HP Integrity Virtual Machines
| Company type | Software |
|---|---|
| Industry | Virtualization software |
| Founder | Christophe de Dinechin, Jean-Marc Chevrot, Todd Kjos, Jonathan Ross |
| Products | Hypervisor for HPE Integrity Servers running HP-UX |
| Parent | Hewlett Packard Enterprise |
Integrity Virtual Machines represents a hypervisor developed by Hewlett Packard Enterprise specifically for HPE Integrity Servers operating on HP-UX. This solution is integrated within HP's Virtual Server Environment portfolio, tailored to meet server virtualization demands.
History
The initiative to virtualize Itanium processors was spearheaded by Christophe de Dinechin through a skunkworks effort, supported by Jean-Marc Chevrot and a dispersed team of seasoned HP engineers. Between 2000 and 2003, de Dinechin, alongside Todd Kjos and Jonathan Ross, created the initial prototype. Subsequently, the product underwent further development by kernel engineers with expertise in OpenVMS, Tru64 Unix, and HP-UX systems.
- Versions 1.0 and 1.2, released in 2005, provided virtualization support for HP-UX guests.
- The 2.0 release in November 2006 expanded compatibility to include Windows Server 2003, added support for CD/DVD burners, tape drives, and introduced VLAN capabilities.
- Version 3.0, launched in June 2007, incorporated support for Linux, specifically Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
- By late 2007, version 3.5 extended support to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and HP-UX 11i v3 virtual machines, updated service packs for Windows and Linux guests, and enhanced I/O throughput with accelerated virtual I/O tailored for HP-UX guests.
- Version 4.0 debuted in September 2008 running on HP-UX 11.31 (11i v3), enabling up to eight virtual CPUs per guest, introduced capped CPU allocation, broadened accelerated virtual I/O (AVIO) features, and included a VM performance analysis tool; beta capabilities featured online migration and OpenVMS guest support.
- The April 2009 release of version 4.1 introduced Online VM Migration allowing live guest transfers without interruption, added SSH alternatives for secure communications, AVIO networking extended to Windows/Linux guests, and supported ignite/VxVM backing storage.
- In March 2010, version 4.2 brought encrypted VM migration functionality, compatibility with newer Itanium hardware and guest OS versions, integration with Serviceguard clusters, automatic memory reallocation, plus OpenVMS 8.4 guest support.
- Version 4.2.5 appeared in September 2010 with support for the HP Integrity Superdome 2 platform and introduced VM suspend/resume features.
- The March 2011 release of version 4.3 added support for Intel® Itanium® Tukwila processors, increased maximum guest configurations to sixteen virtual CPUs and 128GB RAM, expanded AVIO storage device limits to 256 units, incorporated Fiber Channel over Ethernet support, NFS backing stores, an NVRAM Edit utility, and Virtual iLO Remote Console capabilities.
- Version 6.1 launched in March 2012 improved management of HP vPar partitions and introduced Direct Input Output (DIO) technology to boost I/O performance.
- By March 2014, version 6.3 emulated NVRAM functionality, supported up to thirty-two CPUs and 256GB RAM per virtual machine guest, allowed dynamic addition of I/O devices during operation, and enabled migration between i2 and i4 processor generations.
- Version 6.3.5 released in March 2015 added dynamic removal of I/O devices, enhanced NPIV port handling after migrations, reduced memory consumption for large VMs among other improvements.
Capabilities
Feature sets differ depending on the software version and hardware setup.
- Host systems running HP-UX are supported with configurations scaling up to 128 physical cores and one terabyte of memory.
- The platform can concurrently run over 250 guest instances; actual capacity depends on host resource availability.
- Guest virtual CPUs vary by release: up to four prior to version 4.0; eight at version 4.0; sixteen at version 4.3; and thirty-two at version 6.3.
- Memory allocation per guest reaches a maximum of 256GB as of version 6.3, with recent versions allowing dynamic memory adjustments specifically for HP-UX guests.
- Virtual devices are hot-pluggable; releases beyond version 4.3 support as many as 256 devices utilizing accelerated virtual I/O technology.
- CPU resources can be dynamically tuned in increments as fine as one percent or one MHz, governed by a fair-share scheduler designed to enhance symmetric multiprocessing guest efficiency beyond traditional gang scheduling methods.
User interface
Integrity Virtual Machines can be controlled through either a command-line interface or a graphical user interface accessible via web browsers. Essential commands include:
hpvmcreate– to create virtual machineshpvmstatus– to check the current state of virtual machineshpvmstart/hpvmstop– to initiate or halt virtual machineshpvmmodify– to alter virtual machine configurationshpvmconsole– to emulate a hardware console sessionhpvmmigrate– to perform live or offline migration of guest VMshpvmsar– for monitoring system performancehpvmsuspend/hpvmresume– to pause and continue virtual machines
These commands are integrated within the HP Integrity Virtual Machines Manager, enhancing the efficiency of virtualization administration.