Enabling Use of the zIIP Specialty Engine

If your site has a zIIP (System z Integrated Information Processor) specialty engine from IBM, you can offload specific categories of workload from the Central Processors to the zIIP.

The zIIP engine is a restricted version of a Central Processor (CP), also referred to as a General Processor (GP). The capacity of the zIIP engine does not count toward the overall MIPS rating of the mainframe image, so the CPU usage incurred on the zIIP is effectively free. Central Processors are often configured to run at speeds below their maximum rating for cost saving and capacity planning purposes. For Central Processors, 100% capacity typically refers to the maximum MIPS that the processor is allowed to generate at that installation, in accordance with your contract with IBM. In contrast, the zIIP engine always runs at true 100 percent of capacity.

As much as 80 percent of server processing is enabled to run on the zIIP engine. Typical workloads are expected to offload 30 to 80 percent of CPU processing to the zIIP engine.

To make use of the zIIP enablement feature, the server must run in an authorized state.