Using Flexible Capacity for Cyber Resiliency with other offerings

Capacity Back Up (CBU)

Capacity Back Up may still be required on machines running Flexible Capacity for Cyber Resiliency. There are two likely scenarios:

  1. You require backup capabilities within the same data center or building.
  2. You require more than 24 hours to perform your DR readiness testing of non-production workloads.

For case 1, the CBU activation is most likely to occur while a Flexible Capacity record is already active. The CBU record will add the DR capacity required above what is already active with the Flexible Capacity record. This capacity would be to replace capacity lost on another machine in the same building or data center. The normal CBU terms and conditions would apply to a CBU real activation. A CBU test activation should not be used to replace lost capacity.

For case 2, the CBU activation is most likely to occur on the site operating as the DR site, and the Flexible Capacity record is not active. The CBU test activation allows up to 10 days of capacity that can be used to test the ability to bring up the LPARs, and to run a test workload against those LPARs. In this case, production workload would not be run in the DR site. If you were going to execution production workload, a Flexible Capacity shift should be performed.

On/Off Capacity on Demand (On/Off CoD)

For machines using Flexible Capacity for Cyber Resiliency, the behavior of On/Off CoD is different than on other machines.

On/Off CoD is an offering that provides additional capacity for short term needs. On machines without Flexible Capacity, one of the ways that On/Off CoD is sometimes used is to reactivate unassigned capacity on the machines, to fulfill these short term spikes. When used to reactivate unassigned capacity, there is no additional hardware charges for the On/Off CoD.

For machines with Flexible Capacity records installed, a Flexible On/Off CoD record is provided. The behavior of this record differs from a standard On/Off CoD record in one important way: it cannot be used to reactivate unassigned capacity. For machines using Flexible Capacity for Cyber Resiliency, the unassigned capacity is considered part of the flexible capacity pool. The Flexible Capacity records must be used to reactivate this capacity, not the Flexible On/Off CoD records.

With the Flexible On/Off CoD record, all capacity activated by the record is considered additional capacity, above the purchased, and will result in a daily hardware charge.

Flexible On/Off CoD test records, and Flexible On/Off CoD Administrative records are available.

When adding Flexible Capacity for Cyber Resiliency to an existing system which uses On/Off CoD, it will be necessary to generate new Flexible On/Off CoD records for the machine to replace the legacy On/Off CoD records. After the installation of the Flexible Capacity for Cyber Resiliency record, you should log into your Resource Link CIU profile and create new Flexible Capacity On/Off CoD records for each On/Off CoD record you have on your system. These will then be staged for download and installation. After download of the Flexible On/Off CoD records, you should delete your legacy On/Off CoD records.

IBM Z Tailored Fit Pricing for HW

For machines participating in both Flexible Capacity for Cyber Resiliency and the Tailored Fit Pricing for HW (TFP HW) offering, the TFP HW corridor will be provided by a Flexible On/Off CoD record. This record is activated, to the contracted corridor level, when the machine is running production workloads, It is expected, that during a capacity shift, the TFP HW capacity will be moved with the Flexible Capacity and then deactivated after the capacity shift is completed. For example, our production workload is running in Albany, with a TFP HW corridor active there. As part of the capacity shift, both the Flexible Capacity record and the Flexible On/Off CoD record are activated in Buffalo. The workload is moved, and then both the Flexible On/Off CoD and Flexible Capacity record are deactivated in Albany.

At the end of the capacity shift period, any Flexible On/Off CoD capacity active above the contracted TFP HW levels will be charged at the standard daily rate.

System Recovery Boost Upgrade (SRB Upgrade)

An IBM System Recovery Boost Upgrade record provides up to 20 additional temporary zIIP engines for a period not to exceed 6 hours. These engines may be used to provide additional capacity during an IPL or shutdown boost period.

For clients using Flexible Capacity for Cyber Resiliency, during the period of bring-up and shutdown, it may be desirable to use an SRB Upgrade record to provide additional zIIP boost capacity.

For IPL boosting, after activating the Flexible Capacity record, but prior to starting the activation of the LPARs, the SRB Upgrade record is activated to provide the additional zIIP engines. Upon completion of the LPAR activation, the SRB upgrade would be deactivated.

For shutdown boosting, the SRB Upgrade is activated prior to taking down the LPARs on the system. When the LPARs have been successfully deactivated, both the SRB Upgrade and the Flexible Capacity record are deactivated.