Until recently, there was one rule when deploying Oracle software in the Azure cloud:
- count one Azure CPU Core as equivalent to one Oracle Processor license.
But there was somehow what confusion about hyperthreading VM’s. This has been nuanced by Oracle in their cloud-licensing document very recently
The document now states the following about licensing Oracle in Azure:
Microsoft Azure – count two vCPUs as equivalent to one Oracle Processor license if hyperthreading is enabled, and one vCPU as equivalent to one Oracle Processor license if hyperthreading is not enabled.
But.. when you are designing / choosing your VM’s in Azure, how can you tell which VM is using Hyperthreading? Well, that’s a simple rule: all VM’s which are older than the V3 are NOT using hyperthreading. See also this blog of Microsoft.
Other Azure changes, related to this change:
- When using Standard Edition (2) :
Four or fewer (!) Azure vCPUs, are counted as 1 socket, which is considered equivalent to an Oracle processor license. –> (instead of two).
Oracle Database Standard Edition may only be licensed up to 16 Azure vCPUs
Oracle Standard Edition One and Standard Edition 2 may only be licensed up to eight Azure vCPUs.
Database Standard Edition 2 on NUPS: the minimums are 10 NUP licenses per 8 Azure vCPUs.
- Oracle Linux:
For Oracle Linux purposes, each Authorized Cloud Environment instance is counted as a “System”. “Basic Limited” and “Premier Limited” support is not available for Authorized Cloud Environment instances greater than eight Azure vCPUs.
Resources:
http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/pricing/cloud-licensing-070579.pdf
https://azure.microsoft.com/nl-nl/blog/introducing-the-new-dv3-and-ev3-vm-sizes/
