Explaining the disparity in the figures for the No. Of CPU Cores

Products

• CAS-S400

Issue/Introduction

The Tech. Doc. with the URL below that CAS-S400-A3 has got 6-Core CPU. 

S400 Series Appliance Models

Howbeit, from the #show hardware-configuration, the output below is returned. See the highlighted portion.

show hardware-configuration. 

Serial number: xxxxxxxxxx
System model: Blue Coat S400
RAM Total: 32768 MB
 RAM Module: CPU0_DIMM_A1 8192 MB DDR3
 RAM Module: CPU0_DIMM_A2 8192 MB DDR3
 RAM Module: CPU0_DIMM_B1 8192 MB DDR3
 RAM Module: CPU0_DIMM_B2 8192 MB DDR3
Number of physical CPUs: 1
Number of cores: 12
CPU frequency (MHz): 1541.101
CPU Type: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2430 0 @ 2.20GHz
StorageDevices:
 Storage Device: Disk slot 1 500 GB ST9500620NS
 Storage Device: Disk slot 2 500 GB ST9500620NS
No. of physical CPU = 1, and No. of Cores = 12.

Why is there the disparity? Why is there this difference, between the documentation and the appliance config output?

Environment

CAS-S400-A3

Resolution

For the No. of Cores query, refer below.

 

=====>>> 6 physical cores with SMT = 12 logical cores

 

SMT stands for Simultaneous Multithreading, a technology that allows multiple threads to run concurrently on each physical CPU core. In the context of your Symantec CAS-S400-A3 appliance with 6 physical cores and SMT enabled, this means that each core can handle 2 threads at once, giving you 12 logical cores (or threads) in total.

How SMT Works:

• Each physical CPU core can execute multiple threads simultaneously. With SMT, the core shares certain resources (like cache and execution units) among multiple threads, allowing it to process more tasks at the same time.
  
  
• In most cases, SMT is referred to as Hyper-Threading (HT) in Intel processors. With HT enabled, each physical core appears as two logical processors to the operating system, allowing the system to schedule two tasks per core.

Benefits of SMT:

• Increased Throughput: By running multiple threads on a single core, SMT can improve the CPU’s utilization, leading to better performance in multi-threaded workloads.
  
  
• Efficiency: It allows better use of idle CPU resources. If a single thread isn't using all the resources of a core, a second thread can use those leftover resources.
  
  
• Better Performance for Multi-threaded Applications: Workloads that can leverage multiple threads, such as those in web security, content analysis, and data processing (which Symantec CAS is designed for), benefit from the extra threads.

 

In the use Case:

With 6 physical cores, and SMT providing 2 threads per core, you effectively have 12 logical cores. This allows the system to handle more concurrent tasks, improving the performance of the content analysis services that the Symantec CAS-S400-A3 appliance provides.

This configuration is particularly useful in network security appliances like Symantec CAS, where multiple connections and data streams need to be processed simultaneously. SMT helps improve the throughput and efficiency of such systems.