Disable cores?

We are currently running our IDS servers on dedicated Cisco UCS blades in the cloud (bare metal). The setup is over 4 years old and we are thinking of upgrading the hardware. We currently hold license for 420 PVU's (6 cores). Looking at Intels webside it seems they haven't released a new 6 core CPU since 2016 and all the "smallest" newest CPU's seem to be either 8 or 4 cores. I've read that cores can be disabled in the BIOS and IBM states in the "Sub-capacity licensing FAQs": 16. If a customer has a 16 processor core server, but only 8 cores have been activated, is this sub-capacity? No. Full capacity licensing requires the customer to only acquire PVUs for the 8 activated cores in this situation. As more processors are activated, the customer needs to acquire additional software license entitlements. Sub-capacity will only apply if the customer sets up partitions that have less than 8 active processor cores available. See the next FAQ below for more information on activated processor cores. 17. Are customers required to acquire license entitlements for deactivated processor cores on a server? No. IBM only requires licenses for activated processor cores. Some servers may be delivered with one or more processor cores deactivated, or turned off, to allow for future system growth. For instance, a system may ship with 8 physical processor cores where only 6 have been activated. This would allow the customer to have the additional 2 processor cores turned on in the future as their workload requirements grow. For software that is licensed on a per core basis, this server only contains 6 activated processor cores. Clients would only be required to obtain software licenses for all activated processor cores available for use on the server, so in this example, licenses are not required for the remaining 2 cores until they are activated. Activated processor cores are physical processor cores that are available for use in a server. They include processor cores: that are activated (available for use) when the server is shipped by the manufacturer that are activated subsequently through activation codes purchased from the server manufacturer by the customer In summary, additional licenses are required at the time any additional processor cores are activated. So the question arises: If we lease a 8-core server (Xeon or AMD EPYC) with 2 cores disabled in the BIOS (or by any other means), will we be OK in terms of the license agreement? Thanks in advance, ------------------------------ Snorri Bergmann ------------------------------ #Informix

Snorri: Yes, you should be OK as long as the cores are physically disabled. You need sub-capacity licensing and you need to run the ILM (IBM License Manager) in a VM environment when the VM sees fewer cores than are physically active under PVU licensing. Note that if you are upgrading to v14.10, that a new license metric is available, VPC which allows you to license the lesser of the number of physical cores or the number of virtual cores. Something to look into. Art Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant ASK Database Management www.askdbmgt.com Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/ Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions and do not reflect on the IIUG, nor any other organization with which I am associated either explicitly, implicitly, or by inference. Neither do those opinions reflect those of other individuals affiliated with any entity with which I am affiliated nor those of the entities themselves.

Art: Thank you for the reply to this discussion! I am just coming up to speed on IDS 14.10.x. Most of our customers are currently running 12.10.x. I am waiting until we can fully test my company's software with 14.10 before we implement it at on any production systems. Are you saying that IBM has made allowances in IDS 14.10.x to limit the number of physical cores or the number of virtual cores used by the instance? ------------------------------ Martin Graney Queues Enforth Development, Inc. Stoneham, MA 02148 ------------------------------

You can now license by VPCPUs Cheers Paul > Art: > > > Thank you for the reply to this discussion! > > > I am just coming up to speed on IDS 14.10.x. Most of our customers are > currently running 12.10.x. I am waiting until we can fully test my > company's software with 14.10 before we implement it at on any production > systems. > > > Are you saying that IBM has made allowances in IDS 14.10.x to limit the > number of physical cores or the number of virtual cores used by the > instance? > > > ------------------------------ > Martin Graney > Queues Enforth Development, Inc. > Stoneham, MA 02148 > ------------------------------ > ------------------------------------------- > Original Message: > Sent: Thu October 24, 2019 11:50 AM > From: Art Kagel > Subject: Disable cores? > > Snorri: > Yes, you should be OK as long as the cores are physically disabled. You > need sub-capacity licensing and you need to run the ILM (IBM License > Manager) in a VM environment when the VM sees fewer cores than are > physically active under PVU licensing. > Note that if you are upgrading to v14.10, that a new license metric is > available, VPC which allows you to license the lesser of the number of > physical cores or the number of virtual cores. > Something to look into. > Art > > Art S. Kagel, President and Principal ConsultantASK Database > Managementwww.askdbmgt.com #Informix

Paul: Thank you. That is great news! Now for the follow up question that makes most IDS admins reach for their torches and pitchforks: Is this change effective for IDS instances running on Windows servers? ------------------------------ Best regards, Martin Graney Queues Enforth Development, Inc. Stoneham, MA 02148 ------------------------------

I don't know for a fact but I don't see why not - a CPUVP is a CPUVP etc > Paul: > > > Thank you. That is great news! > > > Now for the follow up question that makes most IDS admins reach for their > torches and pitchforks: Is this change effective for IDS instances > running on Windows servers? > > > ------------------------------ > Best regards, > Martin Graney > Queues Enforth Development, Inc. > Stoneham, MA 02148 > ------------------------------ > ------------------------------------------- > Original Message: > Sent: Thu October 24, 2019 12:17 PM > From: Paul Watson > Subject: Disable cores? > > You can now license by VPCPUs > > Cheers > Paul > >> Art: >> >> >> Thank you for the reply to this discussion! >> >> >> I am just coming up to speed on IDS 14.10.x. Most of our customers are >> currently running 12.10.x. I am waiting until we can fully test my >> company's software with 14.10 before we implement it at on any >> production >> systems. >> >> >> Are you saying that IBM has made allowances in IDS 14.10.x to limit the >> number of physical cores or the number of virtual cores used by the >> instance? >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> Martin Graney >> Queues Enforth Development, Inc. >> Stoneham, MA 02148 >> ------------------------------ >> ------------------------------------------- >> Original Message: >> Sent: Thu October 24, 2019 11:50 AM >> From: Art Kagel >> Subject: Disable cores? >> >> Snorri: >> Yes, you should be OK as long as the cores are physically disabled. You >> need sub-capacity licensing and you need to run the ILM (IBM License >> Manager) in a VM environment when the VM sees fewer cores than are >> physically active under PVU licensing. >> Note that if you are upgrading to v14.10, that a new license metric is >> available, VPC which allows you to license the lesser of the number of >> physical cores or the number of virtual cores. >> Something to look into. >> Art >> >> Art S. Kagel, President and Principal ConsultantASK Database >> Managementwww.askdbmgt.com > > Reply to Sender : > https://community.ibm.com/eGroups/PostReply/?GroupId=4147&SenderKey=3d061a41-a819-431a-86a2-b3ad31c1cea8&MID=36865&MDATE=756%253e465479&UserKey=29a6c229-a98c-46da-9248-4df042a4a263&sKey=KeyRemoved > > Reply to Discussion : > https://community.ibm.com/eGroups/PostReply/?GroupId=4147&MID=36865&MDATE=756%253e465479&UserKey=29a6c229-a98c-46da-9248-4df042a4a263&sKey=KeyRemoved > > > > You are subscribed to "Informix" as paul@oninit.com . To change your > subscriptions, go to > http://community.ibm.com/community/user/preferences?section=Subscriptions&MDATE=756%253e465479&UserKey=29a6c229-a98c-46da-9248-4df042a4a263&sKey=KeyRemoved. > To unsubscribe from this community discussion, go to > http://community.ibm.com/HigherLogic/eGroups/Unsubscribe.aspx?UserKey=29a6c229-a98c-46da-9248-4df042a4a263&sKey=KeyRemoved&GroupKey=60eb97a2-57c0-4130-9b6d-57174f97d5a8. -- Paul Watson Tel: +1 913-674-0360 Mob: +1 913-387-7529 Web: www.oninit.com Oninit? is a registered trademark of Oninit LLC Failure is not as frightening as regret. If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid. What this country needs are more unemployed politicians

Thanks Art. I was planning to run the engine on bare metal, not in a VM. Would that make a difference? Regards, ------------------------------ Snorri Bergmann ------------------------------

Just a follow-up. I spoke to my IBM rep. and I have a confirmation that it is indeed OK to disable cores to qualify for sub-capacity licensing. Thank you for your input, ------------------------------ Snorri Bergmann ------------------------------

Art, Consider the scenario that I am using bare metal server which has 22 cores. I am using Enterprise IDS 12.10.x and I have PVU licenses for 12 cores only. I have disabled the remaining 10 cores from bios and those cores are invisible to lscpu, cat /proc/cpuinfo, top or htop commands. Do I need to buy licenses for remaining 10 cores which are disabled at bios level? ------------------------------ Muhammad Ale ------------------------------

Consider the scenario that I am using bare metal server which has 22 cores. I am using Enterprise IDS 12.10.x and I have PVU licenses for 12 cores only. I have disabled the remaining 10 cores from bios and those cores are invisible to lscpu, cat /proc/cpuinfo, top or htop commands. Do I need to buy licenses for remaining 10 cores which are disabled at bios level? ------------------------------ Muhammad Ale ------------------------------

Hi Muhammad. No, cores disabled at the bios level don't count. Best regards, -Snorri ------------------------------ Snorri Bergmann ------------------------------

Use V14 and a HCL 12 CPU license and leave the other cores active? Cheers Paul Paul Watson Oninit LLC +1-913-387-7529 www.oninit.com Oninit® is a registered trademark of Oninit LLC

I agree with Snorri, you should not have to license the disabled cores. However, know that you also do not have to license any virtual cores like the hyperthreads. So, do you REALLY have 22 cores or only 11 physical cores and 11 hyperthreads? Art Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant ASK Database Management www.askdbmgt.com Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/ Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions and do not reflect on the IIUG, nor any other organization with which I am associated either explicitly, implicitly, or by inference. Neither do those opinions reflect those of other individuals affiliated with any entity with which I am affiliated nor those of the entities themselves.