Workload Partition Properties

Use this page to view the properties of the selected workload partition, which can be either a system workload partition or an application workload partition. The properties of an active WPAR can not be modified. To modify the properties of a workload partition, the WPAR must first be stopped.

The following links describe the fields on each page of the interface:

General

Use this page to specify basic information about the type of workload partition you want to create.

Fields

Partition type
The partition type of an existing partition cannot be changed.
Partition name
Specify a name for the workload partition. The name will be used as the hostname of the WPAR if none is specified.
Versioned
This property is only shown for system WPARs and indicates whether this WPAR is running an earlier version of the AIX® operating system.
Application
This option is only available if you are creating an application WPAR. Specify the command to start the application that will run within the application WPAR. The application must exist on the managed system where the application WPAR will be deployed, otherwise the deployment of the application WPAR will fail. You can specify any number of arguments in this field, for example /usr/bin/sleep 10000.
Managed system
Specify the hostname of the managed system where the WPAR will be deployed. As you type the hostname, suggestions will be populated in the field. The hostname for the managed system should be a valid hostname of a registered system. You can click Browse to select the managed system from the available list of systems.
Hostname
The hostname by default is the workload partition name that you entered. If you want to specify a different hostname, enter it in the field.
Description
Specify an optional description for the workload partition. This description should help you identify the WPAR when viewing it in a table.
Enable checkpoint
Select this option if you want to allow the WPAR to save the internal state of all its running processes. This option must be enabled in order to support live relocation. Enabling this option might make some settings, such as allocating specific devices or file systems to this WPAR, not possible. To be relocated, WPARs must use shared file systems. For more information on the restrictions that apply to mobile WPARs, please refer to the base operating system WPAR documentation.

Devices

Use this page to view, remove, or allocate devices to this WPAR. Depending on the state of the WPAR some actions might not be available.

Actions

Add
Click this button to launch a new dialog to select the new device you want to add to the WPAR.
Remove
Select a device from the table and click this button to remove the device from the WPAR you are creating.

Attributes

Device control
Specifies if the device should be part of the root volume group. By default, the device is not part of the root volume group. Only devices of type 'disk' can be part of the root volume group.
Device
Displays the name of the device. For example, hdisk29.
Type
Displays the type of device. For example, disk.
Subclass Type
Displays the name of the subclass type. For example, vscsi.
Device ID
Displays the ID for the device. For example, 3E213600A0B8000485AF000000E5E4922BD170F1814FAStT03IBMfcp. If you can not view the entire ID string, move your cursor over the ID. The complete ID string displays in a secondary window.
Virtual Device Name
Displays the virtual name of the device as seen from inside the WPAR. For example, hdisk29 on the global system could receive the virtual device name hdisk1 from within the WPAR.
Status
Displays the status of the device. The following lists the possible values:
Allocated
The Allocated state is when a device has been added to the WPAR's definition and will be exported to the WPAR at start time. A device can be allocated by using the mkwpar or chwpar commands.
Missing
The Missing state is when a previously Allocated device to the given WPAR is no longer present within the global environment.
Exported
The Exported state is when an existing device has been designated as available for WPAR import. A device can be exported to a WPAR by using the startwpar command or chwpar command and can be imported into the WPAR during WPAR startup.

Though the Exported state is not an ODM device state, a device in the Exported state is not available for use from within the global environment.

Filesystems

Use this page to configure the file system information for the WPAR. Users can add, remove or modify file systems for both system and application WPARs. WPAR Manager provides an easy way to configure required file systems for a system WPAR without having to enter each of them manually, while application WPARs do not require file systems. Once file systems are configured the user can modify any of the properties through the file system table.

Actions

Configure required file systems
This button is only available for system WPARs. Click this button to bring up the Required file systems configuration dialog. Once the information requested by the dialog is specified, the file systems table will be updated.

The following options are on the Required file systems configuration dialog:

Use private /usr and /opt
heck the box if the WPAR should have private writable versions of /usr and /opt.
Type of file systems to configure
Local
If this option is selected file systems will be configured as jsf2 file systems.
NFS Based Filesystems
If this option is selected file systems will be configured as nfs file systems.
Options
Specify options for the file system type selected.

If Local file systems is selected the following setting is available:

Volume group
Specify the volume group to be used when configuring the file systems.
If NFS-based file systems is selected, the following settings are available:
NFS server
Specify the hostname of the NFS server that will be used to host the file systems for the WPAR being created.
Remote directory
Specify the remote directory that will be used to host the file systems for the WPAR. This directory should be exported with rw privileges to the root user on the NFS server for both the managed system host name and the WPAR hostname. The root file system for the WPAR will be mounted over the remote file system and all other file system (/home, /tmp, var) will be mounted under this location.
Mount options
Specify the mount options that will be applied to each of the NFS file systems configured.

Attributes

Add
Click this button to configure a new file system for the workload partition from the Filesystem settings dialog to enter required file system information.

The following options are on the Filesystem settings dialog:

Virtual file system type
Specify the type of file system being added. For relocation enabled WPARs, the only available file system types are NFS and Namefs. Filesystems /usr and /opt can be of type Namefs, but only if the read-only (ro) mount option is set. All other writable file systems for mobile WPARs must be of type NFS.
Directory
The mount point, as perceived from within the workload partition, of the file system being added. For example, /usr.
Filesystem size
Specify the size of the file system to be created.
Volume group
Specify the volume group in which the file system (if no existing logical volume device is specified using the dev attribute) is created.
Logname
Specify the log device to use for this file system. Only specify this option if the default log device that the file system uses is insufficient.
Device path
For NFS file systems, specify the exported directory on the NFS server for this file system. For namefs file systems, specify the global file system directory to be mounted within the WPAR.
CRFS options
Specifies other options to pass to the crfs command when creating the file system. Options are passed directly to the crfs command so the value must be in the form that is required by the crfs command.
Mount Options
Specify additional options to be used when mounting the file system. For more information on the various file system options, please refer to your base workload partition documentation.
View
Select a file system, and click this button to view or modify any of the attributes for the selected file system settings.
Remove
Select one or more file systems, and click this button to delete any file systems that you not longer need.

Options

Use this page to configure the options for the workload partition.

Fields

Base directory
Specify the base directory for this workload partition. This directory will appear inside the WPAR as the root directory (/). You do not need to change this value unless you need to locate the WPAR in a different directory on the hosting system. This options is only available for system WPARs.
Path to control script
If you have a script that must be run either before starting the workload partition, or after stopping it, enter the path (as seen from within the workload partition) to that script in this field. For more information on how to create a control script and specify when it is to be executed, please see the man page for the mkwpar -u command.
Start the workload partition each time the system starts
Select this option to have this workload partition start whenever the hosting system is restarted. This option is only available for system WPARs.
Start the workload partition immediately upon deployment
Select this option if the WPAR should be started on the managed system as soon as it is deployed. This option is only available for system WPARs.
Force deployment of workload partitions even if there are errors
Select this option to cause the WPAR to be deployed even if certain configuration errors are detected. See the man page for mkwpar -F for more information.

Network

Workload partitions can have their own network identity, separate from the hosting system, and from one another. To enable the workload partition to connect to the network, enter network information on this page. If no information is entered in this field and the host name for the WPAR resolves to a valid hostname, the WPAR will have network connectivity and the network information will be populated automatically after deployment.

Attributes

Add
Click this button to add a new network interface from the Specify network settings dialog.

The following options are on the Specify network settings dialog:

Use IP version 6
Select this option if you want the interface to use IP version 6 addresses. If this option is selected the dialog will be reconfigured to request IP version 6 information.
IP address
Specify the IP address using the required format based on the version selected.
Netmask
Specify the subnet mask value. This option is only available for IP version 4 configurations.
Broadcast
Specify the broadcast address for this WPAR. This option is only available for IP version 4 configurations.
Prefix length
Specify the prefix length for this WPAR. This option is only available for IP version 6 configurations.
Network Interface
Specify the name of the network interface to be used, for example ent0. The network interface refers to the device on the global system.
Modify
Select a network interface, and click this button to display a dialog that you can use to view or modify the settings for the selected network interface.
Remove
Select one or more network interfaces, and click this button to remove the selected network interfaces.

Routing

A WPAR can be configured to use its own routing table or share that of the managed system hosting the WPAR. To enable the WPAR to have it own routing table enter the information in this page. The table on this page displays the routing entries added to the WPAR. A workload partition can have multiple routing entries defined.

Fields

Enable WPAR specific routes
Select this option if you want the workload partition's network traffic to use a routing table specific to the workload partition. When WPAR-specific routing is enabled on a running workload partition, any explicit routing table entries previously configured will immediately be take effect.

Attributes

Add
Click this button to add a new routing entry from the Specify network settings dialog.
The following options are on the Specify route dialog:
Destination
Identifies the host or network to which you are directing the route.
Default
Select this option to use the default route.
Other
Select this option to specify the IP address or hostname for directing the route.
IP address or hostname
Enter the IP address or hostname for directing the route. This field is only available if you select Other.
Destination type
Forces the destination attribute to be interpreted as the specified type.
Network mask or prefix
Enter the network mask or the length of a destination prefix as a positive integer. This field is only available if you select net as the Destination type.
Gateway
Enter the gateway to which packets are addressed.
Network Interface
Enter the interface (en0) to associate with this route so that packets will be sent using this interface when this route is chosen.
Modify
Select a route, and click this button to display a dialog that you can use to view or modify the settings for the selected route.
Remove
Select one or more routes, and click this button to remove the selected routes.

Security

Use this page to configure security settings for a system WPAR such as root password and RBAC privileges.

Fields

Super user password
Password
Enter the password for the root user.
Confirm
Re-enter the password for the root user.
RBAC Privileges
Use the following fields to modify the default set of RBAC privileges assigned to the WPAR at creation time. You can select additional privileges that are available in the managed system or remove privileges that have been granted to the WPAR.
Super user privileges
Grant all general privileges
Select this field to grant the PV_ROOT privilege to the WPAR. This privilege is a super set of all other privileges, except for all other super user privileges defined by the Super user field.
Super user
Select this field to populate the General Privileges section with all the super user privileges (PV_SU). Click this field to open a new dialog to configure super user privileges.
General Privileges
Categories and privileges in this section are dynamically generated based on the managed system where the WPAR is deployed. The following fields group RBAC privileges into different categories. You can click on each category to add or remove individual privileges within that category. The following table indicates what privileges are selected for the corresponding category:
Table 1. Displays the icon and corresponding definition for the work load partition privileges.
Icon Definition
Selected All privileges for the category are selected or the super set privilege that represent that category is selected.
Mixed selected Some of the privileges for that category are selected.
Unselected None of the privileges for that category have been selected.

Actions

Restore default privileges
Click this button to set the privileges of this WPAR to the default WPAR privilege set (WPS). For more information about WPS see the Planning for Role Based Access Control topic in the Information Center.
Note: When modifying an undeployed WPAR the list of all available categories and privileges is presented to the user for selection. It is not until the WPAR is deployed that the set of selected RBAC privileges can be validated. Since a WPAR cannot be deployed on a managed system that does not support the privilege set assigned to the WPAR, the WPAR Manager will flag this problem during the deployment task.

Resource Controls

Resource controls can be specified when creating system workload partitions. This page allows you to either limit the amount of system resources that can be used by this workload partition, or ensure that the WPAR is allocated at least a minimum amount of system resources. Use the tabbed page to browse the different resource categories and specify the limit for each resource.

Fields

Define and activate resource controls
Specify this option to configure resource controls that will be applied to this WPAR. If this option is not selected, all fields in this page are disabled.
CPU and Memory
Specify resource control limits for CPU and Memory utilization.
Minimum %
Specify the minimum amount of system resources that will be allocated to the WPAR, even when other workloads are requesting resources.
Soft Maximum %
Specify the maximum amount of resource that will be allocated to the WPAR, even if other workloads are requesting resources. In the absence of other resource demands, the actual resources allocated to the WPAR can exceed the Soft Maximum, however, it can not exceed the Hard Maximum setting
Hard Maximum %
This setting specifies the absolute maximum amount of a resource that will be allocated to the WPAR, even when other workloads are not requesting resources.
Target Shares
Using Target Shares means the amount of a resource that the partition receives is dependent on the total number of shares in effect at any time. A WPAR with one share, for example, might receive a large amount of CPU resources if no other WPARs were using any CPU shares; a smaller amount of CPU resources would be available if other WPARs with higher share allocations were active on the managed system. If no value is specified the WPAR will receive as many shares as it needs.
Max Pinned Memory
Specifies the percentage of the maximum pinned memory of the system that can be allocated to the workload partition.
Per-process virtual memory limit
Specifies the maximum amount of virtual memory that a single process can consume. The valid units are megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB), and terabytes (TB). Leaving this field blank does not create a per-process limit value. The minimum limit allowed is 1 MB. The maximum limit that can be specified is 8796093022207 MB, 8589934591 GB, or 8388607 TB.
Total virtual memory limit
Specifies the maximum amount of virtual memory that an entire WPAR can consume. The valid units are megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB), and terabytes (TB). Leaving this field blank does not create a total limit value. The minimum limit allowed is 1 MB. The maximum limit that can be specified is 8796093022207 MB, 8589934591 GB, or 8388607 TB. This field is only supported for WPARs deployed on managed systems installed with AIX 6100-04 TL and WPAR Manager agent level 2.1.0.0 or later.

If limits are specified for either the Per-process virtual memory limit or Total virtual memory limit, the per-process virtual memory limit value must be less than that of the total virtual memory limit value.

IPC
Specify resource control limits for IPC related resources.
Max Message queue IDs %
Specify the system's maximum pinned memory that can be allocated to this workload partition. For more information, see Support for pinned memory in the Information Center.
Max Semaphores IDs %
Specifies the percentage of the maximum number of semaphore IDs of the system that are allowed in the workload partition.
Max Shared memory IDs %
Specifies the percentage of the maximum number of shared memory IDs of the system that are allowed in the workload partition.
Other
Resource set
Specify the resource set that was created by the mkrset command to configure the workload partition.
Processes maximum
Total number of processes allowed in this workload partition. See Workload Manager limits File.
Threads maximum
Specify the total number of threads allowed in this workload partition.
Total PTYs
Specify the total number of pseudo terminals allowed in this workload partition.
Total large pages
Specify the number of large pages that can be allowed for this workload partition.

Advanced

Use this page to configure additional settings for a WPAR.

Fields

Relocation
Use kerberos security during relocation
Select this option to use kerberos encryption when transferring WPAR process data between systems
Halt WPAR processes until memory transfer is completed
By default relocation does not wait until the memory transfer is completed to activate the processes of the WPAR on the arrival system. Selecting this option overwrites that behavior and forces the relocation process to wait until all the memory has been transferred before the processes are released and activated.
Allow WPAR to be relocated on policy violation
Select this option if you want the WPAR to be considered for automatic relocation when a policy violation occurs.
Compatibility
Optional compatibility tests
In addition to the required tests for WPAR compatibility, the user can specify additional tests if needed to ensure safe relocation. Optional compatibility tests selected are evaluated in addition to required tests when determining if a potential destination system is compatible for WPAR relocation.
Extension
Select the kernel extensions that are to be exported to the WPAR.
Actions
Add
Click this button to bring up a file chooser dialog and select the kernel extension files to add to this WPAR.
Remove
Remove the kernel extension from the list of extensions exported to the WPAR.
Attributes
Name
Full path to the file representing the kernel extension or device driver.
Local
Indicates whether this is a local copy of the kernel extension or device driver.
Major
Represents the major ID for the kernel extension. This does not apply to local kernel extensions.
State
Indicates whether the kernel extension is allocated or exported to the WPAR.
Signature
The hexadecimal signature assigned to this kernel extension.
Modified Time
Indicates the last time this kernel extension was modified.