41.1 Getting Started With Oracle VM Server for SPARC Virtualization

Oracle VM Server for SPARC technology enables server virtualization on SPARC platforms. You can create and manage multiple virtual machine instances simultaneously on a single SPARC machine. Each virtual machine, or guest, can run a separate Oracle Solaris 10 or Oracle Solaris 11 operating system.

Oracle VM Server for SPARC technology is virtualization of SPARC servers. This technology is part of a suite of methodologies for consolidation and resource management for SPARC Chip Multi Threading (CMT) systems. Using this technology, you can allocate the various resources of the system such as memory, CPU threads, and devices, into logical groupings and create multiple discrete systems. These discrete systems have their own operating system, resources, and identity within a single system. By careful architecture, an Oracle VM Server for SPARC environment can help you achieve greater resource usage, better scaling, and increased security and isolation.

41.1.1 Terminology

In Oracle Enterprise Manager, a virtualization platform is a virtualization technology, such as an Oracle VM Server for SPARC control domain, that can host guests. A virtual server is a guest, such as a logical domain.

41.1.2 Logical Domains

When Oracle VM Server for SPARC software is installed, a domain called the control domain is created. From this control domain, you create virtual machines called logical domains that each run an independent OS. A logical domain is a virtual machine with resources, such as CPU threads, memory, I/O devices, and its own operating system. The control domain manages the logical domains. Each logical domain can be created, destroyed, reconfigured, and rebooted independently of other logical domains.