UNIX®: HP-UX 11i vs. AIX—mission-critical functionality compared

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Announcing breakthrough value for HP Integrity and HP-UX customers

Overview

Looking for a mission-critical IT environment backed by an IT partner who knows UNIX? Considering a UNIX alternative to AIX, or consolidating your server sprawl? HP offers HP-UX 11i for real savings in IT simplicity and utilization. Review HP-UX 11i big-ticket advantages versus IBM AIX below—backed up by the substantiating technical differences.

HP delivers over 25 years of experience in mission-critical UNIX with HP-UX 11i. HP-UX surpasses AIX in ways that provide advantages to IT managers striving to meet goals of business continuity, risk avoidance, efficiency, and cost reduction.

Observed Performance (real World) UNIX users demand performance―it’s a fair starting point. In Gabriel Consulting Group’s 2009 results* of its annual enterprise UNIX users survey, HP-UX out-paced AIX (and Solaris) for the second year, in the category “Observed performance.”

“Real-world performance” involves much more than chip speed: the server design and operating system optimization matters, as does the ability to achieve performance goals with workloads running in everyday changing conditions. Ask for a proof- of-concept for your application stack, for the most accurate performance assessment.

Integrated mission-critical UNIX®: advantage HP-UX 11i

Big-ticket HP-UX 11i mission-critical advantages over AIX are:

Unique, powerful virtualization functionality with integrated high availability and more management control make HP-UX better able to meet service goals, provision and manage virtual systems more efficiently.

HP-UX 11i delivers where AIX does not: higher utilization and throughput with the industry’s only goal-based workload manager; smarter, quicker planning decisions with the capacity planning tool; and more adaptive utility pricing and integration. It all works together seamlessly.

Simplified single-pane-of-glass system management, contrasted with multiple separate tools on AIX. HP-UX 11i v3 delivers more intelligent control for more aspects of the system.

Integrated high availability software that delivers less downtime and simpler deployment—with no need for potentially expensive custom services.

Integration: the power of HP-UX 11i mission-critical virtualization integrated-by-design—from engineering to testing to packaging, installation and updates, and functionality—all within an HP-UX 11i v3 OE. It just works.

The analysts agree that compared to AIX 10, HP-UX 11i holds demonstrable, cost-saving technology advantages that offer real relief in lowered TCO, without compromising security, availability, or performance.

UNIX security is a clear differentiator between HP-UX 11i and AIX. AIX requires third-party products to provide the mission-critical security functionality that HP-UX 11i delivers in every shipment.

View the security functionality delivered with HP-UX 11i that requires an add-on or a third party product on AIX

Critical security protection included in HP-UX 11i, but is third-party for AIX	HP-UX 11i v3 Advantage	AIX 6 Disadvantage
2-factor authentication—a complete One Time Password (OTP) based two-factor authentication solution to consolidate and strengthen enterprise authentication for compliance and security	In Base OE: AAA RADIUS Server, PAM_RADIUS, and Apache mod_auth_RADIUSx	Third party
Volume encryption—fills the compliance need to store files in a way that they cannot be read by unauthorised parties who obtain physical access to storage	In Base OE: Encrypted Volume and Filesystem	Third party
Host intrusion detection, enhances host-level security with near real-time automatic monitoring of each configured host for signs of potentially damaging intrusions	In Base OE: Host IDS	Third party

HP’s commitment to UNIX quality and functionality

With over 25 years of HP-UX experience, HP is committed to continued UNIX development with emphasis on mission-critical UNIX virtualization.

» Take a look at the HP-UX 11i roadmap (PDF) – the most forward-looking public UNIX roadmap

Gabriel Consulting Group UNIX user survey respondents voted HP-UX tops in “Operating System Features” and “Operating System Quality”―the foundation for the advantages HP brings to data centers around the world.

UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group.

*Results from Gabriel Consulting Group 2008/09 Unix Vendor Preference Survey. Survey period covered 12/08-03/09 with 266 survey respondents representing small, medium and large enterprise data centers. Respondents to the Gabriel survey reside primarily in North America, with about 1/3 residing in Europe.
For more information see www.gabrielconsultinggroup.com

[1] The following are registered trademarks:
Oracle Database® of Oracle Corporation
SAP™ of SAP, Inc
SAP™ of SAP, Inc
Java® of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
IBM™ DB2® of IBM Corporation

HP-UX 11i v3 delivers measurable benefits from more comprehensive and functional UNIX® system virtualization:

enabling you to maximize utilization of your mission-critical computing resources
pay only for what you use more cost-effectively
ensure IT alignment with your bottom-line goals

Intelligent control: simpler to use, greater scope, analysis and control

Today’s partitioning options deliver better flexibility and utilization than ever before. They also introduce new system management challenges—managing virtual systems along with physical systems, to mention one. For the best of both worlds—maximum flexibility plus simplified management—HP has invested in advanced virtualization management functionality that today is superior in three ways compared with AIX:

Integrated virtualization management of both virtual and physical servers, saving administrators’ time in contrast to disjointed tools to manage AIX physical and virtual servers.
Advanced capacity planning, with advanced what-if simulations to explore configuration and workload placement options, ‘best-fit’ recommendations, and energy consumption metrics. No such tool is available for AIX.
Automated optimal alignment of computing resources to your workloads with the industry’s only UNIX goal-based workload management software Global Workload Manager (gWLM).

View the detailed comparison behind intelligent control

Intelligent control	HP-UX 11i v3 Advantage	AIX 6 Disadvantage
Unified infrastructure management	» Yes: System Insight Manager	No: requires both IBM Systems Director and Hardware Management Console
Integrated tool for ongoing capacity planning, simulating placement of application workloads to help IT administrators improve server utilization.	» Yes: CloudSystem Matrix with HP-UX	No: IBM Workload Estimator, System Planning tool, Performance management service together can’t offer what-if simulation
Tool to recommend the best fit for your workloads across hundreds of servers, taking the guesswork out of traditional capacity planning	» Yes: Capacity Advisor's Smart Solver technology	No offering
Energy modeling to improve and accelerate decisions regarding energy use	» Yes: Capacity Advisor's energy modeling	No offering
Ability to manage both physical and virtual servers	» Yes: Virtualization Manager	Yes: With VM Control extension for IBM Systems Director
Goal-based workload management―fully transparent to the applications	» Yes: Global Workload Manager	Partial: eWLM requires application instrumentation, available only for DB2 and WebSphere and other Web servers, not Oracle or SAP
Drag-and-drop a complete system image from one blade to another―across enclosures	» Yes: HP Logical Server (PDF)	No

Hard partitions and secure OS resource partitions give HP-UX advantages in uptime, efficiency, and performance

HP-UX delivers two unique offerings that AIX cannot match: hard partitions with electrical isolation (nPars) and Secure OS resource partitions (SRP).

The workhorse for HP-UX data centre for years, HP-UX hard partitions (nPartitions or nPars) reduce the risk of downtime by electrically isolating the partition from the rest of the system, eliminating exposure to activities in other partitions. Enhanced in v3, Dynamic nPars enable modular hardware upgrades. Only the partition targeted for a hardware change comes down―all other partitions carry on working. Secure resource partitions build on nPars, to enable isolating workloads in a secure fashion, without having to create and maintain multiple OS images.

View the detailed comparison of partitioning technologies for the two UNIX operating systems

Sub-CPU partitions	HP-UX 11i v3 Neutral	AIX 6 Neutral
Product characteristics compared; hypervisor-based partitions	» HP Integrity Virtual Machines (VMs)	IBM MicroPartitions
Online migration	Yes: Online Virtual Machine (VM)Migration	Yes: PowerVM Live Partition Mobility
Built-in CPU resource capping	Yes	Yes
Automatic memory re-allocation	Yes	Yes
Partition suspend/resume	Yes	No
Virtual hardware high-availability	Yes – VM as a Serviceguard package, including application monitoring	No
Resource sharing and dynamic memory migration	Yes	Yes- Shared Processor Pools and Active Memory Sharing
Dedicated I/O for enhanced performance	No	Yes, with Sub-Processor LPARS (not hypervisor-based)

Hard partitions	HP-UX 11i v3 Advantage	AIX 6 Disadvantage
Product characteristics compared	» HP-UX 11i nPars	No offering
Electrical isolation	Yes
Cell online addition and replacement for serviceability	Yes: Dynamic nPartitions

Soft partitions	HP-UX 11i v3 Neutral	AIX 6 Neutral
Product compared	» HP Virtual Partitions (vPars)	IBM LPARs

Secure resource partitions	HP-UX 11i v3 Advantage	AIX 6 Disadvantage
The ability to assign and cap resources associated to particular workloads	» HP resource partitions with Process Resource Manager and processor sets (psets)	IBM Workload Partitions (WPARs)
Enable applications and users to operate in access-controlled isolation, within a single OS instance,on a single partition	» Yes: Secure Resource Partitions	Yes: WPARs
Operates in electrical isolation from other workloads on the system	Yes: Built on nPars	No
Integration with pay per use	» Yes: Instant Capacity	No

Leadership utility pricing: more options and the only automated activation

Expand to view the options from IBM and HP compared

Utility pricing: scope of offering and functionality	HP-UX 11i v3 Advantage	AIX 6 Disadvantage
Pay per use: active leasing program	Yes: Guaranteed not to exceed the purchase price	No
Instant capacity: defer hardware costs to simplify capacity planning, improve resource utilization, and reduce over-provisioning by activating CPUs and OS licenses as needed, automatically if desired	Yes: iCAP—with guarantee not to exceed traditional lease price	Yes: Capacity Upgrade on Demand (CUoD). CUoD includes memory in addition to CPUs. On/Off CUoD in 24-hour increments, Utility CUoD in 1-minute increments, Trial CUoD
Temporary capacity: turn CPUs on and off as needed to match workloads, including across multiple systems, automatically to support goals if desired	Yes: Temporary Instant Capacity on Demand
Global solution: Dynamically move licenses between servers without a reboot, or pool temporary resources among multiple servers	Yes: Global Instant Capacity	No

UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group.

UNIX® users voted HP-UX #1 by 40 percent over AIX in the both ‘Real World Manageability’ and ‘System Management Suite’ categories of the Gabriel Consulting Group, Inc. 2009 report. Easier management with richer tools translates into increased IT efficiency and quality of service―more of your work gets done when the UNIX stack requires less of your staff.

See our technical system manageability comparison between HP-UX 11i and IBM AIX on Power servers that explains, from our perspective, customers’ preference for HP-UX 11i over AIX and Solaris, when it comes to managing UNIX systems.

From single-system management with System Management Homepage, to managing hundreds with Systems Insight Manager (SIM) or Operations Manager, HP-UX 11i makes it easier for system administrators to control UNIX systems at lower costs.

Simplified management with a single-pane-of-glass view

With Systems Insight Manager (SIM), you have a single-pane-of-glass view into your entire UNIX environment, which aggregates control for efficiency and produces a more complete and current view—better for making your configuration decisions.

View the detailed comparison depicting features HP believes are necessary for today’s mission-critical UNIX environments

Single-pane-of-glass management	HP-UX 11i v3 Advantage	AIX 6 Disadvantage
Single-pane-of-glass console for all UNIX management activities	HP Systems Management Homepage (SMH), HP Systems Insight Manager (SIM)	No: management requires a number of different tools including IBM Systems Director (with extensions), the Hardware Management Console, the Integrated Virtualization Manager, as well as separate OS-level management tools, some which must open in their own window and in many cases require a separate log in by the administrator
Multi-OS management included: common system management console	HP SMH and HP SIM for HP-UX 11i, Microsoft® Windows®, Linux, and OpenVMS	No: requires additional purchase of Tivoli to manage other operating systems from AIX,
Integrated rapid deployment for distributed systems	Yes: Ignite/UX with HP SIM, iLO-2 remote management	Yes: Network Installation Manager (NIM)
Multi-vendor management software available	Yes: HP Operations Manager, not included with HP-UX	Yes: Tivoli management software, not included with AIX
Simplified, integrated storage management	HP-UX 11i VxVM integrated with HP SIM and Serviceguard Mass Storage Stack in v3	Yes
Drag-and-drop a complete system image from on blade to another across enclosures	HP Logical servers	No

Higher value results from HP-UX 11i’s integration-by-design

HP-UX 11i system management software is always included with our UNIX operating system. The integration begins in the labs where our engineers design, code and test products as part of the whole operating environment, with single-pane management console integration required.

From engineering to testing to packaging, installation and maintenance—it just works. The unified HP-UX 11i operating environments can be ordered with a single product number—you can simply add one more for your support contract.

» Consider your OE options.

From ordering to installation to production functionality—HP-UX 11i v3 integrates the entire UNIX stack, enabling higher functioning environments that are more astutely aligned with changing business needs.

UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group.

In the Gabriel Consulting Group, Inc. 2009 report, in the category Observed Availability, HP-UX 11i trumped AIX in ‘Observed Availability’ and ‘Availability and Reliability Features.’ This conveys users’ experience, not vendor claims.

These are advantages for the IT goals of business continuity and risk avoidance…and that helps the bottom line.

Our high availability solution comparison between HP-UX 11i and AIX below presents the technical differences that may explain HP-UX advantages in user experience.

High availability and disaster recovery: Advantage HP-UX 11i

View the details behind that ‘Advantage | neutral’ rating

High availability and disaster recovery software: breadth of offering	HP-UX 11i v3 Advantage	AIX 6 Neutral
Node-to-node fail-over in the event of a node outage	Yes: HP Serviceguard Solutions	Yes: PowerHA
Extended distance clusters	Yes: Extended Distance, Metrocluster and Continentalclusters	Yes: PowerHA/XD
Management and application integration tools	Yes: Enterprise Cluster Master Toolkit, the Serviceguard NFSToolkit, Serviceguard Extension for SAP and Serviceguard Extension for RAC, plus the Toolkit Framework and Developers Toolbox	Yes: SmartAssist application extensions for DB2, WebSphere and Oracle

Integrated and simpler-to-manage cluster software

The most common configuration to ensure business continuity, high availability clusters can also be daunting to set up and manage. HP invests to simplify HP-UX 11i cluster set up and use. Our advantages increase IT efficiency by saving system administrators’ time, and availability by eliminating some risk of operator error.

View the detail behind that ranking, comparing ease of management and integration value.

High availability clusters: integrated and simple to manage	HP-UX 11i v3 Advantage	AIX 6 Disadvantage
Product characteristics compared	HP Serviceguard Solutions	IBM PowerHA
UNIX ships and installs already integrated with cluster software	Yes: HP-UX HA-OE and DC-OE	No: PowerHA ordered and installed separately, whether by you or custom services
Integration with sub-CPU partitions to enable guest or application to be a fail-over package	Yes: Virtual Machines integrated with Serviceguard clusters	No: Micropartitions are not integrated with PowerHA
Easy-to-understand instructions for fast time to productivity for cluster administrators	Yes: startup wizards in Serviceguard	Yes: WebSMIT
Integrated with the typically used UNIX system management tools	Yes: with HP SIM, HP OpenView, others	Yes: with IBM Systems Director and Tivoli
Integration with workload management: workloads automatically rebalance after failover	Yes: with Global Workload Manager (gWLM)	No
Ability to pay for processors and UNIX licenses on cluster nodes only when needed, and activate node CPUs automatically	Yes: with Instant Capacity(iCAP), Temporary Instant Capacity (TiCAP), Global Instant Capacity (GiCAP) and Pay per Use (PPU)— including integration with HP Serviceguard Solutions for Disaster Recovery	Yes: with CUoD and Capacity Backup, but without automatic activation

Only HP-UX 11i: functionality beyond Solaris pays off, especially for SAP R3 users

Using HP Hot Standby for liveCache in HP SGeSAP, slashes SAP liveCache recovery time from days or hours to as little as two minutes and is recognized by SAP as the first solution of its kind on the market.

HP invests to make HP-UX 11i on Integrity servers the most reliable, available platform for SAP deployments running with Oracle Database and DB2. Backed by world-class support from both HP and SAP, Serviceguard Extension for SAP is fully tested, approved, and endorsed by SAP to minimize implementation risks. Customers can also integrate SAP with HP Serviceguard Solutions for disaster recovery.

» Get more information about Serviceguard Extension for SAP

UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group.