[ut916]

Hello All,

This is my first virtualization project. I would call myself a basic guy as far as virtualization is concerned. I have the task of virtualizing about 40 LPARs. The current inventory has P550, 561 and 570s. I am waiting on the nmon and sysplan from the SA to start chalking out my strategy.
Virtualization needs to be 8:1 ratio, meaning 8 clients per VIO server. Please let me know your thoughts/advice on coming up with a stategy. The environment would not grow considerably over a couple of years, to let you know the growth factor.
Thanks in advance.

[ross.mather]

What you need to look at is the I/O that will be shared over the VIo Adapters. There is no point having 8 LPARS using a VIO Server if each of the 8 Servers needs 1Gb of Network throughput and you only have 2 1 Gb network cards.

You need to factor in redundancy and system upgrades into your equation. Dual VIO servers allow a VIO server to be upgraded without shutting down all the LPARS - but a single VIo server will not.

The single most important thing is to get your strategy vor Virtual I/O slots clear so that you can trace what you have done. Its very easy to make a very big mess of it and not be able to see what you had done previously.

[ut916]

Thanks Ross, let me give you an instance of what I have. For example one of the current P570 have 4 LPARs (runs SAP). It has 12 CPUs, 40 GB memory, 12 fiber and 9 Ether connections and 4 SCSI bus with hard drive. It has an I/O drawer as well.

Let me know if that makes sense and a direction in which i should start working.

Thanks again for your valueable advices.

[duke900ssd]

I think you need to read the APV redbook at this point, or we could come up with a million valid examples...

IBM Redbooks | Advanced POWER Virtualization on IBM System p5: Introduction and Configuration

It will depend on the internal disks available - number of and size, the type of SAN and end storage device on your fibre adapters, the capacity for etherchannel of your ethernet switches, etc. etc, what is in the I/O drawer and how many p570 CEC units you have, the list goes on and on and on.

[ross.mather]

You need to know the load and I/Os for each LPAR you are going to run. NMON is a good way of getting ball park figures for this.

From here on in you need to look at the Redbook duke900ssd has pointed out, and then try for yourself.

In a SAP environment Memory is the key value - I work on the basis of assuming 8Gb per Power5 CPU as about right.

[Administrator]

Originally Posted by ross.mather

You need to know the load and I/Os for each LPAR you are going to run. NMON is a good way of getting ball park figures for this.

From here on in you need to look at the Redbook duke900ssd has pointed out, and then try for yourself.

In a SAP environment Memory is the key value - I work on the basis of assuming 8Gb per Power5 CPU as about right.

For a p5+ p595, the ratio is 12:1. Because the CPUs are faster than standard P5+ (72% of a p595 CPU), more memory is required to support the CPU.