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Advanced POWER Virtualization on IBM System p5 - Previous ...

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Number of virtual processors<br />

In general, the value of the minimum, desired, and maximum virtual processor<br />

attributes should parallel those of the minimum, desired, and maximum capacity<br />

attributes in some fashi<strong>on</strong>. A special allowance should be made for uncapped<br />

partiti<strong>on</strong>s, since they are allowed to c<strong>on</strong>sume more than their entitlement.<br />

If the partiti<strong>on</strong> is uncapped, then the administrator may want to define the desired<br />

and maximum virtual processor attributes greater than the corresp<strong>on</strong>ding<br />

entitlement attributes. The exact value is installati<strong>on</strong>-specific, but 50 to 100<br />

percent more is a reas<strong>on</strong>able number.<br />

Table 2-3 shows several reas<strong>on</strong>able settings of number of virtual processor,<br />

processing units, and the capped and uncapped mode.<br />

Table 2-3 Reas<strong>on</strong>able settings for shared processor partiti<strong>on</strong>s<br />

Min<br />

VPs a<br />

Desired<br />

VPs<br />

a - Virtual processors<br />

b - Processing units<br />

Max VPs Min PU b Desired<br />

PU<br />

Max. PU<br />

Capped<br />

1 2 4 0.1 2.0 4.0 Y<br />

1 3 or 4 6 or 8 0.1 2.0 8.0 N<br />

2 2 6 2.0 2.0 6.0 Y<br />

2 3 or 4 8 or 10 2.0 2.0 10.0 N<br />

Virtual and physical processor relati<strong>on</strong>ship<br />

In a shared partiti<strong>on</strong>, there is not a fixed relati<strong>on</strong>ship between the virtual<br />

processor and the physical processor. The <str<strong>on</strong>g>POWER</str<strong>on</strong>g> Hypervisor will try to use a<br />

physical processor with the same memory affinity as the virtual processor, but it<br />

is not guaranteed. Virtual processors have the c<strong>on</strong>cept of a home physical<br />

processor. If the Hypervisor cannot find a physical processor with the same<br />

memory affinity, then it gradually broadens its search to include processors with<br />

weaker memory affinity, until it finds <strong>on</strong>e that it can use. As a c<strong>on</strong>sequence,<br />

memory affinity is expected to be weaker in shared processor partiti<strong>on</strong>s.<br />

Workload variability is also expected to be increased in shared partiti<strong>on</strong>s<br />

because there are latencies associated with the scheduling of virtual processors<br />

and interrupts. SMT may also increase variability, since it adds another level of<br />

resource sharing that could lead to a situati<strong>on</strong> where <strong>on</strong>e thread interferes with<br />

the forward progress of its sibling.<br />

44 <str<strong>on</strong>g>Advanced</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>POWER</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>Virtualizati<strong>on</strong></str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong> <strong>IBM</strong> <strong>System</strong> <strong>p5</strong>

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