This section describes hard partitioning with the Oracle VM Server for SPARC software, and how to use hard partitioning to conform to the Oracle CPU licensing requirements.
For information about Oracle's hard partitioning requirements for software licenses, see Partitioning: Server/Hardware Partitioning.
CPU cores and CPU threads. The Oracle VM Server for SPARC software runs on SPARC T-Series and SPARC M-Series platforms, and Fujitsu M10 platforms. The processors that are used in these systems have multiple CPU cores, each of which contains multiple CPU threads.
Hard partitioning and CPU whole cores. Beginning with the Oracle VM Server for SPARC 2.0 release, hard partitioning is enforced by using CPU whole-core configurations. A CPU whole-core configuration has domains that are allocated CPU whole cores instead of individual CPU threads. By default, a domain is configured to use CPU threads.
When binding a domain in a whole-core configuration, the system provisions the specified number of CPU cores and all its CPU threads to the domain. Using a CPU whole-core configuration limits the number of CPU cores that can be dynamically assigned to a bound or active domain.
Oracle hard partition licensing. To conform to the Oracle hard partition licensing requirement, you must use at least the Oracle VM Server for SPARC 2.0 release. You must also use CPU whole cores as follows:
A domain that runs applications that use Oracle hard partition licensing must be configured with CPU whole cores.
A domain that does not run applications that use Oracle hard partition licensing is not required to be configured with CPU whole cores. For example, if you do not run any Oracle applications in the control domain, that domain is not required to be configured with CPU whole cores.