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Ordering PowerVM Editions features

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Ordering PowerVM Editions features

You can order PowerVM® Editions features for a new server, a server model upgrade, or an installed server.

For a new server or a server model upgrade, your order can contain one or more PowerVM Editions features, resulting in a single PowerVM Editions code. In this case, the PowerVM Editions code is entered before the server is sent to you.

When you order PowerVM Editions features for an installed server, determine which PowerVM Editions technology you want to enable and then order the associated features. A single PowerVM Editions code will be generated for you to enter that enables all of the technologies that you ordered.

Perform the following steps to order one or more PowerVM Editions features:

  1. Determine which PowerVM Editions features you want to enable. For more information, see PowerVM Editions concepts.
  2. Contact your IBM® Business Partner or IBM sales representative to place your order for one or more PowerVM Editions features.
  3. Enter the resulting code on your server to enable PowerVM Editions . See Activating PowerVM Editions for more information.


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Last updated: Thu, April 09, 2015

PowerVM Editions concepts

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PowerVM Editions concepts

This information describes the virtualization technologies that are available.

The following virtualization technologies are available:
  • PowerVM® is a Virtualization Engine technology that enables the system for the following features:
    • Micro-Partitioning®
    • Virtual I/O Server
    • Integrated Virtualization Manager
    • Live Partition Mobility
    • The ability to run x86 Linux applications on Power Systems™
The following table describes the features each PowerVM Edition offers:
Table 1. PowerVM Editions offerings
Offering Express Edition Standard Edition Enterprise Edition
Maximum number of logical partitions offered 3 per server 1000 per server 1000 per server
Management offering VMControl, IVM VMControl, IVM, HMC VMControl, IVM, HMC
Virtual I/O server Offered Offered (Dual) Offered (Dual)
PowerVM Lx86 Offered Offered Offered
Suspend/Resume Offered Offered Offered
N_Port Virtualization (NPIV) Offered Offered Offered
Multiple shared processor pools Not offered Offered Offered
Multiple shared storage pools Not offered Offered Offered
Thin provisioning Not offered Offered Offered
Live Partition Mobility Not offered Not offered Offered
Active Memory™ Sharing Not offered Not offered Offered
This table shows the PowerVM Editions features.
Table 2. PowerVM Editions features
Machine Express Edition feature Standard Edition feature Enterprise Edition feature
7895-22X 5225 5227 5228
7895-23X 5225 5227 5228
7895-42X 5225 5227 5228
8202-E4B 5225 5227 5228
8202-E4C 5225 5227 5228
8202-E4D 5225 5227 5228
8205-E6C 5225 5227 5228
8205-E6B 5225 5227 5228
8205-E6D 5225 5227 5228
8231-E2B 5225 5227 5228
8231-E1C and 8231-E2C 5225 5227 5228
8231-E1D, 8231-E2D, or 8268-E1D 5225 5227 5228
8233-E8B 7793 7794 7795
8408-E8D 7793 7794 7795
8412-EAD 7793 7794 7795
9109-RMD 7793 7794 7795
9117-MMB Not offered 7942 7995
9117-MMC Not offered 7942 7995
9117-MMD Not offered 7942 7995
9119-FHB Not offered 7943 8002
9179-MHB Not offered 7942 7995
9179-MHC Not offered 7942 7995
9179-MHD Not offered 7942 7995


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Last updated: Thu, April 09, 2015
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PowerVM Editions (PowerVM)

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PowerVM Editions (PowerVM)

PowerVM® Editions (also referred to as PowerVM ) is activated with a code, similar to the way that capacity is activated on IBM® Systems and IBM eServer™ hardware .

When you purchase a PowerVM Editions feature, a code is provided that can be entered on the Hardware Management Console ( HMC ) to activate the technology. You can enter PowerVM activation codes by using the Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM).



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Last updated: Thu, April 09, 2015
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Power Enterprise Pool compliance

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Power Enterprise Pool compliance

When you share Mobile Capacity on Demand (CoD) resources among servers in a Power® Enterprise Pool , the pool must be in compliance with your CoD licensing agreements.

The resource entitlements for the pool are procured through your CoD licenses, which include a grace period for overuse of these resources. The resource entitlements for the pool must synchronize with the actual usage of those resources. You can temporarily overuse the Mobile CoD pool resources. However, the grace period in your licenses restricts this overuse. When resources are in use beyond the grace period, those resources are overdue and the server is out of compliance with the CoD license. Compliance policies for the Power Enterprise Pool are based on your CoD licenses and these policies enforce resource availability and usage restrictions for the pool.

The Mobile CoD resource compliance of the servers in the pool determines the compliance state of the pool itself. A server is in compliance if the server does not have any unreturned Mobile CoD resources.

A Power Enterprise Pool can have one of the following four compliance states:
In compliance
None of the servers in the pool have any unreturned Mobile CoD resources.
Approaching out of compliance (within server grace period)
At least one server in the pool has Mobile CoD resources that are unreturned, and the server grace period for those resources is unexpired. None of the servers in the pool have Mobile CoD resources that are unreturned and overdue.
Out of compliance (within pool grace period)
At least one server in the pool has overdue, unreturned Mobile CoD resources and the pool grace period is unexpired.
Out of compliance
At least one server in the pool has overdue, unreturned Mobile CoD resources and the pool grace period is expired.
A Mobile CoD resource becomes an unreturned resource under the following conditions:
  • You remove the Mobile CoD resource from a server, but the server cannot reclaim the resource because that resource is still in use. For example, the resource is assigned to one or more partitions. You must remove the partition assignments to enable the server to reclaim the resource.
  • You remove a Mobile CoD resource from a server that is not connected to the master Hardware Management Console ( HMC ) of the pool.

When Mobile CoD resources that are removed from a server become unreturned, a grace period timer starts for the unreturned resources on that server. There is a separate grace period timer for unreturned Mobile CoD processors and for unreturned Mobile CoD memory on each server.

Before a server grace period expires, you must release the unreturned Mobile CoD resources and make them available for the server to reclaim. If a resource remains unreturned after the end of the grace period, the pool is out of compliance. When the pool moves to the out of compliance state, a new grace period timer starts for the pool itself. There is only one grace period timer for the pool. If any servers have overdue Mobile CoD resources when the pool grace period expires, add operations for Mobile CoD resources are restricted to servers with unreturned Mobile CoD resources. This restriction is enforced until there are no servers in the pool with overdue unreturned Mobile CoD resources.

When a server in a pool is out of compliance, or the pool is out of compliance, console messages are displayed on the HMC s that manage the pool.

To view compliance information for a Power Enterprise Pool , complete the following steps:
  1. From the master HMC for the pool, select Systems Management > Power Enterprise Pools .
  2. In the left navigation pane, select the pool name and then select Compliance Information .

Resolving compliance issues

To avoid compliance issues, ensure that Mobile CoD resources are released on a server before you remove the resources from that server. Also, do not remove Mobile CoD resources from a server that is not connected to the master HMC for the pool.

If you want to overuse your Mobile CoD resources when migrating partitions, ensure that all Mobile CoD resources removed from the source server are released and reclaimed by the source server as soon as the migration completes. If the migration fails, immediately remove the Mobile CoD resources added to the destination system and add them back to the source system.

You can resolve unreturned Mobile CoD resources in any of the following ways:
  • Migrate a partition to another server. After the partition migrates successfully, any resources that are assigned to the partition on the source server are reclaimed automatically.
  • Remove resources from a running partition by using the appropriate dynamic logical partition (DLPAR) task.
  • Remove resources from a shutdown partition.
  • Delete a partition to release resources that are assigned to that partition.
  • Activate Capacity Upgrade on Demand (CUoD), On/Off CoD, or Trial CoD resources.
  • Add Mobile CoD resources to the server.
Note: When a server is powered off, any unreturned Mobile CoD resources are reclaimed automatically by the master HMC for the pool.

If the server is not connected to the master HMC for the pool, you must establish a connection from the master HMC to that server. After you reestablish the connection, if any unreturned Mobile CoD resources remain on the server, take one of the previously stated actions to release them. If you cannot reestablish this connection, you can add Mobile CoD resources to the server to resolve the unreturned resources.



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Last updated: Thu, April 09, 2015
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Using Power Enterprise Pools

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Using Power Enterprise Pools

After you obtain your Power® Enterprise Pool configuration file from IBM, you can create and update the Power Enterprise Pools by using the Hardware Management Console ( HMC ).

Create a Power Enterprise Pool

You can create a Power Enterprise Pool by using the HMC .

Ensure that you meet the following prerequisites for creating a Power Enterprise Pool :
  • Ensure that the configuration file is in the appropriate location. You must place the file on the local system that you are using to remotely access the HMC . This HMC is the master HMC for the new pool.
  • Ensure that the HMC manages all the servers that are to participate in the pool.
  • Ensure that all servers that are to participate in the pool are in the standby or the operating state.
  • Ensure that all servers that are to participate in the pool use firmware that is version 7.8 or later.

To create a Power Enterprise Pool , from the master HMC select Systems Management > Power Enterprise Pools , then click Create Pool .

Update the configuration of a Power Enterprise Pool

After the Power Enterprise Pool is created, you can update the configuration of your pool. You must contact IBM and get a new configuration file for your pool to make the following types of configuration changes:
  • You can add Mobile Capacity on Demand (CoD) resources to your pool or you can remove Mobile CoD resources from your pool.
  • You can add servers to your pool or you can remove servers from your pool.
    Attention: The HMC deletes the pool automatically if you remove the last server from a pool.
Ensure that you meet the following prerequisites for updating the configuration of a Power Enterprise Pool :
  • Ensure that you obtained the required configuration file from IBM.
  • Ensure that the configuration file is in the appropriate location. You must place the file on the local system that you are using to remotely access the master HMC for the pool.
  • Ensure that any new server that is to participate in the pool is in the standby state or the operating state.
  • Ensure that any new server that is to participate in the pool uses firmware that is version 7.8 or later.
  • Ensure that any server to be removed from the pool is in the standby state or the operating state.
  • Ensure that any server to be removed from the pool does not have any Mobile CoD resource assignments or any unreturned Mobile CoD resources.

When you update the configuration of a pool, the HMC validates the sequence number in the current configuration file. This sequence number must be greater than, or equal to, the sequence number in the last file that was used to create or update the pool. If the current sequence number does not meet this requirement, the update fails. You must obtain the latest configuration file for the pool and update the pool again.

The latest configuration file for a Power Enterprise Pool is available on the Capacity on Demand (CoD) website .

To update the configuration of a Power Enterprise Pool , complete the following steps:
  1. From the master HMC for the pool, select Systems Management > Power Enterprise Pools .
  2. In the Power Enterprise Pools table, right-click on the pool and then select Update Pool .

Allocate Mobile CoD resources to servers in a Power Enterprise Pool

After you create your Power Enterprise Pool , all Mobile CoD processor resources and Mobile CoD memory resources are allocated to the pool. You must use the HMC to allocate Mobile CoD resources to the servers in the pool. You do not have to notify IBM when you allocate resources.

You can assign Mobile CoD resources to partitions in the same manner as you assign permanent resources to partitions. Mobile CoD resources remain on a server until you remove them from that server. Mobile CoD resources do not expire in the same manner as On/Off CoD resources or Trial CoD resources do.

It is easy to move Mobile CoD resources from one server to another when migrating partitions. You can remove Mobile CoD resources from a server and add them to another server, when the resources are still being used on the server from which they were removed. This action allows the processor and memory resources of the migrating partition to exist both on the source and destination servers, and be used by both the servers at the same time, until the migration is complete.

The following are Mobile CoD resource allocation guidelines:
  • You can add Mobile CoD resources only to servers with unlicensed resources.
  • If you remove Mobile CoD resources from a server that the server cannot reclaim because they are still in use, these resources become unreturned resources. A grace period timer then starts for the unreturned Mobile CoD resources on that server. If you do not free the unreturned Mobile CoD resources so that the server can reclaim them before the grace period expires, the pool becomes out of compliance.
  • If the pool is out of compliance and the grace period timer for the pool is expired, you can add Mobile CoD resources only to servers that have unreturned resources. And, you cannot add more resources than the number of unreturned Mobile CoD resources on that server.
  • When you add Mobile CoD resources to a server, they are used first to satisfy any unreturned CoD resources on that server.
Mobile CoD resource allocation guidelines for a server that is in No Connection , Pending Authentication , or Failed Authentication state:
  • You can add Mobile CoD resources only to a server with unreturned Mobile CoD resources. The number of resources that you add cannot exceed the number of unreturned Mobile CoD resources on that server.
  • You can remove Mobile CoD resources from a server. The Mobile CoD resources that you remove from the server become unreturned and a grace period timer starts for these resources. If you do not reconnect the server to the master HMC before the grace period expires, the pool becomes out of compliance.
Mobile CoD resource allocation guidelines for a server that is in Power Off , Power Off In Progress , Error , or Initializing state:
  • You cannot add Mobile CoD resources to the server.
  • You can remove Mobile CoD resources from a server and the resources are reclaimed immediately.
Mobile CoD resource allocation guidelines for a server that is in Incomplete or Recovery state, and the server is powered on:
  • You can add Mobile CoD resources only to a server with unreturned Mobile CoD resources. The number of processors that you add cannot exceed the number of unreturned Mobile CoD resources on that server.
  • You can remove Mobile CoD resources from the server.
To allocate Mobile CoD processors to servers in a Power Enterprise Pool , complete the following steps:
  1. From the master HMC for the pool, select Systems Management > Power Enterprise Pools .
  2. In the left navigation pane, select the pool name and then select Processor Resources .
To allocate Mobile CoD memory to servers in a Power Enterprise Pool , complete the following steps:
  1. From the master HMC for the pool, select Systems Management > Power Enterprise Pools .
  2. In the left navigation pane, select the pool name and then select Memory Resources .

Set the master HMC for a Power Enterprise Pool

Each Power Enterprise Pool has a master HMC .

Initially, the HMC that you use to create the pool is set as the master HMC of the pool. It is preferred that you configure a backup master HMC for a pool when you create the pool. The backup master HMC must manage all of the servers in the pool. Configuring a backup master HMC for a pool allows you to easily set the backup master HMC as the new master HMC for the pool if the current master HMC becomes unavailable.

Use the following guidelines for designating a new HMC to be the master HMC for a pool:
  • Whenever possible, use the current master HMC of a pool to set a new master HMC for the pool. You must use the current HMC to set a new master HMC if the current master HMC is running.
  • You must use the latest configuration file for the pool to set a new master HMC for the pool when the master HMC is down and one of the following conditions also applies:
    • The new master HMC is not configured as the backup master HMC for the pool.
    • The new master HMC that is configured as the backup master HMC for the pool does not have valid backup data for the pool.
    Whenever possible, ensure that you meet the following prerequisites:
    • Ensure that all of the servers that participate in the pool are connected to the new master HMC .
    • Ensure that the participating servers are in either the standby state or the operating state.
  • Set a new master HMC before you perform a clean installation of the current master HMC .
You can view information for a pool from any HMC that manages the pool. You must perform all other pool operations from the master HMC of the pool.
Note: The HMC that you use to manage the pool must have a connection to the master HMC . If it does not, the amount and type of information that you can view might be limited.
To configure a backup master HMC for a pool, complete the following steps:
  1. From the master HMC for the pool, select Systems Management > Power Enterprise Pools .
  2. In the left navigation pane, select the pool name and then select General Pool Properties .
To set a new master HMC for a pool, complete the following steps:
  • From the current master HMC for the pool, select Systems Management > Power Enterprise Pools .
    Tip: If the current master HMC is not available, log on to the HMC you want to set as the new master HMC for the pool.
  • In the left navigation pane, select the pool name and then select General Pool Properties .

View history logs

The master HMC for a Power Enterprise Pool maintains a history log of the Mobile CoD resource usage in the pool. Other Power Enterprise Pool related events that have occurred are also recorded in this history log.

To view the history log for a pool, complete the following steps:
  • From the master HMC for the pool, select Systems Management > Power Enterprise Pools .
  • In the left navigation pane, select the pool name and then select View Pool History Log .
Each server maintains a history log of the CoD events that have occurred on the server. Mobile CoD resource usage and other Power Enterprise Pool related events are recorded in this history log.
To view the history log for a server, complete the following steps:
  1. From an HMC managing the server, select Systems Management > Power Enterprise Pools .
  2. In the left navigation pane, select the pool name and then select Processor Resources .
  3. In the Server Processor Information table, right-click on the server and select View Server History Log .
The history log for a server can also be accessed from the Memory Resources screen.


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Last updated: Thu, April 09, 2015
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Power Enterprise Pools and the master HMC

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Power Enterprise Pools and the master HMC

A single Hardware Management Console ( HMC ) must be selected as the master HMC for a Power® Enterprise Pool . The HMC that is used to create a Power Enterprise Pool is initially set as the master HMC of that pool. A redundant HMC can be configured as a backup. You can set a new master HMC for a pool at any time.

All Power Enterprise Pool change operations can be performed only by the master HMC for the pool.

When you power on or restart a server, ensure that the server is connected to the master HMC . This action ensures that the required Mobile CoD resources are assigned to the server. When both the server and the master HMC are powered off, restart the master HMC first, then restart the server. This ensures that the server can connect to the HMC to obtain its Mobile CoD resource assignments.
Note: If a restarted server is not able to contact the master HMC , it restarts with no Mobile CoD resources. However, when the master HMC connects to the server the Mobile CoD resources are automatically assigned to the server.
Upgrading the master HMC
You cannot perform any Power Enterprise Pool change operations when you are upgrading the master HMC . After the upgrade is complete, you can resume performing pool change operations on the HMC . If you plan to perform any pool change operations when you are upgrading the master HMC , you must set a new master HMC before you start the upgrade.
Installing the master HMC
Performing a clean installation of the master HMC deletes all Power Enterprise Pool data from the HMC . After installation, the HMC cannot resume master HMC functions for the pool until you perform a recovery operation. To avoid this situation, you can set a new master HMC for the pool before you start the clean installation of the current master HMC .

To perform a recovery operation after a clean installation of the HMC , run the following HMC command in a restricted shell terminal:

chcodpool -o recover -p <pool name> -f <configuration file name>

For more information, run the man chcodpool command in a restricted shell terminal on the HMC to view the online help.



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