Patent ID: 7673022

Claim:
An information processing apparatus comprising: a plurality of main processing modules; and a management module that controls an operation of each of said main processing modules as a single server or an operation as a server having an SMP (Symmetric Multi-Processor) construction formed by a combination of two or more of said main processing modules, wherein said management module has a storage device that stores license information for permitting said main processing modules to be operated as said SMP construction, wherein when two or more of the main processing modules are intended to be turned on, a first slot number of the main processing module to which the license is applied is compared to a second slot number of the main processing module intended to be turned on, and wherein when the second slot number is greater than or equal to the first slot number, a first sum of the first slot number of the main processing module to which the license is applied and a first number of the main processing modules to which the license is applied is compared to a second sum of the second slot number of the main processing module intended to be turned on and a second number of the main processing modules intended to be turned on; and wherein when the first sum is greater than or equal to the second sum, the main processing module intended to be turned on is permitted to be turned on.