The concurrency level attribute
The concurrency level attribute was introduced with Virtual I/O Server (VIOS) version 2.2.2.0 and is used to control the amount, and configuration, of resources that are allocated to a partition mobility operation by the mover service partition (MSP). The actual resources that are associated with a specific concurrency level value might change when new VIOS versions are released, but lower concurrency level values always equate to more resources allocated and in general, lower migration times.
VIOS Version | Recommended usage | |
---|---|---|
Concurrency level | Usage | |
2.2.2.0 - 2.2.3.x | 5 | Recommended concurrency level if a previous partition mobility operation failed because of insufficient memory. |
4 | Not a recommended concurrency level. | |
3 | The
default value, and is the recommended concurrency level for
most situations, including but not limited to the following scenarios:
Note: The default concurrency_lvl value that is
changed to 4 from a value of 3 in
VIOS version 2.2.4.0.
|
|
2 | Not a recommended concurrency level. | |
1 | Not a recommended concurrency level. | |
2.2.4.0, or later | 5 | Recommended concurrency level when any of the following
scenarios
are true:
Note: Migrating
a partition from a high-speed network to a low speed network is not
recommended. However, if this situation cannot be avoided, using a
concurrency level of 5 provides a
higher probability of success.
|
4 | The default
value, and is the recommended concurrency level for
most situations, including but not limited to the following scenarios:
Note: The default concurrency_lvl value changed
to 4 from a value of 3 in
VIOS version 2.2.4.0.
|
|
3 | The recommended concurrency level only when all the following
scenarios are true:
Note: A maximum of four concurrent partition mobility
operations can be run for each MSP pair at this concurrency level.
|
|
2.2.4.0, or later (continued) | 2 | The recommended concurrency level only
when all the following
scenarios are true:
Note: A maximum of three concurrent partition mobility
operations can be run at this concurrency level. The limit is two
if the operations are run with the
strict flag.
|
1 | The recommended concurrency level only when all the following are true:
Note: A maximum of two concurrent partition mobility
operations can be run for each MSP pair at this concurrency level.
|
If the concurrency level value on the source and destination MSP differ or if the MSPs are at different VIOS versions, the source and destination MSPs negotiate to a common set of resources. This generally results in either the source or destination MSPs negotiating to match the resources of the other. For migrations where you do not want the resources to be negotiated, the Hardware Management Console (HMC) version 8.4.0 and the VIOS 2.2.4.0 introduced the option of strict requirements. By specifying that the concurrency level value of strict requirements, the partition mobility validation fails if the requested resources cannot be satisfied by both the source and destination MSPs.
- Change the concurrency level value for all of the partition mobility operations that use a specific VIOS. The value can be set by using either the VIOS chdev command, or the HMC migrlpar command. For more information about changing the value of the concurrency level, see Live Partition Mobility pseudodevice.
- To change the concurrency level value for a single partition mobility operation, the VIOS must be at version 2.2.4.0, or later, and the HMC must be at version 8.4.0, or later. The HMC command line provides a concurrency level override option. For
a single migration operation, run the following command:
where the valid override values are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1r, 2r, 3r, 4r, and 5r.migrlpar -o v -m <srcCecName> -t <srcCecName> -p <lparName> -i "concurr_migration_perf_level=<overrideValue>"
For multiple migration operations, run the following command:
Where the values 1 - 5 indicate the concurrency level and the values 1r - 5r indicate that the concurrency level must be strictly enforced and the migration validation fails if the resources requested by the concurrency level value cannot be fully satisfied.migrlpar -o v -m <srcCecName> -t <srcCecName> -p <lparName> -i multiple_concurr_migration_perf_levels="<lparName_1>/<lparID_1>/<perfLvl_1>, <lparName_2>/<lparID_2>/<perfLvl_2>,...<lparName_n>/<lparID_n>/<perfLvl_n>"
If either the source or destination MSP is at VIOS version 2.2.2.0, or earlier, the concurrence level value is ignored and the migration runs with a predefined buffer configuration and uses a single thread for sending data. This is applicable only if you select the concurrency level values in the range 1-5. If the you select the concurrency level values in the range 1r-5r, validation fails because the MSPs does not support multi-threading.