Cores per socket

[JASA1976]

What is the maximum number of cores you can assign to a socket or 4.1? Is this limited to the number of cores you have on the physical socket?

We have a requirement for SQL Enterprise which is licensed per processor. Our host has 2 quad core i7 processors. Ideally we would assigne one socket with 8 cores to the virtual machine to reduce the SQL licensing costs rather than 2 sockets with 4 cores, but not sure if this is possible from the documentation we've been reading.

If it is a limitation of the hardware then it looks like it would be cheaper for us to upgrade the processors to 8 core than to buy and extra SQL processor license.

[Jasemccarty]

SQL Enterprise is absolutely licensed per processor.

You will get better performance if you don't pin (set affinity) to specific processors.

There are a couple different things to take into account... depending on how your ESXi install is licensed.

• If you are using either the free version, or any paid version (excluding Advanced and Enterprise Plus), you can only present a max 4 vCPUs to the guest

• If you are using Advanced or Enterprise Plus, you can present up to 8 vCPUs to the guest

From a licensing standpoint,

• You could simply license the 2 physical processors (not cores) and you would be done with it, regardless of vCPUs presented to the guest

• You could present 2,4,8 vCPUs (depending on edition) and leverage the "cpuid.coresPerSocket" advanced setting to only present a single (multi-core) vCPU to your guest. At that point, you would only need to use 1 CPU license for SQL 200x Enterprise Edition

There are a couple ways to do it.

Also, remember, with SQL 2005/8 Enterprise Edition, if you license both physical CPUs in that system, you can run an unlimited number of SQL Servers/Instances. If you plan on using SQL 2008 R2, you'll need Datacenter Edition to get unlimited SQL Servers/Instances, as SQL 2008 R2 Enterprise will only give you 4 Servers/Instances (like Windows 2003/2008/2008 R2).

Hope that helps.

Jase McCarty

http://www.jasemccarty.com

Co-Author: VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center (ISBN:1420070274) Auerbach

Co-Author: VMware vSphere 4 Administration Instant Reference (ISBN:0470520728) Sybex

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[schepp]

SQL Enterprise is absolutely licensed per processor.

You will get better performance if you don't pin (set affinity) to specific processors.

There are a couple different things to take into account... depending on how your ESXi install is licensed.

• If you are using either the free version, or any paid version (excluding Advanced and Enterprise Plus), you can only present a max 4 vCPUs to the guest

• If you are using Advanced or Enterprise Plus, you can present up to 8 vCPUs to the guest

Advanced only supports 4-way vSMP. Enterprise Plus is the only licence supporting 8-way vSMP

Regards

[Jasemccarty]

Yep you are right, I goofed. I was thinking number of cores suppored when I typed that.

Enterprise Plus is the only one...

Jase McCarty

http://www.jasemccarty.com

Co-Author: VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center (ISBN:1420070274) Auerbach

Co-Author: VMware vSphere 4 Administration Instant Reference (ISBN:0470520728) Sybex

_{Please consider awarding points if this post was helpful or correct}

[JASA1976]

I think you missed the point of the question.

If I have a dual processor quad core system can I have a vm with one socket having 8 cores?

[Jasemccarty]

You can if you have Enterprise Plus licensed on your ESXi host.

Jase McCarty

http://www.jasemccarty.com

Co-Author: VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center (ISBN:1420070274) Auerbach

Co-Author: VMware vSphere 4 Administration Instant Reference (ISBN:0470520728) Sybex

_{Please consider awarding points if this post was helpful or correct}

[JASA1976]

I think you missed the point of the question.

If I have a dual processor quad core system can I have a vm with one socket having 8 cores?

[Jasemccarty]

You can if you have Enterprise Plus licensed on your ESXi host.

You'd have to use the ‘cpuid.coresPerSocket’option to present 8 vCPUs as a single processor with 8 cores.

Jase McCarty

http://www.jasemccarty.com

Co-Author: VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center (ISBN:1420070274) Auerbach

Co-Author: VMware vSphere 4 Administration Instant Reference (ISBN:0470520728) Sybex

_{Please consider awarding points if this post was helpful or correct}

[J1mbo]

But probably have rubbish performance, in that particular scenario....

http://blog.peacon.co.uk

Please award points to any useful answer.

[Jasemccarty]

Where's the difference between providing 8 vCPUs, and 8 vCPUs as a single 8 core vCPU?

I don't think that the guest cares, as long as the guest OS can support a multi-core CPU.

Jase McCarty

http://www.jasemccarty.com

Co-Author: VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center (ISBN:1420070274) Auerbach

Co-Author: VMware vSphere 4 Administration Instant Reference (ISBN:0470520728) Sybex

_{Please consider awarding points if this post was helpful or correct}

[J1mbo]

Nothing, but an 8 vCPU guest on a 2x quad-core box...?

http://blog.peacon.co.uk

Please award points to any useful answer.

[Jasemccarty]

I'd imagine that it would be the only guest on that box...

Jase McCarty

http://www.jasemccarty.com

Co-Author: VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center (ISBN:1420070274) Auerbach

Co-Author: VMware vSphere 4 Administration Instant Reference (ISBN:0470520728) Sybex

_{Please consider awarding points if this post was helpful or correct}