zAAP
Integrated Facilities for LINUX (IFLs)
IBMs On/Off Capacity on Demand Offering
Hipersockets
IBM Mainframe On/Off Capacity on Demand
Temporary scheduled or unplanned increases in capacity are a headache
IT managers and planners have long struggled to deal
with. The need to avoid expensive mainframe upgrades
for what may be a passing peak conflicts with the urgent
business need to keep up and running, meeting the demands
that will fuel profit and growth. Failure to cope with
these peaks can be costly, both in terms of current
business but also in terms of potential future business.
IBM offer one solution that is well worth considering.
It is On/Off Capacity on Demand and the best way to
explain it is to reproduce the following quote from
the IBM FAQ:
"customers can choose to turn on temporary processor resources
to help meet e-business capacity growth, whether predicted
or not. Some e-business may encounter predictable peak
workload demands on a temporary basis. By choosing to
purchase the On/Off Capacity on Demand right-to-use
feature, customers have the ability to turn temporary
processing resources to handle spikes in workload demand,
and turn it off when normal workload levels resume."
And it really is as simple as that - you turn
off and on processors as and when you need - you
only pay for the days they are switched on.
On/Off Capacity on Demand gives you temporary access
to extra processing units (general CPU, Integrated Facilities
for Linux (IFLs), Integrated Coupling Facilities (IFCs),
System Assist Processors (SAPs) and zSeries® Application
Assist Processors (zAPPS). Of course if you feel or
know that the increase in demand will be permanent then
you can opt for a Permanent Capacity on Demand upgrade
i.e. choose the extra processors you need to configure
the capacity and power needed and have them available
permanently.
From a zLinux On Demand perspective, it is a particularly
attractive feature that IFLs are so scaleable. A number
of industries (e.g. retail) know well that peaks and
troughs, heavy reporting periods, and peak transaction
loads have been dealt with well by simply adding IFLs
to existing Linux Engines. See our section on IFLs
and if you are not running zLinux give some serious
thought to doing so, particularly the strategic DB2
Connect / zLinux option which is considered further.
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