One of the key benefits of combining workloads in a virtualized environment is the ability to pay for less than the full capacity of the machine. Unfortunately there are many misconceptions about how software licensing really works in these environments. The IBM Power Systems PowerVM virtualization technology offers a great deal of flexibility, but that flexibility also results in complexity when determining software license requirements. This presentation covers important licensing considerations for the IBM Power Systems environment.

1. 1
IBM
Materials may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written permission of IBM.
Understanding software licensing in a
Power Systems PowerVM Virtualized Environment
Jay Kruemcke
jay@kruemcke.com
Kruemcke.com
@chromeaix @cloudrancher

2. 2
2© 2013 IBM Corporation
Software in a virtualized environment
• The purpose of this presentation is to
help you to understand some of the
policies that software vendors use in
virtualized environments
• The scenarios in this presentation are
not necessarily the policy of IBM or other
vendor for every software product but is
representative of general policies
• When in doubt – ask your software
vendor for their policy for each software
product you use in a virtualized
environment
• This presentation is tailored to Power
Systems virtualization technologies but
the underlying ideas are relevant to
other virtualization technology

3. 3
3© 2013 IBM Corporation
Common Software Licensing models
• Capacity based perpetual licenses
• Capacity based term limited licenses
• Named User based licenses
• Concurrent user based licenses
• Named host
• Subscription based licenses
• Per Device
• Site licenses
• Enterprise License Agreements
• Usage based licenses
• Pay per use
• Free license, charge for support
• …
Value
Price
 Price scales to value
 Balance licensing precision
with simplicity

4. 4
4© 2013 IBM Corporation
Common Pricing and Licensing Concepts
Value
Price
Price scales to value
Balance licensing precision with
simplicity
Users
Price
Processor Capacity available
Price

5. 5
5© 2013 IBM Corporation
What is Sub-capacity or virtualization Licensing?
 Full capacity requires license entitlements for all activated processor cores in a server
 Sub-capacity licensing limits the license entitlements to the number of processor cores in the
partitions that are available to the software
Full Capacity
Partition with
three processor
cores
Partition with
three processor
cores
License Cores for 6 processor cores
1 2 3 4 5 6
IBM Systems
Six processor cores activated
Key Points
1. Not all software products from all vendors offer subcapacity/virtualization licensing
2. Even software that is available with sub-capacity licensing may have a different part
number
AppSvr
Sub-capacity
Partition with
three processor
cores
Partition with
three processor
cores
1 2 3 4 5 6
License Cores for 3
processor cores
IBM Systems
Six processor cores activated
AppSvr

6. 6
6© 2013 IBM Corporation
IBM Selected Sub capacity Eligible Technologies
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/software/passportadvantage/SubCapacity/Eligible_Virtualization_Technology.pdf
It’s too small to read on this chart - click on the link above to download the IBM document

7. 7
7© 2013 IBM Corporation
Sub-capacity license counting Scenarios

8. 8
8© 2013 IBM Corporation
What limits the capacity available to an application
and the licensing costs?
• How much capacity is in the box
• How much capacity is EVER available to the application in a
partition
– Partition configuration
• Capped or Uncapped partitions
• Number of virtual processors
– Pool size
– Multiple sub-capacity pools
– Capacity Regulation (for example, by AIX Workload Manager)
• Reporting interval
• Mobility

9. 9
9© 2013 IBM Corporation
Sub-capacity License Counting – Dedicated LPAR
• License entitlements required are based on processor cores available to the
middleware in the partition
• For the example below:
– Application Server (AppSvr): 10 cores need to be licensed
– Database (DB): 4 cores need to be licensed
n1
i
AppSvr
n2
AIX
AppSvr
DB
n3
Linux
DB
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Server with 12 Processor cores
Partitions
Note: The number of cores available to an application does not take into account other applications that may be
Running on the same cores. In the AIX partition in the example, both the AppSvr and DB would require two cores
licenses.

10. 10
10© 2013 IBM Corporation
Initial
configuration:
Changed
during batch
peak:
Changed for
simulation
work:
Sub-capacity License Counting - Dynamic LPAR
• Power Systems provide the capability to dynamically move processor core resources between partitions
• Customer must typically acquire licenses for the highest* number of processor cores available to middleware
i
AppSvr
AIX
AppSvr
DB
Linux
DB
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
i
AppSvr
AIX
AppSvr
DB
Linux
DB
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
i
AppSvr
AIX
AppSvr
DB
Linux
DB
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
 License Cores for: 10 AppSvr cores (consistent throughout) + 6 DB cores (from simulation peak)
* greater of a) what the partition starts with or b) the result of a DLPAR operation
12AM
AppSvr=10
DB=4
3AM
AppSvr=10
DB=3
8AM
AppSvr=10
DB=6

11. 11
11© 2013 IBM Corporation
Shared Processor Partitioning – Concepts Review
Pool of 6 CPUs
AIX
Linux
AIX
IBMi
AIX
Capped or Uncapped is the key
to understanding the amount of
capacity available for software
licensing purposes
vCPU
vCPU
vCPU
vCPU
vCPU
vCPU
vCPU
vCPU
vCPU
vCPU
vCPU
vCPU
vCPU
vCPU
vCPU
vCPU
vCPU
vCPU
CPU
Min
Max
Utilization
Capped partitions are limited by the
Entitled Capacity
 Entitled Capacity in Processing Units
• In units of 1/100 of a CPU
 Minimum processing units
 Desired processing units
Maximum processing units
Entitled
Capacity Uncapped partitions are limited by the
number of Virtual Processors
 Number of Virtual processors
• Minimum Virtual CPU,
• Desired Virtual CPU
• Max Virtual CPU
Uncapped
Partition
Capped
Partition
Cap

12. 12
12© 2013 IBM Corporation
Single Shared Pool with Capped and Uncapped Partitions
n1
i
n2
AIX
n3
Linux
Shared Pool (9 processor cores)
1 1 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
n4
Capped
AIX
DB
VP = 6
EC = 4.50
n5
Uncapped
i
AppSvr
VP = 7
EC = 4.5
Database cores to license:
• 4.5 from entitled capacity of
capped partition n4
= 5 (rounded up to nearest whole)
Server with 12 processor cores
AppSvr cores to license:
• 7 from the number of VP for
uncapped partition n5
License:
For Capped Partitions: The Entitled Capacity (EC) is used to determine
the number of licenses.*
For Uncapped Partitions: The number of VP (Virtual Processors)*
In no case will the sum of the licenses for a single product exceed the
number of physical processors available in the shared pool or total in the
system
* The greater of what the partition starts with or the result of a DLPAR operation

13. 13
13© 2013 IBM Corporation
Sub-capacity License Cost with Capped and Uncapped
Partitions
Partitions n1 n2 n3 n4 n5 n6 n7 n8 Total Cores*
Total
Licenses
Required
AppSvr 2 7 3
12
9
(Limited by
the size of
the shared
pool)
9 Cores
DB 2 1.7 2 3
9 (8.7
rounded up)
9 Cores
Server has 12 processor cores
Shared pool 9 cores
9
(Limited by
the size of
the shared
pool)

14. 14
14© 2013 IBM Corporation
Fractional Partitions are Rounded up per server
Consolidated Configuration
8 LPARs each with ½ core of capacity
in each LPAR on one server
Total SW licenses:
8 X ½ core
= 4 cores
Scale Out Configuration
8 LPARs each with ½ core of capacity
in each LPAR on eight servers
Total SW licenses:
8 X 1 core (1/2 rounded up to 1 core)
= 8 cores
Consolidation of fractional LPARs on larger servers can save you money!
LPAR 8
LPAR 7
LPAR 6
LPAR 5
LPAR 4
LPAR 3
LPAR 2
LPAR 1
LPAR 8
LPAR 7
LPAR 6
LPAR 5
LPAR 4
LPAR 3
LPAR 2
LPAR 1

15. 15
15© 2013 IBM Corporation
Database cores to license:
• 1.7 from EC capped partition n5
• 5 from VP for uncapped partition n8
= 6.7 rounded up to 7
License Counting – Multiple Shared Pool with Capped and
Uncapped Partitions
n1
i
n2
AIX
n3
Linux
Physical Shared Pool (9 processor cores)
1 1 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
n4
Capped
i
VP = 2
EC= 1.80
n5
Capped
AIX
DB
VP = 4
EC= 1.7
n6
Capped
Linux
AppSvr
VP = 4
EC = 2.00
n7
Uncapped
i
AppSvr
VP = 5
EC = 2.00
n8
Uncapped
AIX
AppSvr
DB
VP = 5
EC = 1.00
POWER Multiple shared pools:
• Can reduce the number of
software licenses by putting a
limit on the amount of processors
an uncapped partition can use
• Up to 64 shared pools
Server with 12 processor cores
AppSvr cores to license:
• 2 from EC for capped partition n6
• 5 from VP for uncapped partition n7
• 5 from VP for uncapped partition n8
= 12, but reduced to 5 (that is the size
of the Virtual shared pool #2)
Virtual Shared pool #1
7 processors
Virtual Shared pool #2
5 processors
License:
For Capped Partitions: The Entitled Capacity (EC) is used to determine
the number of licenses.*
For Uncapped Partitions: The number of VP (Virtual Processors)*
In no case will the sum of the licenses for a single product exceed the
number of real processors available in the shared pool or total in the
system
* The greater of what the partition starts with or the result of a DLPAR operation

16. 16
16© 2013 IBM Corporation
License Counting – POWER Shared Dedicated Processors
n1
AIX
1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
n6
Capped
Linux
AppSvr
DB
VP = 4
EC = 2.00
n5
Capped
AIX
DB
VP = 4
EC= 2.00
n8
Uncapped
AIX
AppSvr
DB
VP = 3
EC = 1.00
n7
Uncapped
i
AppSvr
VP =8
EC = 3.00
n4
Uncapped
i
VP = 6
EC= 1.00
POWER6 Shared Dedicated
Processor
• Can improve system
utilization by temporarily
donating unused capacity
from a dedicated processor
partition to the shared pool
Server with 12 processor cores
AppSvr cores to license:
• 2 from EC for capped partition n6
• 8 from VP for uncapped partition n7
• 3 from VP for uncapped partition n8
= 13, but reduced to 12 (that is the
size of the shared pool with the
donated capacity from partition n1)
DB cores to license:
• 2 from EC of capped partition n5
• 2 from EC of capped partition n6
• 3 from VP for uncapped partition n8
= 7
3 processors of unused capacity are loaned
to the physical shared pool
Physical Shared Pool (9 processor cores + 3 donated) =12
License:
For Capped Partitions: The Entitled Capacity (EC) is used to determine
the number of licenses.*
For Uncapped Partitions: The number of VP (Virtual Processors)*
In no case will the sum of the licenses for a single product exceed the
number of real processors available in the shared pool or total in the
system
* The greater of what the partition starts with or the result of a DLPAR operation
Physical Shared Pool (9 processor cores + 3 donated) =12

17. 17
17© 2013 IBM Corporation
License Counting – PowerVM Partition Mobility
POWER Live Partition
Mobility
• Allows an entire LPAR
(including the OS and
any applications) to be
relocated to another
physical system with
no loss of service
Database cores to license:
• 4 from EC capped partition n1 on system 1
• 8 from VP for uncapped partition n2 on system 1
because it is limited by the size of the pool
Total = 8 cores to be licensed to DB
When n2 is relocated to system #2 the license
charge would increase because the pool on
system #2 is 10 processors for a total of 12
DB licenses after the relocation
n2
Uncapped
AIX
DB
VP = 8
EC= 2.00
n1
Capped
AIX
DB
VP = 4
EC= 4.00
System #1 with
8 processor cores
Physical Shared Pool
(8 processor cores)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
n3
Uncapped
AIX
VP = 3
EC= 2.00
System #2 with
10 processor cores
Physical Shared Pool
(10 processor cores)
1 2 3 4 5 6 9 10
Movement
of a LPAR
a different
server with
no loss of
service
n2’
Uncapped
AIX
DB
VP = 8
EC= 2.00
7 8
n4
Capped
AIX
VP = 3
EC = 2.00
License:
Since the application (in the partitions that is relocated) is
only executing on a single system at any point in time, the
application only needs to be licensed for a single system, not
both.
The number of licenses needed should be calculated using
the sub-capacity licensing guidelines.
NOTE: Not all vendors view mobility as a sub capacity eligible technology

18. 18
18© 2013 IBM Corporation
License Counting – Unregulated AIX Workload Partitions
Physical Shared Pool (12 processor cores)
n1
Capped
AIX
VP = 6
EC = 4.00
n2
Uncapped
AIX
VP = 4
EC = 4.00
n3
Uncapped
AIX
VP = 2
EC = 2.00
Database cores to license:
• 4 for WPAR #1
• 4 for WPAR #2
=8, but limited to 4 because that is
the total amount available in the
LPAR n2
Server with 12 processor coresAIX Workload Partitions
• A single AIX instance can be
subdivided into separate
WPARs that are isolated
from each other but share a
the common image
• WPARs can be resource
regulated. This means that a
WPAR can be limited to less
CPU capacity than the LPAR
that it is running in
• WPARs can run on AIX on
POWER4, 5, & POWER6
WPAR #1
DB
(unregulated)
WPAR #2
DB
(unregulated)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
License:
WPARs without regulation – the number of licenses is equal to the number of
licenses needed for the LPAR
In no case will the sum of the licenses for a single product exceed the number of
physical processors available

19. 19
19© 2013 IBM Corporation
AIX Workload Partitions – Regulated Hard Maximum
Physical Shared Pool (12 processor cores)
n1
Capped
AIX
VP = 6
EC = 4.00
n2
Uncapped
AIX
VP = 4
EC = 4.00
n3
Uncapped
AIX
VP = 2
EC = 2.00
Database cores to license:
• 1 for WPAR #1 (25% of 4 VP)
• 1 for WPAR #2 (25% of 4 VP)
=2
Server with 12 processor cores
License:
WPARs with hard maximum for processor – the number of licenses is equal to
the number of effective processors available to the WPARs (for example: two
WPARs @ 25% of a LPAR with 4 processors = 2 licenses needed)
WPARs without regulation – the number of licenses is equal to the number of
licenses needed for the LPAR
In no case will the sum of the licenses for a single product exceed the number of
physical processors available
AIX Workload Partitions
• A single AIX instance can be
subdivided into separate
WPARs that are isolated
from each other but share a
the common image
• WPARs can be resource
regulated. This means that a
WPAR can be limited to less
CPU capacity than the LPAR
that it is running in
• WPARs can run on AIX on
POWER4, 5, & POWER6
WPAR #1
DB
CPU=25%
WPAR #2
DB
CPU=25%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
NOTE: Not all vendors view WPARs as a sub capacity eligible technology

20. 20
20© 2013 IBM Corporation
License Counting – AIX Workload Partitions
Physical Shared Pool (12 processor cores)
n1
Capped
AIX
VP = 6
EC = 4.00
n2
Uncapped
AIX
VP = 4
EC = 4.00
n3
Uncapped
AIX
VP = 2
EC = 2.00
Database cores to license:
• 2 for WPAR #1 (50% of 4 VP)
• 2 for WPAR #2 (50% of 4 VP)
• 2 for WPAR #2 (50% of 4 VP)
• 2 for WPAR #2 (50% of 4 VP)
= 8, but reduced to 4 (that is the amount of
processor resources available to n2)
Server with 12 processor cores
License:
WPARs with hard maximum for processor – the number of licenses is
equal to the number of effective processors available to the WPAR (for
example: 25% of a LPAR with 4 processors = 2 licenses needed)
WPARs without regulation – the number of licenses is equal to the
number of licenses needed for the LPAR
In no case will the sum of the licenses for a single product exceed the
number of physical processors available
AIX Workload Partitions
• A single AIX instance can be
subdivided into separate
WPARs that are isolated
from each other but share a
the common image
• WPARs can be resource
regulated. This means that a
WPAR can be limited to less
CPU capacity than the LPAR
that it is running in
• WPARs can run on AIX on
POWER4, 5, & POWER6
WPAR #1
DB
CPU=50%
WPAR #2
DB
CPU=50%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
WPAR #4
DB
CPU=50%
WPAR #3
DB
CPU=50%
NOTE: Not all vendors view WPARs as a sub capacity eligible technology

21. 21
21© 2013 IBM Corporation
License Counting – AIX Workload Partitions– RSET regulated
Physical Shared Pool (12 processor cores)
n1
Capped
AIX
VP = 6
EC = 4.00
n2
Uncapped
AIX
VP = 4
EC = 4.00
n3
Uncapped
AIX
VP = 2
EC = 2.00
Database cores to license:
• 2 for WPAR #1 (processors 0 and 2 only)
• 1 for WPAR #2 (processor 1 only)
=3
Server with 12 processor cores
License:
WPARs with an rset – the number of licenses is equal to the number of
in the rset associated with the WPAR (for example: rset of 0,2 = 2 cores
of capacity)
In no case will the sum of the licenses for a single product exceed the
number of physical processors available
AIX Workload Partitions
• A single AIX instance can be
subdivided into separate
WPARs that are isolated
from each other but share a
the common image
• WPARs can be resource
regulated. This means that a
WPAR can be limited to less
CPU capacity than the LPAR
that it is running in
• WPARs can run on AIX on
POWER4, 5, & POWER6
WPAR #1
DB
rset=0 2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
WPAR #2
DB
rset=1
NOTE: Not all vendors view WPARs as a sub capacity eligible technology

22. 22
22© 2013 IBM Corporation
Database cores to license:
• 1 from EC capped partition n1 on system 1
• 3 for WPAR #1 (50% of 6 VP of partition n2
• 3 from VP for uncapped partition n4 on system 2
An additional charge for WPAR#1 when it is
relocated to partition n3 in system #2 because it has
moved to a partition that has more capacity (10)
than on the source partition – 2 more licenses
are needed
n3
Uncapped
AIX
VP = 10
EC= 2.00
License Counting – AIX Live Application Mobility
AIX 6 Application Mobility
• Allows a WPAR (including
all applications running in it)
to be relocated to another
AIX instance in another
physical system with no loss
of service
• Application Mobility can
occur between AIX instances
running on POWER4,
POWER5, & POWER6
systems but only between
like systems
(e.g. POWER5 to POWER5)
License:
Since the application (in the WPAR that is relocated) is only
executing on a single system at any point in time, the
application only needs to be licensed for a single system, not
both.
The number of licenses required may change if the target
system has more or less capacity than the source system.
The number of licenses needed should be calculated using
the sub-capacity licensing guidelines.
n2
Uncapped
AIX
VP = 6
EC= 2.00
n1
Capped
AIX
DB
VP = 1
EC= 1.00
System #1 with
8 processor cores
Physical Shared Pool
(8 processor cores)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
n4
Uncapped
AIX
DB
VP = 3
EC= 2.00
System #2 with
10 processor cores
WPAR #1
DB
CPU=50%
WPAR #1
DB
CPU=50%
Physical Shared Pool
(10 processor cores)
1 2 3 4 5 6 9 107 8
n5
Capped
AIX
VP = 3
EC = 2.00
NOTE: Not all vendors view WPARs as a sub capacity eligible technology

23. 23
23© 2013 IBM Corporation
Handling differences in platform capability
• IBM – Processor Value Units and sub-capacity licensing
– http://www.ibm.com/software/lotus/passportadvantage/subcapli
censing.html
• Oracle Core factor Table
– http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/contracts/processor-core-
factor-table-070634.pdf

24. 24
24© 2013 IBM Corporation
IBM Processor Value Units (PVU)
• A way to index the cost of running software on platforms of
different capability
– Software costs go up for more capable platforms
– Offset by the need for fewer cores on faster platforms
– Only applicable for software that is sub-capacity priced
• The number of effective cores is multiplied by a PVU value
for that specific platform
– For example:
• 100 for POWER5 based systems
• 120 for POWER7 large servers
• 100 for POWER7 Mid-range servers
• 70 for POWER7 low end server
• 70 for Sun Ultrasparc T3
• Count up the cores of capacity and multiple by the PVU
value for the platform to get the number of PVUs you are
using
http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/passportadvantage/pvu_licensing_for_customers.html

25. 25
25© 2013 IBM Corporation
IBM Software PVU Table
http://www.ibm.com/software/lotus/passportadvantage/pvu_licensing_for_customers.html

26. 26
26© 2013 IBM Corporation
Other IBM Licensing - Resource Value Units
• Some IBM software is now licensed based on Resource Value Units
(RVU) instead of Processor Value Units (PVU)
– RVU being used for management products such as Tivoli Monitoring,
Tivoli Service Automation, Tivoli Service Delivery Manager
• The key difference between PVU and RVU pricing whether the
price is based on the server where the software is installed,
versus the servers that are being managed
• With PVU priced products, you are charged for the server where
the software is installed
• With RVU priced products, you are charged for the servers that
are being managed by the software.
– RVUs may use different measures such as gigabytes of storage,
number of endpoints, and others as units of measure.
– The price of the license is based on the number of RVUs required. The
RVU calculation may be complex

27. 27
27© 2013 IBM Corporation
IBM Software pricing for VMWare:
Definitions

28. 28
28© 2013 IBM Corporation
License counting in a “Single Server”

29. 29
29© 2013 IBM Corporation

30. 30
30© 2013 IBM Corporation
License counting in a VMWare “Cluster”

31. 31
31© 2013 IBM Corporation
Other License types
SaaS
• Salesforce.com
– $100 per user per month
• Adobe Creative Suite
– $50 per user per month
• Microsoft Office 365
– $4.10 - $16.10 per user per month

32. 32
32© 2013 IBM Corporation
Power Software License Transfers
• AIX and PowerHA are generally transferrable between
machines
– Restrictions:
• Must be within the same client. No transfers to another company
– This includes outsourcing and in-sourcing
– AIX & PowerHA license do no transfer when selling server
• Additional fee required when moving to a higher tier server
• No refund when moving to a lower tier server
• SWMA transfers possible as long as within same country
– Manual effort required to get records in sync
• PowerVM licenses transfer with the machine
– Move with hardware when server sold to another company
– Receiving company will need special bid to avoid After License
Charge when initiating SWMA purchase
• PowerVM licenses cannot be transferred to another machine
– PowerVM is a hardware feature and stays with the machine

33. 33
33© 2013 IBM Corporation33
For more information about…
•IBM Software Processor Value Units Licensing
• http://www.ibm.com/software/lotus/passportadvantage/pvu_licensing_for_customers.html
• Oracle sub-capacity licensing information
• http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/pricing/specialty-topics/index.html
Oracle Database Licensing Policies
Oracle Technology Hosting Policies
Oracle Licensing Policies for Partitioning
•IBM Partitioning and IBM Power Systems
• http://www.ibm.com/systems/p/lpar/
•For general questions on licensing of Oracle on IBM servers
• Contact the IBM Oracle International Competency Center at
ibmoracl@us.ibm.com
(the ICC will answer or route your question to the appropriate Oracle or IBM contact)

34. 34
34© 2013 IBM Corporation
Summary:
Licensing in virtualized environments
• Software licenses based on the number of cores or other
capacity based measurements are complex to calculate in
virtualized environments (not just Power Systems)
• Don’t assume that the products or virtualization
technologies you are using are eligible for subcapacity
licensing
• Few No vendors have consistent licensing policies across all
their products
• Always get the software price calculation (not just the final
price) IN WRITING
• Special bids may be required to get the terms you want

35. 35
35© 2013 IBM Corporation
I hope this didn’t leave you crying like…
Please fill out session evaluation:
VM09 Software Licensing Virtualized Environment