Partitioning with the Virtual Partition Manager

The i5/OS® Virtual Partition Manager allows you to create and manage up to four Linux® logical partitions from a single i5/OS logical partition. You can use the Virtual Partition Manager to partition any IBM® System i5® or eServer™ i5 model that does not require a Hardware Management Console (HMC), such as a model 595.

While the HMC remains the primary partition management tool for IBM System i5 and eServer i5 models, it is not always a practical or feasible solution for smaller workloads and simple configurations. The Virtual Partition Manager supports the following environment:

• One i5/OS partition that owns and manages all of the I/O resources
• Up to four Linux partitions

To use the Virtual Partition Manager, you must first install i5/OS on an unpartitioned system. After you install i5/OS, you can initiate a console session on i5/OS and use System Service Tools (SST) to create and configure Linux logical partitions. i5/OS controls the resource allocations of the logical partitions on the managed system.

In the preceding figure, you can see the i5/OS logical partition and the Linux logical partitions that are managed by the i5/OS logical partition. The user creates and configures the Linux logical partitions on the server by accessing SST over the twinaxial console.

When you use the Virtual Partition Manager to partition an IBM System i5 or eServer i5 model, SST is the only tool that you can use to create and manage the logical partitions. You cannot use iSeries® Navigator to create or manage logical partitions on an IBM System i5 or eServer i5 model. However, the console session that you use to access SST can be initiated using either iSeries Operations Console (LAN or direct attach) or a twinaxial console.

For more information about planning and deploying Linux partitions on IBM System i5 and eServer i5 servers using the Virtual Partition Manager, see Virtual Partition Manager: A Guide to Planning and Implementation.