Managing shared memory pools

You can manage the shared memory pool that is configured on a server by using the Hardware Management Console (HMC).

By using the HMC, you can complete the following management tasks on shared memory pools:
  • Dynamically increase or decrease the size of the shared memory pool.
  • Allocate a paging VIOS to the shared memory pool.
  • Allocate a paging space device to the shared memory pool.
  • Enable or disable the active memory de-duplication function.
  • Delete a shared memory pool.
Important: You cannot delete a shared memory pool when shared memory partitions are configured to use the shared memory pool. The partitions must be removed or changed to dedicated memory partitions before you delete the shared memory pool.
If you want to increase the shared memory pool beyond the maximum pool size, first increase the maximum pool size to a value that is greater than or equal to the required new pool size. The maximum pool size can be increased dynamically.

Active memory de-duplication is a feature of the PowerVM® Active Memory Sharing technology in which the memory pages with identical contents are de-duplicated in physical memory. Active memory de-duplication feature aggregates the same data in one memory position, and frees other duplicate memory blocks, thus optimizing memory use.

After you enable the Active Memory De-duplication option, all the partitions that are part of the shared memory pool use Active Memory De-duplication.