new 6 and 8 core processors - how does licensing work?

[wizdude]

hi all,

i read today with great excitement about the new 6 core intel xeon processors due out next month, followed by the 8 core processors at the end of the year.

this brings up an important question - ESX licensing. AFAIK, the "per socket" licensing model is limited to 4 cores per processor.

does anyone know how this is going to be licensed? if I build a new ESX server for a client next month with 2 x 6 core processors (12 cores!!) will the current "2 socket" licensing work? or balk?

an official statement would be appreciated. can anyone assist?

--

Move over quad-cores, Intel's ready to ship 6-core chips

The quad-core chips that have sat at the top of

the microprocessor heap for two years are about to begin to be replaced

by their bigger, burlier older brother - the 6-core processor.

Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and

general manager of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, Wednesday

afternoon announced that the company is set to release its 6-core Xeon

processor for expandable servers in September. Dubbed Dunnington, the

Xeon processor X7460 will be built with Intel's new 45-nanometer Penryn

technology, the company said.

"The big cache and six cores will give

customers a nice bump in performance," Gelsinger said previously.

"We're quite excited about it."

...

He added that if he had a choice, he would bypass the new 6-cores and

hold out to buy 8-core machines. Intel's Nehalem, which is expected to

go into production in the fourth quarter of this year, is designed to

scale from two cores to eight cores.

[weinstein5]

As I understand the licensing will still remain the same - per socket so a dual socket with 8 cores will give the vmkernel 16 cores to utilize but still only require a two proc license -

[Rodos]

One would expect VMware to following their existing policy. Especially with the current price rises which are in some way acting to recoup costs of increasing consolidation ratios.

The reference is http://www.vmware.com/download/eula/multicore.html

>Does this policy apply to all the future multi-core systems? In other words, what happens when 8-core chips are available?

>This policy applies only to dual- and quad-core processors. VMware will revisit its licensing policies as x86 processors with a greater number of cores become available.

Considering awarding points if this is of use

[TomHowarth]

When Intel and AMD first released Multi-Core processors, VMware ammended the EULA to state socket based licensing for 2 core procs, when the Quad cores started they updated to state quad core, I fully believe that they will ammend to read Octo core to take account of the extra cores.

That being said this does pose a whole diferent argument on build up, build out and just where your performance bottleneck will be

Thread moved to a more appropiate forum

Tom Howarth

VMware Communities User Moderator

[Ken_Cline]

That being said this does pose a whole diferent argument on build up, build out and just where your performance bottleneck will be

Considering that CPU is not typically the bottleneck today, is there a reason to rush into the new platform? The OEMs are going to have to extend their dual-socket architectures to significantly improve memory capacity and I/O bandwidth before I worry too much about more CPU cores. In many ways, I would prefer to see another boost in clock speed for the quad cores before seeing more cores. The higher clock speeds would improve single-threaded workload (the majority of current workloads) performance, whereas the added cores will allow for more VMs on a single host. The clock boost would not require a significant redesign of the base server, whereas the additional memory and I/O capacity needed to feed the additional cores would.

Ken Cline

Technical Director, Virtualization

Wells Landers[/url]

VMware Communities User Moderator

[mreferre]

Ken,

for the new processors the systems are being redisigned already. You will convey that I/O has never been a big bottleneck issue so it's a matter of balancing the additional cores with additional memory. More memory slots and cheaper memory modules will address this....

Massimo.

[Ken_Cline]

I guess there's got to be something to keep all those engineers in Raleigh and Houston busy

You coming to Vegas this year, Massimo?

Ken Cline

Technical Director, Virtualization

Wells Landers[/url]

VMware Communities User Moderator

[mreferre]

Exactly....

Massimo.

P.S. How can I miss the visit to Sin City? Of course...

[TomHowarth]

See you there Massimo,

Tom Howarth

VMware Communities User Moderator

[mreferre]

Absolutely Tom.

We just need a way to organize the randevousz..... it's going to be messy there....

Massimo.

[Texiwill]

Hello,

There will be a bulletin board available as well. But I know I want to meet up with a bunch of people as well. Not sure how I will find anyone.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

CIO Virtualization Blog: http://www.cio.com/blog/index/topic/168354

As well as the Virtualization Wiki at http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Virtualization