Patent ID: 8387041

Claim:
A method of allocating processor resources to a plurality of logical partitions in a computing device of a type including a plurality of physical processors, each physical processor having at least one physical general purpose processing element and a plurality of physical synergistic processing elements controlled by the at least one physical general purpose processing element, the method comprising: in the computing device, allocating general purpose processing element resources to each logical partition, wherein the allocated general purpose processing element resources are associated with at least a portion of at least one physical general purpose processing element of the plurality of physical general purpose processing elements associated with the plurality of physical processors; in the computing device, allocating synergistic processing element resources to each logical partition such that the general purpose processing element resources and the synergistic processing element resources are separately allocated to each logical partition, wherein allocating synergistic processing element resources to each logical partition includes allocating physical synergistic processing elements such that each physical synergistic processing element that is allocated to a logical partition is allocated exclusively to that logical partition, and wherein the allocated synergistic processing element resources are associated with at least a subset of the plurality of physical synergistic processing elements associated with the plurality of physical processors; and in the computing device, localizing the allocated general purpose processing element resources and synergistic processing element resources for each logical partition such that general purpose processing element resources and synergistic processing element resources allocated to each logical partition are co-located on the same physical processors.