Virtual CPU - BO CPU based License Query

general discussion
1

We have BO enviornment running on VMware ESX 3.5i m/c with 4 Virtual CPU. We also have 4 CPU license.

Queries -

  1. Does 1 Virtual CPU on the VMware ESX 3.5i m/c counts as 1 CPU?
    I read on forums that 1 dual core CPU is calculated as 1 +0.5 CPU as per license. How does it work for Virtual CPU?

  2. So if we have 4 CPU license, how many (max) Virtual cpu’s we can have on single VMware ESX 3.5i m/c?

Thanks,
satvinder

ssingh (BOB member since 2009-09-30)

2

VMWare licensing varys from client to client. Officially, all cores on a VM host need CPU licenses regardless of how many virtual CPUs are in use by BOE software. As a general rule, 1st core of each CPU socket requires 1 CPU and all additional cores require 0.5 CPUs.

For example if your ESX host has 4 CPU sockets and each CPU has 4 cores, your CPU licensing requirement would be as follows per general guidelines:
1st core on each CPU = 1 CPU
2nd, 3rd and 4th cores on each CPU = 0.5 x 3 = 1.5 CPU
Total number of licenses for each CPU = 2.5 CPU

4 CPUs x 2.5 CPU licenses = 10 CPU licenses.

Again, this is a general guideline and you should reach out to your SAP account rep for clarification.

Farhan Jaffery :us: (BOB member since 2005-08-27)

3

For a deployment on VWmare,only the assigned number of CPU’s count, the number of CPU’s (and cores) doesn’t matter.

BertD :netherlands: (BOB member since 2005-02-02)

4

Hi BertDijks,

Can you please link to an SAP official statement that would support your opinion? Or why do you think licensing on vmware works as you described?

People from their experience say something different, please see this topic:

And there are more topics on this forum where BO users say the same - I mean, the opposite of what you are saying.

Thank you.

Marek Chladny :slovakia: (BOB member since 2003-11-27)

5

Bottom line is no one here can give you legal binding advice. It all depends on your contract with SAP. You should either contact SAP directly or get with your legal council if you have doubts about your contract with SAP.

Andreas :de: (BOB member since 2002-06-20)

6

We just clarified with the BO Sales people. They confirmed that 4 V cpu will be considered as 1 Quad core i.e 2.5 CPU.

Thank you for all your valuable inputs.

ssingh (BOB member since 2009-09-30)

7

4 virtual CPUs being considered as 1 quad core and requiring 2.5 CPU licenses is per the standard formula (1st core = 1 license + additional cores x 0.5 license) = 2.5 licenses.

However, did you confirm that this is regardless of how many total CPUs (total cores) are there on the virtual server?

Farhan Jaffery :us: (BOB member since 2005-08-27)

8

You should also confirm that your counts are correct per chip/socket as SAP-BOBJ are now “rounding-up” 2.5 licenses from the calculation to 3 licenses per socket.

MJRBIM :canada: (BOB member since 2007-03-23)