Introduction

Hewlett-Packard's new nPartition (hard partition) servers provide highly configurable, high-performance HP-UX system environments.

updated for
March 2002

In addition to the servers listed below, HP now supports hard partitions on the HP rp7410 server (model 9000/800/rp7410).

new at 11i
original release

Currently, HP supports hard partitions on the following servers:

The ability to create hard partitions allows you to configure a single nPartition server as either one large system or as multiple smaller systems. Because hard partitions are managed through software, you can reconfigure a server without physically modifying the server's hardware configuration.

As a result, an nPartition server can run multiple instances of the 11i operating system on a single server. This capability is accomplished by defining multiple partitions within an nPartition server.

Each partition definition establishes a subset of a server's hardware resources that are to be used as a system environment for booting a single instance of HP-UX.

All processors, memory, and I/O in a partition are available exclusively to the software running in the partition. Thus, each partition runs a single instance of the Boot Console Handler (BCH) interface and HP-UX.

You can reconfigure partitions to include more, fewer, and/or different hardware resources, but this will require shutting down the operating system running in the partition and resetting the partition as part of reconfiguring it.

Two books provide details on performing nPartition administration tasks. The HP System Partitions Guide, part number B2355-90746, has current details on managing all nPartition sever models. Managing Superdome Complexes: A Guide for HP-UX System Administrators, part number B2355-90702, covers using the December 2000 HP-UX 11i release on HP Superdome servers. Both books are available at HP's documentation web site, http://docs.hp.com, and on the HP-UX 11i Instant Information CD.