HP Instant Capacity for HP Integrity & HP 9000 Mid-range & Superdome Servers

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Configuring servers with multiple partitions
When creating a new partition in an iCAP system, the partition being created must have active (that
is, non-iCAP) components only. The system as a whole must have enough RTUs for all components to
be active, or iCAP components must be moved to current partitions before creating a new one. After
the partition is created and the OE, along with the iCAP software, is loaded, then iCAP components
can be redistributed into the newly created partition.
iCAP processors can be activated and deactivated in a virtual partition. Instant Capacity is
compatible with virtual partitions, but the virtual partition software must be A.02.03 or later. If a
virtual partition is static (that is, the resources cannot be migrated, added, deleted, or modified) and
an attempt is made to activate or deactivate processors, the iCAP software displays a message
indicating that the configuration of the processor resources cannot be modified.
HP Instant Capacity for high availability and disaster recovery
Instant Capacity improves system availability by providing hot processor spares that are automatically
activated in the event of a processor failure. Depending on the type of failure, a failing processor is
replaced instantly by an iCAP processor, if any are available in that same partition, and the failing
processor is marked for deconfiguration during the next system reboot. Alternatively, with some
failures, the processor is replaced after the partition reboots. In either case, available iCAP processors
automatically replace failed processors, improving overall system availability and application
performance.
Disaster recovery environments can have a primary system configured to meet normal production
workloads and a backup system configured with Instant Capacity capabilities. Instant Capacity on the
backup system allows its normal, standby capacity to be increased after a failover from the primary
system. TiCAP can play an important role by temporarily activating processors on the backup system
to power the extra burden of these newly added applications. When the main system is restored,
iCAP processors are switched off. Alternatively, the primary and backup servers can be placed in a
GiCAP group, and if a partition in the primary server fails, the usage rights that are made available
can be transferred and used on the backup server.
TiCAP activation is manual unless HP-UX WLM is used for automation (see the “Using HP-UX
Workload Manager and HP Integrity Essentials Global Workload Manager” section on page 10).
GiCAP transfer and activation is also manual. Only processors (not cell boards or memory) can be
activated using TiCAP, whereas any iCAP component can be transferred using GiCAP.