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Core factors

SAM Core on Snow Atlas lets you manage licenses based on core factors.

For some software, manufacturers like Microsoft and Oracle use core factors for licensing particular hardware configurations. The core factor is a numerical value that is associated with a specific physical processor type, and is multiplied by the actual number of processor cores to calculate the license requirement.

Software that can be licensed based on a core factor is automatically defined. In SAM Core, information on core factors can be found here:

  • On the details page of a selected application:

    • On the Information tab, see Licensed based on core factors (Yes/No).

    • On the Licenses tab, select Tracking to see a list of all license consumers. Select the arrow next to the number in the Required column to see if a core factor has been used in the License requirements calculation.

    • On the Compliance tab, see information on any Core factor adjustment in the Required licenses section.

  • In the All applications report, add the column Licensed based on core factors from the Column selector.

Microsoft​

With the release of SQL Server 2012, Microsoft introduced a new model for licensing server software based on computing power. In this licensing model, physical processor cores are used as metric instead of, as previously, physical processors. This Per Core model can be used for installations of SQL Server and BizTalk Server.

For more information on the Per Core model and the current Microsoft Core Factor Table, refer to documentation from Microsoft.

Licensable cores​

The Microsoft Core Factor Table is used to calculate the number of licensable cores for a particular hardware configuration (and a physical processor type) where:

Licensable cores = Processors cores x Core factor

The number of licensable cores is automatically calculated for all physical computers running server operating systems. In this way, the customers are able to get an indication of the license requirement for a core-based application prior to a deployment. The licensable cores figure is only applied when there is a product to be covered.

In SAM Core, information for the computer can be found here:

  • On the details page of a selected computer, on the Information tab, see information on Microsoft Core Factor and the number of Licensable Cores.

  • In the Applications per computer report, add Core factor, Core factor table, and Licensable cores from the Column selector. For comparison, you can add also the columns Processors and Processor cores.

Oracle​

The Oracle Processor Core Factor Table is used to show the current Core Processor Licensing Factor for a particular physical hardware configuration where Oracle software is installed.

In SAM Core, information on this licensing factor can be found here:

  • On the details page of a selected computer, on the Information tab, see information on the current Oracle Processor Core Factor.

  • In the Core factor column of the reports All Oracle database servers, All Oracle databases per server, and Unused Oracle options per server.