The default is 30 seconds (Q SHUTDOWNTIME) for the CP's portion of the shutdown process. I recall hearing that is good default.
We are seeing systems exceed that - 33 seconds in this one that seemed to come with bonus messages (that is our SW seemed to capture the HCPWRP963I's on this one). Are others seeing that? Here's an example. MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:00-SYSTEM 000% 49 Users VM:Operator on OPERATOR(ME8VM) Sun 19Jun11 01:56 01:51:48 HCPSHU6018I The processor controller has sent a shutdown signal with a timeout interval of 300 seconds 01:51:48 HCPSHU6019I Guests may not have time to shut down because VM SHUTDOWN requires 30 seconds 01:51:48 HCPSIG2113I User VMSERVU has reported successful termination 01:51:48 HCPSIG2113I User ME8SFS has reported successful termination 01:52:18 HCPSIG2113I User ME8PROX2 has reported successful termination MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:19-01:56:19 Processor 01 offline MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:19-01:56:19 Processor 02 offline MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:20-01:56:20 Processor 03 offline MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:20-01:56:20 Processor 04 offline MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:21-01:56:21 Processor 05 offline MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:37- 01:56:37 HCPWRP963I SHUTDOWN STEP USOAC - JOURNAL USER TERMINATION MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:38- 01:56:38 HCPWRP963I SHUTDOWN STEP MFRSD - TERMINATE HARDWARE LOADER MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:38- 01:56:38 HCPWRP963I SHUTDOWN STEP APISD - TERMINATE OTHER PROCESSORS MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:39- 01:56:39 HCPWRP963I SHUTDOWN STEP ENASD - DISABLE TERMINAL DEVICES MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:40- 01:56:39 HCPWRP963I SHUTDOWN STEP XLGIN - CLEAR CROSS-SYSTEM LINK FLAGS MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:40- 01:56:40 HCPWRP963I SHUTDOWN STEP ISHDN - SHUT DOWN I/O SUBSYSTEM MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:41- 01:56:41 HCPWRP963I SHUTDOWN STEP SVACV - ACTIVATE TERMINATION SAVE AREAS MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:41- 01:56:41 HCPWRP963I SHUTDOWN STEP MXYTM - STOP CHANNEL PATH MEASUREMENT FACILIT MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:42- 01:56:42 HCPWRP963I SHUTDOWN STEP CHMOF - DISABLE CHANNEL MEASUREMENT MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:43- 01:56:42 HCPWRP963I SHUTDOWN STEP ISHDA - DISABLE ALL DEVICES MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:48- 01:56:47 HCPWRP963I SHUTDOWN STEP CKPSH - TAKE A CHECKPOINT MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:49- 01:56:49 HCPWRP963I SHUTDOWN STEP OPRCK - SAVE OPERATOR CONSOLE LIST MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:50- 01:56:49 HCPWRP963I SHUTDOWN STEP MCWMD - DETERMINE MACHINE CHECK STATUS MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:50- 01:56:50 HCPWRP963I SHUTDOWN STEP SDVRS - RESET IBM DASD CU CHARACTERISTICS MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:51- HCPWRP962I VM SHUTDOWN COMPLETED IN 33 SEC 01:56:51 HCPWRP963I SHUTDOWN STEP SVADV - DEACTIVATE TERMINATION SAVE AREAS HCPWRP962I VM SHUTDOWN COMPLETED IN 33 SEC MZ8-300:Jun 18 23:56:52- 01:56:51 HCPWRP961W SYSTEM SHUTDOWN COMPLETE Marcy