Extracting Resource Allocation Data for Chargeback in a HP Virtual Server Environment for HP Integrity Servers

Data-Gathering and Reporting Intervals
The third policy consideration is the billing interval. A chargeback accounting period is dependent on
both internal IT and the accounting practices of a company. Gathering of resource-allocation data
can happen at any interval equal to or shorter than the billing period. This paper assumes a data-
gathering period of one month or less.
Chargeback with Virtualized Platforms of HP VSE
HP VSE is a suite of technologies for creating highly efficient and agile platform infrastructures with a
central theme of configuring and managing multiple workloads on common hardware resources. For
more information about the VSE suite, see the white paper called, “An Introduction to the HP Virtual
Server Environment,” available on the HP Documentation website:
http://docs.hp.com/en/11011/IntroToVSE.pdf
The asset being shared
From an accounting perspective, the hardware resource that VSE technology allows users to share is
the physical server. VSE physical servers currently belong to one of two architecture families: HP
Integrity servers or HP 9000 servers. Within both architecture families, larger physical servers can be
partitioned into smaller servers by using the nPar and vPar technologies. These systems are referred to
as cell-based complexes. For purposes of this paper, the end asset from a cost-accounting perspective
to IT organizations is the complex, not individual subpartitions.
The potential secondary resource being shared is Temporary Instant Capacity (TiCAP). TiCAP is a
finite processing capability that is consumed as cores without usage rights are activated and
deactivated. From an asset perspective, this processing can be purchased and tracked separately
from the physical server.
User workloads
An IT service might have multiple components in different layers. At the VSE level, the unit of work that
can be assigned to an end-user organization is called a workload. VSE workloads are of the
following types:
 Server: The whole OS workload of a nonpartitioned server
 nPar: The whole OS workload of an nPar
 vPar: The whole OS workload of a vPar
 VM guest: The processes of an HP Integrity virtual machine as seen on the Integrity VM Host
 pset: The processes of a processor set
 fss: The processes of a Fair Share Scheduler group
Whole OS workloads consist of an entire OS instance and the applications that are installed and are
running on it. The pset and fss workloads are processes of an application instance within an OS. A
VM guest is a virtual machine. The virtual machine as seen from the underlying VM Host is a process.
As seen from the VM guest itself, the virtual machine is an entire OS instance and the applications
that are installed and running on it.
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