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Power Security and Cyber Resilience

IBM Power offers a robust suite of security technologies designed to provide a solid foundation for security in your IT environment. 


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  • 1.  IBM PowerSC Licensing Policy

    Posted 06/13/25 03:30 AM

    Hi All, 

    My client is runnning mix of Power8 and Power9 servers with 30+ AIX Lpars accross both Power8 and Power9 servers, This 30+ Aix LPARs replicate to simmilar set of Power servers at DR over storage based replication. 

    As business contigency test , they simulate the production run at the DR for a day .  

    How does the PowerSC licensing works for this setup. 

    Assuming the following scenarios (for both DC and DR) 

    5 x Power8 servers ( 24 core activated)  with 20 lpars each running with 2 core configuration

    5 x Power9 servers (24 core acticated) with 15 lpars each running with 3 core configuration  

      

    How does the Powersc license work?. 

    On all activated core of Power servers ?. =>  24x5 = 120 cores for Power8  &  120 cores for Power9 , which totals to 240 cores?.

    or

    On all cores of configured LPARs ?, ==> 20x2 = 40 cores for LPARs on Power8  & 45 cores for LPARs on Power9 , which total to 85 cores?.

    And how does the PowerSC licenses works on DR?.  Do i need to acquire simmilar license for DR also?.



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    Haresh Patani
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    #PowerSC


  • 2.  RE: IBM PowerSC Licensing Policy

    Posted 06/16/25 12:31 PM

    Hi Haresh,

    According to the Terms and Conditions of the PowerSC product, the licensing model is:

    The following units of measure may apply to Licensee's use of the Program.

    Processor Core

    Processor Core (or Processor) is a unit of measure by which the Program can be licensed. Processor Core (or Processor) is a functional unit within a computing device that interprets and executes instructions. A Processor Core consists of at least an instruction control unit and one or more arithmetic or logic units. With multi-core technology, each core is considered a Processor Core. Entitlements must be acquired for all activated Processor Cores available for use on the server.

    In addition to the entitlements required for the Program directly, Licensee must obtain entitlements for this Program sufficient to cover the Processor Cores managed by the Program. 

    In clearer English I interpret that to mean:

    You need to have enough processor entitlements to cover all cores used by the PowerSC GUI server AND you need to have enough entitlements to cover all cores used by the endpoints that are managed and monitored by PowerSC - so any LPAR on which you have installed the PowerSC Agent.

    The licenses / subscriptions for the product are owned by the company that purchased them, and are not tied to a specific server or serial number. That means that they can be used on whichever systems you choose within your own company. In a Disaster Recovery (DR) scenario where you do not have any workload running on the backup site unless the systems in the primary site fail, this would be the same as transferring those licenses between systems. However, if you are running workloads on the backup site (for instance data replication) and those workloads are being monitored ./ managed by PowerSC then you would need to have additional entitlements for these cores too.

    So in your case, assuming that you are not running any workloads on your DR site unless a disaster occurs, it looks to me like you would need 85 core entitlements (plus entitlements to cover the PowerSC server workload itself). But I would recommend getting this confirmed by an IBM representative if you're unsure.

    For an in depth discussion of the rules when it comes to Backup and Disaster Recovery usage of IBM software see this document: Backup and Disaster Recovery Licensing IPLA and ICA-based IBM Programs



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    Andrew Laidlaw
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