CPU: Bound and Unbound

Definitions

With vPars, there are two types of CPUs: bound and unbound.

A bound CPU is a CPU that is assigned to and handles I/O interrupts for a virtual partition. Every virtual partition must have at least one bound CPU to handle its I/O interrupts.

CPUs that are not assigned to any virtual partition or that are assigned to a virtual partition but do not handle its I/O interrupts are unbound CPUs. Unbound CPUs are sometimes called floater CPUs.

All CPUs begin as not being assigned to any virtual partition, so all CPUs begin as unbound CPUs. Using the vPars commands, you can assign CPUs to virtual partitions as bound or unbound.

You can migrate both bound and unbound CPUs, but because HP-UX cannot dynamically migrate I/O interrupts, you can dynamically migrate only unbound CPUs.