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Micro-Partitioning, also known as shared processor partitioning,[1] is a form of logical partitioning which was introduced by IBM on systems using the POWER5 processor. It only differs from a dedicated processor partition in the way CPU utilization is configured and managed by the POWER Hypervisor (PHYP) firmware.[2] All IBM POWER5 and POWER6 systems are partitioned and will run “on top” of the PHYP.[3]

The POWER Hypervisor controls time slicing, management of all hardware interrupts, dynamic movement of resources across multiple operating systems, and dispatching of logical partition workloads.

When a shared processor partition is activated by the PHYP, the logical partition (LPAR) is guaranteed a certain processing capacity, if needed, and a number of virtual processors, based on configuration and current availability. The processing capacity is drawn from a pool of shared processor resources.[4]: 6 

The minimum processing capacity per processor is 1/10 of a physical processor core, with a further granularity of 1/100.[5][6][7] The PHYP uses a 10 ms time slicing dispatch window for scheduling all shared processor partitions’ virtual processor queues to the PHYP physical processor core queues. A shared processor partition can be either capped or uncapped. A capped partition can never exceed the currently configured processing capacity, whereas an uncapped partition can exceed the currently configured processing capacity up to 100% of the number of the currently configured virtual processors.[4]: 10 

If the shared processor partition is DLPAR capable, the number of virtual processors and processing capacity can be altered dynamically for the partition.[4]: 9 

References

  1. ^ Chen, Whei-Jen; Jason Chan; Olaf Mueller; Malcolm Singh; Tapio Väättänen (2009). DB2 Virtualization. IBM Redbooks. p. 49. ISBN 9780738433431 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Williams, David E. (2007). Virtualization with Xen. Elsevier. pp. 7–8. ISBN 9780080553931 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ Victor, Jeff; Jeff Savit; Gary Combs; Simon Hayler; Bob Netherton (2011). Oracle Solaris 10 System Virtualization Essentials. Prentice-Hall. p. 34. ISBN 013708188X – via Google Books.
  4. ^ a b c Gibson, Chris (July 2007). “Implementing Micro-Partitioning on the IBM p5 595 Server”. Sys Admin. Vol. 16, no. 15. CMP Media. pp. 6–16 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Mears, Jennifer (May 3, 2004). “IBM powers up server partitioning”. Network World. Vol. 21, no. 18. IDG Publications. p. 8. ProQuest 215966612.
  6. ^ Langley, Nick (March 28, 2006). “AIX celebrates 20th anniversary and forges ahead alongside Linux”. Computer Weekly. Reed Business Information. p. 50. ProQuest 237027130 – via ProQuest.
  7. ^ Akin, David (July 15, 2004). “IBM to launch servers offering more power for a lot less cash”. The Globe and Mail. Bell Globemedia. p. B11 – via ProQuest.

See also