Planning for logical partitions
You can create logical partitions to distribute resources within a single server and make it function as if it were two or more independent servers. Before you create logical partitions, you must assess your current and future needs. You can then use this information to determine the hardware configuration that will meet your current needs and serve as a base for meeting your future needs.
Planning for logical partitions is a multi step process. The following tasks are recommended for planning for logical partitions.
__ | Assess your needs Compile a list of the questions that you must answer before you create logical partition on an existing system or place your order for new hardware. The following is the list of questions:
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__ | Learn about your system and its features Your system has many features that allow you to use system resources more efficiently and simplify daily tasks. For more information about what these features are and how these features work, see Logical partition overview. |
__ | Learn about planning tools IBM® provides the following tools that you can use to assess your needs, determine the hardware that you need to accommodate existing and future needs, and compile an order for the hardware that you need:
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__ | Take inventory of your current environment Monitor resource usage on your existing servers to determine the amounts of resources that you currently use in your operation. You will use this information as a basis for determining the resources that you require on the consolidated system. The Performance Monitor (PM) information that you gather from your existing systems gives you the information that you need to analyze existing workloads. |
__ | Perform capacity planning Analyze the workloads that are to be consolidated onto your managed system and determine the amounts of resources that these workloads require. You will also want to calculate the resources that you will need for future growth and determine whether your hardware can accommodate this growth. To analyze your current workloads, use your PM information as input for the WLE. The WLE uses this input to determine the resources that you need for the consolidated workloads. The WLE also allows you to project how many resources you will need in the future. |
__ | Decide which tool you want to use to create logical partitions and
manage the system
Determine whether you want to use the Hardware Management Console (HMC), or the Virtual Partition Manager to create logical partitions and manage the system. To learn about these tools, see Logical partitioning tools. |
__ | Decide if you want your operating systems to share I/O resources
with each other
Determine whether you want to set your logical partitions to use virtual I/O resources from a Virtual I/O Server logical partition. For more information, see Virtual I/O Server. |
__ | Design and validate your logical
partition configuration Design the logical partitions that you will create on the managed system, and assign resources to each logical partition so that the logical partitions can perform their assigned tasks efficiently. |
__ | Design network infrastructure to connect logical partitions with
each other and with external networks
Determine what types of physical and virtual adapters you want to use to connect logical partitions to each other and to external networks. For more information about the different methods that you can use to connect logical partitions with each other and with external networks, see I/O devices. |
__ | Identify how the managed system communicates with the HMC
Determine how you want to connect your managed system and its logical partitions with the HMC that manages the system. For more information about the ways in which you can connect your managed system with the HMC, see HMC network connections. |
__ | Determine a service and support strategy
Determine how to apply fixes to your server and identify problems that need to be reported to your service provider. The HMC can be configured to report most problems to your service provider automatically. For more information about how to set up the HMC to report problems, see Configuring the local console to report errors to service and support. |
__ | Plan for software licensing in a partitioned environment
Determine the number of software licenses that you need for your logical partition configuration. For instructions, see Software licensing for IBM licensed programs on logical partitions. |