PRM and WLM Overview

This chapter provides a quick overview and some examples of using HP Process Resource Manager (PRM). PRM is a tool that controls the amount of resources processes use. The control over the amount of resources used is normally done when the system is at peak load with 100% utilization of CPU, memory, or disk. Another way of controlling resources is to use caps. The cap is in place regardless of the overall loading on the system. We'll cover both the peak load resource control as well as the capping approach in our examples in this chapter. Then we'll cover an Oracle-specific example of using PRM. The following list describes the three examples we'll cover:

1. Manual PRM setup and resource caps.

2. GUI-based PRM setup using xprm .

3. Oracle PRM setup with five database instances.

The document HP Process Resource Manager User's Guide that can be found on www.docs.hp.com is a great manual that thoroughly covers all aspects of PRM. This chapter will give you an idea of how PRM works and some good examples of PRM setup. If you think PRM would be useful in your computing environment, I recommend that you download the full User's Guide.

Not covered in this book is Workload Manager (WLM). Workload Manager adjusts system resources to help achieve service-level objectives (SLOs) that you define. WLM uses PRM including PRM's APPL, CPU, DISK, and MEM managers. Many PRM commands covered in this chapter are also available. WLM also works across Virtual Partitions (vPars) moving resources within and between vPars as required. In a vPars environment you setup and activate a WLM configuration file for each vPar. You then setup the configuration file for the global arbiter that is aware of all of the vPars and their resources. If you think WLM would be useful in your computing environment I recommend that you download the full HP-UX Workload Manager User's Guide.

The next section covers PRM software and files.