System Administration Guide: Oracle Solaris Containers-Resource Management and Oracle Solaris Zones

Chapter 14 Resource Management Configuration Example

This chapter reviews the resource management framework and describes a hypothetical server consolidation project.

The following topics are covered in this chapter:

Configuration to Be Consolidated

In this example, five applications are being consolidated onto a single system. The target applications have resource requirements that vary, different user populations, and different architectures. Currently, each application exists on a dedicated server that is designed to meet the requirements of the application. The applications and their characteristics are identified in the following table.

Application Description	Characteristics
Application server	Exhibits negative scalability beyond 2 CPUs
Database instance for application server	Heavy transaction processing
Application server in test and development environment	GUI-based, with untested code execution
Transaction processing server	Primary concern is response time
Standalone database instance	Processes a large number of transactions and serves multiple time zones

Consolidation Configuration

The following configuration is used to consolidate the applications onto a single system.

The application server has a two–CPU processor set.
The database instance for the application server and the standalone database instance are consolidated onto a single processor set of at least four CPUs. The standalone database instance is guaranteed 75 percent of that resource.
The test and development application server requires the IA scheduling class to ensure UI responsiveness. Memory limitations are imposed to lessen the effects of bad code builds.
The transaction processing server is assigned a dedicated processor set of at least two CPUs, to minimize response latency.

This configuration covers known applications that are executing and consuming processor cycles in each resource set. Thus, constraints can be established that allow the processor resource to be transferred to sets where the resource is required.

The wt-load objective is set to allow resource sets that are highly utilized to receive greater resource allocations than sets that have low utilization.
The locality objective is set to tight, which is used to maximize processor locality.

An additional constraint to prevent utilization from exceeding 80 percent of any resource set is also applied. This constraint ensures that applications get access to the resources they require. Moreover, for the transaction processor set, the objective of maintaining utilization below 80 percent is twice as important as any other objectives that are specified. This importance will be defined in the configuration.

Creating the Configuration

Edit the /etc/project database file. Add entries to implement the required resource controls and to map users to resource pools, then view the file.

# cat /etc/project
.
.
.
user.app_server:2001:Production Application Server:::project.pool=appserver_pool
user.app_db:2002:App Server DB:::project.pool=db_pool;project.cpu-shares=(privileged,1,deny)
development:2003:Test and development::staff:project.pool=dev_pool;
process.max-address-space=(privileged,536870912,deny)keep with previous line
user.tp_engine:2004:Transaction Engine:::project.pool=tp_pool
user.geo_db:2005:EDI DB:::project.pool=db_pool;project.cpu-shares=(privileged,3,deny)
.
.
.

Note –

The development team has to execute tasks in the development project because access for this project is based on a user's group ID (GID).

Create an input file named pool.host, which will be used to configure the required resource pools. View the file.

# cat pool.host
create system host
create pset dev_pset (uint pset.min = 0; uint pset.max = 2)
create pset tp_pset (uint pset.min = 2; uint pset.max=8)
create pset db_pset (uint pset.min = 4; uint pset.max = 6)
create pset app_pset (uint pset.min = 1; uint pset.max = 2)
create pool dev_pool (string pool.scheduler="IA")
create pool appserver_pool (string pool.scheduler="TS")
create pool db_pool (string pool.scheduler="FSS")
create pool tp_pool (string pool.scheduler="TS")
associate pool dev_pool (pset dev_pset)
associate pool appserver_pool (pset app_pset)
associate pool db_pool (pset db_pset)
associate pool tp_pool (pset tp_pset)
modify system tester (string system.poold.objectives="wt-load")
modify pset dev_pset (string pset.poold.objectives="locality tight; utilization < 80")
modify pset tp_pset (string pset.poold.objectives="locality tight; 2: utilization < 80")
modify pset db_pset (string pset.poold.objectives="locality tight;utilization < 80")
modify pset app_pset (string pset.poold.objectives="locality tight; utilization < 80")

Update the configuration using the pool.host input file.

# poolcfg -f pool.host

Make the configuration active.

# pooladm -c

The framework is now functional on the system.

Viewing the Configuration

To view the framework configuration, which also contains default elements created by the system, type:

# pooladm
system host
        string  system.comment
        int     system.version 1
        boolean system.bind-default true
        int     system.poold.pid 177916
        string  system.poold.objectives wt-load

        pool dev_pool
                int     pool.sys_id 125
                boolean pool.default false
                boolean pool.active true
                int     pool.importance 1
                string  pool.comment
                string  pool.scheduler IA
                pset    dev_pset
  
        pool appserver_pool
                int     pool.sys_id 124
                boolean pool.default false
                boolean pool.active true
                int     pool.importance 1
                string  pool.comment
                string  pool.scheduler TS
                pset    app_pset
      
        pool db_pool
                int     pool.sys_id 123
                boolean pool.default false
                boolean pool.active true
                int     pool.importance 1
                string  pool.comment
                string  pool.scheduler FSS
                pset    db_pset
  
        pool tp_pool
                int     pool.sys_id 122
                boolean pool.default false
                boolean pool.active true
                int     pool.importance 1
                string  pool.comment
                string  pool.scheduler TS
                pset    tp_pset
 
        pool pool_default
                int     pool.sys_id 0
                boolean pool.default true
                boolean pool.active true
                int     pool.importance 1
                string  pool.comment
                string  pool.scheduler TS
                pset    pset_default

        pset dev_pset
                int     pset.sys_id 4
                string  pset.units population
                boolean pset.default false
                uint    pset.min 0
                uint    pset.max 2
                string  pset.comment
                boolean pset.escapable false
                uint    pset.load 0
                uint    pset.size 0
                string  pset.poold.objectives locality tight; utilization < 80

        pset tp_pset
                int     pset.sys_id 3
                string  pset.units population
                boolean pset.default false
                uint    pset.min 2
                uint    pset.max 8
                string  pset.comment
                boolean pset.escapable false
                uint    pset.load 0
                uint    pset.size 0
                string  pset.poold.objectives locality tight; 2: utilization < 80

                cpu
                        int     cpu.sys_id 1
                        string  cpu.comment 
                        string  cpu.status on-line

                cpu
                        int     cpu.sys_id 2
                        string  cpu.comment 
                        string  cpu.status on-line

        pset db_pset
                int     pset.sys_id 2
                string  pset.units population
                boolean pset.default false
                uint    pset.min 4
                uint    pset.max 6
                string  pset.comment
                boolean pset.escapable false
                uint    pset.load 0
                uint    pset.size 0
                string  pset.poold.objectives locality tight; utilization < 80

                cpu
                        int     cpu.sys_id 3
                        string  cpu.comment 
                        string  cpu.status on-line

                cpu
                        int     cpu.sys_id 4
                        string  cpu.comment 
                        string  cpu.status on-line

                cpu
                        int     cpu.sys_id 5
                        string  cpu.comment 
                        string  cpu.status on-line

                cpu
                        int     cpu.sys_id 6
                        string  cpu.comment 
                        string  cpu.status on-line
        pset app_pset
                int     pset.sys_id 1
                string  pset.units population
                boolean pset.default false
                uint    pset.min 1
                uint    pset.max 2
                string  pset.comment
                boolean pset.escapable false
                uint    pset.load 0
                uint    pset.size 0
                string  pset.poold.objectives locality tight; utilization < 80
                cpu
                        int     cpu.sys_id 7
                        string  cpu.comment 
                        string  cpu.status on-line

        pset pset_default
                int     pset.sys_id -1
                string  pset.units population
                boolean pset.default true
                uint    pset.min 1
                uint    pset.max 4294967295
                string  pset.comment
                boolean pset.escapable false
                uint    pset.load 0
                uint    pset.size 0

                cpu
                        int     cpu.sys_id 0
                        string  cpu.comment 
                        string  cpu.status on-line

A graphic representation of the framework follows.

Figure 14–1 Server Consolidation Configuration

Illustration shows the hypothetical server configuration.

Note –

In the pool db_pool, the standalone database instance is guaranteed 75 percent of the CPU resource.