HP Instant Capacity Version 10.x User Guide (5900-1581, March 2011)

iCAP(5)
NAME
iCAP -- Instant Capacity software for HP-UX
DESCRIPTION
The HP Instant Capacity program provides services for instantly increasing or decreasing processing
capacity on supported HP servers to meet varying system demands. An Instant Capacity server is
an HP cellular (partitionable) server that is governed by an Instant Capacity contract constraining
the number of cores, cell boards, and memory that must remain inactive at all times. The total
number of each type of component that can be active at any time is referred to as the number of
usage rights for that component type. The Instant Capacity software provides the ability to
dynamically assign usage rights where they are needed among the various partitions of a complex
through the use of commands like icapmodify(1M) and parmodify(1M), and it provides the means
to load balance system processing capacity through these management commands. When the
processing demand significantly changes, you can purchase additional component usage rights
to increase the overall number of components that can be activated at any time.
Instant Capacity is a part of the HP Utility Pricing Solutions (UPS) program, and was formerly known
as iCOD. For detailed information about Instant Capacity, see the HP Instant Capacity user’s guide
located at /usr/share/doc/icapUserGuide.pdf.
Initializing an Instant Capacity Server
Instant Capacity software is installed by HP manufacturing on instantly ignited systems, and is a
required component of all HP-UX systems. You can upgrade to later versions by downloading it
from http://www.hp.com/go/softwaredepot (search for product ID B9073BA), or by installing it
from an OE or AE update.
An Instant Capacity server needs no additional initialization, but some of the following configuration
steps might be useful:
1. Execute the icapmodify -c command to configure contact information (email address) for
configuration change notification and exception reports.
2. If using temporary capacity, execute the icapmodify -w command to configure the
temporary capacity warning period.
3. If the server is a GiCAP Group Manager or a member of a GiCAP group, use the cimconfig
command (see cimconfig(1M)) to set the CIM Server configuration property
sslClientVerificationMode to “optional”. You might need to restart the CIM Server (see
cimserver(1M)) if the property was not previously set to this value.
Codewords
Instant Capacity uses codewords for several purposes: to adjust available usage rights for system
components, to apply an amount of “temporary capacity” to the system, and to apply “sharing
rights” to a Global Instant Capacity (GiCAP) Group Manager to enable creation of one or more
groups of member servers that can share usage rights.
All types of codewords must be purchased as specific product numbers from HP. After purchase,
the codeword (an encrypted string) must be retrieved from the Utility Pricing Solutions web portal
and applied to the appropriate system. Codewords are generated specifically for the system for
which they were purchased. You must always specify at least the system serial number and the
purchase order number in order to retrieve a codeword from the portal. Application and use of
GiCAP codewords are different from other iCAP codewords and are described in the section
“GiCAP Sharing Rights”.
Prior to activating an Instant Capacity component, a Right to Use (RTU) codeword must be applied
to the complex to increase the component-specific usage rights on the complex. After a fee has
been paid to HP for the type and number of components that are to be activated, RTU codewords
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