November, 2005
| Introduction of Solaris features (1) : Solaris Containers enable server consolidation |
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So far, many companies, when preparing servers for a business unit or application, have set the system size of each server
unit as fixed and in line with peak workloads. As a result these companies are now facing problems with server manageability
and resource under-utilization. For instance, as the number of servers increases, so does the complexity of server management.
Plus as server performance increases, hardware resource utilization decreases. But there is a new server consolidation technology
attracting attention. It resolves these problems by allowing multiple operations to run on, and efficiently share, the resources
of a single server.
Solaris Container technology on Solaris10 provides virtualization of system resources. It creates virtual partitions of
the OS to enable flexible server use. It also enables consolidation of server resources to reduce the number of physical
servers required and make more efficient use of all available server resources. When combined with PRIMEPOWER’s highly reliable
hardware partitioning technology (called Extended Partitioning), Solaris Containers further improve resource utilization and
fully maximize IT return on investment (ROI).
 Solaris Containers' strengths
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Solaris Containers provide Solaris Zones and Solaris Resource Manager.
Solaris Zones is software partitioning technology, that allows one operating system (OS) area to work as if it contained multiple
OS. As a result one Solaris OS environment can be partitioned onto 8,000+ entities.
Solaris Resource Manager is the resource management technology that flexibly distributes the hardware resources such as CPUs
and memory across the virtual Solaris environment. It prioritizes resource allocation to operations according to a set of
priorities. This means that even single CPU servers can be partitioned to operate multiple virtual Solaris environments and
thereby increase server utilization.
- Fully separated virtual Solaris environments
Due to the access prohibitions on other virtual Solaris environments, you can build secure systems. Each virtual Solaris environment runs fully independently and can’t access the processes in other environments. - Flexible hardware resources allotment
Your server resources utilization can be changed according to workload changes. Hardware resources such as CPUs and memory can be allotted flexibly to each virtualized Solaris environment and then changed as your resources utilization changes. For instance, you can switch your resource allotment policy so that during the day resources are concentrated to online operations while at night batch operations receive more of the resources. - Speedy implementation of new Solaris environments
You won't miss any new business opportunities either. Solaris 10 means speedy system construction. Generally a system implementation has many time consuming procedures, purchasing, ordering, delivery, installation and setup. But with Solaris Containers you can prepare a new Solaris environment just by changing system parameters on an existing system.
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