System Administration Guide: Resource Management and Network Services

Chapter 11 Resource Management Configuration Example

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

Configuration to Be Consolidated

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.

Creating the Configuration

Edit the project database file. Add entries to implement the required resource controls and to map users to resource pools, and 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)
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 default_pset (uint pset.min = 1)
create pset dev_pset (uint pset.max = 2)
create pset tp_pset (uint pset.min = 2)
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 default_pool (string pool.scheduler="TS"; boolean pool.default = true)
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 default_pool (pset default_pset)
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)

Type the following:

# 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, type:

# pooladm
system host
        int system.version 1
        boolean system.bind-default true
        string system.comment

        pool default_pool
                boolean pool.default true
                boolean pool.active true
                int pool.importance 1
                string pool.comment
                string pool.scheduler TS
                pset default_pset

        pool dev_pool
                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
                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
                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
                boolean pool.default false
                boolean pool.active true
                int pool.importance 1
                string pool.comment
                string pool.scheduler TS
                pset tp_pset

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

        pset dev_pset
                int pset.sys_id 1
                string pset.units population
                boolean pset.default false
                uint pset.max 2
                uint pset.min 0
                string pset.comment
                boolean pset.escapable false
                uint pset.load 0
                uint pset.size 0

        pset tp_pset
                int pset.sys_id 2
                string pset.units population
                boolean pset.default false
                uint pset.max 4294967295
                uint pset.min 2
                string pset.comment
                boolean pset.escapable false
                uint pset.load 0
                uint pset.size 0

        pset db_pset
                int pset.sys_id 3
                string pset.units population
                boolean pset.default false
                uint pset.max 6
                uint pset.min 4
                string pset.comment
                boolean pset.escapable false
                uint pset.load 0
                uint pset.size 0

        pset app_pset
                int pset.sys_id 4
                string pset.units population
                boolean pset.default false
                uint pset.max 2
                uint pset.min 1
                string pset.comment
                boolean pset.escapable false
                uint pset.load 0
                uint pset.size 0

A graphic representation of the framework follows.

Figure 11-1 Server Consolidation Configuration

Illustration shows the hypothetical server configuration.

Note -

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