-CPU_CORES=`grep -c ^processor /proc/cpuinfo`
-CPU_MASKS=0x`echo "obase=16; 2 ^ $CPU_CORES - 1" | bc`
-WORKER_CORES=`expr $CPU_CORES - 1`
+# We need at least 1 admin core.
+if [ $CPU_CORES -le 2 ]; then
+ ADMIN_CORES=1
+else
+ # If the number of cores is even we
+ # reserve 2 cores for admin (second being idle) so the number of
+ # workers is either 1 (if CPU_CORES is 2) or always even
+ if (( $CPU_CORES % 2 )); then
+ ADMIN_CORES=1
+ else
+ ADMIN_CORES=2
+ fi
+fi
+# 2 vcpus: AW (core 0: Admin, core 1: Worker)
+# 3 vcpus: AWW (core 0: Admin, core 1,2: Worker)
+# 4 vcpus: AWWU (core 0: Admin, core 1,2: Worker, core 3: Unused)
+# 5 vcpus: AWWWW
+# 6 vcpus: AWWWWU
+WORKER_CORES=$(expr $CPU_CORES - $ADMIN_CORES)
+# worker cores are all cores except the admin core (core 0) and the eventual unused core
+# AW -> 1
+# AWW -> 1,2
+# AWWU -> 1,2
+WORKER_CORE_LIST=$(seq -s, $ADMIN_CORES $WORKER_CORES)
+# always use all cores
+CORE_MASK=0x$(echo "obase=16; 2 ^ $CPU_CORES - 1" | bc)
+
+logger "NFVBENCHVM: CPU_CORES=$CPU_CORES, ADMIN_CORES=$ADMIN_CORES, WORKER_CORES=$WORKER_CORES ($WORKER_CORE_LIST)"