hewlett-packard hp-ux 11i operating system hp-ux 11i operating system summary hp-ux 11i is a unix...

Gartner© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to bereliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretationsthereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

DPRO-90019Mary I. Hubley, CynthiaR. Lubrano

Product Report15 September 2003

Hewlett-Packard HP-UX 11i Operating System

Summary

HP-UX 11i is a Unix operating system for PA-RISC and Intel Itanium 2 architectures. It is available fortechnical and commercial computing in four operating environments, each tailored to differentrequirements.

Note

Hewlett-Packard released HP-UX 11i version 2 for the Intel Itanium architecture on 19 May 2003. It canscale to 64 processors and is fully compatible with the Precision Architecture Reduced Instruction SetComputer (PA-RISC) edition of HP-UX on Intel.

Table of Contents

Overview

Analysis

Pricing

Competitors

Strengths

Limitations

Insight

List Of Tables

Table 1: HP-UX 11i Environments: Components

Table 2: Features and Functions: HP-UX 11i

Table 3: Per-Processor Licensing for HP-UX Operating Environments for all HP-UX Servers


© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9001915 September 2003 2

Corporate Headquarters

Hewlett-Packard

3000 Hanover Street

Palo Alto, CA 94304-1185, U.S.A.

Tel: +1 650 857 1501

Fax: +1 650 857 5518

Overview

HP-UX 11i is a highly available and reliable, secure, and scalable Unix operating system that is used torun mission-critical applications in both commercial and technical markets. Hewlett-Packard’s (HP) HP-UX11i is used for batch processing, decision support, electronic commerce, enterprisewide applicationserving, file serving, and Internet and intranet access. It is further used for online transaction processing(OLTP) and technical computer-intensive applications.

HP-UX has traditionally been optimized for HP’s PA-RISC Unix server systems, and although the vendorstill supports this platform, its focus is increasingly toward the Intel Itanium-based Processor Family (IPF).In May 2003, HP issued HP-UX 11i version 2 (HP-UX v.2), its third HP-UX release for the IPF. HP andIntel jointly developed the Intel Itanium processor architecture. With the release of HP-UX 11i v.2, both thePA-RISC and Itanium editions are functionally similar.

HP-UX 11i is packaged into four operating environments designed to ease ordering, installation, licensemanagement and support. Each environment is tailored to different computing needs:

• HP-UX 11i Internet OE—This is the base HP-UX operating system, designed to run content delivery,front-end and Web servers. It includes other software products for Web environments, includingmanageability and interoperability tools for Internet and mixed-OS environments. The OE alsoincludes application development tools, such as HP-optimized HP-UX Java tools (that is, HP JVM,HPjtune, HPjmeter and HPjconfig). These tools are tuned and optimized for heightened HP-UX Javaperformance. The platform also provides open-source tools and Linux application programminginterfaces (APIs) to enable Linux applications development for HP-UX deployment. It also providesopen-source development and deployment tools for Java and Linux APIs and Lightweight DirectoryAccess Protocol (LDAP) servers.

• HP-UX 11i Enterprise OE—Includes the components of HP-UX 11i Internet OE, but is tuned fordatabase application servers and logic servers. It has more granularity of system control andmanagement; tools for consistent performance and response time under heavy loads; and featuresfor monitoring, high-availability and data backup.

• HP-UX 11i Mission-Critical OE—Geared to powerful back-end, big-iron application servers andlarge, corporate database servers. It is for demanding computing tasks, requiring maximum systemuptime and the best use of server resources. This environment features continuous availability, whichincludes HP-UX 11i Enterprise OE along with added components, such as workload managementsoftware and application specific toolkits. The Mission-Critical OE provides the key products thatcomprise HP’s Virtual Server Environment (VSE). VSE provides the capability to use all systemresources where and when they are needed based on service-level objectives and businesspriorities.



• HP-UX 11i Technical OE—Aimed at compute-intensive, technical workstation and serverapplications. It includes most of HP-UX 11i Internet OE and additional file system administrationtools.




HP-UX 11i

Internet OE

HP-UX 11i

Enterprise OE

HP-UX 11i Mission-Critical OE HP-UX 11i Technical OE




HP-UX 11i

Internet OE

HP-UX 11i

Enterprise OE


—Network

drivers

—HP Web

Server Suite

including

Apache

—Online JFS

—

Mirrordisk/UX

—Open

Source tools

and Linux

APIs

—Process

Resource

Manager

—Ignite-UX

—Event

Monitoring

Services

(EMS)

—EMS High-

Availability

(HA) monitors

—GlancePlus

Pak

—OpenView

—HP-UX Java

tools: HP-UX

Java Runtime

Environment

(RTE), HP-UX

Java Software

Development

Kit (JDK)

HPjtune and

with HPjmeter

HP-UX Java

Plug-In (JPI)

—Common

Internet File

System (CIFS)

client

—CIFS server

—Single-

system event

and availability

management

—Service

—Includes all

components in

HP-UX 11i

Internet OE

—Online

Journaled File

System (JFS)

3.3

—Mirror

disk/UX

—Process

Resource

Manager

(PRM)

—

ServiceGuard

Network File

System (NFS)

toolkit

—HP-UX

Workload

Manager

—Enterprise

Cluster Master

—Includes all components in HP-

UX 11i Base and Enterprise

—HP MC/ServiceGuard

—HP-UX Workload Manager

—ServiceGuard NFS Toolkit

—Enterprise Cluster

Management (ECM) toolkit

—System Inventory Manager

—Network drivers

—EMS framework

—Software distributor/UX

—Base Veritas Volume Manager

for HP-UX

—Ignite-UX

—Java RTE, JDK and JPI

—Netscape Directory Server

—Practical Extraction Report

Language (PERL)

—Message-Passing Interface

(MPI)

—Mathematical Software Library

(MLIB)

—HP Apache Web Server

—CIFS client

—CIFS server

—HP-UX Java tools: HP-UX Java

RTE with HP Java Virtual

Machine (JVM), HP-UX Java

Software Development Kit (SDK)

with HPjtune and HPjmeter, and

HP-UX Java Plug-In (JPI), HP-UX

—Java 3-D

—PAM Kerberos

—Technical System Configurator

—Netscape Communicator




HP-UX 11i

Internet OE

HP-UX 11i

Enterprise OE


Source: Hewlett-Packard.

The release of HP-UX 11i v.2 marks the first time that HP-UX runs identically on both IPF and PA-RISCplatforms. With source code compatibility, these platforms offer common tools and infrastructures todevelop, deploy and manage multiplatform HP-UX, Windows and Linux environments. HP partnered withIntel to design the IPF and has made HP-UX 11i available since June 2001 on all its hardware platformssupporting the Itanium architecture.

HP-UX 11i version 2 is available in all four of HP’s HP-UX 11i operating environments. It includes suchnew features as 64-way Intel Itanium processor scalability; multithreading for higher performance withJava-based applications; support for up to 1 terabyte of main memory; and multi-OS system managementtools to support HP-UX 11i, Linux and Windows running in separate hard partitions. It also offers two newsecurity installation tools for the securing of HP-UX 11i servers: HP-UX Bastille 2.0 and the HP install-timesecurity tool.

HP-UX 11i version 2 offers several new and enhanced facilities:

• The new graphical, Web-based Partition Manager

• The updated HP-UX Workload Manager 2.1 with improved tracking of resources and clusteringvirtualization for ServiceGuard customers

• HP Servicecontrol Manager 3.0 for multisystem management, which provides a single point ofadministration for HP-UX 11i and Linux.


Compatibility Data and source code compatible across PA-RISC and Itanium servers. Binary

compatibility with HP-UX 11i v.1.5 and 1.6 on Itanium-based systems.

Performance/Scalabi

lity

HP-UX 11i functions on systems ranging from workstations and access servers up

to application servers and data center servers. It scales up to 64 processors and is

designed for future scaling up to 256 processors in a single system. Instant

Capacity on Demand (iCOD) allows additional processors to be brought online

when system load requires it:

• Support for PA-RISC and IPF processors

• MxN threads for optimal Java performance (for Itanium only)

• One- to 64-way symmetric multiprocessing scalability (up to 128-way expected by

the end of 2003)

• Up to 1 terabyte of main memory

• 2-terabyte maximum file system and file size (increase to 4 terabytes expected by

the end of 2003)

• Autoport aggregation for higher networking bandwidths (optional product, PA-RISC

only)

• Dynamic memory page sizing

• iCOD (optional product)




Management • Centralized graphical user interface (GUI) interface (Servicecontrol Manager)

• Networkable multisystem configuration tracking (System Inventory Manager)

• Online GUI-based dynamic kernel configuration (HP-UX kernel configuration)

• Management of hundreds of remote nodes through Centralized Web Console

(optional product)

• Automatic system administrator notification of exception conditions (EMS)

• Role-based system administrator capabilities

• Allocation of system resources (Process Resource Manager, add-on product)

• Automatic, goal-based allocation of system resources

• Automatic OS updates over a network (Ignite-UX)

• Automatic application software updates over a network (Software Distributor-UX)

• Hardware-based partitions

• Software-based partitions (HP-UX Virtual Partitions, optional product). Also, PRM

ServiceGuard Manager (GUI) interface for monitoring and configuration

management of clusters

Availability/Reliability • Integrated operating environments

• Dynamic processor and memory resilience

• Online file system administration (Online Journaled File System, add-on product)

• Fast file system recovery (Journaled File System)

• Disk mirroring (MirrorDisk/UX, optional product)

• System administrator notification of system exception conditions

• Highly available SAP and Oracle9i RAC environments with ServiceGuard

extensions (optional)

• Dynamically tunable kernel parameters.

• Autoport aggregation for transparent link redundancy (optional product)

• MC/ServiceGuard for automatic application failover (optional product)

• Dynamic failover to iCOD CPUs

• Disaster recovery (extended campus cluster, metropolitan cluster, continental

clusters—all optional products)

Connectivity/Interope

rability

• TCP/IP

• TCP wrappers for network activity monitoring

• Service Location Protocol (SLP)

• Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) services

• Washington University File Transfer Protocol (WU-FTP).

• IPv.4, IPv.6.

• Mobile IPv.4.

• Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) versions 4 and 6

• Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) 9.2.

• Domain Name System (DNS)

• Sendmail 8.11.1.

• Common Internet File System (CIFS).

• NFS

Web Application • HP Apache-based Web server integrated with additional HP features including

built-in Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

• BEA Weblogic Platform 8.1, including Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE)

BEA Weblogic Server

• Oracle 9i Application Server




Development Tools • COBOL

• HP-UX Java tools optimized by HP Java labs

• C

• C++

• FORTRAN

Security • Hardened kernel

• HP-UX Bastille (secure system lockdown)

• Install-time security lockdown through Bastille (Itanium only)

• Trusted users, passwords, disks, file systems and permissions

• Public key infrastructure (PKI) support (PA-RISC only).

• Buffer overflow protection (transparent to applications)

• Ipsec, or Internet Protocol security

• Host Intrusion Detection System

• IPFilter host firewall

• Internet daemon services

• Built-in encryption/decryption accelerators

• Netscape directory server

• LDAP UX integration with Windows and Unix

• Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) Server

• C2 compliance

• Common Criteria EAL 4-CAPP certified

• Security patch monitoring (Security Patch Check) (PA-RISC only)

• Pluggable authentication module

• Kerberos security server

• Virtual vault (optional product, PA-RISC only)

Linux Compatibility • GNU Tool Chain

• Over 50 open source tools

• API compatibility

• Application binary interface (ABI) compatibility (Itanium only)

• Scanner to identify problems and recommended changes

Internationalization Native Language Support (NLS) for more than 50 locales. Localized user interfaces

for simplified and traditional Chinese, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian,

Korean, Japanese, Norwegian and others.

Analysis

HP reports that its Unix business, involving both hardware and software, is thriving. It is a US$20 billionbusiness, with more than 2 million units in use, and approximately 2,000 developers creating software forthe platform. In 2002, there were some 1,300 HP-UX patents filed, underscoring the relevancy of the HPUnix business.

The “i” in HP-UX 11i stands for “Internet.” HP-UX 11i v.1 and the newer HP-UX 11i v.2 were designedwith features for effectively conducting business over the Internet. HP-UX 11i is equipped to run Websites, facilitate e-commerce and perform a host of other Internet operations. The core objective for HP-UX11i is to perform as a solid mission-critical operating system to support the workload managementactivities of data centers and enterprises.



HP markets HP-UX 11i as the “platform with choice,” but HP’s propensity for customer choice actuallyextends to other operating system environments. HP Integrity servers, the company’s newest hardwaresystems based on Itanium 2, provide its customers with a choice of operating systems—they run on HP-UX, Linux and Windows. The three operating systems are being driven by very different market needs.Gartner sees the positioning of HP’s operating systems is as follows:

• HP-UX—HP-UX 11i is generally implemented for mission-critical enterprise and service providerinfrastructures, focused on database, analytical and data warehousing.

• Windows—Windows is used mostly for foundation/application services, such as Web servers,file/print, e-mail, e-commerce, select applications and basic server infrastructure. Depending on thecustomer, these markets overlap with HP-UX 11i.

• Linux—Linux is the operating system requested most often for appliance servers and embeddedsystems, as well as being an application development platform. It is also used for Web servers andaccess services, such as for firewall, caching and load balancing.

As far as its HP-UX business goes, HP is striving to reduce the complexity customers face by offering aselection of four HP-UX 11i operating environments—Foundation, Enterprise, Mission-Critical andTechnical—each of which is targeted to a different business need. The vendor further offers a two-pronged approach to server functionality with support for its traditional PA-RISC processor and the newerItanium processor line.

HP has a 15-year investment in PA-RISC for its Unix customers, and even though the company isfocusing on the HP-UX 11i on Itanium as its strategic Unix platform, it will continue to enhance andsupport PA-RISC through 2005.

By promoting both server OS lines, HP has a balanced approach: it will provide stable technology tocurrent customers while promoting Itanium 2. Itanium 2, released in June 2003, offers 50 percentimproved performance over its predecessor, according to Intel. By positioning itself as a major Itanium 2vendor early in the market cycle, over time, HP hopes to convince customers that Itanium is the wayforward. The company plans to provide Itanium-based solutions that address the price/performance,scalability and availability needs of customers. Further development of PA-RISC stops after two moregenerations (PA-8800 and PA-8900)—after that, it has to be Intel Itanium. Gartner anticipates thatrevenue from HP-UX on Itanium will exceed that of the PA-RISC platform by the end of 2006.

HP-UX 11i v.2 brings all the functionality of HP-UX for PA-RISC to the Itanium platform. Such parity couldnot be said for the first two generations of HP-UX for Itanium. For example, until now, HP-UX for Itaniumdidn’t support iCOD capabilities. Likewise, application support lagged for the Itanium OS as compared tothe PA-RISC version. But developer support has improved significantly with HP-UX 11i v.2. More than130 independent software vendors (ISVs) have ported over 200 applications and development tools to theplatform.

Aside from technical parity, the two editions of HP-UX (for PA-RISC and Itanium) provide architecturalcompatibility across the server platforms. HP provides full data and source code compatibility. HP-UX 11iv.2 provides the built-in capability to run PA-RISC binaries on the Itanium platform through Aries dynamiccode translation. There is an inevitable performance hit when using translation software, however. Butwhile performance won’t match that of a native port of the application to Itanium, it will enable customersto stage their migration to IPF.

When should customers jump to IPF? Customers shouldn’t feel pressured into moving to IPF; HP willcontinue to offer services and support for PA-RISC until at least the end of the decade. However,



customers will find that ISV enthusiasm for PA will diminish as HP puts all its emphasis on IPF. Typicallythis is what happens when a processor architecture comes to the end of the line. The latest versions andreleases of applications, tools or middleware, may no longer support the legacy platform. We wouldtherefore advise HP-UX clients to put in place an IPF migration strategy, starting with the least mission-critical applications to gain experience. We believe that the decline in ISV enthusiasm will start to happenin the 2007/8 time frame.

HP’s Adaptive Enterprise Infrastructure

In May 2003, HP announced its Adaptive Enterprise Infrastructure initiative, a blueprint for using“adaptive” technologies to reduce the level of information technology (IT) cost, effort and risk that is linkedwith corporate changes. It is designed to give customers the tools to react spontaneously to rapidlychanging internal and external business circumstances. HP markets HP-UX 11i v.2 as a centerpieceproduct for its Adaptive Enterprise Infrastructure.

The operating system is designed, according to HP, to deliver a flexible, on-demand computingenvironment with automated intelligence, iCOD capabilities and a fully available infrastructure. In theevent of a system failure, HP-UX 11i adaptive components take over to ensure the integrity of the system.For example, on an application failover, HP-UX ServiceGuard automatically adjusts system resourcesaccording to predefined business rules, and the Workload Manager dynamically activates additionalCPUs if needed.

In designing HP-UX 11i to support the Adaptive Enterprise Infrastructure, HP concentrated on the areasof automated management (to reduce the complexity of systems); dynamic resource optimization(including partitioning capabilities); and continuous secure operations (including availability andscalability).

Pricing

Table 3: Per-Processor Licensing for HP-UX Operating Environments for all HP-UXServers

Worldwide Reference Price Licenses US$

HP-UX 11i Operating Environment per-Processor License-

to-Use, purchase with system

N/C

HP-UX 11i Enterprise Operating Environment per-

Processor License, purchase separately from system

735

HP-UX 11i Enterprise OE per-Processor License-to-Use,

purchase with system

5,250

HP-UX 11i Enterprise OE per-Processor License-to-Use,

purchase separately from system

5,985

HP-UX Mission-Critical OE per-Processor License-to-Use,

purchase with system

9,300

HP-UX Mission-Critical OE per-Processor License-to-Use,

purchase separately from system

10,035

HP-UX Mission-Critical OE per-Processor License

Upgrade from Enterprise OE

4,050

HP-UX Technical Computing Operating Environment per-

Processor License-to-Use, purchase with system

N/C



Table 3: Per-Processor Licensing for HP-UX Operating Environments for all HP-UXServers

Worldwide Reference Price Licenses US$

HP-UX Technical Computing Operating Environment per-

Processor License-to-Use, purchase separately from

system

735

Note: All prices presented here are Worldwide Reference Prices. They are subject to change. Always consult HP

for the most current pricing.

Source: Hewlett-Packard.

GSA Pricing

Yes.

Competitors

HP-UX 11i remains one of the healthiest Unix implementations in a market that is increasingly feeling thepressure of Linux and Windows. Not only does the operating system compete directly with IBM AIX andSun Microsystems Solaris, it also competes with Linux at the lower end and faces strong competition fromWindows and Intel-based servers.

Because of its broad platform support, HP maintains an industry leadership position in the areas of Unix,Windows and Linux server revenue. With a vested interest in the success of the Itanium 2 chip, HP hasplaced the processor on its Unix, Windows, and Linux workstation and server systems. Like other Unixcompetitors, HP continually upgrades its operating system with focuses on data center support,scalability, security, manageability, Linux integration and Web applications.

Strengths

Mature and Dependable

HP-UX 11i is a solid, powerful and proven Unix operating environment for the enterprise. It has beenaround for years and has a favorable reputation for dependability and scalability. It provides acomprehensive range of availability and reliability; directory and security services; Internet and Webapplication services; and system management capabilities.

There are 16,000 ISV applications that support HP-UX, including leading applications from suppliers, suchas BEA, Cognos, Micro Focus, Oracle, Rational, SAP, SAS and Verity. And although ISVs were slow tosupport the HP-UX on the Itanium architecture, momentum is building. As of May 2003, there wereapproximately 130 ISVs that released more than 200 applications and development tools to run on HPItanium 2-based servers.

Compatibility Between PA-RISC and Intel Itanium Versions

HP-UX 11i v.2 is fully data, source and binary compatible with previous versions of HP-UX 11i for IPF andPA-RISC processor-based systems. HP’s Aries translator provides binary compatibility and allows PA-RISC applications to run without change on HP’s Itanium 2-based systems (HP Integrity rx servers andIntegrity Superdome servers). The HP 9000 line is PA-RISC-based. There is also a common look-and-feelto the operating environments. As HP begins to phase out development for PA-RISC in favor of the IPF,this compatibility will smooth the transition to Itanium servers.

Scalability



The newest version of HP-UX 11i scales to 64 Itanium processors on the high-end HP Superdome. HP-UX 11i v.2 runs on workstations, application servers and data center servers. HP plans to take itsoperating system to the 256-processor mark in the future. With iCOD support, HP-UX 11i allowsadditional processors to be brought online on the fly as circumstances dictate.

IPF Computing

HP and Intel were the co-developers of the Itanium architecture in the early 1990s. Because of itsinvolvement, HP was capable of quickly building PA-RISC compatibility into the Itanium chip. HP-UX 111iwas Itanium-ready more than a year before the chip was on the market. It was the first Unix operatingsystem off the ground and running full force on Itanium. HP shipped its first Itanium system in June 2001.

While HP will ultimately phase out PA-RISC in favor of IPF-based systems, the company offers anincremental and digestible avenue for its PA-RISC customers. The company encourages customers toconsider moving as their business needs dictate and provides a comprehensive set of technical, supportand business programs to facilitate the transition.

Limitations

Migration Away From RISC

Although it was the cornerstone for HP’s Unix business, the vendor has determined that its 15-year-oldPA-RISC architecture has run its course. HP will focus its energies into IPF from the second half of 2003.This move may cause some staunch RISC proponents to look in other Unix directions, like SunMicrosystems, for example. Sun’s Solaris version of Unix runs on SPARC RISC processors.

To its credit, HP is making the migration as easy as possible through full data, binary and sourcecompatibility between the PA-RISC and Itanium 2 editions of HP-UX 11i. But HP is encouragingmigrations and is giving IPF customers the best deals. Eventually, HP-UX users will have to migrate toIPF, and to get the most out of the IPF machines they will need to recompile their applications or reinvestin new versions of software for IPF.

Insight

HP-UX 11i remains one of the strongest and safest versions of Unix. It is among the strongest in terms offunctionality and technical capacities, and among the safest in terms of IT investments. With thecontroversial merger with Compaq behind it, the vendor has articulated a clear vision of its Unix serverand operating system road map. HP-UX 11i’s strong enterprise-capable facilities, dual PA-RISC andItanium architecture support, and HP’s broad server line, make HP-UX 11i attractive for large computingenvironments. HP’s challenge, however, is not only to win new customers for HP-UX 11i and to convincethem of the viability of Itanium, but also to maintain the confidence and loyalty of its PA-RISC base.

hewlett-packard hp-ux 11i operating system hp-ux 11i operating system summary hp-ux 11i is a unix...

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