System and method for maintaining a constant processor service level in a computer

A method and system for maintaining the execution speed of a multiprocessor computer system includes automatically detecting a change in instruction execution rate in a disabled processor by a threshold amount and determining an amount of change in instruction execution rate to adjust an actual system-level instruction execution rate to approximate a target system-level instruction execution rate. The target system-level execution rate being pre-determined. Thereafter, the method adjusts one or more instruction processor execution rates such that the actual system-level instruction execution rate approximates the target system-level instruction execution rate to overcome the loss of the disabled processor. One embodiment of the invention involves the use of a processor key for licensing of processor resources within the computer system and offers the option of enabling a dynamic processor recovery method as well as an automatic execution rate regulation method.