Getting Started with Assigning QPADEV* Devices to Interactive Subsystems

Note: For releases V5R4 and higher, the subsystems are multi-threaded and the 250-300 user recommendation is no longer needed.

The IBM i Work Management manual, recommended having no more than 250 to 300 interactive jobs assigned to a specific subsystem. It is possible to allocate the QPADEVnnnn devices to multiple interactive subsystems through the use of workstation entries.

The naming convention for virtual devices uses numbers 0 through 9 and the 20 non-vowel letters of the alphabet. The letters A, E, I, O, U, and Y are not used. A generic workstation entry such as QPADEV001* would try and allocate 30 devices to the subsystem. We would recommend using 8 to 10 workstation entries per subsystem to get 240 - 300 devices per subsystem.

In addition, because the smaller numbered devices are always allocated first, you may want to stagger the entries in the subsystems as shown in the example below.

Below is an example of how to allocate 700 devices to 3 subsystems so that no more than 250 - 300 devices will be assigned to each subsystem.

QINTERA
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERA) WRKSTN(QPADEV000*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERA) WRKSTN(QPADEV001*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERA) WRKSTN(QPADEV002*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERA) WRKSTN(QPADEV003*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERA) WRKSTN(QPADEV004*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERA) WRKSTN(QPADEV005*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERA) WRKSTN(QPADEV006*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERA) WRKSTN(QPADEV007*) AT(*SIGNON)


QINTERB
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERB) WRKSTN(QPADEV008*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERB) WRKSTN(QPADEV009*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERB) WRKSTN(QPADEV00B*) AT(*SIGNON) (Remember that vowels are not used. There are no QPADEV00A* devices)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERB) WRKSTN(QPADEV00C*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERB) WRKSTN(QPADEV00D*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERB) WRKSTN(QPADEV00F*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERB) WRKSTN(QPADEV00G*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERB) WRKSTN(QPADEV00H*) AT(*SIGNON)


QINTERC
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERC) WRKSTN(QPADEV00J*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERC) WRKSTN(QPADEV00K*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERC) WRKSTN(QPADEV00L*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERC) WRKSTN(QPADEV00M*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERC) WRKSTN(QPADEV00N*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERC) WRKSTN(QPADEV00P*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERC) WRKSTN(QPADEV00Q*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERC) WRKSTN(QPADEV00R*) AT(*SIGNON)


Note: Because the smaller numbered devices are always allocated first, you might want to stagger the entries in the subsystems as shown in the example below. This will allow some load-leveling, so we do not have a few subsystems extremely busy, and other subsystems with no users.

QINTERA
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERA) WRKSTN(QPADEV000*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERA) WRKSTN(QPADEV003*) AT(*SIGNON)
and so on...

QINTERB
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERB) WRKSTN(QPADEV001*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERB) WRKSTN(QPADEV004*) AT(*SIGNON)
and so on...


QINTERC
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERC) WRKSTN(QPADEV002*) AT(*SIGNON)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTERC) WRKSTN(QPADEV005*) AT(*SIGNON)
and so on...


You might also want to consider keeping a workstation with a type entry of *ALL control job at *SIGNON. We do ship QINTER with this type of entry. A *ALL *SIGNON entry will help prevent any problems with the users connecting to the system if additional devices need to be created.

If a subsystem with a *ALL *SIGNON entry is used, then you will want to add a name entry with an allocation of *ENTER to offset each name of *SIGNON in your other interactive subsystems. This will prevent multiple subsystems trying to allocate the same device.

Using the earlier example of 700 devices and 3 subsystems, the following changes to QINTER are recommended:

QINTER
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV000*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV001*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV002*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV003*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV004*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV005*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV006*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV007*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV008*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV009*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV00B*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV00C*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV00D*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV00F*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV00G*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV00H*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV00J*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV00K*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV00L*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV00M*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV00N*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV00P*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV00Q*) AT(*ENTER)
ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV00R*) AT(*ENTER)

Notes:

1.	If there are enough entries added to QINTER that you have *ENTER entries for QPADEV000* through QPADEV00Z*, these generic entries could be replaced with QPADEV00*.
2.	If there are enough generic entries created that additional digits are required in the generic name, the workstation entries should look similar to the following: ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV00X*) AT(*SIGNON) ADDWSE SBSD (QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV000Z* AT(*SIGNON) ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV010*) AT(*SIGNON) ADDWSE SBSD(QINTER) WRKSTN(QPADEV011*) AT(*SIGNON) and so on...