IBM Resource value unit (RVU MAPC)

IBM Resource value unit (RVU MAPC) is a license metric unit that is based on the number of activated processor cores that are available to the product. An activated processor core is a core that is managed or used by a product, regardless of whether the capacity of the processor core can be limited through virtualization technologies.

Resource value unit license types

IBM RVU MAPC licensing can be full capacity or subcapacity. Full capacity licensing is counted as the highest number of RVUs in the physical environment that are managed or used by the product.

Subcapacity licensing is available only in virtualized environments. It is counted as the highest number of RVUs that are available to the VM on which the product is installed, not the total RVU count on the physical server.

Resource value unit tier table

The RVU tier table provides factors that are specific to the number of activated processor cores. The greater the number of activated processors, the lower is the factor and thus the fewer RVUs are required per processor core.

Table 1. The RVU tier table for activated processor cores

Tier Activated processor cores Factor
1 0 - 2,500 1.00
2 2,501 - 10,000 0.80
3 10,001 - 50,000 0.60
4 50,001 - 150,000 0.40
5 Above 150,001 0.20

Example

A product has access to 45.000 activated processor cores. The number is divided into tiers based on the RVU tier table. The number of cores that fall into each tier is multiplied by the factor that is applicable for that tier. The values are summed up to obtain the total number of required RVUs. The following table shows how the number of required RVUs is obtained for this product.
Table 2. Activated processor cores divided into quantity tiers

Tier Number of managed cores in the tier Calculations
1 2,500 2,500 x 1.00 = 2,500
2 7,500 7,500 x 0.80 = 6,000
3 35,000 35,000 x 0.60 = 21,000
Total 45,000 29,500