Processor usage

To access the Processor usage page, click Processor usage tab in the left navigation pane of the Performance dashboard.

The Processor usage view shows the historical data and trends that reflect the usage of the processor. The Processor usage page includes Current processor details and System details sections. The current processor details include details about the number of processors in Installed, Allocated, Usage, and Activated state. The system details include details about state of the selected system, Machine type*Serial number, number of partitions, and the number of VIOSs for the selected system. The graph shows processor usage trends that are divided by the activated, allocated, overall usage, firmware usage, VIOS usage, max usage, and partition usage. You can change the graph options to show the overall processor usage of the selected system based on the selected time period. The tabular representation shows detailed information for individual partitions or VIOSs and pools such as the entitled and used units.

Include idle cycle
The Include idle cycle option at the right upper end of the Processor usage view helps the processor utilization to include the idle cycles. You can enable or disable the Include idle cycle option to ensure that the idle cycles are included or excluded while computing the processor utilization.

You can refresh the processor usage data by using the Refresh icon in the top-right side of the Processor usage page. To do this, select a date range from the calendar or choose one of the time period options such as the last 4 hours, last 24 hours, last week, last month, and last year and click Refresh. The data gets refreshed for the selected time duration.

For more information, see the following topics:
  • Processor usage trends graph: The processor usage graph shows processor usage data that is plotted against a default time interval of 4 hours.
  • Processor usage trends graph: The processor usage table lists information that is based on partitions or pools over the selected time period. The following usage tables are available: Processor usage per partition and Processor usage per processor pool.

Changing the time interval of the data displayed in the details pane

The Processor usage page defaults to a 4-hour time interval for the data displayed in the Current processor details section. You can specify a longer time interval or you can also specify custom dates and times. The minimum time interval is 4 hours, and the maximum time interval is one year from the current date and time.

The details section refreshes and displays the updated content that is based on the time interval you choose. After the window refreshes, the new entry for the data ends with the current time. The Performance dashboard displays the data for the selected interval every time you refresh the view, unless you change the interval again.

To change the time interval, complete the following steps:
  1. Click the preset values that are displayed under the Current processor details section.
  2. Select one of the following preset values:
    • Last 4 hours
    • Last 24 hours
    • Last week
    • Last month
    • Last year
    Otherwise, select the date range value.
    Notes:
    • If you select the date range value, click the first date tab and select a date, or click the calendar icon to choose the date from the calendar.
    • You cannot select the current date or a later date. You can select only the previous date range.
  3. Click the second date tab and select a date.
Note: If you change the time interval of one resource, the interval update applies to all the resources. For example, if you change the time interval for the Processor usage page to Last week, the time interval for the Memory allocation page also changes to Last week.