What is a Dedicated Processor?

Resolving The Problem

Dedicated processors are whole processors that are used exclusively by the partition to which they are assigned. The dedicated processor handles the processing for a specific logical partition.

If you choose to assign dedicated processors to a logical partition, you must assign at least one processor to that partition. Likewise, if you choose to remove processor resources from a dedicated partition, you must remove at least one processor from the partition.

To adjust to changing workloads, you can move dedicated processors within the minimum/maximum values you establish without needing to restart the partition. These values enable you to establish a range within which you can dynamically move the resource without needing to restart the logical partition. When you change the minimum/maximum values, it requires you to restart the partition. Minimum values dictate what is required to restart the partition. If the minimum value is not met for all logical partitions, only the primary will restart.

For example, a server with four physical processors can have three logical partitions, with two partitions having one dedicated processor and one partition having two dedicated processors.