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Multi Core Processors and Win 2003 SE

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5 replies

by r_nichol

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Hi all

Windows 2003 standard edition allows up to 4 processors, but what if you have 2 x quad cores (ie, 2 x 4 = 8)

Will Perfmon show 8 processors?

Thanks

Rich

5 replies

by Former member

If you have the "64bit" version Windows then it should take the intel itanium processor of which is "quad core", otherwise you are left with just single quad core. Hope this helps you.

by powderkeg

No, for licensing purposes, Microsoft counts only the number of physical processors (defined as "sockets" in Microsoft's official licensing terms). The current versions of all Microsoft products which actually enforce processor limits are capable of distinguishing between physical processors and logical processors. Even though the user interface (e.g. Task Manager, System Information, SQL Enterprise Manager, SQL Express Manager, etc.) will only display logical processors (meaning cores), any license restrictions are only enforced upon the physical.

A server with two quad-core processors can run Standard Edition of Windows Server 2003 or 2008 with no OS-imposed restriction. However, Microsoft has no control over processor limitations of third-party products that you may want to run on the server (e.g. Oracle).

Microsoft's current policy has been in effect since 2002 (when Intel released Hyper-Threading, the first time logical processors became an issue). Therefore, if you wanted to run Windows 2000 with two quad-core processors, Standard Edition would not work. Realistically, you would probably have problems finding Windows 2000 drivers for hardware that is new enough to have two quad-core processors.

NOTE: Windows Server 2003 had some bugs on certain multicore systems which caused problems that some people assumed were license-related. It's just a matter of finding and applying the hotfixes which apply to your configuration (examples: KB953028 is only for people using DirectX which isn't intended on a server anyway, KB899656 applies only to x64 with older BIOS, KB932370 is only needed for utilities which want WMI to behave the same on 2003 as on Vista/2008, etc.) In the case of Small Business Server 2003, the RTM version did not detect multicore correctly and displayed a false warning but it was just a warning which you can bypass (see KB 909382).

References:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/1/e/f1ecd771-cf97-4d98-9a1b-b86e3f24e08f/multicore_hyperthread_brief.doc
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/shared/dual_core_dell_os.pdf
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/howtobuy/SQLonHTT.doc

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