I just registered on this forum and this is my first message.
I'm trying to understand the AIX Virtualization Rights (or whatever name it's called).
If I have a S814 quad-core server with licensed AIX Enterprise Edition for four cores and also licensed PowerVM Enterprise Edition, does it means that I have the rights to create unlimited number of AIX LPARs on this system?
Or for each AIX LPAR created and running I must have another separate AIX license for each of that?
I really cannot find any documentation (or redbook) for this matter, can anyone also help me finding official docs/redbooks for that?
Also, reading the IBM Power Systems S814 and S824 Technical Overview and Introduction RedBook, on page 116 it's written that the S814 supports only "Eight dedicated partitions", so, does that means that on this server I can have ONLY eight LPARs?? I hope not...
offtopic. why did you buy enterprise editions if you have only one S814 with only 4 cores?
when you bought the server, you bought licenses with it. usually you buy AIX and PowerVM licenses for the whole server. I know, it is possible to buy AIX licenses only for some cores, but I don't think it is possible to buy PowerVM licenses for a part of a server.
you write, that you've bought AIX licenses for 4 cores. It means that you can use AIX on all of the cores. It doesn't matter how many LPARs you create. You can have 1 LPAR, 4 LPARs or 80 LPARs on the server.
The redbooks says about "dedicated partitions". It is not technically correct wording, but it means LPARs with dedicated CPUs. If you have a server with maximum 8 cores, you can create up to 8 LPARs with dedicated CPUs. In this case you are physically limited to number of CPUs you have in the box. If you don't plan to use dedicated CPUs, you can create up to 80 LPARs on your particular server.
As agent.kgb said - you have for cores licensed for AIX. And only PowerVM Express has any limit to the number of partitions you can create. The limitation is that when using a SPP (Shared Processor Pool) which is much more common - you must assign 0.05 core entitlement per virtual processor - as a minimum.
So, assuming only one VIOS at 0.4 entitlement you could create 3.6 / 0.5 (or 72 additional AIX partitions) - each with one VP and 0.05 processor entitlement.
However, I would suggest starting out with VIOS at 0.25 to 0.4 entitlement, 2VP uncapped, and a NIM server - 0.1 entitlement, 1VP, uncapped.
re: memory: Guessing: for the VIOS 6G of RAM (16G max), and for the VIOS 2 to 4 GByte (8G max) should be fine. And then the rest is yours to experiment. hint: set min and desired memory to the same values.
If I understood correctly, there's really no limitation on the number of LPARs I can create and install AIX on it, what is licensed are the processor cores and just that.
Just for comparison, Windows Server Std Edition can only be virtualized on two instances (two VMs really), and Datacenter Edition unlimited, and I had to make sure if AIX had such limitations.
I know AIX for sometime and can actually get along with the shell, but the licensing terms are somewhat new to me.
Do you know any official document from IBM that describes this? I really believe in all you people are saying, it's just that I need that to attach to the project (all that boring legal stuff...).
Yes, correct. As MichaelFelt and agent.kgb already explained, there is no legal limit on how many LPARs you create out of your licensed cores. There are some thechnical restrictions (like the 0.05 proc limit for LPARs, as Michael explained) and the resulting LPARs created with that minimum will not be exactly high-performance, but otherwise you are free to do whatever you want.
Notice, though, that this is only half of the story, and because you seem to be in the process of setting up a project i'd like to tell you the answers to a question you didn't ask:
For a p-Series system to work you may need updates to the systems microcode (think of that as the rough equivalent of a BIOS in PCs) and you will get that only from IBM as long as your system is under a service contract. Take that into consideration when planning your costs. Btw., the same is true for the *L-systems, which are identical to the normal systems save for they are restricted to run only Linux (or, at least, not AIX) in their microcode.
What I would say when asked this on site:
a) talk to your seller for the fine print. That is his job to keep you informed. If you are a reseller - talk to your IBM Business Partner contact. It is his job to be sure you know where to find this information for customer support.
b) since you are talking Enterprise Edition - there are few (actually none) limitations I can think of. Were you talking about the Express Edition (and a bigger system) I would have you look at this link: IBM Power Systems Software - IBM License Metric Tool - although this tool may be useful in additional situations where license compliance is an issue.
c) as far as updates go - you need both a hardware support contract (as bakunin mentioned) for firmware updates and a software support contract for AIX (and the bundled software) updates.
d) While you are "asking" either your business partner (i.e., the seller) or IBM - I would also ask how you can verify your support contracts, how to get to Passport Advantage (to download your licensed/supported software).
And because I do not know - ask if you can still download the base software even after the support contract ends - or, is the license dependent on having an active support contract. (This last point is something I do not know - I try to never lose my install media to "not have" this concern.)
