Compaq GS320 - Manual (Page 189)

Compaq AlphaServer Partition Manager 9-25
Soft partitions are implemented within the boundaries of a hard partition. A
portion of memory can be defined so it is shared among all the soft partitions in
the hard partition. In addition, CPUs can be reassigned to other soft partitions.
Because of this sharing of resources, the boundaries of these partitions are
considered soft.
The hardware requirements for a soft partition are the same as for a hard
partition: at least one CPU, 64 Mbytes of memory, and an I/O riser module that
is connected to a master PCI box with a standard I/O module.
When the operating system for a hard partition is OpenVMS Galaxy, two
option buttons are available in the Add/Modify Hard Partition screen (Figure
9–18) for specifying the method to use when working with soft partitions:
•
Basic soft partitioning – Enables you to create, modify, and delete soft
partitions without needing to know about the environment variables that
are used. Each soft partition created by this method consists of one or more
QBBs. Sections 9.5.1 through 9.5.4 discuss this method of working with soft
partitions.
•
Advanced soft partitioning – Enables you to work with soft partitions
by specifying values for the relevant environment variables. This method is
for experienced users only. See Section 9.5.5.
NOTE: Do not attempt to create soft partitions if the hard partition contains
an unpowered QBB. Commit the hard partitions first (see Section
9.4.5), and then create the soft partitions. When the hard partitions
are committed, the unpowered QBB is powered on.