and CPU allocation, without restarting the partition after modification. Dynamic LPAR allows you not only to move virtual resources, but also to move physical resources. In this way, the administrator can dynamically allocate resources as needed. In this way, the system administrator can adjust the allocation of LPAR hardware without affecting the system availability.
　　
Below are several examples of applications that use dynamic LPAR to improve server resource utilization. One example involves moving a pci I/O Adapter Between multiple partitions that require an adapter. When the application in a partition needs to use this adapter, you can move the resource to this partition. Another example is to move CPU resources between partitions based on the requirements of the task load. This situation is very common for systems with changing partition requirements. For example, there is a server with an e-commerce application partition and an application partition generated by a report, it can provide the main CPU resources to the e-commerce partition during the first and second migration, and provide the CPU resources to the report generation partition during the third migration.
　　
To enable dynamic LPAR support, you must install the IBM for Linux on POWER product package. After installing these packages, You can dynamically add or delete processors or I/O slots on the running partitions, which can be implemented using the Hardware Management Terminal (HMC. This article will show you how to set up a Linux environment for a dynamic LPAR, how to use dynamic features, and how these software detects resource changes.
　　
Use Dynamic LPAR
　　
This article assumes that you have learned about Linux, POWER5 processor-based server hardware, partition concepts, and HMC. To set and use a dynamic LPAR, follow these steps:
　　
1. configure a POWER5 processor-based server with Advanced Virtualization Feature installed.
2. Connect and configure the HMC to the server, and ensure that the HMC can be connected to the Linux partition.
3. Create a logical partition and install suse linux Enterprise Server 9 (SLES9) or Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 4 (RHEL4 ).
NOTE: For the latest dynamic LPAR support, SLES9 Service Pack must be installed 2. Please remember to install the latest SLES9 Service Pack or RHEL4 Update in time.
　　
4. Download and install IBM product tools that support dynamic LPAR.
5. Use HMC to modify dynamic LPAR resources.
6. (optional) install the libATA module that supports dynamic ide cd/dvd rom.
7. Create a hotplug script to detect the dynamic changes of PCI adapter or processor resources in a partition.
　　
For information about items 1 to 3, see articles on Linux on power isv Resource Center and Linux on POWER Architecture developer's corner, you can also find it in the IBM redbooks (see references ). This article focuses on the content from item 4 to item 7.

　　Install Linux support for dynamic LPAR

After installing Linux, you must install the product toolkit required to support the dynamic LPAR function. These packages also contain the resource monitoring and control (RMC) daemon, which is responsible for communicating with HMC.

Dynamic LPAR support can be used on POWER5 machines running suse linux Enterprise Server 9 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 4. These packages can be downloaded from the following Web pages:

• Linux on POWER services and product tools-Overview http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/lopdiags
  
  
• Linux on POWER services and product tools-servers managed by HMC
  • Http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/lopdiags/suselinux/hmcserver#sles9 for LINUX Enterprise Server 9 (SLES9)
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 4 (RHEL4) http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/server/lopdiags/redhat/hmcserver#rhel4tools

As described earlier, SLES9 Service Pack 2 needs to be installed to use the full dynamic LPAR function. In addition, both the rpm package rdist and compat are essential. We must install these two packages in the SLES9 release. For other packages required for dynamic LPAR tool support in the future, please check the Web site of the service and product tool at any time.

Download and install the latest service and product toolkit from the Web site. In addition, you should also consider installing all the packages from the Linux release site, which may include reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) tools.

When writing this article, the dynamic LPAR tool includes the following product tools:

Table 1. Dynamic LPAR product tools

Platform activation Library	Librtas-1.2-1.ppc64.rpm
SRC	Src-1.2.2.1-05054.ppc.rpm
RSCT Tool	Rsct. core. utils-2.4.1.2-05070.ppc.rpm
RSCT Core	Rsct. core-2.4.1.2-05070.ppc.rpm
CSM Core	Csm. core-1.4.0.12-98.ppc.rpm
CSM Core	Csm. client-1.4.0.12-98.ppc.rpm
ServiceRM	Devices. chrp. base. ServiceRM-2.2.0.0-2.ppc.rpm
DynamicRM	DynamicRM-1.1-2.ppc.rpm
PCI Hotplug Tool	Rpa-pci-hotplug-1.0-12.ppc64.rpm
Dynamic Reconfiguration Tool	Rpa-dlpar-1.0-13.ppc64.rpm

After downloading the dynamic LPAR toolkit, use the rpm command to install these packages in the order given in table 1. For example:

# rpm ?Uvh librtas-1.2-1.ppc64.rpm

RPM will install and start the dynamic LPAR service. Wait for the service to start or restart the system. To check whether the service is running, run the "lssrc-a" command:

# lssrc ?a

The following services should be active:

• Ctrmc
• IBM. ERRM
• IBM. AuditRM
• IBM. DRM
• IBM. CSMAgentRM
• IBM. ServiceRM
• IBM. HostRM

When the service is active (running), you can enable partitions to receive dynamic LPAR commands from HMC. For successful communication, Linux partitions and HMC must be able to access the same network and communicate with each other. Therefore, HMC cannot be isolated from the partition, nor can a firewall block the connection.

 

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