Aix53versionedworkloadWPARS Oct 2012.ppt

© 2011 IBM Corporation
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to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only.
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AIX 5.3 Workload Partitions
Mark McConaughy
Workload Partitioner

2
IBM Power Systems
• The Essentials
– WPAR Overview
– AIX 5.3 WPARs
• Limitations
• Considerations
• Advantages
• References

3
IBM Power Systems
AIX Workload Partitions (WPAR)
 WPARs have much lower
memory resource
requirements: 68 MB vs 1GB
for an LPAR
 WPAR takes seconds to create
and LPARs minutes
 Application mobility much
simpler to organize than LPM
 Lots of WPARs on one AIX is
simpler to monitor and control
than monitoring across many
LPARs.
 Rapid cloning is easy and lets
you use "disposable images" -
simple to create, experiment
with and throw away
Virtualized AIX operating
system environments within a
single AIX image
Each WPAR shares the single
AIX operating system
Applications and users inside a
WPAR cannot affect resources
outside the WPAR
Each WPAR can have a
regulated share of processor,
memory and other resources
Two types of WPAR
- System WPARs have separate
security and appear like a
completely separate OS
- Application WPARs are
manageability wrappers around
a single application
Workload
Partition
Application
Server
Workload
Partition
Web
Server
Workload
Partition
Billing
Workload
Partition
Test
Workload
Partition
BI
Networks
Disk or NFS storage
AIX
global Instance
Workload
Partition
Application
Server
Workload
Partition
Web
Server
Workload
Partition
Billing
Workload
Partition
Test
Workload
Partition
BI
Networks
Disk or NFS storage
AIX
global Instance
Top reasons to use WPARs
What is it?

4
IBM Power Systems
Workload Partitions Isolation
• Network environment
– WPAR has separate IP addresses, hostnames, domain names and hostids
– To others the WPAR looks like a stand alone system
– For applications within a WPAR it appears to be a stand-alone system.
– Users may login to the System WPAR using telnet, ssh, rlogin etc.
• Process environment
– Processes can only see and signal other processes within a WPAR
– Processes can only construct IPC mechanisms within a WPAR
• Pipes, shared memory, semaphores & message queues
• File system space
– Non-read-only filesystems are created & WPAR processes are chrooted to
these.
– Processes see files only in these filesystem within a WPAR
– Typically contains a unique copy of /, /var, /tmp, /etc  separate users and
groups.

5
IBM Power Systems
Workload Partitions Environment
• Security
– WPAR root is less privileged than global root
– Configurable privilege profile applied to WPAR
– Included as part of AIX Common Criteria certifications
• System services
– Mail, NFS client, inetd syslog, cron … are executed independently
for each WPAR.
• Resource Controls
– The amount of system memory, CPU and other resources allocated
to each WPAR can be set.
• WPAR Servicability
– Error Logging, Trace, Auditing, Accounting from within a WPAR
– WPAR aware statistics and performance tools

6
IBM Power Systems
AIX 5.3 WPARs for AIX 7
• Allows a legacy AIX 5.3 environment to be run inside a
WPAR on POWER7 processor-based systems with AIX
7
– Simply back up existing environment and restore inside of an
AIX 7 WPAR
– Must be at least 5.3 TL12 SP3
• Processes run at full speed – no instruction translation is
involved
• Includes how-to and limited defect support for the AIX
5.3 operating system running in the WPAR
– Does not require legacy extended support
• Mobility is supported
• Can be managed via IBM Systems Director Workload
Partitions Manager
• Note: currently no supported migration path back to
LPAR or to regular WPAR
AIX 5.3 WPARs for AIX 7 is a separately charged product built on AIX 7
AIX 5.3 WPARs for AIX 7 is a separately charged product built on AIX 7
Offering designed to simplify consolidation of AIX 5.3 environments
 Minimize effort to consolidate old environments on new, more efficient hardware
 Allows clients who must stay on AIX V5.3 to move up to POWER7
POWER7
5.3 syscall compatibility
AIX 7 Native Environment
AIX 7 native syscalls
WPAR
A
/
/var
/tmp
/home
WPAR
B
/
/var
/tmp
/home
WPAR
D
/
/var
/tmp
/home
/usr
/opt
WPAR
C
/
/var
/tmp
/home
/usr
/opt
AIX 7 Kernel
/usr
/opt
mksysb
backup
from
AIX 5.3
legacy
system
AIX 5.3 versioned
Environment

7
IBM Power Systems
5.3 WPAR Limitations
• Performance commands used are the AIX 7 version resulting in some formatting
differences
• PowerHA SystemMirror (HACMP) and RSCT are not supported within a WPAR
• NFS servers are not supported within a WPAR
• WorkLoad Manager controls are not supported within a WPAR but the resource
usage of the entire WPAR can be controlled
• WPARs cannot be created within a WPAR
• Only a subset of symbols referenced through /dev/kmem are accessible within a
WPAR
• WPARs inherit the performance tuning from the hosting LPAR
• Kernel performance tuning is not modifiable from within a WPAR
• Kernel extensions can only be loaded and unloaded from within the WPAR if the
global system administrator permits
• If local storage devices are used for the WPAR, jfs file systems are not supported.
• JFS file systems from the AIX 5.3 environment will be converted to JFS2 file
systems when local storage devices are used for the AIX 5.3 WPAR
• Storage adapters cannot be exported to a 5.3 WPAR
• Consult with your ISV to determine if they will support this environment
• ASO ignores WPAR processes if WPAR resource limits have been applied

8
IBM Power Systems
Considerations when moving to WPARs
• Storage
– No storage inside the WPAR
• Simplified administration, but less flexible
• No Live Application Mobility capability unless NFS is used
– SAN Storage inside the WPAR
• Export an hdisk from the global (attached to physical FC, virtual FC (NPIV), or vscsi)
• Can be rootvg (which enables Live Application Mobility) or data disk(s)
• Only J2 file systems supported
• Capacity Planning
– CPU requirements are roughly the same
– Memory requirements for the OS are much smaller (<100MB compared to
1GB)
• But memory requirements for the workload itself remain the same
– Network bandwidth requirements are the same; keep in mind the sharing
• Resource Controls
– By default, WPARs will compete fairly for the LPAR resources
– Resource controls can be applied to ensure resources available for a given
workload, or to take advantage of sub-capacity licensing (ie limit the max
number of CPUs)

9
IBM Power Systems
Moving to 5.3 WPARs
• Assuming you are running anything from the unsupported list
in your 5.3 LPAR, a “staging LPAR” might be helpful:
LPAR 1
- NFS Server
- HACMP
LPAR 2
- DB2
- DB2
mksysb
mksysb,
mkwpar
5.3 WPAR
AIX 5.3 with … AIX 5.3 with …
- DB2

10
IBM Power Systems
Advantages when moving to 5.3 WPARs
• Current (Power7) Hardware
– Allows decommissioning older hardware to stop paying maintenance
cost
– Consolidation of work onto fewer systems
• WPARs give memory resource savings; approximately 1GB per LPAR for kernel
use vs. <100MB per WPAR
– Benefit from new hardware features
• SMT-4 (An LPAR on P7 can run AIX 5.3 TL12, but only in P6 mode which
supports only SMT-2)
• Enables faster performance or equivalent performance with less CPU resource (=
lower license $)
• AIX 7.1 Kernel
– Benefit from more current AIX core capabilities
• Such as Active Memory Expansion or Active System Optimizer
• IBM Support
– Provides an alternative to paying for the service extension for AIX 5.3

11
IBM Power Systems
Additional References
• AIX Documentation
– http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/aix/v7r1/topic/com.ibm.aix.wpar/wpar-kickoff.htm
• Redbooks
– Workload Partition Management in IBM AIX Version 6.1
• http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247656.html
– AIX Version 7.1 Differences Guide (5.2 WPARs, WPARs and Storage Devs)
• http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpieces/abstracts/sg247910.html?Open
– Exploiting IBM AIX Workload Partitions (August 2011: PowerHA and 5.2 WPARs with Scenarios)
• http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247955.html?Open
• Performance Studies
– WebSphere Application Server V7 with POWER Virtualization
• ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/software/webservers/appserv/WASV7_PowerVM_1.72.pdf
– Running WebSphere MQ server inside workload partition with live application mobility: A
performance study on IBM AIX v6.1 and POWER6 Systems
• https://www-304.ibm.com/partnerworld/wps/servlet/ContentHandler/whitepaper/aix/v6r1_power/performance
• AIX Movies
– tinyurl.com/AIXmovies

12
IBM Power Systems
Backup

13
IBM Power Systems
PowerVM LPARs and Workload Partitions
PowerVM Virtualization
Power Systems Hardware
LPAR
i
SAP
LPAR
AIX 6
WPAR
WPAR
WebSphere
DB2
WPAR
Workload Partitions
•Multiple workloads
inside a single AIX
•AIX 6 feature
LPAR
Logical Partitions
•Multiple separate OS
instances in a server
•Power Systems
hardware feature
LPAR
AIX 5
DB2
LPAR
Linux
Apache

14
IBM Power Systems
Workload
Partition
QA
AIX # 2
Workload
Partition
Data Mining
AIX Live Application Mobility
Workload
Partition
App Server
Workload
Partition
Web
AIX # 1
Workload
Partition
Dev
Move a running Workload Partition from one server to another
for outage avoidance and multi-system workload balancing
Workload
Partition
e-mail
Works on any hardware supported by AIX 6 or 7, including POWER5
Workload
Partitions
Manager
for AIX
Policy
Workload
Partition
Billing
Shared NFS or SAN Storage

15
IBM Power Systems
Storage Area Network
Virtual SCSI disk configuration
vscsi1
hdisk0
LPAR 2
Virtual
I/O
Server
fcs0
hdisk0
vtscsi0 vtscsi1
vhost1
vhost0
vscsi0
hdisk0
LPAR 1
hdisk0
WPAR A
FibreChannel, Virtual SCSI, NPIV FibreChannel Support for WPARs
- as of AIX 6.1 TL6 and AIX 7.1
- AIX native MPIO multipathing supported
- see manage_disk_drivers command and select “AIX_A*PCM”
- J2 and LVM supported
Storage Subsystem LUN
Virtual
I/O
Server
FibreChannel disk configuration
hdisk0
LPAR 2
fcs0
LUN
Storage Subsystem
hdisk0
LPAR 1
WPAR A
fcs0
hdisk0
NPIV FibreChannel Configuration
fcs0
vfchost0
LPAR 1
fcs0 (NPIV)
hdisk0
hdisk0
WPAR A
LPAR 2
fcs0 (NPIV)
hdisk0
vfchost1
Virtual
I/O
Server

16
IBM Power Systems
Adapter support Inside a WPAR
- AIX 7.1 only (not AIX 5.2 or 5.3 WPARs)
- not yet supported by WPAR Manager
- not yet supported for Live Application Mobility
NPIV FibreChannel adapter configuration
LPAR 1
hdisk0
WPAR A
fcs0
fcs0 (NPIV)
Virtual
I/O
Server
fcs0
vfchost1
vfchost0
fcs1
fcs1 (NPIV)
fcs1
FibreChannel adapter configuration
Virtual
I/O
Server
LPAR 1
hdisk0
WPAR A
fcs0
fcs0 fcs1
fcs1

17
IBM Power Systems
Additional File System Support in WPARs
- J2/LVM supported on storage inside the WPAR
- other file systems can be namefs-mounted into the WPAR
LPAR
rootvg
Rootvg WPAR
WPAR File Systems:
rootvg
GPFS
VxFS
/usr
/opt
/
/var
/tmp
/home
/gpfs
/vxfs
datavg
/data

18
IBM Power Systems
Kernel Extension Considerations (AIX 7.1 only)
• Allowing WPAR administrator to load a kernel extension breaks
isolation
– One option is to require any extensions to be loaded from the global
(WPAR processes will have access)
– Second option is to allow the WPAR to load an extension, but with proper
controls
• Basic Mechanism
– From the Global
• mkwpar or chwpar -X is used to specify a specific extension the given WPAR is allowed
to load, and whether it is to be loaded globally or locally
– Global load means all WPARs and the global can utilize this same extension
– Local means only this WPAR will have access (and it could be a different version
than one that is loaded globally)
– From the WPAR
• Load the extension as normal – only allowed if the extension has the same signature as
what was specified from the global
• Mobility Implications (AIX 7.1 TL1 only)
– Extension must be loaded at the destination before the processes are
started
– Infrastructure is provided via a script that is run prior to start of the
processes

19
IBM Power Systems
• All processes in the WPAR are automatically classified in the same class as the WPAR name
• Controls are specified via mkwpar, chwpar CLIs or WPAR Manager
• Controls are via shares and limits
• Shares are specified as a number 1 – 65,535
• Limits are specified as percentages
– min%-soft_max%,hard_max%
• min=0% means no minimum
• max=100% means no maximum limit
• Examples:
– shares_CPU=10 CPU=5%-10%,20%
– shares_memory=5 memory=20%-30%,100%
• An alternative to WLM resource controls for WPARs is the use of RSETs
– Define the RSET in the global
– Define the wpar to be constrained to that RSET
– Higher performance for most workloads
– Requires careful administration in a dynamic LPAR
AIX WPAR Resource Controls
Resource Controls
Targets Targets

20
IBM Power Systems
The Flexibility of "Shares"
 Used to calculate target percentage of a
resource for a class
 Target is dynamic: based on active shares
and available resources in each tier
 Share values range from 1 to 65,535
Targets Targets
Resource
entitlements
are expressed
as shares
Shares indicate relative entitlement

21
IBM Power Systems
Shares Example
Targets are calculated by dividing the given
number of shares by the total active shares.
Blue Class target = 12/(12+5+16+3) = 33%
Targets are Desired Percentage
Targets
Target
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
12 shares 5 shares 16 shares 3 shares

22
IBM Power Systems
Shares Example
Targets are recalculated when classes becomes active/inactive.
Blue Class target now = 12/(12+16+3) = 39%
Targets Adjust Automatically!
Targets
Target
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
12 shares 5 shares 16 shares 3 shares

23
IBM Power Systems
Limits Reserve and Restrict Resources
Resource limits
are
expressed as
percentages
 The minimum limits reserve resources
 The maximum limits restrict resources
 Used as an upper/lower bound for target calculation
Limits Keep Jobs In Their Place!
Limits
CPU Time
Memory
0 20 40 60 80 100
minimum target range softmax hardmax

24
IBM Power Systems
IBM PowerVM Workload Partitions Manager for
AIX
Can make it easier to consolidate workloads
from underutilized servers by providing a single
point of management for all WPARs and
enablement for Live Application Mobility
Go Green & Save
Policy based relocation and federated
management of WPARs provides new ways to
manage your IT infrastructure
Realize Innovation
Can reduce cost and complexity through
centralized management of WPARs across
multiple systems
Enables increased flexibility by allowing
administrators to quickly create, clone or delete
Workload Partitions from one system to another
Supports POWER4, POWER5 and POWER6
based systems
Manage Growth,
Complexity & Risk
A product that federates
management of WPARs across
multiple systems
WPARs can be created, cloned,
stopped, started and monitored
from a single location
Enablement for AIX Live
Application Mobility
A member of the IBM Systems
Director family of products to
provide a common operational
methodology
The WPAR Manager™ is
available separately from AIX
How can it help?
What is it?
WPAR Agent
AIX
System/Application WPARs
WPAR Agent
AIX
WPAR Agent
AIX
WPAR Agent
AIX
WPAR Agent
AIX
WPAR Agent
AIX
IBM
Workload
Partitions
Manager
for AIX
Browser

IBM Power Systems
2
5
Steps to Moving to the Versioned WPAR Environment
On the original 5.3 system:
1. mksysb and copy the image to the AIX 7.1 system
On the Power 7/AIX 7.1 system
2. Install Versioned WPAR Package
3. mkwpar –c –B mksysb-file –n wpar-name –D hdisk11
rootvg=yes –D hdisk 12 –D hdisk13 (hdisk12 and 13 are
data volumes in this example)
4. startwpar wpar-name
5. Make any other data (volume groups) from 5.3 system
available, and start the workload (varyon hdisk12 and 13
in this example)
mksysb
WPAR
Application
Server
WPAR
Web
Server
WPAR
Billing
AIX7 instance
WPAR
BI
5.3 TL12sp5
JFS2
vwpar

© 2010 IBM
26
One
new
step
Create Versioned WPARs via WPAR Manager
Location of the mksysb
then click Load
Select the mksysb file
Otherwise the same as other WPARs …
.

IBM Power Systems
2
7
Workload Partitions – Packaging
1. Base WPAR comes with AIX 6 / AIX 7
– Basic WPAR functions
– AIX command line access only
– No Live Application Mobility
2. PowerVM Workload Partition (WPAR) Manager
– FC 5765-G83
– Systems Director plug-in
– 60 day trial then buy a licence
– Includes Live Application Mobility (Relocation)
– Version 2.2.1 (10th
Sept 2010) understands the below
3. AIX 5.2 Workload Partitions for AIX 7
– FC 5765-H38
– Extra product/LPP at a cost
– AIX 5.2 media is not provided & not available
– AIX 5.2 TL10 SP8 Update is on Fix-Central = 1.6 GB
– Supported on AIX 7 & POWER7 only
4. AIX 5.3 Workload Partitions for AIX 7
– FC 5765-WP7
– Extra product/LPP at a cost
– AIX 5.3 media is not provided & not available
– Supported on AIX 7 & POWER7 only

Aix53versionedworkloadWPARS Oct 2012.ppt

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