Method and system for management of units within a data processing system

A data processing system for managing a plurality of units, wherein said system requires a selected capacity provided by a number of said plurality of units, said data processing system comprising:

• polling means for dynamically polling said plurality of units to determine a capacity of said plurality of said units;
• determination means for dynamically determining a requirement of said system for said plurality of units;
• and
• generation means for generating an indication that a condition exists in which at least one of said plurality of units should be replaced only if said requirement of said data processing system is greater than said capacity of said plurality of units and one of said plurality of units has failed, wherein replacement of a unit is not required unless the data processing system demand exceeds the capacity of the plurality of units.

An apparatus for managing a plurality of units in a hardware system, wherein said hardware system requires a selected amount of capacity provided by said plurality of units, said apparatus comprising:

• means for dynamically polling said plurality of units to determine a capacity of said plurality of units;
• means for dynamically determining a requirement of said hardware system for said plurality of units;
• and
• means for generating an indication that a condition exists in which at least one of said plurality of units should be replaced only if said requirement of said hardware system is greater than said capacity of said plurality of units and if one of said plurality of units has failed, wherein replacement of a unit is not required unless the hardware system demand exceeds the capacity of said plurality of units.

A method in a data processing system for managing a plurality of units, wherein the data processing system requires a selected capacity provided by a number of the plurality of units, said method comprising:

• dynamically polling said plurality of units to determine a capacity of said plurality of units;
• dynamically determining a non-redundant requirement of said data processing system for said plurality of units;
• and
• detecting an existence of a redundant capability provided by said plurality of units, wherein the redundant capability is based on an actual capacity from the plurality of units.

An apparatus for managing a plurality of units in a hardware system, wherein said hardware system requires a selected capacity provided by said plurality of units, said apparatus comprising:

• polling means for dynamically polling said plurality of units to determine a capacity of said plurality of units;
• determination means for determining a non-redundant requirement of said data processing system for said plurality of units;
• and
• detection means for detecting an existence of a redundant capability within the hardware system, wherein the redundant capability is based on an actual capacity of said plurality of units compared to a usage of said plurality of units.