diff --git a/src/share/vm/runtime/os.cpp b/src/share/vm/runtime/os.cpp
index 21764cb0bfa3817d2b5a38191e611c43182cae80..06e81a554ff6e96295ae1cffc322d53451afdf19 100644
--- a/src/share/vm/runtime/os.cpp
+++ b/src/share/vm/runtime/os.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 1997, 2014, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 1997, 2016, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ volatile int32_t* os::_mem_serialize_page = NULL;
 uintptr_t         os::_serialize_page_mask = 0;
 long              os::_rand_seed          = 1;
 int               os::_processor_count    = 0;
+int               os::_initial_active_processor_count = 0;
 size_t            os::_page_sizes[os::page_sizes_max];
 
 #ifndef PRODUCT
@@ -322,6 +323,7 @@ static void signal_thread_entry(JavaThread* thread, TRAPS) {
 }
 
 void os::init_before_ergo() {
+  initialize_initial_active_processor_count();
   // We need to initialize large page support here because ergonomics takes some
   // decisions depending on large page support and the calculated large page size.
   large_page_init();
@@ -835,7 +837,11 @@ void os::print_cpu_info(outputStream* st) {
   st->print("CPU:");
   st->print("total %d", os::processor_count());
   // It's not safe to query number of active processors after crash
-  // st->print("(active %d)", os::active_processor_count());
+  // st->print("(active %d)", os::active_processor_count()); but we can
+  // print the initial number of active processors.
+  // We access the raw value here because the assert in the accessor will
+  // fail if the crash occurs before initialization of this value.
+  st->print(" (initial active %d)", _initial_active_processor_count);
   st->print(" %s", VM_Version::cpu_features());
   st->cr();
   pd_print_cpu_info(st);
@@ -1418,6 +1424,11 @@ bool os::is_server_class_machine() {
   return result;
 }
 
+void os::initialize_initial_active_processor_count() {
+  assert(_initial_active_processor_count == 0, "Initial active processor count already set.");
+  _initial_active_processor_count = active_processor_count();
+}
+
 void os::SuspendedThreadTask::run() {
   assert(Threads_lock->owned_by_self() || (_thread == VMThread::vm_thread()), "must have threads lock to call this");
   internal_do_task();
diff --git a/src/share/vm/runtime/os.hpp b/src/share/vm/runtime/os.hpp
index 944ec64313bd8a4a49981b8654ad89d4dac9a458..e008b9c64f98c862649fe0f1756feb5c2d1cb3d6 100644
--- a/src/share/vm/runtime/os.hpp
+++ b/src/share/vm/runtime/os.hpp
@@ -151,6 +151,7 @@ class os: AllStatic {
 
   static size_t page_size_for_region(size_t region_size, size_t min_pages, bool must_be_aligned);
 
+  static void initialize_initial_active_processor_count();
  public:
   static void init(void);                      // Called before command line parsing
   static void init_before_ergo(void);          // Called after command line parsing
@@ -238,6 +239,13 @@ class os: AllStatic {
   // Note that on some OSes this can change dynamically.
   static int active_processor_count();
 
+  // At startup the number of active CPUs this process is allowed to run on.
+  // This value does not change dynamically. May be different from active_processor_count().
+  static int initial_active_processor_count() {
+    assert(_initial_active_processor_count > 0, "Initial active processor count not set yet.");
+    return _initial_active_processor_count;
+  }
+
   // Bind processes to processors.
   //     This is a two step procedure:
   //     first you generate a distribution of processes to processors,
@@ -975,8 +983,9 @@ class os: AllStatic {
 
 
  protected:
-  static long _rand_seed;                   // seed for random number generator
-  static int _processor_count;              // number of processors
+  static long _rand_seed;                     // seed for random number generator
+  static int _processor_count;                // number of processors
+  static int _initial_active_processor_count; // number of active processors during initialization.
 
   static char* format_boot_path(const char* format_string,
                                 const char* home,