Oracle VM is end-of-life and is, since March 2021, in extended support1. In looking for a replacement hypervisor AMIS has turned to KVM. Oracle itself also uses KVM, albeit its own brand of KVM, OLKVM, in Oracle Cloud and on the new versions of its Oracle Database Appliance. Topped with […]
Licensing
Oracle Integration Cloud pricing explained – OCI vs Classic
Last week at AMIS we had the task of estimating costs of a proposed iPaaS solution for one of our customers that runs on a fully managed cloud. As AMIS is mainly an Oracle partner we looked at how competitive we could make the pricing of the solution using Oracle […]
Oracle’s extended support – when is it free of charge
It’s such a simple, basic and old question I got from a colleague: “Do you have to pay for extended support?”. And if so, how much I have to pay for it. So basic and yet… always have to check again the waived support, what prices and where to find […]
Java SE licensing
There are several good blogs about this subject (like this one), and I never paid much attention to Java and licensing. Until one of our customers became a bit frightend after Oracle approached them with the question if they were really license compliant using Java. For many the words Java […]
Oracle, Azure Cloud and licensing with hyperthreading enabled.
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
Consequences of stopping Oracle support
When buying licenses for Oracle, the first year support is mostly part of the deal. After that, a Customer may decide to stop paying for the yearly technical support of the Oracle licenses. The consequences of that decision is not always clear to customers. Most OLSA’s will contain the sentence […]
Better track the Usage of Database Options and Management Packs, or it will cost you
So here it is Oracle announces a license audit, some urgency kicks in and this familiar but also really serious question comes down from management: “Are we using any unlicensed database features“. The seriousness is quite understandable, because if so, the company can look forward to some negotiations with Oracle […]
Saving money by understanding Oracle licensing part 2
In part 1 the basics were explained. In this part II other topics will be treated like virtualizing, engineered systems, SE2, Unlimited License Agreements, Cloud and other stuff. Whenever I can I will link to other posts. Comments or additions are welcome. And of course, if there are still any questions […]
Saving money by understanding Oracle licensing, part 1
Oracle and licenses. The general feeling most of the time is that you pay too much for the use of the Oracle products, and it’s not always sure if you are compliant, because of the complexity of the rules. This – hopefully clarifying – blog is part of a small […]
Utilizing your IT environment with Oracle Database Appliance
I admit, I’m a bit of a fan of the Oracle Database Appliance. And I also admit there are some characteristics of the X5-2 ODA’s which made it sometimes a bit hard to fit in the needs of the customer. I’ll come to that later in this post. With the […]
Usage Tracking Reports, using Oracle Enterprise Manager 13C as a SAM tool
Still loving the idea to use Oracle Enterprise Manager as a ‘kind of ‘ Software Asset Management Tool, and get regular centralized reports that tells me what Oracle software is running and if there are changes in use of licenses over time. The necessary data is already there in the […]
Oracle licenses needed while monitoring your (non-)Oracle environment with OEM
With Oracle Enterprise Manager you are able to monitor an Oracle environment as well as a non-Oracle environment, like Microsoft’s SQL Server. You are also able to exchange notifications between Oracle Enterprise Manager and e.g. Microsoft’s SCOM, and there’s a choice how to monitor this heterogeneous environment. One of the […]
Licensing ODA on NUP’s and with different metrics
Since Oracle launched the Oracle Database Appliance a few years ago it has become clear that only the Enterprise Edition is allowed on the machine. But when NOT using the bare metal setup (not the OracleVM) it’s not always quite transparent what kind of licensing requirements is needed and allowed. More […]
Keeping track of your licenses with OEM12C – reports
Wouldn’t be nice to get regularly informed how (in)compliant you are with Oracle licenses in an easy – centralized – way, and therefore not have to worry about visits of Oracle’s LMS – License Management Services? I think that would be nice for the most of us. Running LMS-scripts on […]
Oracle datapump, advanced compression and licensing
As you may well know, Advanced Compression is an option you have to pay for when using it. But as a DBA you can’t always control the use of this option, e.g. the use of Datapump with Compression parameters. Lately, a few customers were involved in a discussion with Oracle […]
Oracle licenses and the cloud
Suppose the number of Oracle licenses you acquired in the past, is in line with the use. That is, you’re compliant with all the licensing rules Oracle come up with. The license form you use is the so called ‘Full use’ license, this is the most common license form. Everybody […]
Oracle has changed the Exchange rate of the Euro to 0.8682
For years the number of 0.7893 meant something to those who are working on regular basis with licenses in Europe. This number is the ‘Current local Pricing Exchange rate’. And Oracle is entitled to change this rate twice a year:
Changed licensing rules for Exadata X5-2 with OracleVM
On 21 January 2015, Oracle announced Exadata X5, the sixth revision of Oracle’s database management system (DBMS) engineered system. The entire Exadata configuration no longer needs to be licensed when using OracleVM. Instead, a minimum of 40% of the cores in a server must be licensed. This information has been […]