In the highly, unpredictable world of on demand business, you should get what you need, when you need it. And you should pay for only what you use. Your infrastructure must be flexible to changing capacity requirements and provide you with resources when you need them. It’s a basic principle underlying IBM capacity on demand for the IBM System z family of servers. You need the flexibility to rapidly increase or decrease your computing capacity as requirements change.
IBM provides the capability to quickly and non-disruptively activate “extra” processor capacity that is built directly into IBM System z products. This may mean a permanent capacity increase for planned growth or a temporary growth increase for seasonal or unpredictable peak periods. The IBM System z10 Enterprise Class (z10 EC) introduces a new temporary offering that allows access to dormant processors for a planned event such as system relocation or facility upgrade.
Permanent upgrades of processors (CPs, IFLs, ICFs, zAAPs, zIIPs, and SAPs) and memory, or changes to a server’s Model-Capacity Identifier, up to the limits of the installed books on an existing z10 EC server, can be performed by the customer through the IBM On-line Permanent Upgrade offering, using the CIU facility. These permanent upgrades require a special contract, between the customer and IBM, through which the terms and conditions of the offering are accepted.
Temporary upgrades of a System z10 server can be done by On/Off Capacity on Demand (On/Off CoD), Capacity Back Up (CBU), or Capacity for Planned Event (CPE), using the CIU facility. These temporary upgrades require a special contract, between the customer and IBM, through which the terms and conditions of the offering are accepted.
Permanent capacity for non-disruptive growth
Capacity Upgrade on Demand: provides a means of planned growth for customers who know they will need increased capacity but aren’t sure when. This cornerstone of the IBM capacity on demand offering provides the capability to nondisruptively add one or more Central Processors (CPs), Internal Coupling Facilities (ICFs), Integrated Facilities for Linux® (IFLs) and System z Application Assist Processors (zAAPs) for predictable, permanent growth.
Temporary Capacity for fluctuating workloads: On/Off Capacity on Demand
Do your demands go through an annual peak that lasts for two years at the end of December? Are you flooded with orders and faced with having to struggle through or lose massive amounts of business? Are you hesitant to add processor power because you can’t justify the cost ofr the remainder of the year? This significant offering from IBM can help solve your quandary. On/Off Capacity on Demand empowers you to turn processor capacity on or off as necessary to satisfy your many business peaks and valleys. Simply request that a number of processors be made temporarily available, then for hardware, get a hardware bill only for the days that the capacity is turned on.
Using On/Off CoD, you can concurrently add processors (CPs, IFLs, ICFs, zAAPs, zIIPs, and SAPs), increase the CP capacity level, or both, up to the lesser of either the limit of the installed books of the server or twice the currently purchased capacity.
Management of temporary capacity through On/Off CoD is further enhanced through the introduction of resource tokens. For CP capacity, a resource token represents an amount of processing capacity that will result in 1 MSU of SW cost for 1 day - an MSU-day. For specialty engines, a resource token represents activation of 1 engine of that type for 1 day - an IFL-day, a zIIP-day or a zAAP-day. The different resource tokens are contained in separate pools within the On/Off CoD record. The customer, via the Resource Link ordering process, determines how many tokens go into each pool. Once On/Off CoD resources are activated, tokens will be decremented from their pools every 24 hours.The amount decremented is based on the highest activation level for that engine type during the previous 24 hours.
Resource tokens are intended to help customers bound the hardware costs associated with using On/Off CoD. The use of resource tokens is optional and they are available on either a prepaid or post-paid basis. When prepaid, the customer is billed for the total amount of resource tokens contained within the On/Off CoD record. When post-paid, the total billing against the On/Off Cod record is limited by the total amount of resource tokens contained within the record.
Resource Link offers an ordering wizard to help determine how many tokens you need to purchase for different activation scenarios. Resource tokens within an On/Off CoD record may also be replenished. For more information on the use and ordering of resource tokens, refer to the Capacity on Demand Users Guide, SC28-6871.
Interim capacity for continued operation: Capacity Backup CBU for System z processors can provide reserved emergency backup processing capacity for situations in which you lose capacity in another part of your establishment, helping you recover by adding reserved capacity on a designated System z platform. As enterprises continue to look for disaster recovery solutions, System z can provide reserved emergency backup capacity using the Capacity BackUp (CBU) feature. Enhancements on the System z enable activation of PU types including CPs, SAPs, ICFs, IFLs, zAAPs, and zIIPs on System z servers. This allows a concurrent a tempoary increase of the CP capacity level in the event of an unforeseen loss of System z capacity within the enterprise, or to perform a test of disaster recovery procedures. The capacity of a CBU upgrade cannot be used for peak load management of workload. A CBU upgrade’s activation can last up to 90 days when a disaster recovery situation occurs
Temporary capacity for planned events: Capacity for Planned Event
Capacity for Planned Events (CPE) a concurrent and temporary activation of additional CPs, ICFs, IFLs, zAAPs, zIIPs, and SAPs, an increase of the CP capacity level, or both in the event of a planned outage of System z capacity within the enterprise. The capacity of a CPE upgrade is used to replace temporarily lost capacity within an enterprise for planned downtime events, for example for data center changes or system maintenance.
The System z10 introduces the possibility of having more than one temporary capacity upgrade active at any point in time. Four different temporary upgrades can be active at the same time, with one of them being an On/Off Capacity on Demand (On/Off CoD) upgrade. The other three can be a combination of other upgrades. Furthermore, upgrades can be performed concurrently and they can be replenished even when active. It is also possible to do permanent upgrades while temporary upgrades are active.
The content of the on demand upgrade records can be used in such a way that subsets of the capacity can be activated, and additional resources in the upgrade can be added or taken away without having to go back to the base configuration. This removes the need to have several On/Off CoD upgrade records installed and having to switch between them, potentially impacting availability, to meet varying workload demands.
Capacity Provisioning helps manage the CP, zAAP, and zIIP capacity of z10 EC servers which are running one or more instances of the z/OS operating system. Based on On/Off CoD, temporary capacity may be activated and deactivated under control of a defined policy. Combined with functions in z/OS the z10 EC provisioning capability gives you a new, flexible and automated process to control the configuration and activation of On/Off CoD offerings.
The provisioning architecture enhances the already rich on-demand environment by opening up interfaces to the z/OS operating system. The z/OS operating system can interrogate the on demand environment and query which resources are in the On/Off CoD offerings and the status of the resources.
z/OS Capacity Provisioning simplifies the monitoring of critical workloads, and its automation features can help activate additional resources faster than manual operation. When using Capacity Provisioning you can select different levels of automation to provide you with an appropriate level of control. It is possible to:
It is also possible to run Capacity Provisioning in analysis mode. In this mode the operator will be informed when an action would have occurred according to the defined rules. However, no action will be taken unless the operator manually enters the necessary commands. Capacity Provisioning function included in the z/OS operating system is part of the z/OS MVS™ Base Control Program (BCP). It includes the following:
The Capacity Provisioning Manager monitors the workload on a set of z/OS instances and organizes the allocation of additional capacity when required. The systems to be observed are defined in a domain configuration file. Details of additional capacity and the rules for its allocation are held in a policy file. These two files are created and maintained using the Capacity Provisioning Control Center.
The Capacity Provisioning Control Center is installed on a workstation and is the graphical user interface to Capacity Provisioning. Through this interface the administrators work with provisioning policies and domain configurations, and can transfer these to the Capacity Provisioning Manager.
The Capacity Provisioning component includes several samples to simplify customization and help the definition of your provisioning policies. z/OS can then apply it’s workload management disciplines to the on-demand environment using the same mechanisms and controls already used inside z/OS. The provisioning of resources can be placed under control of automation functions using well-known parameters in the z/OS Workload Manager (WLM). Automation processes can activate resources in the On/Off CoD offerings as dictated by automation policies, and return the resources when they are no longer needed according to the automation policies. Manual and supervised modes (where changes need authorization) are also available.
For more information regarding the Capacity on Demand offerings, refer to IBM System z10 Enterprise Class Technical Guide, SG24-7516 and IBM System z10 Enterprise Class Capacity on Demand, SG24-7504.
IBM Global Financing can help match your payments with your usage, with competitive financing for fixed and variable costs related to IBM Capacity on Demand offerings. By financing your Capacity on Demand costs and associated charges together with your base lease, spikes in demand need not become spikes in your budget.
TOTAL Solution Financing, from IBM Global Financing, lets you bundle hardware, software and services into a single contract with one periodic invoice. You can simplify your planning and budgeting and potentially turn large upfront investments into affordable monthly payments.