Cost-Effective High-Availability Solutions with HP Instant Capacity on HP-UX

Temporary Instant Capacity
Temporary Instant Capacity (TiCAP), an additional, optional iCAP feature, is a prepaid block of
processing time that enables the activation of cores beyond the number allowed by the core usage
rights purchased for a server. This prepaid block of temporary capacity works like a phone card,
providing processor core activation time instead of phone time.
You must have iCAP software and hardware installed to take advantage of TiCAP.
You can use TiCAP to activate inactive cores on active cell boards. You cannot use TiCAP to activate
inactive cell boards or memory. To activate cores on an inactive cell board, you must first activate the
cell board and its memory either by using newly purchased cell and memory usage rights or by
deactivating a cell board and memory elsewhere in the server or elsewhere in the GiCAP group (if
any).
You purchase TiCAP as a block of 30 processor core days, providing 43,200 minutes of activation
time for each processor core. You do not have to use an entire TiCAP block for a single core or a
single activation. For example, with one 30-day block of TiCAP, you could activate one core for 30
days, two cores for one hour a day for 360 days, or any other combination that adds up to 43,200
minutes.
TiCAP minutes are decremented in 30-minute increments for each processor core activated without
permanent usage rights.
Figure 3 shows an example of TiCAP usage, with the “card” balance of TiCAP shown on the
left-hand side.
Figure 3: Temporary Instant Capacity usage
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