Locating Missing Processor Resources Assigned to Shared Processor Pool Reserved Processor

Resolving The Problem

Processing units assigned to a shared processor pool as "reserved processing units" cannot be directly assigned to a partition. The help text states:

This field indicates the number of processing units that are reserved for temporary use by the logical partitions in the shared processor pool. A logical partition can use reserved processing units only when the logical partition is an uncapped logical partition that requires more than its assigned amount of processor resources. Reserved processing units cannot be used by logical partitions in other shared processor pools. Also, reserved processing units cannot be assigned to a specific logical partition.

Reserved processors are also not used in CAPPED partitions either.

The HMC 7.3.4 interface does not show how much processor is tied up in reserved processing units on the managed server's processor property tab. This may lead users to believe that some processor is "missing".

Consider the following example. The HMC server properties are reporting four configurable processors with a total of 3.90 assigned to the partitions; however, the available processor is 0.00. 0.10 processing units are unaccounted for.



Processor assigned as reserved processing units can be viewed using the following procedure:

1. In the navigation pane, open Systems Management and click Servers.

2. In the work pane, select the managed system whose shared processor pools you want to configure, click the Tasks button, and select Configuration > Virtual Resources > Shared Processor Pool Management.

Note that the unaccounted 0.10 processor in our example shows as being assigned as reserved processor in Pool ID 1.



To free up the processor for direct assignment to a partition, click on the pool name to bring up the Modify Pool Attributes panel. Set the reserved processing units to 0. Click OK.



Alternative: Command Line Interface

The following commands can be used to view shared processor pool assignments and processor use.

lshwres -m <managed system> -r procpool
name=DefaultPool,shared_proc_pool_id=0,"lpar_names=RCHAMSP3,RCHAMSP2,RCHAMSP1,VIOHV8,RPETUX","lpar_ids=6,4,3,1,2"
name=Dave,shared_proc_pool_id=1,max_pool_proc_units=1.0,curr_reserved_pool_proc_units=0.1,pend_reserved_pool_proc_units=0.1,lpar_ids=none
name=Melinda,shared_proc_pool_id=2,max_pool_proc_units=1.0,curr_reserved_pool_proc_units=0.0,pend_reserved_pool_proc_units=0.0,lpar_ids=none

lshwres -m <managed system> -r proc --level sys
configurable_sys_proc_units=4.0,curr_avail_sys_proc_units=0.0,pend_avail_sys_proc_units=0.0,installed_sys_proc_units=4.0,max_capacity_sys_proc_units=deprecated,deconfig_sys_proc_units=0,min_proc_units_per_virtual_proc=0.1,max_virtual_procs_per_lpar=256,max_procs_per_lpar=256,max_shared_proc_pools=64

lshwres -m <managed system> -r proc --level lpar -F "lpar_name,curr_shared_proc_pool_name,curr_proc_units" --header
lpar_name,curr_shared_proc_pool_name,curr_proc_units
RCHAMSP3,DefaultPool,0.4
DummyAIX,null,null
RCHAMSP2,DefaultPool,1.0
RCHAMSP1,DefaultPool,1.0
RPETUX,DefaultPool,1.0
VIOHV8,DefaultPool,0.5