Resource Pools

A resource pool, or pool, is a Solaris 9 and Solaris 10 software configuration mechanism that is used to partition the resources of a host. A resource set is a process-bindable resource. Memory sets and processor sets are examples of resource sets. Only processor sets are currently available in the Solaris 9 and Solaris 10 release. A pool binds the various resource sets that are available on a host.

A resource pool can hold one or more projects. In the case of one project, the resources that are linked to the pool are dedicated to that project. In the case of multiple projects, the resources that are linked to the pool are shared with the projects.

On the Solaris 10 Operating System, the product has a feature called dynamic resource pools. The dynamic resource pools help you obtain better performance by enabling you to adjust each pool's resource allocations in response to system events and load changes. This feature is described in Dynamic Resource Pools.

When running on the Solaris 8 Operating System, a host can have only one resource pool. This pool is called pool_default. Because resource pools do not exist in this OS version, the pool_default is created artificially. All of the CPUs on a host that run the Solaris 8 release are considered to be in a single pool by convention.

For more information about managing resource pools with Container Manager, see Chapter 5, Managing Resource Pools.