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 complex-wide database of usage rights. See “Usage Rights Requirement” for details about acquiring additional usage rights.

Activation of components is restricted according to complex-wide 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.

Cores (Processors)

While you purchase Instant Capacity processors for your system, the Instant Capacity software monitors and manages the total number of cores. For example, a dual core Instant Capacity processor is treated as two cores without usage rights.

The Instant Capacity software enforces compliance for cores by comparing the number of actual 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 may be used to activate any core in an active cell board. Note also that Temporary Capacity may 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 complex-wide (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 may even become unusable as would happen in the case where enough other cores must be made inactive to meet compliance, such that there are no longer enough active cores to have at least one active core per configured cell.

Cell Boards

Instant Capacity offers you a way to have additional (inactive) cell board capacity 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 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, which is 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 may want to activate one or more cores at the same time the cell and memory are activated, so you may 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 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.

	IMPORTANT: You must have one active core for each active cell board.

Memory

As with other components, the Instant Capacity software enforces compliance for memory by comparing the amount of actual inactive memory with the expected inactive memory, which is the amount of memory without usage rights for the entire complex.

Memory is contained in a cell board. An Instant Capacity cell board must be activated before its memory can be used. You cannot activate a cell board without activating all attached memory. You must have enough available memory usage rights to activate all the memory on the cell board.