Configuring Affinity Mask at IIS Server. Acumatica CPU Licensing.

Dear Partners,

There were many questions recently on how to properly configure the server to match the license purchased from Acumatica.

Under our VAR agreement, the partner is responsible for proper server configuration. Such if customer bought 4 CPU cores, there must only be 4 CPU cores allocated for the Acumatica on IIS server Application Pool. This is not just a legal requirement, that is stated in our product EULA, this is a subject for Acumatica support eligibility and overall stability of the system. 

To address this important question we should keep in mind:

A. Acumatica License Version

B.A. Acumatica Edition (Departmental 2CPU, Divisional 4CPU or Enterprise 8CPU) for versions prior Acumatica 4 

OR

B.B. Acumatica License Size (S 2CPU, M 4CPU, L 8CPU, XL 16CPU)

C. Number of actual CPU cores at your IIS server

Lets assume few scenarios: 

Scenario 1. Your IIS server is sitting on the same hardware box with the SQL server. Total number of CPU cores at the hardware machine is 8 (Eight). License purchased from Acumatica is Perpetual Departmental, meaning you got license for 2 CPUs only. How should we configure the server?

Vital configuration part in this scenario will be to allocate TWO out of EIGHT CPU cores for Acumatica Application Pool. CPU cores are counted from 0 to 7. So lets allocate Core 7 and Core 6 for Acumatica instance. Mask to cover this scenario should be 11000000 in a binary notation or 192 in decimal. All we have to do to stay on a legal ground and to get support from Acumatica and not to risk loose our license is:

Call up IIS Manager from the Main Panel

 Find what is the Application Pool Name for our Acumatica Web Site

Now we should change the Mask settings for that Application Pool

After you choose Advanced Settings for the pool, please modify these settings according to our mask choice

Scenario 2. Your IIS server has 4 CPU cores, and you have purchased the license from Acumatica for M size, which is 4 CPU cores.

No configuration is necessary on the server as number of CPU cores purchased and available on the server matches.

Please note Scenario 2 is the easiest for the End User to provide assurance that there is no license violations or misuse.

All the best,

Sergey.