HP Instant Capacity user's guide for Version
10.x
HP-UX 11i v3, HP-UX 11i v2, and HP-UX 11i v1
HP Part Number: T1428-90074
Published: September 2010
Edition: 3
© Copyright 2000-2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P
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Table of Contents
About This Guide.............................................................................................................11
Intended Audience................................................................................................................................11
New and Changed Information in This Edition...................................................................................11
Publishing History................................................................................................................................12
Document Organization.......................................................................................................................13
Typographic Conventions.....................................................................................................................14
Location of Instant Capacity Information.............................................................................................15
Instant Capacity user’s guide for Version 10.x................................................................................15
Locating the Instant Capacity release notes for Version 10.x..........................................................15
Manpages.........................................................................................................................................16
HP Encourages Your Comments..........................................................................................................16
1 Introduction to Instant Capacity..................................................................................17
Instant Capacity Summary...................................................................................................................18
Terminology.....................................................................................................................................19
Overview...............................................................................................................................................20
Software Product Overview............................................................................................................20
System Overview.............................................................................................................................20
Instant Capacity System Hardware...........................................................................................21
Instant Capacity Software..........................................................................................................21
Utility Pricing Solutions Portal..................................................................................................22
Instant Capacity Administration System...................................................................................22
Instant Capacity Database..........................................................................................................22
Other System Management Commands....................................................................................22
Most Recent Instant Capacity Product Versions and Supported Platforms...................................23
Past Versions and Supported Operating Systems...........................................................................25
2 Getting Started.............................................................................................................27
Instant Capacity Requirements.............................................................................................................28
Program Requirements....................................................................................................................28
Software Requirements....................................................................................................................28
HP-UX 11i v1 Requirements and Dependent Products.............................................................28
Required Patches for HP-UX 11i v1...........................................................................................29
HP-UX 11i v2 Requirements and Dependent Products.............................................................29
Required Patches for HP-UX 11i v2...........................................................................................29
HP-UX 11i v3 Requirements and Dependent Products.............................................................30
OpenVMS Version 8.4 Requirements.........................................................................................30
Network Requirements...................................................................................................................30
Email Requirements........................................................................................................................30
System Contact Requirement..........................................................................................................31
Usage Rights Requirement..............................................................................................................31
Instant Capacity Integration with Virtual Partitions (HP-UX)........................................................31
Instant Capacity Components..............................................................................................................33
Overview.........................................................................................................................................33
Processors and Cores.......................................................................................................................33
Cell Boards and Memory.................................................................................................................33
Global Instant Capacity........................................................................................................................35
Instant Capacity Codewords................................................................................................................36
Temporary Instant Capacity.................................................................................................................37
Table of Contents 3
Instant Capacity Compliance and Enforcement...................................................................................38
Configuration Change Notification......................................................................................................39
Core Activation.....................................................................................................................................40
Increasing Processing Capacity by Purchasing RTUs.....................................................................40
Instant Capacity Cell Board..................................................................................................................41
Instant Capacity Software Validation...................................................................................................42
On HP-UX Systems..........................................................................................................................42
On OpenVMS Systems....................................................................................................................42
Status Reporting on Instant Capacity Systems.....................................................................................43
Time Zone Considerations....................................................................................................................44
3 Installing and Removing Instant Capacity Software.................................................45
Installing Instant Capacity Software.....................................................................................................46
Installing from the HP-UX Media (HP-UX 11i v1, 11i v2, and 11i v3):...........................................46
Installing from the HP Software Depot (For HP-UX 11i v1, 11i v2, and 11i v3):............................47
For All HP-UX Installations.............................................................................................................47
Installing Instant Capacity on OpenVMS Systems.........................................................................47
Reinstalling Instant Capacity Software.................................................................................................48
Preserving current Instant Capacity information...........................................................................48
Removing Instant Capacity Software...................................................................................................49
4 Using Instant Capacity to Manage Processing Capacity........................................51
Checking the Status of your Instant Capacity System..........................................................................52
Setting System Contact Information.....................................................................................................54
Applying a Right To Use (RTU) Codeword..........................................................................................55
Activating Cores...................................................................................................................................57
Example Core Activation Session....................................................................................................58
Deactivating Cores................................................................................................................................59
Example Deactivation Session for Hardware-Partitionable Systems..............................................59
Overriding Deferred Activation and Deactivation...............................................................................61
Load-Balancing Active Cores................................................................................................................62
Understanding and Managing Intended Active Values.......................................................................63
Activations and Deactivations in a Virtual Partition Environment......................................................64
When to Use the vparmodify or icapmodify Commands...............................................................64
What is Unused Capacity................................................................................................................64
Static Virtual Partitions....................................................................................................................64
Activating Cores in a Virtual Partition Environment......................................................................65
Deactivating Cores in a Virtual Partition Environment..................................................................65
Boot Time Compliance....................................................................................................................66
Assigning a Cell to a Partition..............................................................................................................67
Unassigning a Cell from a Partition......................................................................................................69
Software Application Considerations...................................................................................................71
Test Activation of Cores Using Temporary Capacity...........................................................................72
Replacement of Failed Cores................................................................................................................73
HP-UX LPMC and HPMC...............................................................................................................73
LPMC Deactivations in Virtual Partitions.......................................................................................73
Failed Monarch Processors (HP-UX)...............................................................................................73
Replacement of Failed Cores on OpenVMS....................................................................................73
Failed OpenVMS Primary Processors.............................................................................................73
5 Temporary Instant Capacity........................................................................................75
Temporary Instant Capacity Overview................................................................................................76
Ordering Temporary Instant Capacity.................................................................................................78
4 Table of Contents
HP-UX Licensing and Support with Temporary Instant Capacity.................................................78
OpenVMS Licensing and Support with Temporary Instant Capacity............................................78
Using Temporary Instant Capacity.......................................................................................................79
Acquiring and Configuring Temporary Instant Capacity...............................................................79
Using Temporary Instant Capacity.................................................................................................79
Temporary Capacity and Virtual Partitions..........................................................................................81
Tracking Usage of Temporary Instant Capacity...................................................................................83
Temporary Instant Capacity Warning Period.......................................................................................85
Temporary Instant Capacity Expiration and Compliance Enforcement..............................................86
Temporary Instant Capacity Exceptions...............................................................................................87
Error for Activation with Insufficient Temporary Capacity............................................................87
Temporary Capacity Balance Needing Action................................................................................87
Temporary Capacity Negative Balance...........................................................................................87
Temporary Capacity Enforcement..................................................................................................87
6 Instant Capacity Cell Board........................................................................................91
Instant Capacity Cell Board..................................................................................................................92
Overview.........................................................................................................................................92
Ordering Instant Capacity Cell Board..................................................................................................93
HP-UX and OpenVMS License and Support........................................................................................94
Acquiring Usage Rights for Instant Capacity Cell Board.....................................................................95
Instant Capacity Cell Board and Considerations of Core Usage Rights..............................................96
Activation of an Instant Capacity Cell Board.......................................................................................97
Accidental Activation of an Instant Capacity Cell Board.....................................................................98
Instant Capacity Cell Board Activation Exception Error......................................................................99
Instant Capacity Cell Board and Temporary Instant Capacity...........................................................100
7 Global Instant Capacity............................................................................................101
Global Instant Capacity Overview......................................................................................................102
Global Instant Capacity Requirements...............................................................................................104
Global Instant Capacity Group Managers..........................................................................................105
Standby Group Managers..............................................................................................................105
Global Instant Capacity Grouping Rules............................................................................................107
Global Instant Capacity Sharing Rights..............................................................................................108
Creating Global Instant Capacity Groups...........................................................................................109
Global Instant Capacity Resource Sharing.........................................................................................112
Effect of Temporary Capacity........................................................................................................112
Status Reporting............................................................................................................................113
Global Instant Capacity and Temporary Capacity.............................................................................115
Temporary Capacity and Freed Usage Rights...............................................................................115
Temporary Capacity and Status Reporting...................................................................................115
Temporary Capacity Prefetch........................................................................................................116
Removing a Global Instant Capacity Group Member........................................................................117
Reinstalling a Group Member.............................................................................................................118
Group Manager Availability (No Standby Manager).........................................................................119
Group Manager Failover Considerations...........................................................................................120
Upgrades and Global Instant Capacity...............................................................................................121
Adding New Partitions..................................................................................................................121
Rights Seizure......................................................................................................................................122
When to Migrate Usage Rights and When to Seize Usage Rights................................................122
Effects of Rights Seizure................................................................................................................122
Down Partitions with Powered-On Cells......................................................................................123
Temporary Capacity and Rights Seizure.......................................................................................123
Table of Contents 5
Other Considerations.....................................................................................................................124
Additional HA Solutions...............................................................................................................124
Summary of Rights Seizure...........................................................................................................124
Considerations for Multiple Groups...................................................................................................127
Additional Considerations..................................................................................................................128
8 Using Instant Capacity on HP Integrity Superdome 2...........................................129
Overview.............................................................................................................................................129
iCAP: From compliance check paradigm to self enforcement......................................................129
Important Considerations...................................................................................................................130
Sizing Partitions.............................................................................................................................130
Resizing Partitions.........................................................................................................................130
Memory iCAP................................................................................................................................130
Installing iCAP on HP Integrity Superdome 2...................................................................................130
iCAP commands.................................................................................................................................131
Viewing number of active cores....................................................................................................131
Generating snapshot......................................................................................................................131
Setting usage rights for a partition................................................................................................132
Deactivating Cores.........................................................................................................................132
Activating Cores............................................................................................................................132
Using iCAP Memory.....................................................................................................................132
iCAP Use Cases...................................................................................................................................133
Core migration between partitions in a complex..........................................................................133
Core migration across complexes (GiCAP)...................................................................................134
9 Troubleshooting..........................................................................................................137
Handling Compliance Exceptions......................................................................................................137
Troubleshooting the Instant Capacity Software..................................................................................140
Diagnosing Email Configuration........................................................................................................142
10 Frequently Asked Questions...................................................................................143
Instant Capacity Software...................................................................................................................144
Instant Capacity Hardware.................................................................................................................147
Global Instant Capacity.......................................................................................................................148
1 Instant Capacity HP-UX Manpages.........................................................................149
iCAP(5)................................................................................................................................................150
icapmanage(1M)..................................................................................................................................159
icapmodify(1M)...................................................................................................................................174
icapnotify(1M).....................................................................................................................................180
icapstatus(1M).....................................................................................................................................182
icapd(1M)............................................................................................................................................189
A Special Considerations.............................................................................................191
Assumed Values in icapstatus Command..........................................................................................192
Assumed Processor Values............................................................................................................192
Assumed Memory Values..............................................................................................................192
Upgrading to Instant Capacity version B.06.x or later (HP-UX)........................................................193
Dual-Core Support in Instant Capacity Systems................................................................................195
New Partition Creation and Instant Capacity.....................................................................................196
Implications of Removing a Cell from an Instant Capacity System ..................................................197
6 Table of Contents
Shutting Down a Partition with Instant Capacity Cores....................................................................198
Instant Capacity and Reinitializing the nPartition (Genesis Partitions).............................................199
par Commands from PC System Management Station......................................................................200
Instant Capacity Compatibility with Processor Sets (HP-UX)...........................................................201
Overview........................................................................................................................................201
Scope of the Instant Capacity Software Interacting with psets.....................................................201
psets on nPars................................................................................................................................201
psets on vPars................................................................................................................................201
Configuring Email on Instant Capacity Systems................................................................................202
Email Requirements.......................................................................................................................202
Email Configuration.................................................................................................................202
Steps to Confirm or Diagnose Email Configuration................................................................204
Configuring Instant Capacity’s From Email Address..............................................................204
Configuring Your Server to Send but Not Receive Email........................................................205
Testing Email Transmission of the Asset Report......................................................................205
Measurement Software and Instant Capacity Systems.......................................................................206
HP OpenView Measurement Products.........................................................................................206
Other Measurement Software........................................................................................................206
Dynamic Processor Resilience (HP-UX).............................................................................................207
Security Issues.....................................................................................................................................208
Customer protections which iCAP assumes to be in place...........................................................208
Disabling the iCAP daemon (HP-UX)...........................................................................................208
Customer Security Requirements..................................................................................................208
Security Tuning Options................................................................................................................208
B Considerations for OpenVMS Systems....................................................................209
CLI Support on OpenVMS..................................................................................................................210
HP-UX Style Commands...............................................................................................................210
OpenVMS Command Mapping.....................................................................................................210
OpenVMS iCAP Files.....................................................................................................................211
DCL ICAP Command....................................................................................................................212
DCL Commands..................................................................................................................................212
ICAP ACTIVATE...........................................................................................................................212
ICAP APPLY..................................................................................................................................213
ICAP DEACTIVATE......................................................................................................................214
ICAP RECONCILE........................................................................................................................215
ICAP SET.......................................................................................................................................216
ICAP SHOW..................................................................................................................................218
ICAP_SERVER...............................................................................................................................219
Special OpenVMS-Specific Features and Considerations..................................................................220
Core Activation and Deactivation.................................................................................................220
Email Considerations.....................................................................................................................220
Restrictions..........................................................................................................................................221
Glossary.........................................................................................................................223
Index...............................................................................................................................229
Table of Contents 7
List of Figures
1-1 Instant Capacity System Elements................................................................................................21
4-1 Permanent Activation of Instant Capacity Components..............................................................56
4-2 Partition premodification state: One cell assigned with 3 active and 1 inactive cores, and usage
rights for 2 additional cores...........................................................................................................67
4-3 Premodification state: Unassigned cell with 4 inactive cores and no usage rights......................67
4-4 Partition postmodification state: Cell 2 assigned to partition.......................................................67
4-5 Partition premodification state: Three cells with 2 active and 2 inactive cores in each, and 6
expected inactive cores..................................................................................................................69
4-6 Partition postmodification state: Cell 3 is unassigned (total of 6 active cores remaining)...........69
4-7 Partition postmodification state: Unassigned Cell 3 with 4 inactive cores...................................69
4-8 Partition premodification state: Three cells with 3 active and 1 inactive cores in each, and 3
expected inactive cores..................................................................................................................69
4-9 Partition postmodification state: Unassigned Cell 3 (total of 8 active cores are set)....................70
4-10 Postmodification state: Unassigned Cell 3 with 4 inactive cores, with usage rights available for
1 additional core............................................................................................................................70
5-1 Using Temporary Instant Capacity: Temporary Activation of Cores Without Usage Rights.......77
6-1 nPartition premodification state: One cell assigned with 1 active core and 3 inactive cores; the
complex has no additional core usage rights................................................................................99
6-2 nPartition premodification state: Instant Capacity cell (Cell 2) with 4 inactive cores..................99
6-3 nPartition requested state: Instant Capacity Cell (Cell 2) cannot be activated in nPartition........99
7-1 Using Global Instant Capacity.....................................................................................................103
8-1 iCAP Memory configuration option...........................................................................................133
8 List of Figures
List of Tables
1-1 Most Recent Instant Capacity Versions and Supported Platforms...............................................23
6-1 Cell Board Activation Not Requiring Additional Core Usage Rights..........................................96
6-2 Cell Board Activation Requiring Additional Core Usage Rights.................................................96
8-1 Use Case 1 — Initial Configuration.............................................................................................133
8-2 Use Case 1 — Configuration of Complex After Core Migration................................................134
8-3 Use Case 2 — Initial Configuration.............................................................................................134
8-4 Use Case 2 — Initial Configuration.............................................................................................134
8-5 Configuration of Complex1 post core migration........................................................................134
8-6 Configuration of Complex2 post core migration........................................................................135
10-1 Email sent by the Instant Capacity software...............................................................................145
10-2 Asset reporting email sent by the Instant Capacity software......................................................146
A-1 Removing a Cell and Decreasing Inactive Cores........................................................................197
B-1 HP-UX and OpenVMS Command Equivalents..........................................................................210
B-2 OpenVMS iCAP Files..................................................................................................................211
9
List of Examples
2-1 Configuration Change Notification email for Instant Capacity System (not vPar)......................39
4-1 Sample Session of icapstatus (on HP-UX).....................................................................................53
4-2 Applying an RTU Codeword (HP-UX).........................................................................................55
4-3 Activating an Additional Core (HP-UX).......................................................................................58
4-4 Deactivating an Active Core (HP-UX)...........................................................................................60
4-5 Correcting an Incorrect Number of Deferred Active Cores (HP-UX)...........................................61
4-6 Undoing an Accidental Deferred Activation (HP-UX).................................................................61
4-7 vPar Boot–Time Compliance Message..........................................................................................66
5-1 Applying a Temporary Capacity Codeword (HP-UX).................................................................79
5-2 Activating an Instant Capacity Core with Temporary Capacity (HP-UX)...................................80
5-3 Temporary Capacity Information from icapstatus Command (HP-UX)......................................83
5-4 Temporary Capacity Expiration Reminder...................................................................................84
5-5 Error Message for Activation with Insufficient Temporary Capacity (HP-UX)...........................87
5-6 Error Message for Temporary Capacity Partial Enforcement.......................................................88
5-7 Error Message for Temporary Capacity Complete Enforcement..................................................89
7-1 Applying a Sharing Rights Codeword........................................................................................108
7-2 Creating a Group.........................................................................................................................109
7-3 Adding a Member to a Group.....................................................................................................110
7-4 Example Output of icapstatus for a Group Member System......................................................111
9-1 Exception Report for More Cores Active than Expected............................................................138
A-1 Example Edit to Sendmail Configuration (/etc/mail/sendmail.cf)..............................................203
10 List of Examples
About This Guide
The HP Instant Capacity user’s guide for Version 10.x provides you with the most recent information
for using the Instant Capacity Version 10 software. This document describes Instant Capacity
Version B.11.31.10.00.00 on HP-UX 11i v3 systems, B.11.23.10.00.00 on HP-UX 11i v2 systems,
B.11.11.09.02.00 on HP-UX 11i v1 systems, and Instant Capacity Version 9.x on OpenVMS 8.4
Integrity servers.
The latest version of this document can be found online at: www.hp.com/go/hp-icap-docs.
This chapter covers the following topics:
• “Intended Audience” (page 11)
• “New and Changed Information in This Edition” (page 11)
• “Publishing History” (page 12)
• “Document Organization” (page 13)
• “Typographic Conventions” (page 14)
• “Location of Instant Capacity Information” (page 15)
• “HP Encourages Your Comments” (page 16)
Intended Audience
All personnel with system administrator access (that is, with root login privileges on HP-UX
systems, or Administrators on OpenVMS systems) to an Instant Capacity system should read
and understand the contents of this document and the implications of managing an Instant
Capacity system.
Administrators are expected to have knowledge of HP-UX, or OpenVMS Integrity operating
system concepts, commands, and configuration.
This document is not a tutorial.
New and Changed Information in This Edition
This edition of HP Instant Capacity user’s guide for Version 10.x. includes a new chapter that provides
information about iCAP support on HP Integrity Superdome 2. For detailed information about
iCAP support on HP Integrity Superdome 2, see Chapter 8 (page 129)
Intended Audience 11
Publishing History
The document printing date and part number indicate the document’s current edition. The
printing date will change when a new edition is printed. Minor changes may be made at reprint
without changing the printing date. The document part number will change when extensive
changes are made. Document updates may be issued between editions to correct errors or
document product changes. To ensure that you receive the updated or new editions, you should
subscribe to the appropriate product support service. See your HP sales representative for details.
You can find the latest version of this document on line at:
www.hp.com/go/hp-icap-docs.
Manufacturing Part
Number
Publication DateEdition NumberSupported VersionsSupported Operating
Systems
September 20103B.11.23.10.00.00HP-UX 11i v2T1428-90074
B.11.31.10.00.00HP-UX 11i v3
November 20092B.11.11.09.00.00HP-UX 11i v1B9073-90201
B.11.23.09.00.00HP-UX 11i v2
B.11.31.09.00.00HP-UX 11i v3
9.xHP OpenVMS
Version 8.4
12
Document Organization
This user’s guide is not designed to be read from front to back in its entirety. To get an
understanding of Instant Capacity version 9.x, you should read this chapter, Chapter 1 - Instant
Capacity Overview, and Chapter 2 - Getting Started. After reading these chapters, you can utilize
the table of contents and index (in back) for specific topics of interest.
• About This Guide provides an introduction to this guide and locating Instant Capacity
information.
• Chapter 1, Introduction to Instant Capacity provides an overview of the Instant Capacity system.
• Chapter 2, Getting Started describes Instant Capacity requirements, concepts and methods,
and related software topics.
• Chapter 3, Installing and Removing Instant Capacity Software contains procedures on how to
install and reinstall Instant Capacity software.
• Chapter 4, Using Instant Capacity to Manage Processing Capacity explains how to view system
status, apply codewords, activate and deactivate cores, assign and unassign cells, and HP’s
test activation policy for Instant Capacity.
• Chapter 5, Temporary Instant Capacity gives you details on what temporary capacity is, and
how to order and use it.
• Chapter 6, Instant Capacity Cell Board provides details on what Instant Capacity Cell Board
is, and how to order and use it.
• Chapter 7, Global Instant Capacity gives you details on Global Instant Capacity, describes the
concept of groups and shared resources, and how to order and use it.
• Chapter 8, Using Instant Capacity on HP Integrity Superdome 2 provides information about
iCAP support on HP Integrity Superdome 2.
• Chapter 9, Troubleshooting gives you step by step procedures to resolve problems with the
Instant Capacity software and other related configurations.
• Chapter 10, Frequently Asked Questions contains questions and answers to common Instant
Capacity software topics.
• Instant Capacity HP-UX Manpages contains the actual HP-UX manpages for icap,
icapmanage, icapmodify, icapnotify, icapstatus, and icapd.
• Appendix A, Special Considerations describes assumed values in icapstatus output,
upgrading to Instant Capacity B.06.x or later software, dual core support, creating and
shutting down partitions, implications of removing a cell board from an Instant Capacity
system, par commands with PC SMS, integration with Psets, configuring email, testing
email transmission of an asset report, measurement software, dynamic processor resilience,
and security related issues.
• Appendix B, Considerations for OpenVMS Systems contains information for running Instant
Capacity on OpenVMS systems.
• Glossary explains Instant Capacity systems and software terms.
Document Organization 13
Typographic Conventions
This document uses the following conventions:
%, $, or #
audit(5) A manpage. The manpage name is audit, and it is located in
Command
Computer output
Ctrl+x A key sequence. A sequence such as Ctrl+x indicates that you
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE The name of an environment variable, for example, PATH.
[ERROR NAME]
Key The name of a keyboard key. Return and Enter both refer to the
Glossary term The defined use of an important word or phrase.
User input
Variable
[] The contents are optional in syntax. If the contents are a list
{} The contents are required in syntax. If the contents are a list
... The preceding element can be repeated an arbitrary number of
Indicates the continuation of a code example.
| Separates items in a list of choices.
WARNING A warning calls attention to important information that if not
CAUTION A caution calls attention to important information that if not
IMPORTANT This alert provides essential information to explain a concept or
NOTE A note contains additional information to emphasize or
A percent sign represents the C shell system prompt. A dollar
sign represents the system prompt for the Bourne, Korn, and
POSIX shells. A number sign represents the superuser prompt.
Section 5.
A command name or qualified command phrase.
Text displayed by the computer.
must hold down the key labeled Ctrl while you press another
key or mouse button.
The name of an error, usually returned in the errno variable.
same key.
Commands and other text that you type.
The name of a placeholder in a command, function, or other
syntax display that you replace with an actual value.
separated by |, you must choose one of the items.
separated by |, you must choose one of the items.
times.
understood or followed will result in personal injury or
nonrecoverable system problems.
understood or followed will result in data loss, data corruption,
or damage to hardware or software.
to complete a task
supplement important points of the main text.
14
Location of Instant Capacity Information
Instant Capacity user’s guide for Version 10.x
You can find the HP Instant Capacity user’s guide for Version 10.x in the following locations:
• On the HP Documentation website:
www.hp.com/go/hp-icap-docs
These are the most current and the most current localized versions of the user guide.
• September 2010 HP-UX 11i v1 Instant Information media (English and Japanese only)
• September 2010 HP-UX 11i v2 Instant Information media (English and Japanese only)
• September 2010 HP-UX 11i v3 Instant Information media (English and Japanese only)
• In the Instant Capacity 10.x HP-UX software product:
/usr/share/doc/icapRelNotes.pdf
• On the OpenVMS Version 8.4 Documentation CD (English only)
Locating the Instant Capacity release notes for Version 10.x
You can find the Instant Capacity release notes for Version 10.x in the following locations:
• On the HP Documentation website:
www.hp.com/go/hp-icap-docs
These are the most current release notes and the most current localized versions.
• September 2010 HP-UX 11i v1 Instant Information media (English and Japanese only)
• September 2010 HP-UX 11i v2 Instant Information media (English and Japanese only)
• September 2010 HP-UX 11i v3 Instant Information media (English and Japanese only)
• In the Instant Capacity 10.x HP-UX software product:
/usr/share/doc/icapRelNotes.pdf
This document is not localized and is available in English only.
• On the OpenVMS Version 8.4 Documentation CD (English only)
Location of Instant Capacity Information 15
Manpages
NOTE: The information contained in this section applies only to HP-UX systems. It does not
apply to Integrity servers running OpenVMS.
See “Instant Capacity HP-UX Manpages” (page 149) for more information about the following
manpages:
• icap(5): overview of the Instant Capacity commands and their usage
• icapmanage(1M): how to manage Global Instant Capacity (GiCAP) groups
• icapmodify(1M): how to manage processingcapacity in your Instant Capacity system, change
system contact information, and apply codewords
• icapnotify(1M): how to manage asset reporting and configuration notification
• icapstatus(1M): how to display processing capacity status, usage information, and system
information
• icapd(1M): overview of the Instant Capacity daemon, which provides the software a
complexwide view of processing capacity
HP Encourages Your Comments
HP encourages your comments concerning this document. We are committed to providing
documentation that meets your needs. Send any errors found, suggestions for improvement, or
compliments to:
docsfeedback@hp.com
Include the document title, manufacturing part number, and any comment, error found, or
suggestion for improvement you have concerning this document.
16
1 Introduction to Instant Capacity
This chapter covers the following topics:
• “Instant Capacity Summary” (page 18)
• “Overview” (page 20)
For more in-depth information, see icap(5).
17
Instant Capacity Summary
HP Instant Capacity software provides the ability to instantly increase or decrease computing
capacity on specified HP enterprise servers.
NOTE: HP Instant Capacity for HP 9000 and HP Integrity Servers, also known as Instant
Capacity or iCAP, was known in earlier versions as Instant Capacity on Demand, or iCOD.
Although the commands, warning messages and error messages refer to the software as iCAP,
some internal files might still refer to iCOD.
NOTE: For simplicity and commonality, this book uses the HP-UX commands in all examples.
For information about OpenVMS command equivalents, see Appendix B (page 209).
With Instant Capacity, you initially purchase an HP enterprise server with a specified amount
of active processing capacity, and a specified amount of inactive processing capacity. This amount
can vary based on your sales contract with HP.
Processing capacity consists of the system components:
• Processors containing cores
• Cell boards
• Memory
For each type of component, the number of components that can be active is equal to the number
of usage rights applied to the complex for that type of component. Componentsthat are purchased
with a part number identifying them as “Instant Capacity” and without the label “Right to Use”
come without usage rights. Components that are not labeled “Instant Capacity” implicitlyinclude
usage rights that can be applied to any component of that type that is installed on the complex.
Prior to activation of an inactive component, you must obtain additional usage rights. The
fundamental method is to purchase usage rights by purchasing the appropriate Instant Capacity
products that include the label “Right to Use (RTU)”. HP then supplies an RTU codeword. When
the codeword is applied to the HP enterprise server, the inactive component can be activated.
Additional methods for activating components for which usage rights have not been purchased
include:
• If an HP-UX server is a member of a Global Instant Capacity (GiCAP) group, and if extra
capacity is available from other members of the group, capacity can be “borrowed” from
another member of the group. For information about GiCAP, see Chapter 7.
• Youcan purchaseadditional temporary capacity and apply the Temporary Instant Capacity
(TiCAP) codeword in order to activate one or more cores temporarily. For more information
on TiCAP, see Chapter 5. If a server is a member of a GiCAP group, temporary capacity can
be shared among members of the group.
• You can temporarily activate one or more inactive cores using the Instant Access Capacity
(IAC) provided with the initial purchase of the Instant Capacity component. Instant Access
Capacity is the same as TiCAP except it is automatically provided with an Instant Capacity
component andcannot be purchased separately. It provides an immediate buffer of temporary
capacity in case extra capacity is needed before there is time to purchase an RTU or a TiCAP
codeword, or to set up a GiCAP group on an HP-UX system.
IMPORTANT: It is always a good idea to keep some quantity of temporary capacity in reserve.
Purchase of codewords may take one or more days, so having a buffer of temporary capacity
allows you to avoid delays in activation of additional cores. Instant Access Capacity provides
this buffer initially, but as that capacity is depleted, ongoing purchases of additional temporary
capacity are recommended to replenish it.
The Instant Capacity software product is a part of the HP Utility Pricing Solutions (formerly On
Demand Solutions) program.
18 Introduction to Instant Capacity
This document provides you with the most recent information about using the Instant Capacity
version 9.x software to manage processing capacity in your HP enterprise server.
NOTE: All personnel with system administrator access (that is, root login privileges) to an
Instant Capacity system should read and understand the contents of this document and the
implications of increasing or decreasing processing capacity.
Terminology
For commonly used terms associated with the HP Utility Pricing Solutions program, see the
Glossary.
Instant Capacity Summary 19
Overview
Software Product Overview
The following Instant Capacity software products are associated with HP’s Utility Pricing
Solutions program:
• iCOD: HP product number B9073BA (HP-UX)
• iCAP: HP OpenVMS product number BA484AA
This user's guide contains information for Instant Capacity version 10.x on HP-UX systems and
version 9.x on OpenVMS systems.
Instant Capacity must be run on a partitionable system. In an Integrity Virtual Machines (VM)
environment, Instant Capacity software provides meaningful functionality only on the VM Host
system; it does not run on a virtual machine (also known as a “guest”).
The Instant Capacity product has been available on HP-UX since March 2000 (version B.01.00).
The HP-UX version 9.x software can be obtained from the following HP Software Depot website
(search for “Instant Capacity”):
http://www.hp.com/go/softwaredepot
System Overview
Instant Capacity version 9.x consists of the following elements:
• Instant Capacity system hardware (including cells, cores, and memory)
• Instant Capacity software
• Utility Pricing Solutions Portal
• Instant Capacity Administration System
• Instant Capacity database
• Other system management commands
For more information about Instant Capacity concepts and methods, see Chapter 2: “Getting
Started” (page 27).
Figure 1-1 (page 21) shows how the Instant Capacity system elements and processes are linked.
20 Introduction to Instant Capacity
Figure 1-1 Instant Capacity System Elements
Other
System Management
Commands
iCAP DB
System
Compliance
Codeword
Generation
Asset
Report
Record Purchase
Status and
Control
Status and
Control
Status and
Control
Authorization
Purchase
Codeword
Request
Notification
Cores, Cells
and Memory
HP Sales
Rep.
iCAP Admin
System
iCAP
Software
iCAP Web
Portal
Customer
Instant Capacity System Hardware
Instant Capacity Software
The Instant Capacity system hardware is made up of the following components:
• Cell boards
• Processors, which contain cores
• Memory
Every Instant Capacity system contains a combination of these components that are purchased
either with usage rights (and available for activation) or without usage rights (must be inactive).
Note that although you purchase processors, the Instant Capacity software monitors and manages
cores.
The Instant Capacity software provides the means to:
• Increase or decrease (load balance) system processing capacity (icapmodify command).
• View status and configuration of the system components (icapstatus command).
• Administer system identification and notification information (icapmodify command).
• If configured, send system asset reports through encrypted email to HP (icapd daemon on
HP-UX, ICAP_SERVER process on OpenVMS).
• Send configuration change notification, through encrypted email, to the specified system
contact.
Overview 21
• Monitor and report system compliance (icapd daemon on HP-UX, ICAP_SERVER process
on OpenVMS).
• Manage Global Instant Capacity groups (icapmanage command).
For detailsabout these commands on HP-UX, see “Instant Capacity HP-UX Manpages” (page 149).
For the OpenVMS equivalents of these commands, see “DCL Commands” (page 212).
Utility Pricing Solutions Portal
The Utility Pricing Solutions (or Instant Capacity) portal is located at the HP web site:
http://www.hp.com/go/icap/portal
After you purchase a component without usage rights, HP sends you a letter containing
instructions on how to obtain an RTU codeword from the Utility Pricing Solutions portal.
Instant Capacity Administration System
If asset reporting is configured, the icapd daemon sends asset reports, in the form of encrypted
email messages, to the Instant Capacity Administration System, which saves information in the
Instant Capacity database.
Instant Capacity Database
The Instant Capacity database is a repository on an HP (internal) corporate server that tracks
system resources and provides the information for codeword generation. Note that this database
should not be confused with a Global Instant Capacity database, which is created on a customer
Group Manager system. See Chapter 7 (page 101) for details about Global Instant Capacity.
Other System Management Commands
Other system management commands (such as vparmodify, parCLI and parMgr on HP-UX)
provide an interface to modify system configuration that affects Instant Capacity contractual
compliance.
22 Introduction to Instant Capacity
Most Recent Instant Capacity Product Versions and Supported Platforms
Table 1-1 lists the current versions of Instant Capacity and the platforms supported for each
version.
Table 1-1 Most Recent Instant Capacity Versions and Supported Platforms
Software and Version
B.11.31.10.00.00
(B9073BA)
B.11.23.10.00.00
(B9073BA)
Operating System
Version
HP-UX 11i v3iCAP
HP-UX 11i v2iCAP
Platforms
HP Integrity servers:
• HP Integrity
Superdome 2
• Superdome
• rx8640
• rx8620
• rx7640
• rx7620
HP 9000 servers:
• Superdome
• rp8440
• rp8420
• rp8400
• rp7440
• rp7420
• rp7410
HP Integrity servers:
• Superdome
• rx8640
• rx8620
• rx7640
• rx7620
HP 9000 servers:
• Superdome
• rp8420
• rp8400
• rp7420
• rp7410
NotesSupported Hardware
Available on:
• http://www.hp.com/go/softwaredepot
• September 2009 HP-UX 11i v3 Operating
Environment media
Available on:
• http://www.hp.com/go/softwaredepot
• September 2009 HP-UX 11i v2 Applications
Software media
Available on:
• http://www.hp.com/go/softwaredepot
• September 2009 HP-UX 11i v1 Applications
Software media
Available on:
• OpenVMS Version 8.4 Operating System
media
B.11.11.09.00.00
(B9073BA)
iCAP 9.x
(BA484AA)
HP-UX 11i v1iCAP
HP OpenVMS
Version 8.4
HP 9000 servers:
• Superdome
• rp8440
• rp8420
• rp8400
• rp7440
• rp7420
• rp7410
HP Integrity servers:
• Superdome
• rx8640
• rx8620
• rx7640
• rx7620
For commonality across all platforms supported by Instant Capacity, generic references to version
numbers are in the form “9.x” in this document. Because the operating system version is also
Overview 23
incorporated in the depot version number on newer releases of HP-UX, specific references to
version numbers may be more precise; for example, B.11.23.09.00.00 for the HP-UX 11i v2 depot.
24 Introduction to Instant Capacity
Past Versions and Supported Operating Systems
Previous versions of the Instant Capacity software are as follows:
• B.01.00 (on HP-UX 11.00)
• B.02.x (on HP-UX 11.00 and 11i v1)
• B.03.x (on HP-UX 11i v1)
• B.04.x (on HP-UX 11.00 and 11i v1)
• B.05.00 (on HP-UX 11.00 and 11i v1)
• B.06.x (on HP-UX 11i v1 and 11i v2)
• B.07.x (on HP-UX 11i v1 and 11i v2)
• B.08.00 (on HP-UX 11i v1 and 11i v2)
• B.08.00.01 (on HP-UX 11i v1 and 11i v2)
• B.08.01.01 (on HP-UX 11i v1, 11i v2 and 11i v3)
• B.08.02 (on HP-UX 11i v1, 11i v2 and 11i v3)
• B.08.02.01 (on HP-UX 11i v1, 11i v2 and 11i v3)
• B.08.03.00 (on HP-UX 11i v1, 11i v2, and 11i v3)
• B.08.03.01 (on HP-UX 11i v1, 11i v2, and 11i v3)
• 8.0 (on OpenVMS Version 8.3)
• 8.1 (on OpenVMS Version 8.3-1H1)
Overview 25
26
2 Getting Started
This chapter covers the following topics:
• “Instant Capacity Requirements” (page 28)
• “Instant Capacity Components” (page 33)
• “Global Instant Capacity” (page 35)
• “Instant Capacity Codewords” (page 36)
• “Temporary Instant Capacity” (page 37)
• “Instant Capacity Compliance and Enforcement” (page 38)
• “Configuration Change Notification” (page 39)
• “Core Activation” (page 40)
• “Instant Capacity Cell Board” (page 41)
• “Instant Capacity Software Validation” (page 42)
• “Status Reporting on Instant Capacity Systems” (page 43)
• “Time Zone Considerations” (page 44)
For more in-depth information, see icap(5).
27
Instant Capacity Requirements
Program Requirements
To participate in the Instant Capacity version 9.x program, you must comply with the following
conditions of the HP Utility Pricing Solutions program:
• Maintain the HP Instant Capacity software on each HP-UX or OpenVMS partition in the
system. The Instant Capacity software is a nonintrusive, low-overhead software module
that resides on the partition.
• Migrate to later Instant Capacity software versions as they become available.
For specifics about your individual program requirements, see the Utility Pricing Solutions
contract from HP or your authorized channel partner.
IMPORTANT: Participants in the Utility Pricing Solutions program who do not meet these
requirements may be in breach of contract. This can result in unnecessary expense for both the
program participant and HP.
Software Requirements
Every HP-UX and OpenVMS partition in an Instant Capacity system is required to have the
Instant Capacity software installed and the icapd daemon running (on HP-UX systems), or the
ICAP_SERVER process running (onOpenVMS systems).Youmust maintain theInstant Capacity
software until all program requirements are fulfilled and until the system is no longer considered
an Instant Capacity system. If you are using GiCAP, all systems must be running Instant Capacity
version 9.x.
NOTE: For necessaryHP-UX updates, install the latest Operating Environments Update Release
(OEUR) or Application Release (AR) update, if possible. This ensures that you install all required
products and versions. Instant Capacity does not work correctly with HP-UX releases prior to
December 2004.
Your Instant Capacity system is ordered and shipped with all of the following required software
and dependent products, with the exception of the vPars software. If your system’s operating
system is reinstalled or installed with Ignite-UX, ensure that the following software requirements
are satisfied.
HP-UX 11i v1 Requirements and Dependent Products
The following software is required for Instant Capacity version 9.x on HP-UX 11i v1:
• HP-UX 11i v1
• iCOD software bundle B9073BA (version 9.x) — On the 11i v1 Applications Software media,
or download the most recent version from the HP Software Depot at http://www.hp.com/
go/softwaredepot.
• The kernel configuration must include the diag2 module.
• WBEM B8465BA bundle (version A.02.05 or higher)
• nParProvider bundle (version B.12.01.06.02 or higher, available from the OE media)
• If you have a virtual partitioned environment, the Virtual Partitions (vPars) software (bundle
T1335AC) must be version A.03.05 or higher. vPars is available separately and is not included
with the OE.
• (GiCAP only) The CIM Server configuration property sslClientVerificationMode
must be set to a value of “optional” on all GiCAP Group Managers and on all OS instances
of all member systems. (The CIM Server may need to be restarted if the property was not
previously set to this value.) For details, see cimconfig(1M). Note that communication between
28 Getting Started
the managers and members of groups is established using SSL certificates that are supplied
by the GiCAP software.
Required Patches for HP-UX 11i v1
The following patches are required for Instant Capacity version 9.x on HP-UX 11i v1:
• PHKL_22987: S700_800 11.11 pstat() patch (Use only if your system runs
MeasureWare software)
• PHKL_23154: S700_800 11.11 dflush() patch
• PHKL_25218: S700_800 11.11 PDC Call retry, PDC_SCSI_PARMS, iCOD hang
fix
• PHKL_26232: S700_800 11.11 Psets Enablement patch,FSS iCOD patch
• PHKL_30197: S700_800 11.11 Psets & vPar, Reboot hangs, serial number
• PHCO_24396: S700_800 11.11 /etc/default/tz patch
• PHCO_24477: S700_800 11.11 sar (1M) patch
• PHCO_29832: S700_800 11.11 reboot(1M) patch
• PHCO_29833: S700_800 11.11 killall(1M) patch
IMPORTANT: For the most recent required patches, see the Instant Capacity Installation page
on the HP Software Depot (search for “B9073BA”):
http://www.hp.com/go/softwaredepot
HP-UX 11i v2 Requirements and Dependent Products
The following software is required for Instant Capacity version 9.x on HP-UX 11i v2:
• HP-UX 11i v2
• iCOD software bundle B9073BA (version 9.x) — On the 11i v2 Applications Software media,
or download the most recent version from the HP Software Depot at http://www.hp.com/
go/softwaredepot.
• The kernel configuration must include the diag2 module.
• WBEM B8465BA bundle (version A.02.05 or higher)
• nParProvider bundle (version B.23.01.06.02 or higher, available from the OE media)
• If you have a virtual partitioned environment, the Virtual Partitions (vPars) software (bundle
T1335BC) must be version A.04.01 or higher. vPars is available separately and is not included
with the OE.
• (GiCAP only) The CIM Server configuration property sslClientVerificationMode
must be set to a value of “optional” on all GiCAP Group Managers and on all OS instances
of all member systems. (The CIM Server may need to be restarted if the property was not
previously set to this value.) For details, see cimconfig(1M). Note that communication between
the managers and members of groups is established using SSL certificates that are supplied
by the GiCAP software.
NOTE: On HP-UX 11i v2 systems, updated firmware might be required by the nPar or Virtual
Partition software, as documented for these products.
Required Patches for HP-UX 11i v2
The following patches are required for Instant Capacity version 9.x on HP-UX 11i v2:
• PHKL_33752: S700_800 11.23 Itanium 2 Processor speed reporting patch
required only for IA systems
• PHCO_34721: killall(1M) patch
• PHKL_35174: _CS_PARTITION_IDENT patch required for GiCAP onrx8640 and rx7640
systems
Instant Capacity Requirements 29
IMPORTANT: For the most recent required patches, see the Instant Capacity Installation page
on the HP Software Depot (search for “B9073BA”):
http://www.hp.com/go/softwaredepot
HP-UX 11i v3 Requirements and Dependent Products
The following software is required for Instant Capacity version 9.x on HP-UX 11i v3:
• HP-UX 11i v3
• iCOD software bundle B9073BA (version 9.x) — Installed automatically when the HP-UX
11i v3 Operating Environment (OE) is installed, or download the most recent version from
the HP Software Depot at http://www.hp.com/go/softwaredepot.
• The kernel configuration must include the diag2 module.
• WBEMSvcs bundle (version A.02.05 or higher)
• nParProvider bundle (version B.31.01.07.01 or higher, available from the OE media)
• If you have a virtual partitioned environment, the Virtual Partitions (vPars) software (bundle
T1335BC) must be version A.05.01 or higher. vPars is available separately and is not included
with the OE.
• (GiCAP only) The CIM Server configuration property sslClientVerificationMode
must be set to a value of “optional” on all GiCAP Group Managers and on all OS instances
of all member systems. (The CIM Server may need to be restarted if the property was not
previously set to this value.) For details, see cimconfig(1M). Note that communication between
the managers and members of groups is established using SSL certificates that are supplied
by the GiCAP software.
OpenVMS Version 8.4 Requirements
The following software is required for Instant Capacity version 9.x on OpenVMS Version 8.4:
• HP OpenVMS Version 8.4 for Integrity Servers or later
• iCAP software bundle BA484AA (version 9.x) — Included with OpenVMS Version 8.4 and
automatically installed on relevant systems when Version 8.4 is initially installed
• WBEMCIM bundle ( version X2.92 or higher) — Optionally installed with OpenVMS Version
8.4
• nParProvider bundle — Installed with OpenVMS Version 8.4
• SSL bundle (version SSL 1.4 or higher) — Optionally installed with OpenVMS Version 8.4
Network Requirements
GiCAP and iCAP do not use any network ports directly. However, version 9.0 GiCAP uses
WBEM/SSL for the communication protocol, requiring use of the CIM HTTPS port 5989. GiCAP
also uses ping (which uses port 7 for the echo protocol) and host lookup services (getaddrinfo
and getnameinfo) which may use the Domain Name System (DNS), Network Information
Service (NIS), or a local host file to provide the lookup function.
Email Requirements
For some configurations, previous versions of the Instant Capacity software (prior to B.07.x)
required email connectivity to HP in order to send asset reports as encrypted email messages.
Instant Capacity version B.07.x and later no longer require email connectivity or asset reporting,
however, you can choose to configure it because it can be useful for viewing complexwide asset
information at the Utility Pricing Solutions portal (http://www.hp.com/go/icap/portal).
30 Getting Started
NOTE: Starting with iCAP version 8.02, asset reporting is turned off by default for new
installations. However, for reinstallation and upgrades the asset reporting remains at its previous
setting; if your system was manufactured prior to iCAP version 8.02, asset reporting might still
be turned on. Unless you turn off asset reporting or configure the email connectivity, error
messages are logged when the software attempts to send asset reports. The icapstatus
command displays the current configuration for asset reporting. You turn asset reporting on or
off with the icapnotify -a command. For details about how to configure email connectivity,
see “Configuring Email on Instant Capacity Systems” (page 202).
System Contact Requirement
Your organization can ensure the successful management of Instant Capacity systems by
designating a system contact. The system contact receives the following types of email notifications
from the Instant Capacity software:
• Core activation or deactivation
• Compliance exception
• Temporary capacity expiration
• Instant Capacity enforcement
• Virtual partition boot time compliance
• Hardware incompatibility in a GiCAP group (see “Upgrades and Global Instant Capacity”
(page 121))
If a system contact is not specified, notification of core changes are not sent from the Instant
Capacity partition. However, the root account on HP-UX and the SYSTEM account on OpenVMS
continue to receive other notification messages.
Usage Rights Requirement
A system managed under the Instant Capacity program can include one or more components
(core, cell, or memory) that are without usage rights. Before you can use these components, you
must obtain additional usage rights. Usage rights can either be purchased from HP, or, if the
system is a member ofa GiCAP group, borrowed temporarily from another member of the group,
as described in the section “Global Instant Capacity Sharing Rights” (page 108).
Purchase of usage rights from HP is managed through the use of RTU codewords. Contact your
HP sales representative in order to purchase component-specific usage rights. After such a
purchase, HP sends you a letter informing you how to retrieve the RTU codeword from the HP
Utility Pricing Solutions website:
http://www.hp.com/go/icap/portal
After the RTUcodeword is retrievedfrom the Utility Pricing Solutions portal, the RTU codeword
is applied to your server by the use of the icapmodify -C command. When the codeword is
applied, component-specific usage rights on the system are increased, allowing you to activate
one or more additional components.
Instant Capacity Integration with Virtual Partitions (HP-UX)
The minimum required versions of vPars software for HP-UX systems are as follows:
• HP-UX 11i v1: vPars version A.03.05
• HP-UX 11i v2: vPars version A.04.01
• HP-UX 11i v3: vPars version A.05.01
Each of these versions provides a virtual partition environment which is tightly integrated with
Instant Capacity, making it less likely for a complex to be misconfigured or to violate contractual
compliance.
Instant Capacity Requirements 31
The Instant Capacity software must be installed on all virtual partitions in an Instant Capacity
system.
For details about virtual partitions, see the Installing and Managing HP-UX Virtual Partitions
manual on the HP Documentation website:
http://docs.hp.com
32 Getting Started
Instant Capacity Components
Overview
The Instant Capacity software monitors and enforces compliance with contractual agreements.
It authorizes or denies activation of system components (cores, cells, memory) based on a
complexwide database of usage rights. For details about acquiring additional usage rights, see
“Usage Rights Requirement” (page 31).
Activation of componentsis restricted according to complexwide compliance for each component
type. A complex is in a compliant state when the number of active components of a given type
does not exceed the number of that component’s available usage rights on the complex.
Processors and Cores
Although you purchase InstantCapacity processors for your system, the Instant Capacity software
monitors and manages the total number of cores. For example, if you have a dual-core Instant
Capacity processor, two cores must remain inactive on the complex.
The Instant Capacity software enforces compliance for cores by comparing the actual number
of inactive cores with the expected number of inactive cores (the number of cores without usage
rights) for the entire complex, according to the contract with HP. Available core usage rights can
be used to activate any core in an active cell board. Note also that temporary capacity can be
used to activate cores beyond the number of available core usage rights for the complex, but
only for a limited period of time.
NOTE: Unless a system participates in a GiCAP group (see Chapter 7), usage rights are
complexwide (single node for OpenVMS) only. If components are moved from one complex to
another, the counts of allowable active and inactive components do not change for either complex.
In particular, the number of “expected inactive” components of each type does not change if
components are removed. This means that the removal of inactive components from a complex
can cause that complex to be out of compliance with the Instant Capacity contract because there
are fewer visible inactive components than the complex-wide count of components without
usage rights. The complex might even become unusable if, for example, enough other cores must
be made inactive to meet compliance resulting in insufficient active cores to have at least one
active core per configured cell.
Cell Boards and Memory
Instant Capacity offers you a way tohave additional(inactive) cell-boardcapacity in your system
for growing business needs. When the need arises, these cell boards, which contain memory and
cores, are available for instant activation and use after reboot or cell online activation when
additional cell-board usage rights are purchased from HP and an RTU codeword is applied. As
with cores, the Instant Capacity software enforces compliance by comparing the number of actual
inactive cells with the expected number of inactive cells (the number of cells without usage rights
for the entire complex).
The cell-board, memory, and core usage rights are tracked separately. To activate an Instant
Capacity cell, you must acquire sufficient cell usage rights, as well as sufficient memory usage
rights to enable all the memory attached to the cell. You cannot activate a cell board without
activating all attached memory, so when you purchase an RTU for a cell you need to purchase
an RTU for the cell’s memory. These are normally bundled together in a single purchase.
Depending on the need, you might want to activate one or more cores at the same time the cell
and memory are activated, so you might also need to acquire additional core usage rights. After
a cell board is activated, all of the cores on the cell board are available for activation if the complex
has enough available core usage rights or temporary capacity. Since usage rights for all types of
Instant Capacity Components 33
components can be conveyed with a single RTU codeword, it is particularly useful to anticipate
the core and memory needs when purchasing cell-board usage rights.
As with other components, the Instant Capacity software enforces compliance for memory by
comparing the actual amount of inactive memory with the expected inactive memory.
IMPORTANT: You must have one active core for each active cell board.
34 Getting Started
Global Instant Capacity
Global Instant Capacity, or GiCAP, provides HP customers with the flexibility to move usage
rights for Instant Capacity components within a group of servers. It also provides “pooled”
temporary capacityacross the group. This provides more cost-effective high availability, including
disaster recovery capabilities, more adaptable load balancing, and more efficient and easier use
of temporary capacity.
Global Instant Capacity is built on the concept of a server group, or GiCAP group. A GiCAP
group is a list of servers that are allowed to share Instant Capacity usage rights. In addition, at
least one HP-UX system running Instant Capacity must be designated as the GiCAP Group
Manager. The Group Manager hosts the GiCAP software that maintains a database of information
about the group and about group resources (usage rights and temporary capacity). A GiCAP
group is managed using the command icapmanage on the Group Manager system.
While GiCAP is part of Instant Capacity and is installed at the same time as Instant Capacity, it
is not enabled during installation. To create groups and share resources across groups, you must
purchase GiCAP sharing rights, acquire the GiCAP codeword from the HP Utility Pricing
Solutions portal (http://www.hp.com/go/icap/portal), and apply the associated codeword to the
Group Manager system. Application of the sharing rights codeword to the Group Manager
system enables the addition of members with Instant Capacity components to groups. In addition,
you must acquire grouping rules from the portal and apply those rules to the Group Manager
system. GiCAP sharing rights and grouping rules are described in Chapter 7 (page 101). All
GiCAP Group Manager systems and group members must run Instant Capacity version 9.0 or
later.
Instant Capacity allows deactivation of cores on non-Instant Capacity systems (those without
any Instant Capacity components), allowing such systems to participate in a GiCAP group and
loan usage rights to Instant Capacity systems. A GiCAP group consists of servers that are allowed
to be grouped together according to a set of grouping rules defined by HP. These grouping rules
must be acquired from the Utility Pricing Solutions portal and applied to the Group Manager
system beforegroups can be created. For more information, see “Global Instant Capacity Grouping
Rules” (page 107).
Global Instant Capacity 35
Instant Capacity Codewords
Instant Capacity uses codewords for several purposes: to adjust available usage rights for system
components (RTU codewords), to apply temporary capacity to the system, and to apply sharing
rights to a GiCAP Group Manager system to enable the creation of one or more groups.
All types of codewords must be purchased as specific product numbers from HP. After purchase,
the actual codeword (an encrypted string) can be retrieved from the Utility Pricing Solutions
web portal. When you retrieve codewords from the portal, you must provide the sales order
number for the codeword purchase and the serial number of the system. For more information
about purchasing codewords, see the Utility Pricing Solutions web portal information in “System
Overview” (page 20).
Once obtained from the portal, the rules and uses of GiCAP codewords are very different from
other types of Instant Capacity codewords. The GiCAP codewords are described in “Global
Instant Capacity Sharing Rights” (page 108) and are referred to as “GiCAP codewords”. Other
types of codewords are referred to as “Instant Capacity codewords”.
The following Instant Capacity codewords are applied to a server using the icapmodify -C
command:
• Core RTU
• Cell board RTU
• Memory RTU
• Temporary capacity
For details about using temporary capacity codewords, see “Acquiring and Configuring
Temporary Instant Capacity” (page 79).
Application of an RTU codeword adjusts the number of component-specific usage rights on the
system. As a result, more components can be active simultaneously.
IMPORTANT: Instant Capacity codewords are based on both the serial number of a system and
a unique sequencing value for that server. These codewords must be applied in the sequence in
which they are obtained for a particular server. They can be applied to any partition on the server.
36 Getting Started
Temporary Instant Capacity
You can purchase an amount of temporary processing capacity for your Instant Capacity system.
Temporary Instant Capacity, or TiCAP, is purchased in units of processing days. TiCAP allows
one or more cores beyond the count allowed by the available usage rights to be activated for up
to the specified period of prepaid minutes without requiring the purchase of additional usage
rights.
You can activate and deactivate cores according to your needs until the activation time equals
your prepaid temporary capacity duration. For example, with a prepaid duration of 30 days of
temporary capacity, you can activate one core for 30 days, or four cores for one hour a day for
180 days (or any combination that totals 43,200 minutes).
NOTE: Temporary Instant Capacity cannot be used to activate inactive Instant Capacity cell
boards or memory. To activate cores on an inactive cell board, you must first activate the cell
board and its memory either by using newly purchased cell and memory usage rights or by
deactivating a cell board and memory elsewhere in the server.
Your temporary capacity balance is decreased only when you are using more cores than normally
allowed by your available core usage rights. The charge against temporary capacity is not
associated with specific cores or partitions. That is, if you use temporary capacity to activate one
core in partition A, and then you deactivate any core in partition B, the complex stops using
temporary capacity.
The Instant Capacity software uses the debiting of temporary capacity to track the noncompliance
of a system, as described in “Instant Capacity Compliance and Enforcement” (page 38).
TiCAP can be added to an Instant Capacity system by purchasing and applying a temporary
capacity codeword (available from theUtility Pricing Solutions portal) using the icapmodify -C
command.
The icapstatus command provides information about the amount of temporarycapacity time
remaining on the complex.
For more information about temporary capacity, see Chapter 5: “Temporary Instant Capacity”
(page 75). For a discussion of temporary capacity in a GiCAP group, see Chapter 7.
Temporary Instant Capacity 37
Instant Capacity Compliance and Enforcement
The Instant Capacity software primarily maintains complexwide information about the usage
rights and activation of system components. The software monitors the number of usage rights
for the entire complex for each type of component. (If you are using Global Instant Capacity, the
software also maintains groupwide information about usage rights. For more information about
GiCAP, see Chapter 7.)
The Instant Capacity software uses the debiting of temporary capacity as a compliance
enforcement mechanism on the following systems:
• A system where TiCAP has been applied (the TiCAP balance is nonzero)
• A GiCAP group member system (or a system which had previously been a GiCAP group
member and has a nonzero TiCAP balance)
• A system which has had a TiCAP debit within the past 24 hours
If temporary capacity is negative, it means the system has gone out of compliance. Also, if the
temporary capacity balance is negative and the number of active cores exceeds the number of
core usage rights for the complex, automatic deactivation of cores might occur at boot time.
The Instant Capacity software authorizes activation of cores, cells, and memory if allowed by
the system usage rights. You cannot activate additional components if that action takes the system
out of compliance.
For example, if your Instant Capacity contract specifies that your server must contain 12 cores
with usage rights and 4 cores without usage rights, you can have up to 12 cores activated at any
one time, and 4 cores must be inactive at all times.
The Instant Capacity software can determine the following compliance aspects:
• Whether a system is in compliance or out of compliance with the Instant Capacity contract
• The number of additional cores that can be activated
• The number of additional cells and the quantity of memory that can be activated
The enforcement methods used by the software include:
• Not allowing activations that cause the system to be out of compliance
• Deactivating cores at boot time:
— Automatically deactivate cores at boot time if temporary capacity is exceeded and the
number of active cores continues to exceed the number of core usage rights for the
complex (see “Temporary Instant Capacity Expiration and Compliance Enforcement”
(page 86)).
— Prevents a virtual partition from booting if the number of assigned cores is greater than
the number of intended active cores for the nPartition (see “Boot Time Compliance”
(page 66)).
• For GiCAP members in a running (booted) virtual partition environment, if the number of
assigned cores is greater than the number of intended active cores, the icapmodify
command may be disallowed. In this case, to bring the vPar database into compliance,
deactivate cores using the vparmodify command.
• On OpenVMS systems, the ICAP_SERVER process dynamicallydeactivates active cores that
exceed the number of core usage rights for the complex.
38 Getting Started
Configuration Change Notification
Specifying an increase or decrease in the number of active cores (using the icapmodify
command) causes a core configuration change. An email notification is sent to the system contact
when a change occurs that affects the configuration of cores.
If you do not want an email notification to be sent when configuration changes are made, disable
this feature by using the following command on HP-UX systems:
/usr/sbin/icapnotify -n off
Example 2-1 shows a configuration change email notification the Instant Capacity software sends
to the system contact. Note that if the operation is a deferred configuration change, “previous”
and “current” show equal values; only the value for “Number of cores to be active after reboot”
reflects the requested change.
Example 2-1 Configuration Change Notification email for Instant Capacity System (not vPar)
Subject: Instant Capacity Configuration Change Notification
A configuration change has been made to the following system:
super.corp.com
One or more cores were activated.
Details of the change include:
Time of change: 09/08/08 11:00:00
Deferred change: No
Previous number of active cores: 3
Current number of active cores: 4
Number of cores to be active after reboot: 4
Description of change: New fiscal year increase
Person making change: Mary Jones
System contact email: mjones@corp.com
If you are the system contact and do not want to receive this
type of notification in the future, it can be disabled by
executing the following command on the system in question:
/usr/sbin/icapnotify -n off
To turn notification on, execute:
/usr/sbin/icapnotify -n on
Configuration Change Notification 39
Core Activation
As previously described, an Instant Capacity system contains a specified quantity of activated
processing capacity (cells, cores, and memory) and a specified amount of deactivated processing
capacity. Systems can have fewer active components than they have rights to activate. Such
systems can instantly activate additional components without the need to purchase an RTU, up
to the number of component usage rights on the system.
Increasing Processing Capacity by Purchasing RTUs
When processing demands change significantly, you can enable use of additional system
components using the following procedure:
1. Purchase additional usage rights for a component type, by sending a purchase order to HP
for an Instant Capacity RTU product. Soon after HP receives your purchase order, you
receive a letter from HP that contains information about retrieving the RTU codeword from
the Utility Pricing Solutions web portal.
2. Acquire the RTU codeword from the Utility Pricing Solutions web portal:
http://www.hp.com/go/icap/portal
3. Apply the RTU codeword by entering the icapmodify -C command (note the -C option
is uppercase) on any partition in the complex.
4. Activate a component. Depending on the type of component, do one of the following:
• Activate a core in a hard partition (nPartition) by entering the icapmodify -a
command. Note: For details about activating a core in a virtual partition, see “Instant
Capacity Integration with Virtual Partitions (HP-UX)” (page 31).
• Activate a cell board by using the parmodify or parmgr command. For details about
activation of cell boards (and memory), see “Activation of an Instant Capacity Cell
Board” (page 97).
IMPORTANT: To avoid a delay in activation of additional cores, purchase and keep in reserve
some quantity of temporary capacity for the system. Temporary capacity can be used to instantly
and temporarily activate cores while waiting for an RTU codeword. For details about temporary
capacity, see Chapter 5. You can also temporarily activate one or more cores using the Instant
Access Capacity (IAC) provided with the purchase of Instant Capacity processors.
40 Getting Started
Instant Capacity Cell Board
Instant Capacity Cell Board allows you to have additional (inactive) cell-board capacity in your
system for growing business needs. When the need arises, you can purchase additional cell and
memory usage rights; then the inactive cell boards, which contain memory and cores, are available
for instant activation and use.
The Instant Capacity software monitors and enforces the count of inactive cell boards (those
without usage rights) throughout the complex. Inactive cell boards assigned to a partition have
the use-on-next-boot flag set to n (no).
After applying a cell board and memory codeword to convey additional usage rights, you may
activate any cell board with memory not exceeding the amount allowed by the available memory
usage rights, and configure the cell into an nPartition. This is controlled by setting the
use-on-next-boot flag to y (yes) with the parmodify command after the cell is configured
and assigned to the partition, and then rebooting the nPartition.
IMPORTANT: An active cell board must have a minimum of one active core; therefore, you
must also have sufficient core usage rights on the complex to activate at least the one core per
cell board. The Instant Capacity software redistributes active cores across all cell boards of the
partition. Temporary Instant Capacity can be used to activate this core but the system needs to
have at least one core usage right for each active cell. Also, if you are creating a new partition
for the new cell board, additional constraints apply and you might need to acquire additional
core usage rights. For more information see “New Partition Creation and Instant Capacity”
(page 196).
For more information about Instant Capacity Cell Board, see Chapter 6: “Instant Capacity Cell
Board” (page 91).
Instant Capacity Cell Board 41
Instant Capacity Software Validation
On HP-UX Systems
The Instant Capacity software (HP-UX product B9073BA) is installed by HP manufacturing on
instantly ignited HP-UX systems. The Instant Capacity software can also be installed by an HP
service representative on existing (supported) HP-UX enterprise servers as an add-on.
NOTE: The Instant Capacity software is automatically installed when the HP-UX 11i v3, 11i
v2, or 11i v1 Operating Environment (OE) is installed.
To verify the Instant Capacity software is installed on your system, execute the following HP-UX
command:
/usr/sbin/swlist -l product iCOD
Output similar to the following is displayed:
iCOD B.11.23.09.00 HP-UX iCOD Instant Capacity
To verify that the Instant Capacity software installation has not been corrupted, execute the
following HP-UX command:
/usr/sbin/swverify iCOD
The command will display the message Verification succeeded.
On OpenVMS Systems
On OpenVMS systems, the Instant Capacity software is automatically installed on partitionable
systems when the OpenVMS Version 8.3 or later operating system is installed. You should not
need to install the Instant Capacity software separately on OpenVMS systems. Onsite Instant
Capacity installation by an HP service representative after the initial installation of OpenVMS
Version 8.3 is not an option for OpenVMS systems.
To verify that the Instant Capacity software is installed and configured, run the following
commands:
$ @sys$manager:ICAP$CLI_UTILS.COM CONFIG_CHECK
$ show log ICAP$CONFIGURED
"ICAP$CONFIGURED" = "TRUE" (LNM$JOB_nnnnnnnn)
42 Getting Started
Status Reporting on Instant Capacity Systems
You can use the icapstatus command to view the status of your Instant Capacity system. With
no options, the icapstatus command provides the following information:
• Version number of the Instant Capacity software
• System identification information (systemID, serial number, current product number, unique
ID)
• Email addresses for both the system contact (mail to the local system) and a “From” address
(mail from the local system)
• Asset reporting status (on or off)
• Temporary capacity warning period (in days)
• Exception status (indicates whether complex is in an exception state)
• If part of a GiCAP group, group membership information, including borrow/loan status
• Local partition information
• Instant Capacity resource information for the entire complex
• Allocation of Instant Capacity resources among the hard partitions
For information about what is reported by the icapstatus command, see “Checking the Status
of your Instant Capacity System” (page 52). For details about the icapstatus command, see
icapstatus(1M).
Status Reporting on Instant Capacity Systems 43
Time Zone Considerations
On HP-UX systems, the icapd daemon performs routine Instant Capacity software tasks on a
daily basis. A partition’s local time zone setting affects what time zone the icapd daemon uses
for the timing of these tasks Be sure that the time zone is set properly to ensure synchronization
among the partitions.
Because the HP-UX icapd daemon is startedby init, the /etc/default/tz file must contain
the desired time zone specification. By default, the time zone is set to EST5EDT. You can specify
the time zone the icapd daemon uses to interpret noon and midnight by modifying the entry
in the /etc/default/tz file.
On OpenVMS systems, the ICAP_SERVER uses the time zone settings defined by the
SYS$STARTUP:TDF$UTC_STARTUP.COM file. To view the time zone settings, enter the command
@sys$manager:utc$time_setup “show”. Enter the command
@sys$manager:utc$time_setup and follow the menu instructions to modify the time zone
setting for the iCAP partition.
44 Getting Started
3 Installing and Removing Instant Capacity Software
This chapter covers the following topics:
• “Installing Instant Capacity Software” (page 46)
• “Reinstalling Instant Capacity Software” (page 48)
• “Removing Instant Capacity Software” (page 49)
45
Installing Instant Capacity Software
Factory Integrated Systems
The Instant Capacity software is installed by HP on all HP enterprise servers, even those without
Instant Capacity components. To verify that the software is installed and configured, use the
following HP-UX command :
/usr/sbin/swverify iCOD
The command output displays the message Verification succeeded .
IMPORTANT: The Instant Capacity software is automatically installed when the HP-UX 11i v1,
11i v2, or 11i v3 Operating Environment (OE) is installed. If any partition in the system has
version B.06.x or later installed, then all partitions in the system with Instant Capacity software
must be running version B.06.x or later. For details about upgrading the software from a version
previous to B.06.x, see “Upgrading to Instant Capacity version B.06.x or later (HP-UX)” (page 193).
For HP-UX you generally do not need to install the Instant Capacity software. However, if you
do, it is available from the following media/location:
• HP software depot at http://www.hp.com/go/softwaredepot
• September 2008 HP-UX 11i v3 Operating Environments (OE) media
• September 2008 HP-UX 11i v2 Applications Software media
• September 2008 HP-UX 11i v1 Applications Software media
If the system is a Group Manager or a member of a GiCAP group, prior to installing the iCAP
version 9.0 software, ensure that WBEM version A.02.05 or later is installed, set the CIM Server
configuration property sslClientVerificationMode to “optional”, and restart the
cimserver on the Group Manager, the standby Group Manager (if any), and on all HP-UX OS
instances of all member systems. Because this configuration attribute is not dynamic, you must
specify the -p option, and you must restart the cimserver to set the value. For details, see
cimconfig(1M).
Use the following commands to set sslClientVerificationMode to “optional”and restart
the cimserver:
# cimconfig -s sslClientVerificationMode=optional -p
# cimserver -s; cimserver
Use the following command to verify the value of sslClientVerificationMode after a
restart:
# cimconfig -g sslClientVerificationMode -c -p
Current value: optional
Planned value: optional
Installing from the HP-UX Media (HP-UX 11i v1, 11i v2, and 11i v3):
Follow this procedure to install the Instant Capacity software on your HP-UX system from either
the appropriate HP-UX Applications Software or OE media:
1. Log in as root.
2. Determine the DVD drive device file by entering the following command:
ioscan -fnC disk
3. Insert the appropriate HP-UX Applications Software or OE DVD into the DVD drive.
4. Mount the DVD drive to the desired directory. The following example uses the /dev/dsk/
c1t2d0 device file (from step 2) and the /dvd directory. To mount the DVD drive, enter a
similar command as:
mount -r /dev/dsk/c1t2d0 /dvd
5. Install the B.09.x bundle B9073BA from the DVD:
46 Installing and Removing Instant Capacity Software
swinstall -s /dvd B9073BA
6. Continue with “For All HP-UX Installations” (page 47).
Installing from the HP Software Depot (For HP-UX 11i v1, 11i v2, and 11i v3):
1. Search for B9073BA on the HP Software Depot website: http://www.hp.com/go/
softwaredepot
2. Select the link that appeared as a result of your search, and follow the instructions on the
Installation page.
3. Continue with “For All HP-UX Installations” (page 47).
For All HP-UX Installations
After you have successfully installed the Instant Capacity software using the swinstall
command, perform the following procedure to validate your installation:
1. Execute the /usr/sbin/icapstatus command.
2. Verify that the icapstatus command output indicates the correct number of components
without usage rights for cells, cores, and memory.
If any number is incorrect, contact your local HP Response Center and request iCAP
assistance.
3. Log in as root
4. Set the system contact information by entering the following command:
/usr/sbin/icapmodify -c <contact_email_address>
5. If you want to configure asset reporting, then ensure that outgoing mail can be sent to HP
mail servers from your system, even if the system is behind a firewall. See “Diagnosing
Email Configuration” (page 142).
• Test the transmission of your asset report, via email to HP, by entering the following
command:
/usr/sbin/icapnotify <reply_address>
The icapnotify command sends an asset report to HP, root, and the supplied reply
address.
HP responds with an email to the reply address after the asset report is received.
• Use an email client to verify the return email from HP to the reply email address.
Installing Instant Capacity on OpenVMS Systems
On OpenVMS systems, the Instant Capacity software is automatically installed on partitionable
systems when the OpenVMS Version 8.3 or later operating system in installed. You should not
need to install the Instant Capacity software separately on OpenVMS systems. Instant Capacity
hardware components have already been configured at the factory before delivery. The Instant
Capacity software is included on the OpenVMS Version 8.3 Operating Systems media.
To verify that the Instant Capacity software is installed and configured, run the following
OpenVMS commands:
$ @sys$manager:ICAP$CLI_UTILS.COM CONFIG_CHECK
$ show log ICAP$CONFIGURED
"ICAP$CONFIGURED" = "TRUE" (LNM$JOB_nnnnnnnn)
Installing Instant Capacity Software 47
Reinstalling Instant Capacity Software
Preserving current Instant Capacity information
If you reinstall HP-UX on a partition with Instant Capacity (for example, installing HP-UX by
either cold-installing or installing from a golden image), you must perform the following steps.
Otherwise, all information in the Instant Capacity configuration file (change history, system
contact information) is lost.
IMPORTANT: If the system is a member of a GiCAP group, it should be removed from the
group before reinstalling HP-UX, and added back into the group after the reinstallation.
“Reinstalling a Group Member” (page 118) describes a workaround if HP-UX is reinstalled while
a system is a member of a GiCAP group. If the system is a GiCAP Group Manager, additional
steps described in Chapter 7 are necessary to configure the Group Manager after a reinstallation
of HP-UX.
1. Before the reinstall action , manually save your InstantCapacity data and processor allocation
history by backing up the following files:
a. HP-UX: /etc/.iCOD_data
OpenVMS: SYS$SYSTEM:SYS$ICAP.DAT
b. HP-UX: /var/adm/icap.log
OpenVMS: SYS$MANAGER:ICAP.LOG
c. HP-UX: /var/adm/icap.log.old
d. OpenVMS: SYS$MANAGER:ICAP$CORES.DAT
These files are restored in step 3.
2. Install the appropriate HP-UX or OpenVMS OE from its media onto the partition. The Instant
Capacity software bundle B9073BA is installed automatically whenthe HP-UX OE isinstalled,
and the Instant Capacity software bundle BA484AA is installed automatically on OpenVMS
systems.
3. Restore your Instant Capacity data and processor allocation history files:
a. HP-UX: /etc/.iCOD_data
OpenVMS: SYS$SYSTEM:SYS$ICAP.DAT
b. HP-UX: /var/adm/icap.log
OpenVMS: SYS$MANAGER:ICAP.LOG
c. HP-UX: /var/adm/icap.log.old
d. OpenVMS: SYS$MANAGER:ICAP$CORES.DAT
48 Installing and Removing Instant Capacity Software
Removing Instant Capacity Software
IMPORTANT: Do not attempt to remove the Instant Capacity software.
Removing Instant Capacity Software 49
50
4 Using Instant Capacity to Manage Processing Capacity
This chapter covers the following topics:
• “Checking the Status of your Instant Capacity System” (page 52)
• “Setting System Contact Information” (page 54)
• “Applying a Right To Use (RTU) Codeword” (page 55)
• “Activating Cores” (page 57)
• “Deactivating Cores” (page 59)
• “Overriding Deferred Activation and Deactivation” (page 61)
• “Load-Balancing Active Cores” (page 62)
• “Understanding and Managing Intended Active Values” (page 63)
• “Activations and Deactivations in a Virtual Partition Environment” (page 64)
• “Assigning a Cell to a Partition” (page 67)
• “Unassigning a Cell from a Partition” (page 69)
• “Software Application Considerations” (page 71)
• “Test Activation of Cores Using Temporary Capacity” (page 72)
• “Replacement of Failed Cores” (page 73)
51
Checking the Status of your Instant Capacity System
You can use the icapstatus command to view the status of your Instant Capacity system. The
icapstatus command, issued without options, provides the following information:
• Version number of the Instant Capacity software
• System identification information (system ID, serial number, product number, unique ID)
• System contact email address
• Instant Capacity From: email address
• Asset reporting status (on or off)
• Temporary capacity warning period (in days)
• Exception status (indicates if complex is in an exception state)
• If a member of a GiCAP group, membership information and borrow/loan status of usage
rights
• Local virtual partition status (if applicable):
— Total number of assigned cores
— Number of active assigned cores
— Number of inactive assigned cores
— Additional cores that can be assigned with current usage rights
— Number of cores that could be assigned with additional usage rights
— Number of cores that can be assigned with temporary capacity
— Number of cores currently unavailable for assignment
• Local nPartition status (if not a virtual partition):
— Date and time the command was issued
— Total number of configured cores
— Number of intended active cores
— Number of active cores
— Number of inactive cores
— Additional cores that can be activated with current usage rights
— Number of cores that could be activated with additional usage rights
— Number of cores that can be activated with temporary capacity
— Number of cores that are deconfigured or attached to inactive cells
• Instant Capacity resource summary:
— Number of cells without usage rights
— Number of inactive cells
— Amount of memory without usage rights
— Amount of inactive memory
— Number of cores without usage rights
— Number of inactive cores
— Number of cores using temporary capacity
— Number of cores that must be deactivated (insufficient usage rights)
— Temporary capacity available
— Projected temporary capacity expiration
• Allocation of Instant Capacity resources among hard partitions:
— nPar ID
— Total cores
— Intended active cores
— Actual active cores
— Inactive cores
52 Using Instant Capacity to Manage Processing Capacity
— Inactive memory
— Inactive cells
— Runs iCAP (indicates whether the hard partition contains compatible Instant Capacity
software)
— nPar name
For details about the icapstatus command and its output, see icapstatus(1M).
Example 4-1 Sample Session of icapstatus (on HP-UX)
> /usr/sbin/icapstatus
Software version: B.11.31.09.00.00.71
System ID: supericod
Serial number: 1234567890
Product number: A6912A
Unique ID: fffff-fff-ffffff-ffff
System contact e-mail: mjones@corp.com
From e-mail: Set to the default ('adm')
Asset reporting: on
Temporary capacity warning period: 15 days
Exception status: No exception
Local nPartition Status (09/17/08 12:34:56)
------------------------------------------Total number of configured cores: 8
Number of Intended Active cores: 7
Number of active cores: 6
Number of inactive cores: 2
Additional cores that can be activated with current usage rights: 1
Number of cores that could be activated with additional usage rights: 1
Number of cores that can be activated with temporary capacity: 0
Number of cores that are deconfigured or attached to inactive cells: 0
Instant Capacity Resource Summary
--------------------------------Number of cells without usage rights: 0
Number of inactive cells: 0
Amount of memory without usage rights: 0.0 GB
Amount of inactive memory: 0.0 GB
Number of cores without usage rights: 4
Number of inactive cores: 6
Number of cores that must be deactivated (insufficient usage rights): 0
Temporary capacity available: 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes
Allocation of Instant Capacity Resources among the nPartitions
------------------------------------------------------------- Intended Actual
nPar Total Active Active =======Inactive======= Runs
ID Cores Cores Cores Cores Memory Cells iCAP nPar Name
==== ===== ======== ====== ====================== ==== ====================
0 8 5 4 4 0.0 GB 0 Yes Partition 0
1 8 7 6 2 0.0 GB 0 Yes Partition 1 (local)
N/A 0 N/A N/A N/A 0.0 GB 0 N/A Unassigned Cells
Checking the Status of your Instant Capacity System 53
Setting System Contact Information
HP recommends that you specify a system contact’s email address on each partition in your
system. On OpenVMS systems, the email address may be a logical pointing to a distribution list.
If specified, the system contact receives the following types of Instant Capacity email:
• Configuration change notification when cores are activated or deactivated
• Compliance exception notification
• Temporary capacity expiration notification
• Instant Capacity enforcement notification
• Virtual partition boot time compliance notification
• If participating in a GiCAP group and a hardware incompatibility is detected (see “Upgrades
and Global Instant Capacity” (page 121))
NOTE: Instant Capacity email messages are sent to the system contact email address, if specified,
and the root account on the partition. Most notifications are also written to the system log.
To specify the Instant Capacity system contact’s email address, use the icapmodify -c
command. Note that you must specify a valid Internet email address. For example:
> /usr/sbin/icapmodify -c mjones@corp.com
The contact email address has been set to mjones@corp.com.
NOTE: The email address specified for the system contact can be an email alias if you want
multiple recipients to receive Instant Capacity email messages.
54 Using Instant Capacity to Manage Processing Capacity
Applying a Right To Use (RTU) Codeword
Unless you have a balance of Instant Access Capacity (IAC) or temporary capacity (or usage
rights available from a GiCAP group), you must purchase additional usage rights before activation
of an inactive core. To purchase additional usage rights:
1. Contact your HP sales representative to purchase the appropriate Instant Capacity RTU
products.
2. Acquire an RTU codeword from the Utility Pricing Solutions web portal at http://
www.hp.com/go/icap/portal.
3. Apply the RTU codeword using the icapmodify -C command. Note that the -C option
is in uppercase.
Example Example 4-2 shows how to apply a core RTU codeword using the icapmodify -C
command.
Example 4-2 Applying an RTU Codeword (HP-UX)
> /usr/sbin/icapmodify -C mDwvj0M.fbHhKC9.byrgc8k.Pc7PjMt-1cp63H9.29xrDLU.g2CJhQM.RzuYyd6
The following valid codeword has been applied to the complex:
Right to Use Codeword
1 Core(s)
Use icapstatus(1M) to see the results of the application of this codeword.
NOTE: Application of Right to Use codewords does not result in the
activation of components. Use icapstatus(1M) to see the results
of the application of this codeword.
For cores: Use icapmodify(1M) to activate the cores.
For cell boards and memory: Use parmodify(1M) to activate cells
by setting the use_on_next_boot flag to ‘y’ or use parmgr(1M).
Application of the codeword increments the count of Additional cores that can be
activated with current usage rights (limited by the Number of inactive cores)
in the output of the icapstatus command.
IMPORTANT: RTU codewords are based on both the serial number of a system and a unique
sequencing value for that server. These codewords must be applied in the sequence in which
they are obtained for a particular server. They can be applied to any partition on the server.
Figure 4-1 (page 56) illustrates the process of ordering Instant Capacity components and ordering
and applying usage rights.
Applying a Right To Use (RTU) Codeword 55
Figure 4-1 Permanent Activation of Instant Capacity Components
Order iCAP
System/
Components
Apply IAC
Codeword to
System
Acquire IAC
Codeword
from Portal
Acquire RTU
Codeword
from Portal
Activate
Component(s)
Using IAC
Consumption
of IAC Halted
Apply RTU
Codeword to
System
Order
iCAP
RTU(s)
HP (or rep)
Installs iCAP
System/
Components
Customer
Additional Core
Capacity Needed
Post IAC in
iCAP DB
Post RTU Order
in iCAP DB
Send
Ack
Letter
HP
Process
Order for
RTU(s)
Ship iCAP
System/
Components
56 Using Instant Capacity to Manage Processing Capacity
Activating Cores
The icapmodify command provides the ability to increase processing capacity instantly by
activating cores with available usage rights in Instant Capacity systems. At any time, any number
of inactive cores with usage rights can be activated, as long as sufficient usage rights are available.
Whether you are activating or deactivating cores, the icapmodify command adjusts only the
number of dynamic cores, and it does not explicitly identify specific cores.
Activating Cores in nPartitions
The Instant Capacity software provides two types of activation:
• Instant (icapmodify command’s default behavior) — activation occurs immediately.
• Deferred (icapmodify -D) — activation occurs after the next reboot of the partition.
Instant activation of cores occurs when the icapmodify command is used with either the -a
or -s option, and the -D option is not specified. If the -s option is used, the number of cores
specified must be greater than the number of currently active cores.
Deferred activation of cores occurs when the icapmodify command is used with both the -D
option and either the -a or -s option. With the deferred option (-D), core activation occurs after
a reboot of the partition. The reboot (and the core activation) can take place at a planned time.
For example, if you activate cores in deferred activation mode and schedule a partition reboot
to occur on the first day of the next month, the cores are activated at that time.
IMPORTANT: If you shut down a partition for 12 hours or more, it should be powered off or
deactivated to avoid additional charges. To power off the partition, execute the PE command
from the system MP.
On HP-UX systems, always use the shutdown -R -H command when shutting down or
rebooting an Instant Capacity partition. If the partition is already shut down, use the rr command
from the system MP to reset cells for reconfiguring. For information about the shutdown
command, see shutdown(1M).
On OpenVMS systems, always use the sys$system:shutdown.com command procedure
when shutting down or rebooting an Instant Capacity partition.
Although a deferred activation does not immediately change the number of active cores, the
intended active value is changed. This change does affect compliance checking, even before the
partition reboot occurs. In particular, compliance checking is calculated as if the activation had
not been deferred.
IMPORTANT: On OpenVMS Instant Capacity systems, HP strongly recommends that you
activate cores using the icapmodify or the ICAP SET command. The use of the START CPU
command on an Instant Capacity system can result in unintended consequences, such as a
reduction of available temporary capacity. Anotherunintended side effect might be the adjustment
in core usage across the complex, depending on the intended core settings on the partition where
the START CPU command was issued.
To activate one or more inactive cores, use the icapmodify command as root. For more
information about this command, see icapmodify((1M)).
Constraints
The Instant Capacity software does not activate cores that are marked for deconfiguration. Also,
you cannot use Instant Capacity to activate more cores than are configured in the current
nPartition. If you want more cores, you must modify the nPartition with the parmodify
command. You can use Instant Capacity to activate more cores than are configured into the
current virtual partition, but only if the associated nPartition contains enough unassigned cores
Activating Cores 57
and the virtual partition allows enough additional cores to fulfill the request . Otherwise, use
the parmodify command to reconfigure the nPartitions, or use the vparmodify command to
remove cores from other virtual partitions within the same nPartition (essentially adding to the
unassigned pool).
Example Core Activation Session
Example 4-3 shows how to activate an additional core in an nPartition environment. At the
beginning of this activation session, there are a total of 4 cores in the partition; 2 cores are activated
and 2 are inactive, but usage rights have been acquired to activate at least one inactive core. In
this example, 1 additional core is activated, leaving the partition with 3 active cores and 1 inactive
core.
Example 4-3 Activating an Additional Core (HP-UX)
> /usr/sbin/icapmodify -a 1 "Add CPU for new FY: Bill P."
3 cores are intended to be active and are currently active.
In this example, note the following:
• The core activation is instant (that is, a reboot is not required).
• The double-quoted text serves as an audit trail of why the activation was done and who
performed it. This information is optional and is written to the Instant Capacity log file
(var/adm/icap.log) if provided.
NOTE: To defer the activation until the next reboot, add the -D option to the command. For
more information, see icapmodify(1M).
The icapmodify command allows you to activate additional cores with the -a option, or set
the total number of active cores with the -s option. For example, the icapmodify -a 2
command activates two additional cores in a partition. The icapmodify -s 2 command sets
the total number of active cores in a partition to 2.
For details about software application implications when activating additional cores, see “Software
Application Considerations” (page 71).
58 Using Instant Capacity to Manage Processing Capacity
Deactivating Cores
You can decrease processing capacity instantly on HP enterprise servers with the Instant Capacity
software (even on servers with sufficient usage rights for all cores to be active simultaneously).
Any number of active cores can be deactivated at any time, within the following partition
constraints. Core deactivation can be useful for load balancing cores in nPartitions (hard partitions)
of Instant Capacity systems.
Deactivating Cores in nPartitions
The software provides two types of core deactivation:
• Instant (icapmodify command’s default behavior) — deactivation occurs immediately.
• Deferred (icapmodify -D) — deactivation occurs after the next reboot of the partition.
Instant deactivation of cores occurs when the icapmodify command is used with the -d option
but without the -D option.
IMPORTANT: On OpenVMS Instant Capacity systems, HP strongly recommends that you
deactivate cores using the icapmodify or the ICAP SET command. The use of the STOP CPU
command on an Instant Capacity system can result in unintended consequences, such as a
reactivation of the core when an Instant Capacity reconciliation transaction is requested.
Deferred deactivation of cores occurs when the icapmodify command is used with both the
-D and -d options. With the deferred option (-D), core deactivation occurs after a reboot of the
partition. The scheduled timing of the reboot (and the core deactivation) can take place at a
planned time. For example, if you deactivate cores in deferred activation mode and schedule a
partition reboot to occur on the first day of the next month, the cores are deactivated at that time.
Since deferred deactivation does not immediately decrease the number of active cores, compliance
checking is not affected by deferred deactivation.
To deactivate one or more active cores, use theicapmodify command as root. For details, see
icapmodify(1M).
Partition Constraints
An nPartition must have a minimum of one active core for each active cell. Deactivation of cores
is limited by this rule. If the deactivation applies to a virtual partition, additional constraints
might apply, such as the minimum number of cores specified for the virtual partition.
Example Deactivation Session for Hardware-Partitionable Systems
Example 4-4 (page 60) shows how to deactivate an active core. At the beginning of this
deactivation session, there are a total of 4 cores in the partition; 3 cores are active and 1 is inactive.
In this example, 1 active core is deactivated, leaving the partition with 2 active cores and 2 inactive
cores. As with activation, you do not specify a particular core to be deactivated. You specify only
the number of cores to be deactivated.
Deactivating Cores 59
Example 4-4 Deactivating an Active Core (HP-UX)
> /usr/sbin/icapmodify -d 1
2 cores are intended to be active and are currently active.
NOTE: In Example 4-4, the core deactivation is instant (that is, does not require a reboot). To
defer deactivation until the next reboot, use the -D option with the command. For details, see
icapmodify(1M).
The icapmodify command allows you to either deactivate cores with the -d option or to set
the total number of active cores with the -s option. For example, the icapmodify -d 1
command deactivates 1 additional core in a partition. The icapmodify -s 2 command sets
the total number of active cores in a partition to 2.
60 Using Instant Capacity to Manage Processing Capacity
Overriding Deferred Activation and Deactivation
NOTE: Although this section discusses only activation of cores, the discussion applies also to
deactivation of cores.
If you have performed a deferred core activation (using the icapmodify -D command), and
the intended number of active cores specified is no longer desirable, you can override the
(pending) deferred activation by performing another deferred or instant icapmodify operation.
This second operation overrides the first activation.
You might experience one of the following scenarios with deferred activation:
• The deferred number of active cores was incorrect and you want it to be correct when the
system reboots.
• The entire deferred operation was accidental and you want to undo it.
Example 4-5 and Example 4-6 describe how to override these situations.
Example 4-5 Correcting an Incorrect Number of Deferred Active Cores (HP-UX)
1. On your system or partition you currently have 2 active cores and 2 inactive cores. You need
4 active cores, so you perform a deferred activation for 2 additional active cores by entering
the following command:
/usr/sbin/icapmodify -D -a 2
2. Later, and prior to a system reboot, you realize that you need only 3 active cores (not 4).
You can override the action in step 1 by entering the following command:
/usr/sbin/icapmodify -D -s 3
The -s option in step 2 sets the number of active cores. The activation takes place after the next
system reboot due to the -D option. You could also perform step 2 without the -D option so that
the icapmodify operation is instant.
Example 4-6 Undoing an Accidental Deferred Activation (HP-UX)
1. On your system or partition, you currently have 2 active cores and 2 inactive cores. You
accidentally perform a deferred activation for 1 additional active core by entering the
following command:
/usr/sbin/icapmodify -D -a 1
2. Later, and prior to a system reboot, you realize that you didn’t want to activate the additional
core (which would give you 3 active cores) and you want the number of active cores to be
2. You can override the action in step 1 by entering the following command:
/usr/sbin/icapmodify -a 0
The -a 0 option in step 2 overrides the previous (deferred) icapmodify command, which was
executed in step 1. The -a option is relative to the number of active cores, not to the intended
number of active cores.
You could accomplish the same result as step 2 with the following command:
/usr/sbin/icapmodify -s 2
Overriding Deferred Activation and Deactivation 61
Load-Balancing Active Cores
Active cores can be redistributed across any or all partitions of a hardware-partitionable system
if those partitions contain inactive cores.
For example, consider a system with two partitions:
• Partition 1 has 5 active cores and 3 inactive cores.
• Partition 2 has 8 active cores and 0 inactive cores.
You need to add processing power to Partition 1 because of application demand and you notice
that the active cores in Partition 2 are underutilized.
Deactivating an active core in Partition 2 decreases the number of active cores in that partition,
and activating one of the cores in Partition 1 increases the number of active cores in that partition.
The total number of active cores in the complex is the same at the end of this operation.
IMPORTANT: To remain in compliance, you must perform the deactivation operation first.
The two partitions are left with the following:
• Partition 1 now has 6 active cores and 2 inactive cores.
• Partition 2 now has 7 active cores and 1 inactive core.
Redistribution of active cores does not affect compliance. This is because you do not change the
overall number of active cores in the complex. If the complex was in compliance prior to the
redistribution, it remains in compliance. Make sure that you have proper licensing for all
proprietary and nonproprietary software when performing load balancing.
62 Using Instant Capacity to Manage Processing Capacity
Understanding and Managing Intended Active Values
The Instant Capacity software maintains a value for each nPartition of a complex called intended
active. Fundamentally, the intended active value is the number of cores intended to be active
after a reboot of the nPartition.
The concept and proper manipulation of intended active is critical because:
• It determines the number of cores which will be active upon the boot of an nPartition.
• The value is used to establish the allocation of core usage rights for an nPartition within the
total number of core usage rights purchased for the complex. That is, it represents the
intended distribution of core resources for each nPartition.
When the intended active value changes, the distribution of usage rights across the hard partitions
is changed, and the core resources originally intended for one nPartition might be diverted to
another nPartition. In fact, this is the mechanism that allows for load balancing of resources to
occur. Within a GiCAP group, changes to the intended active value allow resources to be load
balanced across the entire group. Naturally, it is important to be sure that this is an intentional
redistribution of resources.
Note that even inactive nPartitions have an intended active value that represents a “reservation”
of usage rights for that partition. This is necessary to ensure every configured nPartition has core
resources in order to boot.
IMPORTANT: An nPartition that was created but never booted to HP-UX will implicitly reserve
usage rights for all configured cores, regardless of any intended active value set for the nPartition.
Within a virtual partition environment, the intended active value is especially critical because a
value that does not conform to the virtual partition assignments can result in a virtual partition
environment that cannot be booted. For more information see “Boot Time Compliance” (page 66).
In a virtual partition environment, the behavior of the icapmodify -a, -d and -s options is
different when there is unused capacity represented by an intended active value that exceeds
the sum of the cores assigned to the virtual partitions in an nPartition, as described in “Activations
and Deactivations in a Virtual Partition Environment” (page 64).
Understanding and Managing Intended Active Values 63
Activations and Deactivations in a Virtual Partition Environment
Instant Capacitycan be present on HP-UX systems or partitions where virtual partition technology
is employed. In a virtual partition environment, cores that are not assigned to any virtual partition
are considered inactive (in addition to other classes of inactive cores). Unassigned cores can be
assigned (activated) or deassigned (deactivated) using either the icapmodify command or the
vparmodify command, depending on the type of adjustment needed and the level of logging
or reporting desired.
One important consideration is that vparmodify can be used to activate or deactivate cores in
other virtual partitions within the nPartition; icapmodify only activates or deactivates cores
within the current virtual partition (the partition where the command is invoked). The
vparmodify command does not change the value for the number of intended active cores for
the nPartition.
Another consideration is that core assignment via the vparmodify command does not result
in Instant Capacity logging of the activation, email configuration change notification, or
transmission of an asset report to HP.
NOTE: Deferred activations and deactivations are not supported in any virtual partition
environment.
Instant Capacity always consumes unused capacity before it consumes additional usage rights
when activating cores. Instant Capacity always releases usage rights from unused capacity before
it releases usage rights by deactivating cores.
When to Use the vparmodify or icapmodify Commands
When usage rights freed by deactivating cores are to be used in a different nPartition, use the
icapmodify command. When usage rights freed by deactivating cores are to be used by another
virtual partition within the same nPartition, use the vparmodify command. The following
sections provide details on activating and deactivating coreswithin nPartition and virtual partition
environments.
What is Unused Capacity
In a virtual partition environment, the Instant Capacity software may allocate or deallocate cores
from what is called “unused capacity”. Unused capacity is the difference between actual active
and intended active cores, and it is a side effect of using vparmodify to deactivate cores while
not immediately activating the cores in another virtual partition within the same nPartition. This
is usually a transient state, since a user typically migrates cores from one virtual partition to
another witha deactivate command followed by an activate command. However, unusedcapacity
can persist if, for example, a utility such as gWLM ignores an error status from an activation and
leaves the previously deactivated cores in an unassigned state. The Instant Capacity software
always takes unused capacity into account when a request is made to activate or deactivate cores
such that it attempts to eliminate the discrepancy between intended active and actual active.
Static Virtual Partitions
If a virtual partition is static (that is, if its resources cannot be migrated, added, deleted, or
modified) and you attempt to activate or deactivate cores, the Instant Capacity software displays
a message indicating that the configuration cannot be modified.
64 Using Instant Capacity to Manage Processing Capacity
NOTE: The icapstatus command output indicates that the number of cores that can be
assigned (to the local virtual partition) is zero if the static resource attribute for the local virtual
partition is set.
Activating Cores in a Virtual Partition Environment
In avirtual partition environment, theicapmodify command must be used to modify processing
capacity when you are making any adjustment to an nPartition or to multiple nPartitions. When
you execute the icapmodify command to activate a core, the Instant Capacity software verifies
that the request can be satisfied. If so, the local nPartition’s intended active number is increased,
and the appropriate number of cores are added to the local virtual partition.
When cores in a virtual partition are activated using the icapmodify command, if unused
capacity is available, the cores are activated from the unused capacity balance before increasing
the active cores. If enough cores are available to meet the request, the proper number of cores
are added to the local virtual partition. If there is any unused capacity available prior to the
activation, the result is that the actual active count changes by more than the intended active
count, and the intended active count may not change at all. However, the discrepancy between
intended active and actual active is reduced. If there is no unused capacity available, the desired
number of cores will be activated in the virtual partition.
If you are adjusting core assignments across virtual partitions in a single nPartition, use the
vparmodify command for the best coordination between the Instant Capacity software and the
vPars software, and for optimized performance. The vparmodify command is the fastest and
most efficient way to adjust capacity within virtual partitions of a single nPartition, but it does
not affect the intended active count for the nPartition. Therefore, it cannot be used to migrate
unused capacityeither to or from other nPartitions. When you execute the vparmodify command
to activate a core, the command verifies with the Instant Capacity software how many cores are
available for activation. This number is calculated as the difference between the local nPartition’s
intended active number and the total number of cores assigned to the vPars database.
Deactivating Cores in a Virtual Partition Environment
In avirtual partition environment, theicapmodify command must be used to modify processing
capacity when you are making any adjustment to an nPartition or to multiple nPartitions. When
you execute the icapmodify command to deactivate a core, the Instant Capacity software
verifies that the request can be satisfied. If so, the local nPartition’s intended active number is
decreased, and the appropriate number of cores are removed from the local virtual partition.
When the icapmodify command is used in a virtual partition, it checks with the Instant Capacity
software to determine how many cores are available for deactivation. This number is calculated
as the difference between the local nPartition’s intended active number and the total number of
cores assigned to the vPars database. If there is any unused capacity available prior to the
deactivation, the result is that the actual active count changes by more than the intended active
count, and the intended active count may not change at all. However, the discrepancy between
intended active and actual active is reduced.
If you are adjusting core assignments across virtual partitions in a single nPartition, use the
vparmodify command for the best coordination between the Instant Capacity software and the
vPars software, and for optimized performance. The vparmodify command is the fastest and
most efficient way to adjust capacity within virtual partitions of a single nPartition, but it does
not affect the intended active count for the nPartition and it therefore cannot be used to migrate
unused capacityeither to or from other nPartitions. When you execute the vparmodify command
to deactivate a core, authorization is not required from the Instant Capacity software.
Whether you are activating or deactivating cores, the icapmodify command adjusts only the
number of dynamic cores, and it does not explicitly identify specific cores.
Activations and Deactivations in a Virtual Partition Environment 65
Boot Time Compliance
A compliance check is performed whenever a virtual partition is booted. If the total number of
cores assigned to all virtual partitions in the current vPar database exceeds the nPartition’s
intended active core count, the Instant Capacity software notifies the vPar monitor. The monitor
prevents any virtual partition from booting until the user first performs a hard partition boot
and then modifies either the vPar configuration or the Instant Capacity intended active count
for the nPartition. Example 4-7 shows a sample boot-time compliance message sent when a
virtual partition is prevented from booting.
Example 4-7 vPar Boot–Time Compliance Message
To: root@par1.yourorg.com
Subject: vPar Boot Time Compliance
This message is being sent to inform you that a vpar is not
being allowed to boot because doing so would take this complex
out of compliance from an Instant Capacity perspective. The
number of cores assigned to this vPar database (/stand/vpdb)
exceeds the number of intended active cores by 1. To correct
this problem, boot this partition back into an nPartition and
modify the vPars assigned to this database or modify the number
of intended active cores for this nPartition.
66 Using Instant Capacity to Manage Processing Capacity
Assigning a Cell to a Partition
A
Active Core
Inactive (iCAP) Core
Cell 1
AAA
Available Core
Usage Rights
UR UR
I
I
Cell 2
II I I
Cell 1
AAA
I
Cell 2
AA
II
A cell can be assigned to a partition only if sufficient cell usage rights are available across the
complex, as well as sufficient memory usage rights to enable activation of all the memory on the
cell, and sufficient usage rights for at least one core of the cell to be active.
In an Instant Capacity system, when a cell is assigned to a partition, depending on the number
of core usage rights available in the system when the cell is assigned, the number of intended
active cores for the partition automatically changes. Figure 4-2, Figure 4-3, and Figure 4-4 illustrate
a single partition with one assigned and one unassigned cell.
Figure 4-2 Partition premodification state: One cell assigned with 3 active and 1 inactive cores,
and usage rights for 2 additional cores
Figure 4-3 Premodification state: Unassigned cell with 4 inactive cores and no usage rights
Figure 4-4 Partition postmodification state: Cell 2 assigned to partition
When Cell 2 is assigned to the partition, the number of intended active cores for the partition is
automatically changed to 5. When the partition is rebooted, 5 cores in the partition are activated.
When an unassigned cell is assigned to a partition via the parmodify command, the Instant
Capacity software determines the number of available core usage rights in the complex, and uses
this number to activate as many cores as possible in the new cell. (This number typically
corresponds to the icapstatus value for Additional cores that can be activated
with current usage rights or the actual number of cores, whichever is smaller. In order
to assign an inactive cell to a partition, this value must be nonzero.)
However, when a new partition is created via the parcreate command, core usage rights must
be available for all cores configured on the new partition's cells, and core usage rights are
automatically assigned to these new cells. For more information see “New Partition Creation
and Instant Capacity” (page 196).
Note that when determining available usage rights, the Instant Capacity software calculates the
usage rights consumed by each partition to be the greater of either the actual active or
intended active cores for the partition.
Assigning a Cell to a Partition 67
NOTE: Cell boards are assigned to specific partitions and cannot be shared between partitions.
All cores on a cell board are accessible by only the partition to which the cell board is assigned.
Cores on one cell board cannot be shared across multiple partitions.
68 Using Instant Capacity to Manage Processing Capacity
Unassigning a Cell from a Partition
Cell 1
AA
II
Cell 2
AA
II
Cell 3
AA
II
Cell 1
A AA
I
Cell 2
A AA
I
Cell 3
IIII
Cell 1
A AA
I
Cell 2
A AA
I
Cell 3
A AA
I
When a cell is unassigned from a partition in an Instant Capacity system, the number of intended
active cores in the partition decreases only if the number of cores being removed with the cell is
greater than the number of expected inactive cores in the partition. In Figure 4-5, Figure 4-6, and
Figure 4-7 showing a single partition system with 3 cells, the number of intended active cores
remains the same because the number of cores with the removed cell (4) does not exceed the
total number of expected inactive cores in the partition (6).
Figure 4-5 Partition premodification state: Three cells with 2 active and 2 inactive cores in each,
and 6 expected inactive cores
Figure 4-6 Partition postmodification state: Cell 3 is unassigned (total of 6 active cores remaining)
Figure 4-7 Partition postmodification state: Unassigned Cell 3 with 4 inactive cores
When Cell 3 is unassigned from the partition, the number of intended active cores for the partition
remains at 6. When the partition is rebooted, a total of 6 cores are activated. Cell 3 becomes an
unassigned cell with 4 inactive cores, essentially freeing up usage rights that are distributed
among the remaining cells.
In Figure 4-8, Figure 4-9, and Figure 4-10, the number of cores removed (4) is greater than the
number of expected inactive cores in the partition (3). When this happens, the number of intended
active cores is automatically set to the total number of remaining cores in the partition (8).
Figure 4-8 Partition premodification state: Three cells with 3 active and 1 inactive cores in each,
and 3 expected inactive cores
Unassigning a Cell from a Partition 69
Figure 4-9 Partition postmodification state: Unassigned Cell 3 (total of 8 active cores are set)
Cell 1
A A AA
Cell 2
A A AA
Cell 3
Available
Usage Rights
UR
IIII
Figure 4-10 Postmodification state: Unassigned Cell 3 with 4 inactive cores, with usage rights
available for 1 additional core
When Cell 3 is unassigned from the partition, the number of intended active cores changes from
9 to 8 (because 8 is the total number of cores remaining in the partition). When the partition is
rebooted, a total of 8 cores are activated. Cell 3 becomes an unassigned cell with 4 inactive cores,
and (unused) usage rights are available for 1 additional core for the complex.
NOTE: If you intend to migrate a cell from one partition to another, you can control the number
of core usage rights available to the cell (in the new partition) by deactivating cores in the partition
you removed the cell from. By deactivating cores, you make core usage rights available to the
entire complex.
70 Using Instant Capacity to Manage Processing Capacity
Software Application Considerations
Some software applications size themselves based on the number of available cores when the
application is started. If an application is running when an additional core is activated, the
application might not recognize the newly activated core as available for processing. Therefore,
you might need to do one of the following for optimal performance with this type of application:
• Restart the application in order for it to recognize the presence of newly activated cores.
• Reconfigure the application prior to restarting it, for maximum performance benefits of the
newly activated core.
• Use the deferred activation option when activating cores so that processors are activated
only in conjunction with system reboots. For details, see icapmodify(1M) for details
IMPORTANT: When you activate a core, the number of active cores in the system increases.
Consequently, a license upgrade might be required for some of the software from HP or other
vendors on your system.
Software Application Considerations 71
Test Activation of Cores Using Temporary Capacity
You might want to test your software application for proper operation and improved performance
by activating an additional core. The use of temporary capacity or Instant Access Capacity (IAC)
is required for activation of a core without usage rights for testing purposes. For details, see
Chapter 5: “Temporary Instant Capacity” (page 75).
The following testing guidelines are meant to be an aid to your test plan. You might need to get
consulting help to develop a more detailed plan.
1. Test your applications for proper functionality and performance first by testing with the
number of inactive cores equal to the number of cores without usage rights. (The system
should already be configured this way.) Be sure to check measurement tools that monitor
core usage.
2. Acquire temporary capacity for the necessary amount of core test activation.
3. Use temporary capacity to activate one or more inactive cores to be used while your
applications are running.
4. Confirm that measurement tools, which monitor processing usage, account for the newly
activated cores.
5. Verify that applications are benefiting from the performance of the extra cores (as per your
expectations for your applications). Some applications might need to be restarted or
reconfigured to take advantage of the newly activated cores.
6. When you are finished with your testing, deactivate cores until the number of inactive cores
again matches the number of cores without usage rights, thereby stopping the usage of
temporary capacity.
7. Use icapstatus to verify that no cores are consuming temporary capacity.
72 Using Instant Capacity to Manage Processing Capacity
Replacement of Failed Cores
HP-UX LPMC and HPMC
If an active core fails with a Low Priority Machine Check (LPMC) in a partition with Instant
Capacity, its processing capacity is replaced instantly by an inactive core, if any are available in
the partition. The failed core is marked for deconfiguration during the next system reboot.
For additional considerations in a virtual partition environment, see “LPMC Deactivations in
Virtual Partitions” (page 73).
If an active core fails with a High Priority Machine Check (HPMC), then upon reboot the failed
core is deconfigured and its processing capacity is instantly replaced by an inactive core, if any
are available in the partition.
NOTE: In both of the preceding scenarios, replace the failed core in a timely manner using your
normal hardware support process.
LPMC Deactivations in Virtual Partitions
In a vPar environment, if the LPMC monitor deactivates a core, it automatically replaces the
failing core with an Instant Capacity core from the free pool, if such a core is available. The failing
core remains in the virtual partition until either the virtual partition or the virtual partition
monitor is rebooted.
For moreinformation about LPMC in vPars, see the various white papers at the HP Documentation
web site (search for “LPMC”):
http://docs.hp.com
Failed Monarch Processors (HP-UX)
Monarch processors that are failing with an LPMC are not instantly replaced. When a monarch
processor experiences an LPMC, the LPMC monitor marks the processor for deconfiguration;
however, the LPMC monitor cannot deactivate the processor until the system is rebooted.
Deactivation of a monarch processor is not possible because it is the controlling processor of the
operating system (CPU 0). Therefore, the system cannot replace a (failing) monarch processor.
If your system has only one active processor, that processor is considered a monarch processor
and it cannot be replaced on line. A reboot of the system is required to replace the failing monarch
processor.
If there are multiple active processors in your system, one of them is designated as the monarch
processor, and the other (nonmonarch) processors can be replaced on line. If the monarch
processor fails, it cannot be replaced without a reboot.
Replacement of Failed Cores on OpenVMS
If a core is experiencing correctable errors, shut it down and start up another Instant Capacity
core, thereby keeping the active-core count constant.
If a core experiences a fatal problem leading to a system crash, upon reboot you can start another
Instant Capacity core, thereby replacing the failed core and keeping the active-core count constant.
Failed OpenVMS Primary Processors
An OpenVMS primary processor that is failing cannot be instantly replaced.
If your system has only one active processor, it is considered a primary processor and it cannot
be replaced on line. A reboot of the system is required to replace the failing primary processor.
Replacement of Failed Cores 73
If there are multiple active processors in your system, one of them is designated as the primary
processor and the other (nonprimary) processors can be replaced on line. If the primary processor
fails, it cannot be replaced without a reboot.
74 Using Instant Capacity to Manage Processing Capacity
5 Temporary Instant Capacity
This chapter covers the following topics:
• “Temporary Instant Capacity Overview” (page 76)
• “Ordering Temporary Instant Capacity” (page 78)
• “Using Temporary Instant Capacity” (page 79)
• “Temporary Capacity and Virtual Partitions” (page 81)
• “Tracking Usage of Temporary Instant Capacity” (page 83)
• “Temporary Instant Capacity Warning Period” (page 85)
• “Temporary Instant Capacity Expiration and Compliance Enforcement” (page 86)
• “Temporary Instant Capacity Exceptions” (page 87)
75
Temporary Instant Capacity Overview
You can purchase an amount of temporary capacity (TiCAP) time for inactive cores without
usage rights in your Instant Capacity system. Temporary capacity can be purchased in units of
processing days. Temporary capacity allows one or more inactive cores to be activated for up to
the specified period of prepaid processing time, without requiring permanent usage rights for
the cores.
You can activate and deactivate inactive cores as necessary until the elapsed activation time
equals the duration of your prepaid temporary capacity. For example, with a prepaid duration
of 30 days of temporary capacity, you can activate one core for 30 days or four cores for 1 hour
a day for 180 days (or any combination that totals 43,200 minutes).
Temporary capacity activations are persistent. This means that activations using temporary
capacity survive in a partition that is rebooted. You must deactivate cores to stop consumption
of temporary capacity. The cores you deactivate need not be on the same partition as those you
activated to start consuming temporary capacity.
NOTE: Temporary capacity credits can be used on any partition in the complex for which they
were purchased. Temporary capacity credits are not transferable from one system to another
unless the systems are in the same Global Instant Capacity group. For details of temporary
capacity in a GiCAP group, see Chapter 7.
If temporary capacity is depleted and you continue to have more active cores than core usage
rights across the complex, on the next reboot of any partition in the complex the software
automatically deactivates one or more cores in order to bring the system into a state closer to
compliance. The Instant Capacity software deactivates as many cores as necessary to either stop
consumption of temporary capacity or to bring the partition to the minimum number of required
active cores (one per active cell board).
IMPORTANT: Temporary capacity can beused toactivate Instant Capacitycores ona temporary
basis only. It cannot be used to activate Instant Capacity cell boards or Instant Capacity memory.
Figure 5-1 illustrates the process of purchasing and applying temporary capacity.
76 Temporary Instant Capacity
Figure 5-1 Using Temporary Instant Capacity: Temporary Activation of Cores Without Usage Rights
Order iCAP
System/
Components
Acquire TiCAP
Codeword
from Portal
Apply TiCAP
Codeword to
System
Order
TiCAP
HP (or rep)
Installs iCAP
System/
Components
Customer
Prior to Needing
Additional Core
Capacity
Activate
Core(s), with
-t option
Deactivate
Core(s)
Additional Core
Capacity Needed
Post TiCAP
Order in
iCAP DB
Send
Ack
Letter
HP
Ship iCAP
System/
Components
Process
Order for
TiCAP
Temporary Instant Capacity Overview 77
Ordering Temporary Instant Capacity
To add temporary capacity credits to a system, order the desired quantity of the Temporary
Instant Capacity product for your type of server. The system serial number is required for orders
of Temporary Instant Capacity.
Instant Capacity cores that are added to an existing system can include some additional temporary
capacity called Instant Access Capacity (IAC). Over time, the IAC can be consumed and you
might want to also order additional temporary capacity in order to continue activating cores on
a temporary basis. Temporary capacity is purchased in units of processing days, each of which
can be used to activate a single core for 24 hours (either continuously or spread over several
days), or multiple cores for portions that add up to a single day. Then you must follow the
configuration procedures for each partition (see “Acquiring and Configuring Temporary Instant
Capacity” (page 79)).
HP-UX Licensing and Support with Temporary Instant Capacity
When you purchase temporary capacity, the temporary HP-UX license-to-use is included when
Instant Capacity cores are activated using temporary capacity. You might also need software
licenses for nonproprietary software. Check with your application software vendor for licensing
requirements. Since licensing requirements can change without notice, check your contract to
understand the details of software licensing with temporary capacity.
OpenVMS Licensing and Support with Temporary Instant Capacity
When you purchase temporary capacity, the temporary OpenVMS license-to-use is included
when Instant Capacity cores are activated using temporary capacity. The OpenVMS License
Management Facility recognizes when Temporary Instant Capacity cores are activated, and they
treat the usage as compliant. For nonproprietary software that uses per-core licensing, check
with the vendor for licensing requirements.
78 Temporary Instant Capacity
Using Temporary Instant Capacity
Acquiring and Configuring Temporary Instant Capacity
To add temporary capacity to a system that contains Instant Capacity cores (cores without usage
rights), follow this procedure:
1. Order the desired amount of Temporary Instant Capacity for your type of server by
submitting a purchase order to HP. Be sure to specify the system serial number.
After you purchase an amount of temporary capacity, HP sends you a letter that tells you
how to acquire a temporary capacity codeword and apply it to the system.
2. Acquire the temporary capacity codeword from the Utility Pricing Solutions portal (http://
www.hp.com/go/icap/portal)
3. Apply the temporary capacity codeword using the icapmodify -C command, on any
partition of the server, as shown in Example 5-1.
Example 5-1 Applying a Temporary Capacity Codeword (HP-UX)
> /usr/sbin/icapmodify -C vnyqD.qjieC7e.LaLdQGH.4aCNYBp-BQk3w9n.jfDhpvz.LiEB58C.7Q3dca2
The following valid codeword has been applied to the complex:
Temporary Capacity Codeword
30 days 0 hours 0 minutes
Use icapstatus(1M) to see the results of the application of this codeword.
NOTE: Instant Capacity codewords are based on both the serial number of a system and
a unique sequencing value for that server. These codewords must be applied in the sequence
in which they are obtained for a particular server. They can be applied to any partition on
the server.
4. Optional: To view temporary capacity balances on the portal, configure your partition for
email connectivity to HP. For details, see “Configuring Email on Instant Capacity Systems”
(page 202).
Using Temporary Instant Capacity
Auditing of temporary capacity is done at the complex level on Instant Capacity systems that
support partitioning and that are not part of a GiCAP group. For information about GiCAP, see
“Global Instant Capacity and Temporary Capacity” (page 115).
In a system that contains Instant Capacity cores with the temporary capacity RTU codeword
applied, you can activate one or more cores in an nPartition and allow them to use temporary
capacity by entering the icapmodify -t -a<number_of_cores> command.
In Example 5-2, two cores are currently active in the partition. You want to activate a third core,
but there are no available usage rights for activation. Because temporary capacity is available on
the system, you can activate a third core with it.
Using Temporary Instant Capacity 79
Example 5-2 Activating an Instant Capacity Core with Temporary Capacity (HP-UX)
> /usr/sbin/icapmodify -t -a 1
3 cores are intended to be active and are currently active.
Number of cores using temporary capacity: 1
Projected temporary capacity exporation: 12/22/08 08:00:00
NOTE: Temporary capacity cannot be used to activate Instant Capacity cores in inactive Instant
Capacity cell boards. You must purchase additional usage rights for the cell board and perhaps
also for the memory of the cell board.
To decrease the use of temporary capacity or to stop using it entirely, deactivate the appropriate
number ofcores. (Do not use the icapmodify -t command when deactivating cores.) Temporary
capacity is no longer used when the number of active cores is equal to or less than the number
of cores with usage rights, across the complex.
To deactivate one or more cores in an nPartition, use the icapmodify -d <number> command.
80 Temporary Instant Capacity
Temporary Capacity and Virtual Partitions
If temporary capacity is being consumed in any virtual partition environment (previously
authorized with icapmodify -a n -t), deactivating a core with the vparmodify -d
command temporarily reduces the consumption of temporary capacity, although there may be
a delay of up to 30 minutes for the consumption of temporary capacity to cease. A subsequent
core activation using the vparmodify -a command increases consumption of temporary
capacity, if the activation results in more active cores than available core usage rights.
Use the icapmodify -d command to immediately decrease or cease the use of temporary
capacity. Itis not necessary to use the -t option withthe -d option. Use the icapmodify -a -t
command to resume temporary capacity consumption.
The following is an example of the output from an icapstatus command on a partitionable
system containing vPars.
> /usr/sbin/icapstatus
Software version: B.11.31.09.00.00.71
System ID: zoo6
Serial number: USR4020003
Product number: A6093A
Unique ID: Z3e0ec8e078cd3c7b
System contact e-mail: mjones@corp.com
From e-mail: Set to the default ('adm')
Asset reporting: on
Temporary capacity warning period: 15 days
Exception status: No exception
Local Virtual Partition Status
------------------------------
Total number of assigned cores: 4
Number of active assigned cores: 4
Number of inactive assigned cores: 0
Additional cores that can be assigned with current usage rights: 2
Number of cores that could be assigned with additional usage rights: 1
Number of cores that can be assigned with temporary capacity: 0
Number of cores currently unavailable for assignment: 0
Local nPartition Status (09/17/08 12:34:56)
-------------------------------------------
Total number of configured cores: 8
Number of Intended Active cores: 3
Number of active cores: 5
Number of inactive cores: 3
Instant Capacity Resource Summary
---------------------------------
Number of cells without usage rights: 0
Number of inactive cells: 0
Amount of memory without usage rights: 0.0 GB
Amount of inactive memory: 0.0 GB
Number of cores without usage rights: 4
Number of inactive cores: 6
Number of cores that must be deactivated (insufficient usage rights): 0
Temporary capacity available: 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes
Allocation of Instant Capacity Resources among the nPartitions
--------------------------------------------------------------
Intended Actual
nPar Total Active Active =======Inactive======= Runs
ID Cores Cores Cores Cores Memory Cells iCAP nPar Name
==== ===== ======== ====== ====================== ==== =====================
0 4 4 4 0 0.0 GB 0 Yes zoo0
1 4 4 4 0 0.0 GB 0 Yes zoo1
2 8 4 4 4 8.0 GB 1 Yes zoo2
3 4 0 4 0 0.0 GB 0 Yes zoo3a
4 0 4 4 0 0.0 GB 0 Yes zoo5
5 2 2 4 2 0.0 GB 0 Yes zoo7
6 3 3 4 1 0.0 GB 0 Yes zoo6 (local)
Temporary Capacity and Virtual Partitions 81
8 0 1 4 3 0.0 GB 0 Yes zoo8
9 0 4 4 0 0.0 GB 0 Yes zoo9
10 0 4 4 0 0.0 GB 0 Yes zoo10
11 0 4 4 0 0.0 GB 0 Yes zoo11
12 0 4 4 0 0.0 GB 0 Yes zoo12
13 0 4 4 0 0.0 GB 0 Yes zoo13
N/A 8 N/A N/A 8 4.0 GB 2 N/A Unassigned Cells
82 Temporary Instant Capacity
Tracking Usage of Temporary Instant Capacity
The icapstatus command provides the following information about the use of temporary
capacity on the system:
• Amount of temporary capacity remaining (in days, hours, and minutes)
• Number of cores using temporary capacity (number of active cores without usage rights)
• Projected temporary capacity expiration date and time (based on the current temporary
capacity consumption rate)
You can find this information in the Instant Capacity Resource Summary section of the
icapstatus command output.
Example 5-3 shows the display of temporary capacity information from the Instant Capacity
Resource Summary section of the icapstatus command output:
Example 5-3 Temporary Capacity Information from icapstatus Command (HP-UX)
> /usr/sbin/icapstatus
Instant Capacity Resource Summary
---------------------------------
Number of cells without usage rights: 0
Number of inactive cells: 0
Amount of memory without usage rights: 0.0 GB
Amount of inactive memory: 0.0 GB
Number of cores without usage rights: 4
Number of inactive cores: 3
Number of cores using temporary capacity: 1
Temporary capacity available: 10 days, 1 hours, 40 minutes
Projected temporary capacity expiration: 12/31/08 16:00:00
If the system is part of a GiCAP group, additional group temporary capacity might also be
available, and is visible only via the icapmanage command on the Group Manager system.
Temporary Capacity Expiration Reminder
The Instant Capacity software calculates when the temporary capacity balance will expire, based
on the current consumption rate. After the temporary capacity balance reaches a certain residual
number of days (see “Temporary Instant Capacity Warning Period” (page 85)), a reminder email
message is automatically sent to the system contact, if one is specified, and root. These messages
are sent on a daily basis until temporary capacity expires. Example 5-4 shows a temporary
capacity expiration reminder email message. Note that the output from icapstatus during
the warning period includes a warning about the expiration of temporary capacity.
Tracking Usage of Temporary Instant Capacity 83
Example 5-4 Temporary Capacity Expiration Reminder
To: root@par1.yourorg.com
Subject: Temporary Capacity Expiration Reminder
***************************************************************************
**** Failure to perform the following steps will result in the complex ****
**** attempting to deactivate cores on any booting partitions until ****
**** the complex is in compliance with the Instant Capacity contract. ****
***************************************************************************
This message is being sent to remind you that your Instant Capacity complex
(containing the partition krmt10b) has 3 cores currently consuming temporary
capacity (TiCAP) and that the temporary capacity balance at the current
consumption rate is projected to expire on or around:
12/31/08 16:00:00
You can view the current temporary capacity balance and consumption rate,
by using the icapstatus command.
To adjust the number of calendar days to receive the temporary capacity
warning before temporary capacity actually expires use: icapmodify -w
Before the temporary capacity balance runs out, you must perform one of the
following steps:
1. Purchase additional temporary capacity and apply the temporary
capacity codeword to the complex.
2. Deactivate cores until the number of inactive cores on
the complex matches the number of cores without usage rights,
reported by icapstatus.
3. Purchase additional core usage rights to match the number of cores
currently consuming temporary, and apply the Right to Use
codewords to the complex so that they can be permanently activated.
See the Instant Capacity user's guide at /usr/share/doc/icapUserGuide.pdf
for more information.
84 Temporary Instant Capacity
Temporary Instant Capacity Warning Period
By default, the Instant Capacity software sends the expiration reminder when the temporary
capacity balance is projected to expire within 15 days. You can adjust that warning period by
specifying a different value with the icapmodify command, using the -w option. For example,
the following command specifies a longer warning period, for more advance notice:
> icapmodify -w 20
The Temporary Capacity Warning Period has been successfully set to 20 days.
Temporary Instant Capacity Warning Period 85
Temporary Instant Capacity Expiration and Compliance Enforcement
IMPORTANT: If you leave cores without usage rights activated beyond thepurchased temporary
capacity duration, the software automatically deactivates one or more cores on the next reboot
of any partition in the complex.
After the temporary capacity is depleted and you continue to have more active cores than usage
rights across the complex, a notice similar to the following appears at the bottom of the
icapstatus output:
WARNING: Temporary capacity has expired and this complex is out
of compliance with the Instant Capacity contract because there
are 2 more active cores than there are core usage rights.
Deactivation of cores may occur during partition reboot to
bring the complex into compliance. In order to avoid the
deactivation of cores upon reboot, you need to take corrective
action immediately. Either deactivate 2 core(s), apply
additional temporary capacity codewords, or purchase and apply
Right to Use codewords for 2 core(s).
As stated in the warning, if cores without usage rights continue to be used, then on the next
reboot of any partition in the complex, the software automatically deactivates one or more cores
in order to bring the system into a closer state of compliance. The Instant Capacity software
deactivates as many cores as is necessary to either stop consumption of temporary capacity or
to bring the partition to the minimum number of required active cores. You must purchase either
additional temporary capacity or the appropriate number of usage rights (RTU codewords) to
be in full compliance.
For examples of the error messages that are sent as a result of compliance enforcement, see
“Temporary Instant Capacity Exceptions” (page 87).
Auditing of temporary capacity is done at the complex (OpenVMS node) level on Instant Capacity
systems that support partitioning (and are not part of a GiCAP group). Although temporary
capacity might have been purchased for use by a specific partition, it is available to all partitions
in the complex or OpenVMS node (or to the entire GiCAP group, if applicable).
86 Temporary Instant Capacity
Temporary Instant Capacity Exceptions
Error for Activation with Insufficient Temporary Capacity
You cannot activate an Instant Capacity core with temporary capacity unless there is a sufficient
balance of temporary capacity available. For details on how to increase the temporary capacity
balance, see “Acquiring and Configuring Temporary Instant Capacity” (page 79).
Example 5-5 shows an error message for attempting to activate an inactive core without usage
rights and without a sufficient balance of temporary capacity:
Example 5-5 Error Message for Activation with Insufficient Temporary Capacity (HP-UX)
> /usr/sbin/icapmodify -t -a 1
ERROR: Operation not approved because there is not enough temporary capacity
to satisfy the request. Activations require at least 30 minutes
worth of temporary capacity per core consuming temporary capacity.
Temporary Capacity Balance Needing Action
If the temporary capacity balance reaches 30 minutes or less, the icapstatus command output
displays “less than 30 minutes” in the Exception status field (at the beginning of the
icapstatus output). When this state occurs, you need to take corrective action immediately
by doing one of the following:
• Deactivate Instant Capacity cores that are using temporary capacity.
• Apply additional temporary capacity codewords.
• Acquire additional core usage rights and apply the RTU codeword.
Temporary Capacity Negative Balance
A complex is out of compliance with the Instant Capacity contract if a negative balance of
temporary capacity occurs.
The Instant Capacity software sends an exception report (via email) if there is a negative balance
of temporary capacity. Exception information is also written to the syslog file. For details of
the exception report for a negative temporary capacity balance, see “Handling Compliance
Exceptions” (page 137).
If you continue to have more active cores than core usage rights across the complex, a negative
capacity balance results in a compliance enforcement action, as described in “Temporary Instant
Capacity Expiration and Compliance Enforcement” (page 86). If there is a negative temporary
capacity balance but the number of cores with usage rights is greater than or equal to the number
of active cores, then the complex remains in an exception state, but without (additional)
enforcement action.
Temporary Capacity Enforcement
When the temporary capacity balance is depleted and you continue to have more active cores
than core usage rights across the complex, an enforcement action occurs at partition reboot to
bring the system into a state closer to compliance (by deactivating one or more cores). Example 5-6
shows the message that is sent when enforcement results in a partially compliant state but
temporary capacity continues to be depleted. Example 5-7 shows the message that is sent when
the enforcement is able to deactivate enough cores so that temporary capacity is no longer used.
Temporary Instant Capacity Exceptions 87
Example 5-6 Error Message for Temporary Capacity Partial Enforcement
To: root@par1.yourorg.com
Subject: Instant Capacity enforcement notice
This message is being sent to inform you that, due to expiration of
temporary capacity, 1 additional core(s) were deactivated on your Instant
Capacity system (containing the partition par1) to bring the complex
into compliance.
Prior to deactivation, the number of active cores exceeded the number of
available core usage rights by 3. 3 core(s) without usage rights were found to
be active in the complex. This state was likely the result of having activated
Instant Capacity core(s) using temporary capacity (TiCAP), and then allowing
the TiCAP balance to expire prior to deactivation of the core(s).
As a result, the intended active value was reduced by 1 and 1 core(s)
were deactivated.
There are currently 3 active core(s) and 1 core usage rights. This complex
is not in compliance with the Instant Capacity contract. Other partitions
may also experience core deactivation upon reboot until compliance is restored.
To bring the system back into compliance now, perform one or more of the
following steps:
1. Purchase additional temporary capacity and apply the temporary
capacity codeword(s) to the complex.
2. Deactivate cores until no cores are consuming temporary
capacity.
3. Purchase additional usage rights to match the number of cores consuming
temporary capacity and apply the Right to Use codewords to the complex
so that they can be permanently activated.
To activate these 1 core(s) again, you can perform one of the
following actions:
1. Purchase additional temporary capacity and apply the TiCAP
codeword(s) to the complex, and use temporary capacity to
activate the core(s).
2. Deactivate cores in other partitions after the complex is in
compliance. This frees up core usage rights which can be used
to activate cores on this partition.
You can view the current temporary capacity compliance of your system by using
the icapstatus command.
See the Instant Capacity user's guide at /usr/share/doc/icapUserGuide.pdf
for more information.
88 Temporary Instant Capacity
Example 5-7 Error Message for Temporary Capacity Complete Enforcement
To: root@par1.yourorg.com
Subject: Instant Capacity enforcement notice
This message is being sent to inform you that, due to expiration of
temporary capacity, 1 core(s) were deactivated on your Instant Capacity
complex (containing the partition par1) to bring the complex into compliance
with the Instant Capacity contract.
Prior to deactivation, the number of active cores exceeded the number
of available usage rights by 1. 1 core(s) without usage rights were
found to be active in the complex. This state was likely the result of
having activated Instant Capacity core(s) using temporary capacity (TiCAP)
and then allowing the temporary capacity balance to expire prior to
deactivation of the core(s).
As a result, the intended active value was reduced by 1 and 1 core(s)
were deactivated. To activate these 1 core(s) again, you can perform
one of the following actions:
1. Purchase additional temporary capacity, apply the TiCAP codeword(s)
to the complex, and use temporary capacity to activate the core(s).
2. Deactivate cores in other partitions. This frees up core usage
rights which can be used to activate cores on this partition.
There are currently 3 active core(s) and 3 core usage rights. This complex
is now compliant with the Instant Capacity contract.
You can view the current temporary capacity compliance of your system by
using the icapstatus command.
See the Instant Capacity user's guide at /usr/share/doc/icapUserGuide.pdf
for more information.
Temporary Instant Capacity Exceptions 89
90
6 Instant Capacity Cell Board
This chapter covers the following topics:
• “Instant Capacity Cell Board” (page 92)
• “Ordering Instant Capacity Cell Board” (page 93)
• “HP-UX and OpenVMS License and Support” (page 94)
• “Acquiring Usage Rights for Instant Capacity Cell Board” (page 95)
• “Instant Capacity Cell Board and Considerations of Core Usage Rights” (page 96)
• “Activation of an Instant Capacity Cell Board” (page 97)
• “Accidental Activation of an Instant Capacity Cell Board” (page 98)
• “Instant Capacity Cell Board Activation Exception Error” (page 99)
• “Instant Capacity Cell Board and Temporary Instant Capacity” (page 100)
91
Instant Capacity Cell Board
Overview
Instant Capacity Cell Board offers a way to have additional (inactive) cell board capacity in your
system for growingbusiness needs.When the need arises, you acquire the necessary usage rights
in order to activate and use the cell boards, which contain memory and processors or cores.
An InstantCapacity cell board is configured at HP manufacturing already assigned to an nPartition
(hard partition) with its use-on-next-boot flag set to n (no), so it does not participate in the
boot of the nPartition.
When you are ready to activate a cell board, you can increase the cell usage rights by either
purchasing the appropriate Right to Use (RTU) products, or by borrowing usage rights if you
are using Global Instant Capacity to share usage rights within a group of servers. To purchase
usage rights, submit a purchase order to HP for the appropriate RTU products to increase the
cell usage rights available on the complex, as well as sufficient usage rights for all of the memory
on the cell board and, depending on the available usage rights and existing complex configuration,
usage rights for one or more additional cores. Then, the cell board is available for activation and
participation in the boot of the nPartition. This is controlled by setting the use-on-next-boot
flag to y (yes) with the parmodify command and rebooting the nPartition.
NOTE: If usage rights for the cell board, its memory, and at least one core are insufficient, the
Instant Capacity software prevents the cell board from being configured to participate (become
active) in the boot of an nPartition.
Any cell board, whether or not usage rights are available for activation, can be assigned to an
nPartition with the use-on-next-boot flag set to n (no).
Because an active cell board must have a minimum of 1 active core, prior to activation of a cell
board one of the following must be true:
• Usage rights for at least one additional core must be available in the complex. There must
be at least one active core per cell board. The Instant Capacity software redistributes active
cores across all cell boards in the partition.
• Usage rights for at least one additional core must be purchased and the RTU codeword must
be applied to the complex.
• If the complex is a member of a Global Instant Capacity (GiCAP) group, usage rights for at
least one additional core must be available from the group.
After a cell board is activated, all of the cores on the cell board can be activated, depending on
the availability of core usage rights. You might need to acquire additional core usage rights in
order to activate additional cores from the newly activated cell board.
For information about assigning and unassigning a cell board to an nPartition, see “Assigning
a Cell to a Partition” (page 67) and “Unassigning a Cell from a Partition” (page 69).
Ask your HP sales representative about availability of the Instant Capacity Cell Board product.
92 Instant Capacity Cell Board
Ordering Instant Capacity Cell Board
To order the Instant Capacity Cell Board product, do the following:
• Order the appropriate HP product number for the cell board for your specific class of HP
server.
• Order the appropriate HP product number for the entire amount of Instant Capacity memory
on the cell board.
• Order the appropriate HP product numbers and quantities of Instant Capacity processors
for the number of additional cores to activate on the cell board (for details about core usage
rightssee “Instant CapacityCell Board and Considerations of Core Usage Rights” (page96)).
NOTE: It is highly recommended that you have the same number of processors or cores and
amount of memory on all cell boards in a given hard partition (nPartition). For optimal
performance, each nPartition should have cell boards with identical numbers of processors or
cores and amounts of memory (otherwise, system performance can be unpredictable).
Rules for ordering memory help ensure that the Instant Capacity cell board matches the amount
of memory in the other cell boards in a given nPartition.
Ordering Instant Capacity Cell Board 93
HP-UX and OpenVMS License and Support
You do not initially pay for HP-UX and OpenVMS license and support fees on an Instant Capacity
cell board.
When you acquire the usage rights for a cell board by purchasing the cell board RTU product,
there is an additional cost for the incremental HP-UX or OpenVMS license and support for each
core that is activated. That is, the HP-UX or OpenVMS license and support costs are based on a
“per active core” basis and are not included as part of the cell board RTU.
If activation of an Instant Capacity cell board does not increase the number of active cores, then
you do not have to pay incremental HP-UX or OpenVMS license and support fees.
Your system must be properly licensed for the HP-UX or OpenVMS Operating Environment
(OE) when activating the Instant Capacity cell board. You might also need software licenses for
nonproprietary software. Consult your applicationsoftware vendor about licensing requirements.
94 Instant Capacity Cell Board
Acquiring Usage Rights for Instant Capacity Cell Board
Before activation of an (inactive) Instant Capacity cell board, you must acquire (purchase, or
borrow from a GiCAP group) additional usage rights from HP. To purchase additional usage
rights:
• Order the appropriate HP RTU product for the cell board for your specific class of HP server.
• Order the appropriate HP RTU product for the entire amount of Instant Capacity memory
on the cell board.
• Order the appropriate HP RTU products for the number of additional cores you want to
activate on the cell board. This number depends on several factors (and in some cases might
not be required); examine this need before ordering any cell board usage rights. For more
details about how to determine this number, see “Instant Capacity Cell Board and
Considerations of Core Usage Rights” (page 96).
HP sends you a letter that tells you on how to acquire RTU codewords for the purchased
components. The letter also describes how to apply the codewords to the system to increase the
usage rights on the complex. The steps are as follows:
1. Acquire the appropriate RTU codeword (cell board, memory, core) from the Utility Pricing
Solutions portal (http://www.hp.com/go/icap/portal).
2. Apply theappropriate RTU codeword (cell board, memory, core) usingthe icapmodify -C
command.
NOTE: If multiple RTU products are purchased at one time, a single codeword can be generated
that incorporates multiple usage rights for the different components.
IMPORTANT: RTU codewords are based on both the serial number of a system and a unique
sequencing value for that server. These codewords must be applied in the sequence in which
they are obtained for a particular server. They can be applied to any partition on the server.
For an alternative to purchasing usage rights, see Chapter 7 for a discussion of GiCAP and how
you can borrow usage rights from other members of a GiCAP group.
Acquiring Usage Rights for Instant Capacity Cell Board 95
Instant Capacity Cell Board and Considerations of Core Usage Rights
At least one core usage right must be available for an Instant Capacity cell board you want to
activate. Each active cell board must have at least 1 active core. However, you do not necessarily
need to acquire additional core usage rights. No additional core usage rights are required unless
the requirement for a minimum of 1 core per active cell board cannot otherwise be met. If the
number of active cores in an nPartition equals (or exceeds) the number of cell usage rights, then
you do not need to purchase additional core usage rights.
NOTE: The following examples assume that the number of intended active cores for the
nPartition remains constant before and after cell board activation.
For example, consider an nPartition with 1 active cell board with all 4 cores active, and 1 inactive
cell board with 4 inactive cores. The number of intended active cores for the nPartition is 4. No
additional core usage rights are available. Activation of the inactive cell board on the complex
results in 2 active cores per cell board after reboot. That is, the Instant Capacity software distributes
the available core usage rights across the 2 active cell boards in the partition. The requirement
that at least 1 core is active on each cell board is satisfied, so purchase of additional core usage
rights is not necessary. You can choose to activate additional cores in the partition. If you do so,
you should purchase core usage rights at the same time as the cell usage rights. In this instance,
it is not required.
Table 6-1 Cell Board Activation Not Requiring Additional Core Usage Rights
State
Activation
Activation
Active Cell Board
Cores
Cores
4 inactive4 activeBefore Cell Board
2 active, 2 inactive2 active, 2 inactiveAfter Cell Board
No additional core usage rights are available on
the complex.
No additional core usage rights are required
because the number of core usage rightsis greater
than the number of active cell boards.
NotesInactive Cell Board
In a different scenario, activation of an additional cell usage right can cause the number of core
usage rights to be below the minimum (1 active core per active cell board) and necessitate the
acquisition of additional core usage rights. For example, consider an nPartition with 1 active cell
board containing 1 active core and 3 inactive cores, and 1 inactive cell board with 4 inactive cores.
The number of intended active cores is 1 and there are no available core usage rights on the
complex. In this case, purchase of an additional cell usage right for the inactive cell board requires
purchase of an additional core usage right in order to meet the minimum requirement of 1 core
per active cell board.
Table 6-2 Cell Board Activation Requiring Additional Core Usage Rights
State
Activation
Active Cell Board
Cores
Cores
No core usage rights are available on the complex.4 inactive1 active, 3 inactiveBefore Cell Board
NotesInactive Cell Board
Activation
96 Instant Capacity Cell Board
1 active, 3 inactive1 active, 3 inactiveAfter Cell Board
One additional core usage right is acquired
because the number of core usage rights is less
than the number of active cell boards.
Activation of an Instant Capacity Cell Board
An Instant Capacity cell board is usually assigned to an nPartition; however, the cell board does
not participate in the boot of the nPartition. Activating an Instant Capacity cell board is a two-step
process:
1. Set the cell board’s use-on-next-boot flag to y (yes) using the parmodify command.
2. Reboot the nPartition (using the shutdown -r command on HP-UX), or (on HP-UX 11.31
OEUR 0709 or later) a Cell Online Activation.
For example, to change the use-on-next-boot flag to y on the Instant Capacity cell board in
cabinet 0, slot 5, in nPartition 3, execute the following command:
/usr/sbin/parmodify -p 3 -m 0/5::y:
If core usage rights are available in the complex, the number of intended active cores is increased
to as high a number as possible, limited by the number of cores in the newly activated cell board.
The available core usage rights are automatically used in the cell activation. If there are no
available core usage rights, the number of active cores remains the same.
After you have set the cell board’s use-on-next-boot flag to y, and have rebooted the
nPartition, you can use the icapmodify command to activate cores that are listed as Additional
cores that can be assigned with current usage rights (as reported by the
icapstatus command).
Activating an Instant Capacity cell board causes at least one core to become active on that cell
board after reboot.
For details about adding and configuring cells in nPartitions, see the nPartition Administrator's
Guide.
Activation of an Instant Capacity Cell Board 97
Accidental Activation of an Instant Capacity Cell Board
If you accidentally activate an Instant Capacity cell board, you can deactivate it by following this
two-step procedure:
1. Set the cell board’s use-on-next-boot flag to n (no) by using the parmodify command.
2. Reboot the nPartition, or (on HP-UX 11.31 OEUR 0709 or later) a Cell Online Deactivation.
This step is not necessary if there was no reboot after the activation.
For example, to change the use-on-next-boot flag to n on the Instant Capacity cell board in
cabinet 0, slot 5, in nPartition 3, execute the following command:
/usr/sbin/parmodify -p 3 -m 0/5::n:
In this command, the n flag sets the cell board’s use-on-next-boot flag to “no” and causes
the cell board to not participate in the nPartition when it is booted.
For details about adding and configuring cells in nPartitions, see the nPartition Administrator's
Guide.
98 Instant Capacity Cell Board
Instant Capacity Cell Board Activation Exception Error
A
Active Core
Inactive (iCAP) Core
Cell 1
A
Available Core
Usage Rights
None
III
I
Cell 2
IIII
Cell 1
A
I
Cell 2
IIII II
When you attempt to activate an Instant Capacity cell board in an nPartition, depending on the
number of core usage rights that are currently available in the complex, there is a chance the
number of intended active cores for the nPartition is out of compliance and the activation fails.
Figure 6-1, Figure 6-2, and Figure 6-3 illustrate this.
Figure 6-1 nPartition premodification state: One cell assigned with 1 active core and 3 inactive
cores; the complex has no additional core usage rights
Figure 6-2 nPartition premodification state: Instant Capacity cell (Cell 2) with 4 inactive cores
Figure 6-3 nPartition requested state: Instant Capacity Cell (Cell 2) cannot be activated in nPartition
In this case, the parmodify command fails. This is because the nPartition would have 2 active
cell boards, and therefore must have at least 2 active cores. With only one core usage right, the
nPartition is out of compliance.
To activate the Instant Capacity cell board and be in compliance, you must first purchase an RTU
for an additional core usage right, or deactivate a core in another partition, if possible.
Instant Capacity Cell Board Activation Exception Error 99
Instant Capacity Cell Board and Temporary Instant Capacity
You can activate cores only on activated cell boards for which cell board usage rights have been
acquired. This is true for both permanent activation of a core and temporary activation of a core
using temporary capacity.
To acquire usage rights for an Instant Capacity cell board, you must acquire usage rights for the
cell board and the entire amount of memory it contains. For details, see “Acquiring Usage Rights
for Instant Capacity Cell Board” (page 95).
100 Instant Capacity Cell Board
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