Question : Problem: SBS - quad and dual core processors - how do you count to 2 ?

We are looking to build a dell poweredge 2900 server for SBS 2003.  It seems to let you build the machine with 2 quad core processors and not raise a fuss / warn you that sbs only runs on 2 proccessors.  what is the status with dual or quad core processors and runnin sbs on them?  does a core count as a processor? or the entire chip counts as a processor?

Answer : Problem: SBS - quad and dual core processors - how do you count to 2 ?

I have no personal experience with quad cores (yet)...but unless you are using SQL server or other LOB app (or Virtual Server), SBS hardly ever uses the processor anyway.  The average client reports a 2% CPU usage average.  My personal server is running a Terminal Server as a VM under SBS...of course, it's only me and one other person using it and my server tends to clock in at about 25% cpu usage.  (FYI, my server is a single dual-core processor, 2.8 GHz).

I imagine the different FSB speeds could be relevant, but a 2.0 dual core vs 1.6 quad core, I'd go with the quad.  That should streamline processes like VM or SQL that actually use the processor.  

My understanding is that SBS will handle as many cores as you want to throw at it, so long as it's only two physical processors.  (And the KB article seems to agree with that)

The real issue is your RAM...get a lot of it.  Exchange Server will use whatever you throw at it, and if you use SQL you'll want to dedicate some of it to the SQL process as well.  

To answer the question of verifying that all cores are working...the SBS monitoring report includes CPU time for each core...so you should see all eight of them listed there.