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slots. When assigning the XSB to a domain, either all of the devices can be config-
ured in to the domain, or only some of them. The floater XSB can be added to a
domain while the domain is still running. Although the example shows a system
board on an M9000, this same capability exists on the M4000 and M5000. This
general form of DR is similar in functionality to the other virtualization technolo-
gies used on Oracle VM Server for SPARC (formerly known as Logical Domains)
and Solaris Containers.
The ability to physically add or remove CPU/memory system boards while the
system is powered up and domains are running is unique to the M8000 and M9000.
This additional functionality, which is called
hot plug,
is important in providing
improved system uptime and rolling upgrade capability. As potentially faulty com-
ponents are taken offline by the Solaris Predictive Self-Healing functions in the
Solaris Fault Management system, the XSCF (or service processor) can be used to
remove the board with the faulty component and add the replacement board back
in. This capability has other business benefits. As new processors are developed
and released for the M-Series, the M8000 and M9000 can add these new proces-
sors in to existing domains. This facilitates rolling upgrades, thereby making a
large contribution to the M-Series' high return on investment (ROI) value.
As mentioned earlier, DR of the individual PCIe cards can be performed only
from within the domain that is using the PCIe card.
No one product fits all business requirements—and this statement certainly holds
true for virtualization technologies. Hybrid virtualization solutions allow multiple
technologies to be combined to maximize consolidation and system utilization.
Because every domain on a Sun SPARC Enterprise M-Series server runs a sepa-
rate instance of Oracle Solaris, the Containers features can be used in each do-
main. While the M-Series has the ability to increment domains by only a CPU and
a small amount of memory and I/O, greater utilization can be achieved by using
Containers in a domain. This approach allows users to combine the best of both
virtualization technologies to meet specific business or technical requirements.
Containers are typically used on the M-Series in a domain that consists of sev-
eral system boards. This large domain can then be partitioned further with OS
virtualization. Certain factors must be taken into account regarding the configura-
tion of system boards that the Containers will run on, however. One consideration
is the mode of the system boards. If the boards are in Uni-XSB mode, memory will
be accessed using eight-way memory interleaving. If the boards are in Quad-XSB
mode, memory will be accessed using two-way interleaving. This configuration
could affect the performance of the applications in the Containers. Of course, if a
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