HP Instant Capacity User's Guide for Version 9.x

4.10 Assigning a Cell to a Partition
A cell can be assigned to a partition only if sufficient cell usage rights are available across the
complex, as well as sufficient memory usage rights to enable activation of all the memory on the
cell, and sufficient usage rights for at least one core of the cell to be active.
In an Instant Capacity system, when a cell is assigned to a partition, depending on the number
of core usage rights available in the system when the cell is assigned, the number of intended
active cores for the partition automatically changes. Figure 4-2, Figure 4-3, and Figure 4-4 illustrate
a single partition with one assigned and one unassigned cell.
Figure 4-2 Partition premodification state: One cell assigned with 3 active and 1 inactive cores,
and usage rights for 2 additional cores
A
Active Core
Inactive (iCAP) Core
Cell 1
AAA
Available Core
Usage Rights
UR UR
I
I
Figure 4-3 Premodification state: Unassigned cell with 4 inactive cores and no usage rights
Cell 2
II I I
Figure 4-4 Partition postmodification state: Cell 2 assigned to partition
Cell 1
AAA
I
Cell 2
AA
II
When Cell 2 is assigned to the partition, the number of intended active cores for the partition is
automatically changed to 5. When the partition is rebooted, 5 cores in the partition are activated.
When an unassigned cell is assigned to a partition via the parmodify command, the Instant
Capacity software determines the number of available core usage rights in the complex, and uses
this number to activate as many cores as possible in the new cell. (This number typically
corresponds to the icapstatus value for Additional cores that can be activated
with current usage rights or the actual number of cores, whichever is smaller. In order
to assign an inactive cell to a partition, this value must be nonzero.)
However, when a new partition is created via the parcreate command, core usage rights must
be available for all cores configured on the new partition's cells, and core usage rights are
automatically assigned to these new cells. For more information see “New Partition Creation
and Instant Capacity” (page 188).
Note that when determining available usage rights, the Instant Capacity software calculates the
usage rights consumed by each partition to be the greater of either the actual active or
intended active cores for the partition.
4.10 Assigning a Cell to a Partition 65