As Intel and AMD continue to increase processing power by expanding out cores per processor, how will this affect VMware licensing? Good question. Effective November 1st of 2006, VMware redefined and explained its policy on how to define a processor for licensing purposes. They list as an example, a customer who purchases a two-way quad-core server is only required to purchase 2 processors of VMware Infrastructu As Intel and AMD continue to increase processing power by expanding out cores per processor, how will this affect VMware licensing? Good question. Effective November 1st of 2006, VMware redefined and explained its policy on how to define a processor for licensing purposes. They list as an example, a customer who purchases a two-way quad-core server is only required to purchase 2 processors of VMware Infrastructure 3 or related products for that server. This allows customers to take advantage of increased processor performance for virtual environments without a corresponding increase in licensing cost.VMware also posted answers to some of the more frequently asked questions that they have been receiving. Frequently Asked Questions Q: What is a dual- or quad-core processor? A: Intel and AMD have announced new x86 processors that combine two or four independent central processing units (“cores”) on a single silicon chip. These processors, generally referred to as multi-core processors, offer increased performance compared to conventional processor designs. Multi-core processors also reduce heat dissipation relative to single-core designs, a benefit referred to as “higher performance per watt.” Q: What benefits should VMware customers expect to see from multi-core processors? A: Published benchmarks for multi-core systems show impressive performance gains over single-core systems. Each processor core provides a dedicated CPU for one or more virtual machines, increasing the scalability of VMware virtual infrastructure and offering even more fine-grained resource isolation. Server consolidation in virtual machines will particularly benefit from the naturally partitioned processing capacity provided by additional cores. Intel has recently advertised that quad-core systems improve performance by approximately 50% over similar dual-core processors. Q: How does VMware license its products for dual- and quad-core systems? A: VMware licenses its server products on per processor basis. A processor is defined as a single physical chip that contains no more than four processor cores. Q: Which VMware products does this affect? A: This policy affects VMware Infrastructure 3, VMotion, Distributed Resource Scheduler, VMware HA and Consolidated Backup and any other server products licensed on a per-processor basis. VMware Workstation and VMware ACE products for the desktop do not use processor-based licensing. Q: How does this policy affect my licensing costs? A: Customers upgrading their hardware to multi-core technology will not need to pay additional licensing fees for a processor with multiple cores (up to four cores per processor) compared with a single-core design. This means that a customer who purchases a two-way quad-core server is only required to purchase 2 processors of VMware Infrastructure 3 for that server. Q: What dual-core server models are supported? A: Only servers listed in the Systems Compatibility Guide for VMware Infrastructure 3 are supported. As VMware certifies additional servers with multi-core processors they will be added to the Systems Compatibility Guide. Q: When will this licensing change be effective? A: This licensing policy is effective as of November 1st, 2006. Support for specific multi-core processors is effective when servers containing this processors have been certified and added to the relevant systems compatibility guides. ESX Server 2.1.x and VirtualCenter 1.2.x and prior versions will not include support for multi-core processors. Customers on these versions must upgrade to subsequent versions for dual- or quad-core processor support. Q: How do customers order licenses for multi-core systems? A: Because VMware is building multi-core licensing support into its products, no special ordering procedures will be necessary for new customers. Existing VMware customers with subscription service can upgrade to the new releases and get multi-core support. Q: Does this policy apply to all the future multi-core systems? In other words, what happens when 8-core chips are available? A: 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. Q: If I want to understand more about dual-core technology, where should I go? A: Learn more at https://www.intel.com/technology/computing/multi-core/ or https://multicore.amd.com/. Software Development