Using HP Global Workload Manager with Serviceguard

Sharing Resources at Multiple Levels

When you share resources within a host as described in the previous section, you can also combine

multiple hosts within a server into a single shared resource domain thereby enabling both the sharing

of processors between virtual partitions/nPartitions and multiple workloads per host running in those

partitions.

Controlling Resource Allocation

The normal operating model for gWLM is to monitor resource usage for each workload’s

compartment and then allocate resources to the compartments based on resource demand and the

associated policies. You can change the policy under certain detectable conditions in the computer

system. gWLM supports the following general types of conditions:

• Serviceguard-related conditions

• File-based conditions

• Time-based conditions

Using a conditional policy, you can alter the effective policy associated with a workload, when the

specified condition is met. These condition types are described in the following sections.

Controlling Resources Based Upon Serviceguard State

gWLM 3.0 and later provide conditional policies that can detect the following Serviceguard

conditions:

• SgReducedClusterCapacity

Detects whether the Serviceguard cluster associated with the host of the workload is missing any

cluster members.

• SgNonPrimaryPackagePresent

Detects whether any Serviceguard package active on the host of the workload does not have the

host configured as its primary node.

• SgPkgActive

Detects when the named Serviceguard package is active on the host of the workload.

Using conditions enables immediate changes to resource allocations that would otherwise wait until

gWLM observes and reacts to the resource utilization within the cluster. For example, with conditions,

gWLM can enable TiCAP whenever a member of the cluster is down or if a package is started within

a particular host.

Fixing Resources at Application Start-up

gWLM 4.0 and later provide file-based conditional policies. These policies are in effect when

particular files are present in a certain directory on the host of a workload. They are useful to give a

workload a set amount of CPU resources when it is starting. For example, you can create a

Serviceguard package for Oracle that is only active for the duration of the Oracle start-up. You can

then use a file-based policy to set the package’s resource allocation.

Controlling Resources Based Upon Time of Day

gWLM 4.0 and later provide time-based conditional policies. These policies are in effect during

particular time periods (time of day, day of week, or date). You can use them to reduce allocations to

non-critical batch jobs during business hours (when priority should be given to customer-supporting

activities) and to allow higher resource allocations during off hours.