Getting started with HP-UX Workload Manager

For more information about running WLM with Integrity Virtual Machines, see the “HP-UX

Workload Manager overview” white paper available from http://www.hp.com/go/wlm/ on the

“Information library” page.

Note

For more robust management of virtual machines, you can use

HP-UX Global Workload Manager (gWLM). For more

information, see the following web site:

http://www.hp.com/go/gwlm

• Resource partitions—Provided by PRM, which manages pSets and Fair Share Scheduler (FSS)

groups, resource partitions enable you to partition system resources (including memory and disk

bandwidth) within a single instance of HP-UX and consolidate multiple workloads within that

instance. These workloads are usually referred to as “workload groups.” To enable you to manage

workload groups within resource partitions, WLM creates and manages its own PRM configuration

(PRM must be installed on the same system). You can use the resource partitions within (but not

across) hard partitions and virtual partitions.

Note

In WLM interfaces (such as the WLM configuration wizard or

wlminfo displays), the term “workload group” typically refers to

a workload; “workload” and “workload group” are often used

interchangeably. However, workload groups need be created

and referred to as such only when referring to a pSet or FSS

group in one HP-UX instance.

• Temporary Instant Capacity—Using Temporary Instant Capacity (version 6 or later), WLM can

automatically activate and deactivate Instant Capacity cores that are licensed temporarily. WLM

optimizes the number of active cores to the smallest number of cores needed to satisfy the SLOs.

This optimization minimizes your costs.

• Pay per use (PPU)— WLM integrates with PPU versions 4, 7, or later. With PPU version 4, capacity

can be increased or decreased by whole cores as needed, with billing determined by the number

of active cores. Beginning with PPU version 5, all cores on a PPU system are active and billing is

based on your percentage of usage of those cores. Starting with PPU version 7, which includes PPU

version 5 capabilities, billing can also be based on the number of active cores on the system, with

WLM activating only those cores that are needed. (With pSets on the same complex, only use PPU

v7 or later.)

WLM is optimized for moving cores among hosts such as virtual partitions and nPartitions. Using hosts

as workloads, WLM manages workload allocations while maintaining the isolation of their HP-UX

instances. The tools WLM uses to manage cores depend on the software enabled on the complex—

such as Instant Capacity, Pay per use, and virtual partitions (vPars).

WLM can manage nested workloads, with workloads based on FSS groups and pSets inside virtual

partitions inside nPartitions.

WLM can manage real memory and disk bandwidth within an HP-UX instance, although not in

response to SLO performance. Disk bandwidth can be statically allocated in the configuration file. If

multiple users or applications within a workload based on pSets or FSS groups are competing for

resources, standard HP-UX resource management determines the resource allocation.