Set Processor affinity for commercial software

[db7]

I have a commercial software product that is licensed on number of CPUs but want to be able to install it on a server that has a greater number of CPUs. AFAIK the software doesn't do a check, but I would like to remain within the terms of the license with the supplier.

Is there anyway that I can restrict a specified binary to run on a subset of the available processors?

To add to the complexity, the application may be launched multiple times, so I don't think I can do anything it their startup scripts.

As a simple example: I would like to restict ALL concurrent invocations of perl to never exceed using 8 cores of my 32 core server (perl is not the real program )

My system is running RHEL 5.6, but if the only answer is using Control Groups I might be persuaded to upgrade to RHEL 6.1.

Is this possible?

Many thanks,

DB

[Rubberman]

Well, this should not matter. Only one image of the software is running, so it is only taking one core. Threads don't count I think. I suspect that the CPU count in the license is the number of instances you can run. Not 100% sure about that - have your attorney read the license fine print to be sure.

[db7]

Thanks for the suggestion, but following your model suggest (with a good attorney) I could opt for the cheapest license and put it on the biggest server. I have explored commercial options, so am looking for a technical solution that hopefully negates buying another 8 core server.

thanks

DB