Utilizing Temporary Capacity for iCOD Processors

Overview of Temporary Capacity

New for iCOD versions B.05.x is temporary capacity. Temporary capacity is a HP software product that enables iCOD customers to purchase (prepaid) processor activation rights, for their iCOD processors, for a limited duration of time. Temporary capacity can be purchased in units of 30 processor-days (43,200 processor-minutes).

	NOTE: Temporary capacity is supported on HP-UX 11i v1 only and is not available on HP-UX 11.0.

You can activate and deactivate iCOD processors as you wish until the activation time equals your prepaid temporary capacity duration. For example, with one unit of temporary capacity, you can activate one iCOD processor for 30 days or four iCOD processors for one hour a day for 180 days (or any combination that totals 43,200 processor-minutes).

Processor activation time is managed in units of minutes; therefore, you can use iCOD processors in units of minutes. For example, if you activate an iCOD processor for only five minutes, and then deactivate it, you are charged for only five minutes of activation time (out of your total of 30 processor-days). There can be a deviation of up to one minute in usage tracking for each instance of activation and deactivation. This is because the licensing clock runs in units of minutes.

If you activate processors beyond the prepaid temporary capacity duration, then the activated iCOD processors are considered purchased, as in today's iCOD model.

	NOTE: Temporary capacity credits are not transferable from one iCOD system to another.

Ordering Temporary Capacity for New iCOD Processors

iCOD processors do not automatically include temporary capacity rights. To utilize temporary capacity on newly ordered iCOD processors, you first order iCOD processors as you normally do. In addition, order temporary capacity rights separately, in units of 30 processor-days. There is one temporary capacity product per class of HP server.

For example, to add two new iCOD 750MHz processors to your rp8400 server, and two 30 processor-day units of temporary capacity:

The two units of temporary capacity provide you with 60 processor-days of temporary capacity. A processor-day is the usage of one iCOD processor for one 24-hour period. The processor-days can be used among any of the iCOD processors installed in your iCOD system.

Ordering Temporary Capacity for Existing Systems

To add temporary capacity credits to your existing iCOD system, that contains iCOD processors, just order the desired quantity of the temporary capacity product for your type of server. Be sure to specify the system serial number, which is required for orders of iCOD processors and temporary capacity, for installed base systems.

Licensing and Support

When you purchase temporary capacity, included are the temporary HP-UX license to use and support for the iCOD processors. Your iCOD system must be properly licensed for the HP-UX Operating Environment (OE), before activating iCOD processors under temporary capacity. Software licenses for 3rd party software may also be needed. Check with your application software vendor for licensing requirements.

Tracking the Purchase and Use of Temporary Capacity

	NOTE: The reply e-mail message, sent from HP in response to the icod_notify command, includes information on your remaining credits of temporary capacity.

The HP audit application tracks temporary capacity usage in increments of minutes. The initial purchase is converted from the number of processor-days, to processor-minutes, and usage debits take place as the audit application becomes aware of iCOD processor activations

The audit application sends the system contact an e-mail when the available credit remaining for processor-days falls below five. This e-mail notifies you to deactivate the iCOD processor, or submit a purchase order to continue usage.

	IMPORTANT: If you leave an iCOD processor activated beyond the purchased temporary capacity duration, the iCOD software does not automatically deactivate the processor. You are responsible to either purchase an additional unit of temporary capacity or purchase the iCOD processor.

Continuation of Temporary Capacity

After an activated iCOD processor has exhausted its temporary capacity duration, you may wish to leave the processor activated, and initiate the purchase of an additional unit of temporary capacity. Because the purchase of an additional temporary capacity unit is not instantaneous, the processor usage (after the initial temporary capacity duration has expired, but before your new unit of temporary capacity is purchased and entered into the HP audit application) is deducted from the amount of processor-days credited. For example, if you submit a temporary capacity order ten days after running out of initial temporary capacity processor-days, but keep the iCOD processor activated, the ten processor-days are deducted from your available processor-days, which you have just purchased.

It is mandatory for your iCOD system to be able to send e-mail to the HP audit application on a daily basis. This is necessary for HP to monitor usage of your iCOD system so that temporary capacity usage can be tracked. If the audit application stops receiving your iCOD system’s e-mail, then HP makes assumptions on processor usage, specifically:

Auditing of temporary capacity is done at the system level on iCOD systems that support partitioning. Therefore, although temporary capacity may have been purchased for use by a specific partition, it is available to all partitions in the system.

Temporary capacity credits are not transferable across iCOD systems. All credits for processor-days for a system are considered lost when all iCOD processors on that system are purchased, or when the iCOD contract term expires for that system.

Buying all iCOD processors on the system, at the current list price, clears out any previous violation of temporary capacity.