"John" <studarus@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1137120380.706889.231210@f14g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com...
> I'm looking for advice from the experts out there. I've got a p570
> with 4 cpus and six disks (2 scsi buses). I need to run one
> application which is only supported on 5.2 and the rest can be 5.3.
> I'm looking at doing the following:
>
> LPAR #1 - AIX 5.2 - 2 processors & 3 disks (one scsi bus)
> LPAR #2 - VIO - 1 cpu & 3 disks (second scsi bus)
> LPAR #3 - 5.3 - .5 cpu
> LPAR #4 - 5.3 - .5 cpu
>
> Questions: On LPAR #1, if I mirror rootvg what would be a good way to
> utilize the 3rd disk in some sort of redudant configuration for
> application space. Or should I just put the applications on the first
> two mirrored disks.

Well, if you mirror rootvg, you don't have a redundant option with the
remaining disk. It's not great practice to put
everything into rootvg, and if you do that you will probably end up
regretting it when you have to deal with monstrous
mksysb images.

> Am I shooting myself in the foot by not using the VIO Server with all
> disks and scsi chains? Should I forget about LPARs 2-4 and just run
> the one application with the redudant scsi buses? Yes, this would
> require additional hardware. Apparently 5.2 doesn't support the VIO
> Server.
>
> For LPARs #3 & #4 - Where would I put the rootvg for these LPARs?
> Would they go onto the rootvg disks being used by the VIO Server?

With the six disks (and particularly wanting to run 5.2), you are pretty
much in a
corner. Having 3 disks in each LPAR means you don't really have any
redundant options.
Ironically the p550 with its 4 packs would have been a more flexible option
(if you had
connected the second 4 pack to a PCI-X SCSI card).

> Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated!

You look like you need more storage. Either a D20 or the 2104 (or whatever
the new version is).
A 2104 in split bus mode might be the cheapest option.
Is a production server, or a machine where you don't mind lower levels of
redundancy?