Question: What are the options when licensing Oracle when running virtualization? My company wants to run virtual machines under Oracle and need to understand the Oracle licensing changes. Answer: Virtualization is traditionally used when you have a single server with heterogeneous OS platforms (e.g.
UNIX and Windows) and want to run both on the same server, but virtualization is also used to load-balance server resources. One of the important downsides to virtualization is that it defeats one of the most compelling reasons for consolidation, the sharing of a large bank of CPU's. By slicing a large server into many tiny VM's, you are losing this ability to share computing resources between VM's. In any case let's look at the use of virtualization and see how it affects Oracle licensing costs. Oracle virtualization and licensing falls into two specific categories:. 'hard' hardware partitioning (virtualization): This is the only path to license reduction.
'soft' server hardware virtualization: Soft virtualization tools such as VMware will not aid in reducing license costs. Let's take a closer look at each approach, and see how it impacts Oracle licensing costs. Executive Summary. Only hard partitioning applies to Oracle licensing, so 'soft' solutions (VMware) do not apply to license savings. The 'hard' partitioning methods (Solaris Zones, Sun Logical Domains), and split a larger server into many smaller servers, but each VM must be licensed independently. License saving in hard partitioning virtualization is only helpful if you are running 'mixed workloads', running Oracle on some VM's and applications on other VM's.
Hard Virtualization by hardware partitioning This approach takes a single large server and partitions into smaller logical servers using tools such as Sun Logical Domains (LDOMs), Solaris Zones (also known as Solaris Containers). Note: Oracle does not recognize hard partitioning with Solaris Containers prior to Solaris 10; and even then there are many stipulations.
Other non-Solaris hard partitioning methods such as Dynamic System Domains (DSD), plus many other lesser known hard partitioning techniques. For Solaris shops, only the Solaris Containers approach is considered hard partitioning: - Here is the official Oracle document on hard virtualization partitioning: -Using this approach, if you have an 32 core physical server and create a hard partitioned Virtual Machine (VM) with 16 virtual CPUs running the Oracle database, you will still need to buy database licenses for 32 cores. If you are consolidating database workloads on to a server this is not a problem, but if you were planning to run mixed workloads, like 16 cores for one database and 16 cores for application server, you will be required to buy double the license. For shops that run all of their VM's solely for Oracle, there is no license benefit to virtualization. Soft VMware Consolidation and server licensing Oracle does not recognize software virtualization with soft partitioning as a means of reducing licensing costs. Hence, consolidating mixed workloads on VMware products, (which Oracle does not recognize as a 'hard' partitioning of CPU resources), is not practical from an Oracle licensing savings perspective. Remember, VMware is counted as soft partitioning method and therefore any dedication or restriction of the Oracle programs using it is considered as soft partitioning and hence you will still need to license the whole environment.
Unexplored territory in VM Oracle licensing Not all migrations into Oracle virtualization go smoothly. According to this February 2016 article in the Register titled The article notes: Oracle has been telling a number of organizations running its database software that they are breaking the company's licensing rules – and therefore owe it millions of dollars in unpaid license fees. The issue hit the headlines in January after US confectionery giant Mars took Oracle to court in the US over claims Mars had broken the rules. Mars had been audited by Oracle and developed a response plan with compliance specialist Palisade Compliance. The case settled before going to trial. The reason Oracle is targeting the VMware base is Oracle does not accept VMware’s world view on licensing, and therefore its definition, of hardware partitioning. An Oracle partitioning document, shows Oracle only accepts Solaris Containers.
Since VMware’s release of vSphere 5.1 in August 2012, Oracle has insisted that you cannot simply license its database to a given number of virtual machines. Rather, you must license your entire server estate, on the basis that you have the potential to run Oracle on all those servers and cores, should you wish. Important Note: This document is a literature review from July 2016 and should not be used to rely on Oracle licensing. Oracle licensing constantly changes, and you should consult your Oracle customer support representative for current licensing policies.
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Note: This literature review is a collection of information from Oracle and news sources on 23 August 2005. The license rules change frequently (as a result of the quickly-changing hardware), so this August 2005 survey may not apply to your special cases.
IT IS NOT a good idea to conduct you own license review, as there are many complex criteria in the license agreements. We recommend hiring Oracle Certified professionals to conduct a Also see my notes on Overview of Oracle Store License rules The Oracle Store web site has complete MSRP. As of August 2005, Oracle has two pricing models, 'named user plus' and 'processor'. Historically, Oracle has also sold 'unlimited use' licenses for large corporations, but they are not mentioned on the Oracle Store web site. Named User Plus - This is a pricing model that factors.
Processor - The processor license pricing model is based on the number and type of processors on the Oracle servers. Oracle licensing and replicated databases Many Oracle shops are now using Oracle replication tools (Oracle Streams, standby database, data guard, multi-master replication) to create a standby Oracle server as protection against hardware failure. However, many Oracle shops forget that all?hot? Standby servers (where you use the standby server for Oracle transactions) may require an Oracle license.
This (as of March 16, 2006), notes that mall standby and failover database must be fully licensed if they might be used as production: 'Standby - In this type of recovery, a copy of the primary database is maintained on a separate server at all times. These systems are configured for disaster recovery purposes. If the primary database fails, the standby database is activated to act as the new primary database.
In this environment, both the primary and the standby databases must be fully licensed.' Oracle standby servers need to be fully licensed if they are?hot standby? Servers that can be used for production SQL queries. Some sources say that cold standby servers used less than 10 days per year do not need to be licensed, but you should verify this with your Oracle representative or the Oracle Store, as Oracle license policies change frequently. Suggestions for getting the best deal on Oracle licenses Even though Oracle licensing agreements allow Oracle corporation to perform license audits, most Oracle shops are honor-bound to pay for the databases according to their license agreement.
Don't pay for more Oracle licenses than you need There's an over on the about Oracle licensing and support, suggesting that many shops are paying for more licenses than they use. There is also this 2003 article titled ' with similar recommendations.
Plan your Oracle architecture to minimize Oracle license charges With proper planning you can save a great deal in license fees while keeping high database performance. Some suggestions for processor-based licensing include:. Consolidate Oracle production environments - In shops with many production database running on separate servers, and consolidating the instances in production can save thousands of licensing dollars. With, buying large SMP servers (i.e. An Intel Linux 16-CPU ) and moving dozens of Oracle instances onto a single monolithic environment is ideal because CPU resources can be transparently shared between Oracle instances. Of course, server consolidation requires high-speed network connectivity from all application areas, so this may not be appropriate for widely distributed shops with sporadic network latency.
Use dedicated Oracle servers - Oracle does not give you a discount if you run other applications on the same server with your Oracle database. Keep your Oracle servers isolated and only use as many processors as you need for high-water-mark processing. Buy fast processors - Oracle licensing does not distinguish between fast and slow processors. The super-fast Intel Itanium2 64-bit processors can have double the processing power of older CPU's. Maximize processor resources - You may be paying too much if you have many Oracle servers with a small average CPU consumption. You can compute high-water-mark (HWM) CPU consumption in Oracle 10g AWR reports or with UNIX or Linux vmstat utility, but it is important to consider the high-water-mark for CPU consumption, especially if your shop has service level agreements (SLA) for fast response time. For example, four production servers with one CPU and a HWM of 20% CPU might comfortable fit onto a single server, thereby freeing-up three processor licenses.
Let's examine the Oracle licensing literature on processor-based Oracle licensing for multi-core processors. Multi-core CPUs and Oracle 'Processor' licenses A dual core chip is a processor that contains more than one processing unit. This Washington Post article titled, dated June 5, 2005 we see a good description of he reasons for multi-core processors: Both AMD's Athlon 64 X2 and Intel's Pentium D use 'dual-core' designs that put two processors on a single piece of silicon, divvying up the work between the pair. In a July 14, 2005 new item titled, the new CPU chips by AMD, Sun and IBM. Following months of anticipation and some high-profile criticism, Oracle has changed the licensing model for its databases and middleware on multicore servers, bringing it a step closer in line with competitors. The price change only effects the 'multi core' processors, and the article discusses the formulas used: Multicore processors pack more than one processing unit, or core, on a piece of silicon. The technique boosts performance of a machine, while keeping the heat generation down, although two cores do not double the performance.
We also see that this shows examples of the computations required to determine license fees: 'For example, a 4-way, dual core processor server which previously had a list license fee of $320,000 (4.2 cores.$40,000) would now have a list license fee of $240,000 (0.75. 8 cores.$40,000).' And it gets even more complicated! A sharp Register reader forwards this advisory from Oracle's finer print: 'A multicore chip with 11 cores would require a 9 processor license (11 multiplied by a factor of.75 equals 8.25 which is then rounded up to the next whole number which is 9).'
The price change are only for 'dual core' processors and they do not yet address 'hyperthreaded' CPU's (The Intel Itanium2 and AMD 64-bit processors). Oracle Store also shows details on counting multi-core processors For the purpose of counting the number of processors which require licensing, a multicore chip with 'n' cores shall be determined by multiplying 'n' cores by a factor of.75. All fractions of a number are to be rounded up to the next whole number. For example, a multicore chip with 11 cores would require a 9 processor license (11 multiplied by a factor of.75 equals 8.25 which is then rounded up to the next whole number which is 9). The Oracle Audit As noted, your Oracle licensing agreement for license compliance: Upon 45 days written notice, Oracle may audit your use of the programs. You agree to cooperate with Oracle's audit and provide reasonable assistance and access to information.
You agree to pay within 30 days of written notification any fees applicable to your use of the programs in excess of your license rights. If you do not pay, Oracle can end your technical support, licenses and/or this agreement. You agree that Oracle shall not be responsible for any of your costs incurred in cooperating with the audit.
Oracle guru Tony Jambu has these interesting observations about Oracle pricing in 2015: As an example, let's take a 2 Node RAC cluster consisting of 4 CPUs (ignoring multi cores) per node plus the following options:? Real Application Clusters($20,000 per processor)? Active Data Guard($5,000 per Processor)? Partitioning($10,000 per Processor)?
Real Application Testing($10,000 per Processor)? Advanced Compression($10,000 per Processor)? Total Recall($5,000 per Processor)? Advanced Security ($10,000 per Processor) Taking the options into account, the software cost per CPU would be US $110,000.For the2 Node RAC, that would come to be(2 nodes) x (4 CPU) x US$110,000=US$880,000. The secondary site where your Active Data Guard is being replicated is missing. That would be double your cost to US$1,760,000(list).
Likewise, adding support of 22 percent brings the figure to US$2,147,200(list). You would not pay this price, as discounting has not been applied. Using figures form Oracle's Store, we get a discounted figure of US$1,610,400. Oracle Pricing-good News Some good news?Oracle has revised the condition for which Oracle Database Standard Edition (SE) and Standard Edition One (SE1) may be licensed. In the past, Oracle SE could only be licensed on servers with? A maximum capacity of 4 single core processors or?
Sum of Cores.Core Processor Factor. Get the Complete Oracle SQL Tuning Information The landmark book is filled with valuable information on Oracle SQL Tuning. This book includes scripts and tools to hypercharge Oracle 11g performance and you can for 30% off directly from the publisher. Burleson is the American Team Note: This Oracle documentation was created as a support and Oracle training reference for use by our DBA performance tuning consulting professionals. Feel free to ask questions on our. Verify experience! Anyone considering using the services of an Oracle support expert should independently investigate their credentials and experience, and not rely on advertisements and self-proclaimed expertise.