Virtual resource partitioning (VRP) is an

operating system-level virtualization OS-level virtualization is an operating system (OS) paradigm in which the Kernel (computer science), kernel allows the existence of multiple isolated user space instances, called ''containers'' (LXC, Solaris Containers, Solaris containers, Docker ...

technology that allocates computing resources (such as

CPU A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...

& I/O) to transactions. Conventional virtualization technologies allocate resources on an

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(

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...) wide basis. VRP works 2 levels deeper by allowing regulation and control of the resources used by specific transactions within an application.{{ cite conference , last = Lipari, first = G., last2 = Bini, first2 = E. , title = Resource partitioning among real-time applications , book-title = Real-Time Systems, 2003. Proceedings. 15th Euromicro Conference on , pages = 151–158 , publisher = IEEE Xplore , date = 2–4 July 2003 , isbn = 0-7695-1936-9, doi = 10.1109/EMRTS.2003.1212738, hdl = 11382/374720 , hdl-access = free In many computerized environments, a single user, application, or transaction can appropriate all server resources and by that, affect the quality of service & user experience of other active users, applications or transactions. For example, a single report in a

data warehouse In computing, a data warehouse (DW or DWH), also known as an enterprise data warehouse (EDW), is a system used for Business reporting, reporting and data analysis and is considered a core component of business intelligence. DWs are central Repos ...

environment can monopolize data access by demanding large amounts of data. Similarly, a CPU-bound application may consume all server processing power and starve other activities. VRP allows balancing, regulating and manipulating the resource consumption of individual transactions, and by that, improving the overall quality of service, compliance with service level agreements, and the ultimate end user experience.

Technology overview

VRP is usually implemented in the OS in a way that is completely transparent to the application or transaction. The technology creates virtual resource "lanes", each of which has access to a controllable amount of resources, and redirects specific transactions to those lanes allowing them to take more or less resources. VRP can be implemented in any OS and is available on

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Solaris Solaris may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature, television and film * ''Solaris'' (novel), a 1961 science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem ** ''Solaris'' (1968 film), directed by Boris Nirenburg ** ''Solaris'' (1972 film), directed by ...

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AIX Aix or AIX may refer to: Computing * AIX, a line of IBM computer operating systems *An Alternate Index, for a Virtual Storage Access Method Key Sequenced Data Set *Athens Internet Exchange, a European Internet exchange point Places Belgium ...

and others. In any OS, the application communicates with the OS kernel in a specific way which requires a different VRP implementation. A safe implementation of VRP usually combines several resource allocation techniques. VRP implementations depend on rapidly varying transaction type, consumed resource and kernel state. The VRP implementation must adapt to such changes in real-time.

References

VRP as a new trend in the IT industry

VRP technical overview as implemented by one of the VRP vendors
Virtualization