Pay per use Software

What software product is required for PPU 8.x systems? With HP-UX systems, the HP Pay per use (PPU) 8.x software product is T2351AA.

For Windows on Integrity, launch the Control Panel and select Add or Remove Programs to verify that the PPU Service is displayed as “HP CPU PayPerUse v7.1”.

On OpenVMS systems, the HP Pay per use (PPU) 8.x product is BA485AA.

For all operating systems, another requirement is network access to a utility meter running software version 7.3 or later. The utility meter software can be found at www.hp.com/go/softwaredepot by searching for “Pay Per Use Meter Software”.

What patches are required for running PPU 8.x software on an HP enterprise server that is running HP-UX 11i v1? See “Required Patches for PPU on HP-UX 11i v1” for the required patches for PPU 8.x on HP-UX 11i v1.

What patches or OS updates are required for running PPU 7.1 software on HP Integrity servers running Microsoft Windows Server 2003? There are none at the time of publication of this document. See the following web sites for the most recent information.

How can I get the PPU 8.x software bundle for either HP-UX 11i v1 or 11i v2? The PPU 8.x software bundle T2351AA is installed at the factory for new systems. The T2351AA bundle is available from the following:

See “Installing PPU Software” for details of installing the PPU 8.x software bundle T2351AA.

How can I get PPU software for Windows Servers (64-bit Enterprise or Datacenter Editions)? The PPU 7.1 software is available on the Smart Setup media associated with HP Integrity Servers for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 64-bit version, Installer Media 4.5 or higher, and at http://www.hp.com/support/itaniumservers/ (search for PPU).

We received an e-mail message indicating a partition did not report system configuration and utilization data. What is the problem and how do I correct it? Make sure that the PPU software is installed and the connection is properly configured to the utility meter for the partition. All partitions (including virtual partitions with HP-UX systems), must have the PPU software installed and the PPU software configured to connect to the utility meter. See “Troubleshooting the PPU Software” for details on ensuring your PPU system is compliant and functional.

How many usage reports are retained on the PPU system? The PPU system retains the latest usage report. On OpenVMS systems, the previous 50 versions of the usage report are retained. For a complete history of your usage reports go to the PPU web portal. See “PPU Web Portal” for details.

You can view the latest PPU usage report for your HP-UX system by invoking a web browser that supports XML and opening the PPUReport.xml file found at: /var/ppu/. On Windows systems, you can use a browser that supports XML, or if your browser does not support XML, you can use a text-based editor such as Wordpad to open the PPUReport.xml file found at: C:\program files (x86)\Hewlett-Packard\ppu\ (or whichever directory PPU was installed in).

When is information sent by the PPU software? A system report is sent from the PPU software to the utility meter at the following times:

What is the difference between PPU versions 7.x and 8.x? (HP-UX only). PPU can now be run in an HP Integrity Virtual Machines environment (HPVM). In this case, the usage information for billing purposes is still the overall usage for the VM Host. However, you can examine the usage report at the portal to see a detailed breakdown of the usage for each virtual machine (also called a “guest”). In an HPVM environment, PPU needs to be installed and configured only on the VM Host, not on the guests.

The error messages and man pages have been enhanced and updated, and a new documentation file, /usr/share/doc/PayPerUseOverview.htm, is provided to link to the most current documentation files on the HP documentation web site.

PPU now includes support for HP Integrity rx7640 and rx8640 servers.

The Utility Pricing program has changed terminology to be consistent with the new HP definitions of “processor”, “CPU”, and “core” that account for the wide range of packaging available in modern chips. The two metrics for measuring pricing and utilization are now called Percent Core and Active Core (previously known as Percent CPU or Processor Percent, and Active CPU or Number Active Processors).

See the Pay per use Release Notes for details of the changes from versions 7.x to 8.x.

What is the difference between PPU versions 6.x and later versions? (HP-UX only). The main difference between these PPU versions (HP product T2351AA) is that with versions 6.x only the percent utilization metric can be measured and contractually arranged with HP. With PPU versions 7.x and 8.x, either the percent core or the active core metric can be arranged contractually with HP. Also, PPU versions after 6.x enable you to set a cap limiting the number of active cores, and add support for virtual partitions on HP-UX 11i v2 systems.

What is the difference between PPU versions 7.01 and 7.1 on Windows systems? The packaging and installation of Pay per use changed with the 7.1 release. Previously, Pay per use was included with the WMI nPar Provider component, and visible only as a subcomponent of the nPar Provider. With the 7.1 release, PPU is a separate Smart Setup component with its own installation process, and, after a successful installation, PPU should have its own entry in the list of currently installed programs as shown from the Control Panel/Add or Remove Programs.