Disable Cores on BL46x - Performance Problems?

[sgunelius]

We're planning on purchasing a ProLiant BL46x to replace a DL, but the software we'll be supporting has strict per-processor/per-core licensing. While it appears I can disable cores to meet the licensing restrictions, I'm wondering what negative performance impact this may have, if any. Can anyone comment on issues they've encountered when disabling cores on either the AMD or Intel based blades? Thank you.

[rick jones]

First, you should double check with your software provider that they will "accept" disabling cores via the likes of BIOS, or if they will still consider the system as having the total number of cores being those present on the chip(s) not simply those enabled on the chip(s).

While disabling one or more cores per processor will diminish the overall "horsepower" of the system (I suppose that much would seem obvious but I state it anyway), it will not diminish the individual performance of the remaining cores.

[sgunelius]

Rick,

I'll have the development team check with the vendor on whether they would accept this approach to comply with licensing. Thanks for that tip. I knew that disabling the cores would, of course, result in degraded performance due to fewer available cores, but was wondering if doing so would have an adverse affect on the server overall (ex. BSOD or other issues).

Scott