Is it possible to disable CPU (Intel) cores in BIOS, and if yes what HP/DELL (others?) 1U/2U servers would allow this?
It is becoming difficult to find new server hardware with dual core CPUs, most of new servers are Quad Core ones, and so the cost of Oracle licenses makes server upgrades unreasonably complicated. Which brings me to the question above.
Best Answer
With the HP ProLiant G5 and newer (G6, G7, Gen8) servers (e.g. DL380, ML370, etc. - Anything after the Intel 5400-series CPU's), it is possible to disable half of the cores available to the server.
This is a BIOS switch labeled "Processor Core Disable" with options "All Processors Enabled" and "Disable One-Half of cores per Physical Processor."
This is a standard and recognized means of reducing core count for tricky licensing scenarios.