So here we pretty much just leave standby alone at 8G.   
We wouldn't take any standby away if we increased the memory.   We still want 
to have some there to be able to add in an emergency situation (and we have had 
to do that when apps had a memory leak but couldn't take a recycle).

Does that answer what you are looking for?


-----Original Message-----
From: Linux on 390 Port [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael 
MacIsaac
Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2016 7:50 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [LINUX-390] Linux and VM memory operations and The Principle of Least 
Astonishment

Wikipedia says the “Principle of least astonishment” is that systems
(software) should behave in a manner consistent with how users of that 
component are likely to expect it to behave, i.e., users should not be 
astonished at the way it behaves.

I’m trying to apply this principle to memory operations on z/VM and Linux in 
zoom line commands.

I believe Linux running on z/VM has 3 types of memory, all of which can be
different:
1) That defined in the user directory
2) That defined in CP for a running system
3) That defined in and used by a running Linux

While they can all be different, it's probably best to keep all three in sync 
so you can say "That Linux system has <amount> of memory."

Then to complicate matters, there are maximum and 'standby' amounts, the latter 
of which is necessary if memory is to be added dynamically to running Linux 
systems. The initial, maximum and standby can also get out of sync in the user 
directory and again it's probably best that they don't

First some terminology.
-) 'soft reboot' - Linux 'init 6' - does not log off/on virtual machine
-) 'hard reboot' - Linux halt, logoff, logon, boot

So, for some hopefully intuitively named line commands, is this how you'd 
expect them to behave?

zaddmemory linux1,linux2 1g
  Add 1g to user directory initial, CP and Linux memory on nodes linux1 and 
linux2.
  If 'COMMAND DEF STOR <init> STANDBY <stby>' is found, add to <init>, subtract 
from <stby>

zrmmemory linux1,linux2 1g
  Remove 1g from user directory initial, CP and Linux memory on nodes
linux1 and linux2.
  If 'COMMAND DEF STOR <init> STANDBY <stby>' is found, subtract from <init>, 
add to <stby>

zaddmemory --initial linux1 1g
  Add 1g to user directory initial only => take effect after hard reboot.
  If 'COMMAND DEF STOR <init> STANDBY <stby>' is found, add to <init>, subtract 
from <stby>

zaddmemory --temp linux1 1g
  Add 1g to running linux1 only => will be gone after hard or soft reboot, no 
change to user directory.

zsetmemory --maximum linux1 8g
  Set linux1 maximum meomory to 8G in user directory.
  If 'COMMAND DEF STOR <init> STANDBY <stby>' is found, set <stby> to <max>
- <init>.

zsetmemory --standby linux1 7G
  Set linux1 standby memory only to 7G.

Let me add some feedback as I think about the last example - setting STANDBY 
only would by definition get settings out of sync, so maybe it would be 
astonishing to allow such an option.

Thanks for any feedback.

    -Mike MacIsaac

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