Processor Value Units (PVUs)

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A Processor Value Unit (PVU) is a unit of measure used to differentiate licensing of software on distributed processor technologies (defined by Processor Vendor, Brand, Type and Model Number).

Full versus Sub-capacity

Licensees can deploy Eligible Programs using either Full Capacity licensing or Virtualization Capacity (Sub-Capacity) licensing.

  • If using Full Capacity licensing, the Licensee must obtain Processor Value Unit (PVU) entitlements sufficient to cover all activated processor cores in the physical hardware environment made available to or managed by the Program, except for those servers from which the Program has been permanently removed. An Activated processor core is a processor core that is available for use in a physical or virtual server, regardless of whether the capacity of the processor core can be or is limited through virtualization technologies, operating system commands, BIOS settings, or similar restrictions.
  • If using Sub-Capacity licensing, according to the Passport Advantage Sub-Capacity Licensing Terms the Licensee must obtain entitlements sufficient to cover all activated processor cores made available to or managed by the Program, as defined according to the Virtualization Capacity License Counting Rules.

Processor Value Units (PVUs)

A Processor Value Unit (PVU) is a unit of measure by which the Program can be licensed. The number of PVU entitlements required is based on the processor technology (defined within the PVU Tables below by Processor Vendor, Brand, Type and Model Number) and by the number of processors made available to the Program. IBM defines a processor, for the purpose of PVU-based licensing, to be each processor core on a chip (socket). A dual-core processor chip, for example, has two processor cores.

PVU tables

The tables below list existing generally available processor technologies only, as of the published date. PVU requirements for future processor technologies may differ. For help identifying your Processor Model Number, check the Processor Model Number Discovery Guide (US).

PVU Table per Core (section 1 of 2 - RISC and System z)

Processor
Vendor		Processor
Name		Server model numbersMaximum number
of sockets per server		Proc.
Model
Number		PVUs per Core
IBMPOWER IFL, Any POWER system core running LinuxAllAllAll70
POWER 11E1180>4All120
E1150AllAll100
S1112, S1122, L1122, S1124, L1124AllAll70
POWER10E1080>4All120
E1050AllAll100
S1022, L1022, S1022s, S1014, S1024, L1024, S1012AllAll70
POWER9E980>4All120
E9504All100
H922, H924, S914, S922, S9242 All70
POWER8870, 880> 4All120
E8504All100

S812, S814, S822, S824		2All70
POWER7 4770, 780, 795> 4All120
750, 755, 760, 775, PS704, p460, Power ESE4All100
PS700-703,
710-740, p260, p270		2All70
POWER6550, 560, 570,
575, 595		AllAll120
520,
JS12, JS22,
JS23, JS43		AllAll80
POWER5,
POWER4		AllAllAll100
POWER5 QCMAllAllAll50
z17 ME1, z16 A01, z15 T01, z14 M01-M05 & L01-L05, z13, zEC12, z196, z10 EC,
Linux One I-V all Emperor Models 1,5		AllAllAll120
z16 A02, z15 T02, z14 ZR1 / LR1, z13s, zBC12, z114, z10 BC, System z9, z990, S/390,
Linux One I-IV all Rockhopper models including Express 1,2,6		AllAllAll100
 PowerPC 970AllAllAll50
 PowerXCellTM,
Cell/B.E.TM 8i3		AllAllAll30
AnyAll othersAllAllAll100
Processor Technologies
Processor Brand
Processor
Vendor		Processor
Name		Server model numbersMaximum number
of sockets per server		Proc. model numbersPVUs per core
HP/Intel®Itanium®AllAllAll100
PA-RISCAllAllAll100
Oracle / Sun / FujitsuSPARC64 VI, VII, X, X+. XIIAllAllAll100
UltraSPARC IVAllAllAll100
SPARC M5 / M6AllAllAll120
SPARC M7T7-44All100
SPARC T4/T5/M7/S7/M8T5-8, M7-8, M7-16, M8-8>4All120
T4-4, T5-4, T7-4, T8-44All100
T4-1, T4-1B,
T4-2, T5-1B, T5-2, T7-1, T7-2, S7-2, S7-2L, T8-1, T8-2		2All70
SPARC T3AllAllAll70
UltraSPARC T2AllAllAll50
UltraSPARC T1AllAllAll30
AnyAll othersAllAllAll100

*Requirements as of publish date: 25 September 2024

Notes:

  1. Each Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL) or Central Processor (CP) engine is equivalent to 1 core.
  2. Refers to System z9, eServer zSeries, or System/390 servers.
  3. Entitlements required for Power Processor Element (PPE) cores only.
  4. The PVU requirement for the POWER7/7+ processor technology is dependent on the maximum possible number of sockets on the server. NOTE: Power 7 Refers to Power 7/7+ 5
  5. z196 refers to IBM zEnterprise 196, zEC12 refers to IBM zEnterprise EC12.
  6. z114 refers to IBM zEnterprise 114.
  • Cell Broadband Engine is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both and is used under license therefrom.
  • Intel, Intel logo, Intel Inside, Intel Inside logo, Intel Centrino, Intel Centrino logo, Celeron, Intel Xeon, Intel SpeedStep, Itanium, and Pentium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

PVU Table per Core (section 2 of 2 - x86)

Processor
Vendor		Processor
Name		Proc. model
number1		Maximum sockets per serverPVUs per Core
Intel®Xeon®2All post-Nehalem (launched 11/2008) Xeon Processor Models including Xeon 6 (6th Gen) & Xeon Scalable (5th Gen)
2
4
>4
70
100
120
Xeon®All pre-Nehalem Xeon Processor Models
3000 to 3399
5000 to 5499
7000 to 7499		All50
Core®3All i3, i5, i7,i9All70
AMDOpteronAllAll50
AMDEPYCAllAll70
AnyAll othersAllAll100

*Requirements as of publish date: 08 May 2024

Notes:

  1. IBM offers Software for both Intel and AMD processors. Intel refers to its processors by “Processor Number” and AMD by “Model Number”. The processor model can be preceded by a letter. For example, ‘x5365 refers to ‘5365’, which is included in the table within the ‘5000 to 5499’ range. 
  2. The PVU requirement for the Intel processor technology indicated is dependent on the maximum number of sockets on the server. If sockets on two or more servers are connected to form a Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) Server, the maximum number of sockets per server increases. See single server examples and two or more servers example below.
    Single server examples:
    • 2 socket server with 6 cores per socket requires 840 PVUs (70 per core x 12 cores )4 socket server with 6 cores per socket requires 2400 PVUs ( 100 per core x 24 cores )
    • 8 socket server with 6 cores per socket requires 5760 PVUs ( 120 per core x 48 cores)
      Two or more servers with connected sockets example:
    • When sockets on a 2 socket server with 6 cores per socket are connected to sockets on another 2 socket server with 6 cores per socket, this becomes an SMP server with a maximum of 4 sockets per server and 24 cores, and requires 2400 PVUs (100 per core x 24 cores).
  3. The newest generation of Intel Core processors is not covered by this entry, therefore, excludes processors that use Intel Performance Hybrid Architecture containing two different core types.
PVU Calculator

Use the Processor Value Unit calculator to determine required number of pVUs based on your environment.

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PVU FAQs

See answers to some of the most frequently asked PVU questions.

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