HP Instant Capacity (iCAP) manual Virtual Partitions, HP Integrity Virtual Machines Integrity VM

Virtual Partitions

Instant Capacity has a minimum version dependency on vPars A.03.05. For versions of vPars before A.03.05, the icapmodify command for activating or deactivating cores in a virtual partition fails with an error message indicating the vPars version dependency.

Instant Capacity can 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, email configuration change notification, or transmission of an asset report to HP.

However, the most important consideration is that the icapmodify command must be used in a virtual partition environment when you are making any adjustment to an nPartition. 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 hard partition, but it does not affect the intended active count for the nPartition. Therefore, it cannot be used to migrate unused capacity either to or from other nPartitions.

Note that with vPars A.03.05 or greater, 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 activecount for the nPartition.

For more information about virtual partitions, see vparmodify(1M).

HP Integrity Virtual Machines (Integrity VM)

In an Integrity VM environment, Instant Capacity software provides meaningful functionality only on the VM Host; it does not run on a virtual machine (also known as a “guest”). In particular, Instant Capacity commands will report an error if attempted from a guest. A GiCAP Group Manager cannot be run on a guest, nor can a guest be specified in the host list for a GiCAP group member.

Processor Sets

In an environment where processor sets are being used, the icapmodify command activates Instant Capacity cores into the default processor set and deactivates cores from only the default processor set. Activation or deactivation of cores in nondefault processor sets is a two-step operation. The first step involves the user migrating the cores into or out of the default processor set; the second step is the activation or deactivation of those cores using the icapmodify command.

For more information about processor sets, see psrset(1M).

Temporary Capacity (TiCAP) Program

Customers can purchase an amount of temporary capacity time. This temporary capacity can be used to activate one or more cores beyond the number for which usage rights have been purchased. These extra cores can remain active until they consume the available temporary

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