Scheduling LPAR resource moves

Prerequisites for installing this function are V5R1 Navigator for i with Logical Systems and Configuration and Service components installed, and service pack SI01907 or later. See the Client Access Service Packs page for the latest service pack information.

Note! There are server PTFs that must be applied in order to use this function with SI01907. Refer to APAR SE02365. This prerequisite PTF information is also in the service pack readmesp.txt (TXT, 56.8KB).

There are several Dedicated Service Tools (DST) and IBM i (i5/OS) security requirements that must be met before scheduled LPAR moves will work successfully.

• The primary partition must have the DST password level set to use the new V5R1 password support. To change the DST password level start from the DST green-screen main menu and take:
  • Option 5. Work with DST environment
  • Option 6. Service tools security data
  • Option 6. Password level
  • Press Enter to confirm
• DST user profile password must be
  • changed AFTER the DST password level is set to apply the new encryption level to the DST user profile
  • the uppercase equivalent of the same IBM i user profile. For example, IBM i user/password='BOB'/'mypass' needs DST user='BOB'/'MYPASS'
• DST user profile needs the following capabilities:
  • System Partitions - Operations
  • System Partitions - Administration
• IBM i user profile needs the following special authorities:
  • *ALLOBJ - All object authority
  • *SERVICE - Service
• IBM i user profile must exist on the central system and the target/endpoint system (system where the resource move will occur)
• By default, Management Central requires the user profile used to sign on to the central system to have the same password on each endpoint system. For more information, see the help for the "Require password on endpoint systems" field on the Security tab in Management Central properties.
• LPAR resource moves are scheduled and run with the IBM i user profile used to access the central system.
• The service tools server must be enabled on the target system. Here is a summary of how to start this network service.
  • Run the following CL command to enable the service tool server:
    ADDSRVTBLE SERVICE('as-sts') PORT(3000) PROTOCOL('tcp') TEXT('Service Tools Server') ALIAS('AS-STS')
  • After the command has run you need to stop and restart TCP/IP (ENDTCP and STRTCP respectively) before the service tool server will become active.
  • Once active, the service tool server starts when TCP/IP starts until the service table entry is removed.
  • Note: This server was disabled when shipped for security reasons. You should not enable this service on a machine which still has default DST userIDs and passwords (QSECOFR, QSRV, 11111111, or 22222222). These DST profiles are well known and can create a possible security vulnerability since this network service uses DST security for authentication.

Scheduling support uses the QYHCHCOP API.

You want to schedule a memory move from the primary partition to a secondary on Friday night and schedule another move to return the memory to the primary partition on Monday morning. You want to do this because the secondary partition has the highest work load on weekends but the primary partition has highest load on weekdays. In this example, the Primary partition currently has 768 MB of memory and the Secondary partition has 256 MB. You want to move 64 MB of memory for the weekend.

Scheduling the memory move for Friday

The first step is to schedule the move for Friday night.

1. Open the Configure Logical Partitions window
2. Select the Primary partition in the partition list on the left so the resources assigned to the Primary are displayed on the right
3. Right mouse click on the Memory and select the Move menu choice
4. Specify 64 in the "Memory to move" field.
5. Click Schedule instead of OK
6. Specify that you want the Move to occur every Friday and the time for the move
7. Click OK
8. Go to the Scheduled Tasks folder under Management Central and select Logical Partitions to see the task you just scheduled.

When this schedule move runs it will make the Primary partition memory 704 MB and the Secondary partition memory 320 MB.

Scheduling the memory move for Monday

On Monday morning you want to set the memory back to its original configuration. This step is the will seem a little odd for two reasons:

• The configuration is different when Monday's memory move runs versus when it is scheduled. When you schedule Monday's move, the memory configuration already has the values you you want because Friday's move hasn't happened yet (the Primary partition memory is 768 MB and the Secondary partition memory is 256 MB). However, when Monday's move runs, the Friday move has already occurred and the memory configuration is different (the Primary partition memory is 704 MB and the Secondary partition memory is 320 MB).
• IMPORTANT TO KNOW: The scheduling implementation really tells your System i server to set the memory for each partition rather than move a chunk of memory. This means that the "Memory to move" value is not important but the "Memory after move" values for each partition are. The scheduled moves set the memory values for these partitions to the "Memory after move" values. So, what do you do when you go to schedule the Monday move and the "Memory after move" values are already the values you want? You simply schedule a move of 0 MB of memory from the secondary to the primary because the "Memory after move" values are already what you want. This will set the memory configuration back to the current values. When the Monday move runs it sets the secondary partition's memory to 256 MB and the primary partition's memory to 768 MB. This is effectively moving 64 MB.

1. Open the Configure Logical Partitions window
2. Select the Secondary partition in the partition list on the left so the resources assigned to the Secondary are displayed on the right
3. Right mouse click on the Memory and select the Move menu choice
4. Specify 0 in the "Memory to move" field.
5. Click Schedule instead of OK
6. Specify that you want the Move to occur every Monday and the time for the move
7. Click OK
8. Go to the Scheduled Tasks folder under Management Central and select Logical Partitions to see the task you just scheduled.

Scheduling processor and interactive performance moves are the same as scheduling memory moves. Again, note that the scheduled tasks are doing an absolute set for each partition rather than the delta which is implied by the user interface. Because there are some unique aspects of scheduling resource moves, reading about scheduling a memory move is strongly recommended, particularly the memory move for Monday.

In this example, you want to schedule the move of an I/O Processor that owns a tape device so you can back up your Secondary partition on the weekend. Scheduled I/O processor moves are successful only if the LPAR configuration does not generate any "In Use" or "Unknown State" warnings for the I/O processor. You must make sure that all I/O adapters under this I/O processor are varied off before the scheduled task runs. You can also schedule the vary off of the I/O adapters by creating and scheduling a Command Definition in the Management Central folder.

Scheduling the I/O processor move for Friday

The first step is to schedule the move for Friday night.

1. Open the Configure Logical Partitions window
2. Select the Primary partition in the partition list on the left so the resources assigned to the Primary are displayed on the right
3. Right mouse click on the I/O processor you want to move and select the Move menu choice
4. Select the partition you want to move the I/O processor to.
5. Click Schedule instead of OK
6. Specify that you want the Move to occur every Friday and the time for the move
7. Click OK
8. Go to the Scheduled Tasks folder under Management Central and select Logical Partitions to see the task you just scheduled.

Scheduling the I/O processor move for Monday

On Monday morning you want to move the I/O processor back to the Primary partition.

Just like moving memory on Monday, it is important to remember when scheduling this I/O processor move that the partition owning the I/O processor will be different when the move runs than when the move was scheduled. This means you need to focus on the "To logical partition" field when scheduling. Because you want the I/O processor to be owned by the Primary partition after the move runs, select "Primary" as the value for the "To logical partition" field (even though the "From logical partition" field currently says Primary, the field will be different when the scheduled task runs).

Use caution when selecting "Remove hardware resource information from source partition" for a scheduled I/O process move because this removes hardware resource information from the partition that owns the I/O processor when the move runs.

1. Open the Configure Logical Partitions window
2. Select the Primary partition in the partition list on the left so the resources assigned to the Secondary are displayed on the right or whatever partition currently owns the I/O processor.
3. Right mouse click on the I/O processor you want to move and select the Move menu choice
4. Select the partition you want to move the I/O processor to.
5. Click Schedule instead of OK
6. Specify that you want the Move to occur every Monday and the time for the move
7. Click OK
8. Go to the Scheduled Tasks folder under Management Central and select Logical Partitions to see the task you just scheduled.

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