Instant Capacity Integration with Virtual Partitions (HP-UX only)

Overview

Instant Capacity may be present on 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, the version of vPars being used, 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).

Another consideration is that core assignment via the vparmodify command does not result in logging of the activation, e-mail configuration change notification, or transmission of an asset report to HP.

For versions of vPars before A.04, HP recommends using the icapmodify command when activating or deactivating cores in a virtual partition. This is the best way to ensure that the complex remains in a compliant state.

	NOTE: Deferred activations and deactivations are not supported in any vPar environment.

The Instant Capacity software interacts with virtual partitions (vPars) software to varying degrees depending on the version of vPars that is being used. This feature is not relevant to OpenVMS Integrity.

For HP-UX 11i v2 systems, the required version of vPars software is A.04.01 or greater. That version, combined with Instant Capacity, is referred to as the “integrated virtual partition environment”, since it allows for the best coordination between Instant Capacity software and vPars software, making it less likely for a complex to be misconfigured or out of contractual compliance.

For HP-UX 11i v1 systems, the required version of vPars software is A.02.03 or greater, but version A.04 is not available for that platform. When A.02 or A.03 versions of vPars are used (on HP-UX 11i v1), the combination is referred to as a “compatible virtual partition environment” because the Instant Capacity software co-exists with the virtual partition software, with a lesser degree of coordination between the two products.

The Instant Capacity software must be installed on all virtual partitions in an Instant Capacity system.

See the Installing and Managing HP-UX Virtual Partitions manual for details of virtual partitions. This manual can be found on the HP web site: http://docs.hp.com

Integrated Virtual Partition Environment

Activation and Deactivation of Cores

When using vPars version A.04.01 or greater, the icapmodify command must be used to modify processing capacity when you are making any adjustment to an nPartition or to multiple nPartitions:

If you are adjusting core assignments across virtual partitions in a single nPartition, you 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 hard partition, but it does not affect the intended active count for the nPartition and it therefore cannot be used to migrate unused capacity either to or from other nPartitions:

Whether you are activating or deactivating cores, the vparmodify command adjusts only the number of dynamic cores, and it does not explicitly identify specific cores.

Boot Time Compliance

In the integrated virtual partition environment, 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, and the monitor prevents any virtual partition from booting until the user performs a hard partition boot and modifies either the vPar configuration or the Instant Capacity intended active count for the nPartition.

Example A-2 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.

Compatible Virtual Partition Environment

Activation and Deactivation of Cores

The Instant Capacity software co-exists with vPars versions less than A.04.01. In this environment, HP recommends using the icapmodify command when modifying processing capacity in a virtual partition. This is the best way to ensure that the complex remains in a compliant state.

To co-exist with vPars, the Instant Capacity software modifies processing capacity using the vparmodify command. When you execute the icapmodify command to deactivate a core, it determines how many cores in the local virtual partition are unbound. If enough unbound cores exist to satisfy the request, the appropriate vparmodify command is executed, and the proper number of unbound cores are removed from the local virtual partition.

	WARNING! The icapmodify command should not be used in a compatible virtual partition environment to deactivate cores if processor sets (Psets) are being used. The icapmodify command utilizes the vparmodify command which does not recognize Psets. Using the icapmodify command to deactivate a core may cause an unintended core to be removed from a Pset.

When you execute the icapmodify command to activate a core, it determines how many cores are available for activation. If enough cores are available to meet the request, the appropriate vparmodify command is executed, and the proper number of unbound cores are added to the local virtual partition.

Whether you are activating or deactivating cores, the (appropriate) vparmodify command adjusts only the number of unbound cores, and it does not explicitly identify specific cores, or affect the number of bound cores.

Temporary Capacity and Virtual Partitions

If temporary capacity is being consumed in any virtual partition environment (having been previously authorized using icapmodify -a n -t), deactivating a core with the vparmodify command temporarily reduces the consumption of temporary capacity. A subsequent core activation using vparmodify increases consumption of temporary capacity, assuming that this activation results in there being more active cores than available core usage rights. Use icapmodify -d to stop the use of temporary capacity. It is not necessary to use the “-t” option when using the “-d” option.

Example Output of icapstatus on a Partitionable System Containing vPars

/usr/sbin/icapstatus

Software version:          B.08.00.01
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 that are deconfigured or attached to inactive cells:     0
 
Local nPartition Status
-----------------------
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)
  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
 

Static Virtual Partitions

If a virtual partition is static (that is, the 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.

	NOTE: The icapstatus command’s output indicates that the number of cores that can or could be assigned (to the local virtual partition) is zero if the static resource attribute for the local virtual partition is set.

LPMC Deactivations in Virtual Partitions

In a vPar environment, if the Low Priority Machine Check (LPMC) monitor deactivates a core, it automatically replaces the failing core with an Instant Capacity core from the free pool, assuming there is one available.

The failing core remains in the virtual partition until either the virtual partition or the virtual partition monitor is rebooted. (In the compatible virtual partition environment, rebooting the virtual partition monitor is necessary if a bound core in the virtual partition fails.)

More information about LPMC in vPars can be found in whitepapers on http://docs.hp.com (search for “LPMC”).

	NOTE: vPars version A.03.01 (or later) is required for automatic replacement of a failed core by the LPMC monitor.