Four-step process can be totally automated

Monitoring and adjusting your IBM System i for maximum efficiency and operations can be time-consuming and difficult. Add the complexities of coordinating resource movements for business processes in a logically partitioned System i, and you can have difficult operational issues. What you need is an easy-to-use interface to your Hardware Management Console (HMC) that helps you move your partitioned resources for maximum performance. That interface is Robot/LPAR, the software package that works with the HMC to move processor, memory, and I/O devices among your partitions interactively or in batch mode.

You install Robot/LPAR on one or more i5/OS partitions on your System i and it communicates with the HMC to manage partitions and set, adjust, or move resources. Robot/LPAR is especially useful for system administrators who must share or provide resources across partitions because of Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

Robot/LPAR works with the HMC to move resources to meet your business needs. With Robot/LPAR, you can move shared resources based on critical batch processes and you can schedule these movements using Robot/SCHEDULE. You can eliminate guesswork, mistakes, and the need to have someone monitor your LPAR processes—through automation. Robot/LPAR helps you ensure that your memory, processor resources, and devices are where they need to be to minimize the costs and maximize the efficiency of your partitioned environment. Your System i processes run quickly because Robot/LPAR works with the HMC at the operating system (i5/OS) level so all resource movements are fast and efficient.

Instead of buying a larger System i to handle workload changes, or buying separate devices for each partition, you can save money by using Robot/LPAR to share your resources. You share your memory, processor, and device resources across several partitions by moving them as they are needed.

Let’s look at a common scenario. (This article assumes you have Robot/LPAR, Robot/SCHEDULE, and Robot/NETWORK installed on both partitions to completely automate this process.) You control the movement of resources from the Robot/LPAR Move Resources Menu.

Each day at the end of daytime processing on partition A, you want to perform a system backup and then start the nightly batch processing. To do so, you must move a shared tape device, known as TAP01, from partition B to partition A for the backup. Then, after the backup on partition A completes, you must move the device back to partition B for its backup.

1. Because partition B currently owns the device TAP01, you can use Robot/LPAR, Robot/SCHEDULE, and Robot/NETWORK (with cross-system reactivity), to issue a Put I/O Resource (LPRPUTIOR) command from partition B. (Note: Cross-system reactivity is the ability to perform dependent job processing across multiple systems using Robot/NETWORK and Robot/SCHEDULE. Robot/NETWORK tells Robot/SCHEDULE to start a job on one system based on the successful completion of a Robot/SCHEDULE job on another system.) Robot/LPAR automatically varies off the device, its IOP, and any attached devices before it moves them. Because this is an IOP device, you use the *IOP parameter to indicate that the device, its IOP, and any other devices attached on the IOP must be moved. (Note: If this were an IOP-less IOA device, you would specify *IOA, and only the device would be moved.)
2. After TAP01, its IOP, and any associated devices have been moved, you can have Robot/NETWORK tell Robot/SCHEDULE on Partition A to run a job to vary on the device and start the backup job(s).
3. After the daily backup completes on partition A, you react to move TAP01 back to partition B to start daily backups there. Because partition A now owns the tape device, you use another LPRPUTIOR command to move the device, its IOP, and its attached devices to partition B. Robot/LPAR varies off the device before moving it.
4. After the device(s) are moved successfully, you have Robot/NETWORK tell Robot/SCHEDULE on partition B to start a job to vary on the device in partition B and start the backup process.

Other functions
The Robot/LPAR Move Resources menu also allows you to:

• Adjust and set resource levels for processor capacity and memory size
• Display partition information about the managed system and partitions.
• Change the partition state to shut down or activate a partition.

Contributed by Anna Deuel, Product Manager

Help/Systems, developer of the Robot Automated Operations Solution for the System i, announces the release of Robot/LPAR 2.0, the software tool that allows users to move memory, processor, and device resources across partitions, either interactively or in batch. Robot/LPAR communicates with the Hardware Management Console (HMC) from an i5/OS partition in a partitioned System i environment to help manage System i resources.

Robot/LPAR offers both a green screen and a command line interface that lets users set a base level for memory and/or processor resources in a partition, move memory and processors between partitions to adjust levels and fine tune settings, and display the current resource levels and settings.

Robot/LPAR also moves IOA and IOP devices, including tape drives and optical drives, between partitions. Users can move these resources interactively using the Robot/LPAR green screen menus, in batch, or schedule the movements using a job scheduler such as Robot/SCHEDULE, the System i batch job management software. Because Robot/LPAR interfaces directly with the HMC, response is fast and movements occur quickly. Add Robot/NETWORK, the System i network management software, and users can automate the entire process of resource adjustment and movement throughout a network of managed systems.

Robot/LPAR is easy to configure, set up, and maintain. Users can activate or shut down partitions, view the current status of the managed system and its partitions, and maintain audit log file data of resource movement activities. Robot/LPAR can be installed on multiple partitions within a managed system at no additional cost.