Fiber Channel Virtualization
Hitachi also offers Fibre Channel I/O virtualization for Virtage. This allows multiple logical partitions to access a storage device through a single Fiber Channel card, allowing fewer physical connections between server and storage and increasing the utilization rates of the storage connections. This is exclusive to the 4 GB Hitachi FC card.
Shared/Virtual NIC Functions
Virtage also provides a virtual NIC (VNIC) function, which constructs a virtual network between LPARs and enables communication between LPARs without a physical NIC. There are two types of virtual NIC functions: one that only supports the communication between LPARs, which has no connection with external networks. The other is a part of the shared NIC function that realizes connection to the external physical network through the shared physical NIC.
Virtage enables multiple VNICs assigned to LPARs to share a physical NIC. This function takes full advantage of the connections between VNICs and external physical networks. The physical NIC shared between VNICs is called a shared physical NIC in the virtualization feature.
Integrated System Management for Virtual Machines
Hitachi provides secure and integrated system management capabilities to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) of BladeSymphony 1000 with Virtage. Hitachi offers integrated system management functionality with Virtage virtualization. Administrators can access the integrated remote console via IP to mange and configure the virtualized environments remotely. Virtual partitions can be created,
An integrated shell console lets users access the guest operating system directly from the console screen for ease of use. The system also monitors CPU utilization rates and allows processor CPU utilization changes dynamically for partitions operating in CPU shared mode.
50 BladeSymphony 1000 Architecture White Paper | www.hitachi.com |