Workload charging by soft-capping to a group capacity

Workload charging introduces the capability to pay software license fees based on the size of a group of the LPs the product is running in, rather than on the total capacity of the CPC. The capability is enabled by the LPAR clustering technology of the z17 together with the License Manager component of z/OS®. Each LP is assigned to a group with a group capacity by the installation in terms of Millions of Service Units (MSUs).

WLM helps ensure that the rolling 4-hour average CPU utilization for the group does not exceed this amount by tracking the CPU utilization for the group of logical partitions. If the 4-hour average CPU consumption of the group exceeds the group capacity of the group, WLM dynamically activates LP capping (soft-capping) in one or more of the members of the group. When the rolling 4-hour average dips below the group capacity, the soft-cap(s) is removed.

WLM will not dynamically adjust the group capacity for a group. This is the responsibility of the installation. If an LP or set of LPs in the group consistently exceeds its group capacity, the license certificates and the defined group capacity should be adjusted to reduce the amount of time the LPs are soft-capped. If you have a configuration where the LP weights move significantly from one LP to another according to shift, then you must license the products in each LP at the highest capacity that will be used by that LP or set of LPs in the group.

Group capacity and the use of soft-capping by software applies to general purpose processors only. Initial capping for general purpose processors is not supported for an LP that uses group capacity and soft-capping. Initial capping for all other processor types is supported in such an LP.

Defined capacity and group capacity can be used together for a logical partition. WLM manages the logical partition accordingly, taking into account both definitions when present.