Re: What does just one core activated mean? Was: Cost Justifications

To build on Rob's response:

It's something you will get used to over time. The processor chips for POWER7 have eight complete CPUs in them, referred to as 'Cores'. Depending on testing after manufacturing somewhere from four to all eight of them are classified as available. You make a choice when you buy the machine by purchasing a '4-core' a '6-core' or an '8-core'. In the larger machines (730/740 and up) you may also purchase additional processor chips which then adds even more cores, up to 256 cores in the 795.

Those cores then can be activated (made available for use) or simply idled. Once you pay for the activation you then select and pay for an operating system, or systems to run on the cores you've activated. So you could have four cores activated with ONE license of IBM i, one of AIX and two Linux (just an example). In this scenario you would put one processor (core in this case) in a pool for IBM i and you could then partition that into up to 10 IBM i partitions. You would have just that one Core available for IBM i.

Hope that helps!

Larry - DrFranken- Bolhuis

On 3/9/2011 8:35 AM, rob@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

Nathan,
You buy the hardware. It comes with a set amount of processors already
built into it. Now, if you want to USE some of the processors you have to
get a license for them. It's a way for IBM to lower manufacturing costs
and CE costs by just putting the hardware into the machine, while allowing
them to be cost competitive on the lower end and make pure profit on the
higher end. It also allows you to get a processor upgrade without
experiencing any downtime.

See WRKLICINF. Look for one with a License Term of just V7, not V7R1M0
(notice the pattern if you are falling behind). This one spans
partitions. I could have 8 processors, and license 7 of them for IBM i
and reserve one for Linux.

Product ID . . . . . . . . : 5770SS1
License term . . . . . . . : V7
Feature . . . . . . . . . . : 5051
Description . . . . . . . . : IBM i

Compliance type . . . . . . : *KEYED
Usage type . . . . . . . . : *PROCESSOR

Usage limit . . . . . . . . : 7
Last update . . . . . . . . : 04/28/10 16:22:10

Threshold . . . . . . . . . : 6

Usage Count Information:
All partitions . . . . . : 7.00
Local partition . . . . . : 3.00

So


Rob Berendt