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Slide Notes
oracle licensing rules – 5 Fatal Mistakes
“Five Fatal Oracle License Mistakes”, is a bit dramatic, but the following 5 mistakes crop up on such a regular basis that we at Madora believe they are worth reiterating.
For those experienced with Oracle, they will know the following as classic gotchas and will keep an eye out. IT professionals and Procurement Officers new to the ways of Oracle may get caught out – so be warned. Let’s walk through some of the five common areas that often have disastrous consequences.
“Five Fatal Oracle License Mistakes”, is a bit dramatic, but the following 5 mistakes crop up on such a regular basis that we at Madora believe they are worth reiterating.
For those experienced with Oracle, they will know the following as classic gotchas and will keep an eye out. IT professionals and Procurement Officers new to the ways of Oracle may get caught out – so be warned. Let’s walk through some of the five common areas that often have disastrous consequences.
Oracle Licensing rules - the 5 fatal mistakes
Published on Jun 25, 2016
oracle licensing rules – 5 Fatal Mistakes
Are you making any one of these five fatal mistakes with Oracle licensing? Any one of these could cost your organization dearly. Don't fall foul of these common licensing mistakes.
For those experienced with Oracle, they will know the following as classic gotchas and will keep an eye out. IT professionals and Procurement Officers new to the ways of Oracle may get caught out – so be warned. Let’s walk through some of the five common areas that often have disastrous consequences.
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Oracle Licensing
The Five Fatal Mistakes
oracle licensing rules – 5 Fatal Mistakes
“Five Fatal Oracle License Mistakes”, is a bit dramatic, but the following 5 mistakes crop up on such a regular basis that we at Madora believe they are worth reiterating.
For those experienced with Oracle, they will know the following as classic gotchas and will keep an eye out. IT professionals and Procurement Officers new to the ways of Oracle may get caught out – so be warned. Let’s walk through some of the five common areas that often have disastrous consequences.
“Five Fatal Oracle License Mistakes”, is a bit dramatic, but the following 5 mistakes crop up on such a regular basis that we at Madora believe they are worth reiterating.
For those experienced with Oracle, they will know the following as classic gotchas and will keep an eye out. IT professionals and Procurement Officers new to the ways of Oracle may get caught out – so be warned. Let’s walk through some of the five common areas that often have disastrous consequences.
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Let's walk through the Top Five biggest License Mistakes
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Oracle simplifies server partitioning into two groups:
Hard Paritioning
Soft Partitioning
The issue we see time after time is misunderstanding Oracle licensing on VMware. So why is this? It’s to do with server partitioning. Server partitioning can be very confusing; it is designed to limit the amount of processor resource available to a program; it is nothing to do with the Oracle Database Partitioning extra cost option – that is a means of partitioning data tables.
Oracle simplifies server partitioning into two groups; the methods that it refuses to recognise as valid, known as “Soft Partitioning”; and those it accepts really do subdivide servers, known as “Hard Partitioning”.
Probably the most popular server partitioning method is VMware, a very flexible form of partitioning and a great means of managing a datacentre. Guess what? It is soft partitioning for Oracle; this means that it is incredibly easy to fall foul of Oracle’s licensing rules. How your VCenter is set up, the clusters, the VMs, the storage architecture all have an impact on licensing. VMware publish guidelines on how to license Oracle, but Oracle don’t support their view; great fun when it is your turn for Oracle’s regular license audit!
Oracle’s approach to VMware has changed even further since the release of VMware Version 5.1 with its more advanced DRS/VMotion capabilities and its shared storage functionality. Seek independent help to review your architecture and any planned changes; don’t assume anything!!
Oracle simplifies server partitioning into two groups; the methods that it refuses to recognise as valid, known as “Soft Partitioning”; and those it accepts really do subdivide servers, known as “Hard Partitioning”.
Probably the most popular server partitioning method is VMware, a very flexible form of partitioning and a great means of managing a datacentre. Guess what? It is soft partitioning for Oracle; this means that it is incredibly easy to fall foul of Oracle’s licensing rules. How your VCenter is set up, the clusters, the VMs, the storage architecture all have an impact on licensing. VMware publish guidelines on how to license Oracle, but Oracle don’t support their view; great fun when it is your turn for Oracle’s regular license audit!
Oracle’s approach to VMware has changed even further since the release of VMware Version 5.1 with its more advanced DRS/VMotion capabilities and its shared storage functionality. Seek independent help to review your architecture and any planned changes; don’t assume anything!!
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How your VCenter is set up, the clusters, the VMs, the storage architecture all have an impact on licensing.
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It's what Oracle say that counts not what the virtualisation vendors say
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Watch the video
8 mins duration
Disaster Recovery Scenarios are Complex - Get Help!
This can be a complex area with technologies changing all the time. We highly recommend you speak to Madora Consulting if you have any doubts as to whether you are correctly licensed for DR architectures.
In general we advise that you assume you need to be licensed fully and then check to see if your scenario falls under failover and whether the 10 day rule applies.
In terms of licensing be aware that you cannot mix metrics. In other words, if processors are used for the primary site then the backup site also needs to be licensed by processor. A common mistake is believing that Named User Plus licenses can be used for the backup site – in the hope of saving money. You are better off ring fencing the DR servers contractually and negotiating a reduced cost for this license pool.
Also make sure that the options and management packs are licensed, as these are often forgotten.
In short, scenarios where the Primary and Secondary nodes share a SAN, with the secondary node acting as a failover, only the Primary needs to be licensed. This is valid as long as the failover to the secondary lasts less than 10 days per year, which includes any testing.
Any standby or mirroring environments must be fully licensed.
See the Oracle paper on DR pricing http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/pricing/data-recovery-licensing-070587.p...
In general we advise that you assume you need to be licensed fully and then check to see if your scenario falls under failover and whether the 10 day rule applies.
In terms of licensing be aware that you cannot mix metrics. In other words, if processors are used for the primary site then the backup site also needs to be licensed by processor. A common mistake is believing that Named User Plus licenses can be used for the backup site – in the hope of saving money. You are better off ring fencing the DR servers contractually and negotiating a reduced cost for this license pool.
Also make sure that the options and management packs are licensed, as these are often forgotten.
In short, scenarios where the Primary and Secondary nodes share a SAN, with the secondary node acting as a failover, only the Primary needs to be licensed. This is valid as long as the failover to the secondary lasts less than 10 days per year, which includes any testing.
Any standby or mirroring environments must be fully licensed.
See the Oracle paper on DR pricing http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/pricing/data-recovery-licensing-070587.p...
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We advise that you assume you need to be licensed fully and then check to see if your scenario falls under FAILOVER and whether the 10 DAY RULE applies.
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If Primary and Secondary nodes share a SAN, with the secondary node acting as a failover, only the Primary needs to be licensed. This is valid as long as the failover to the secondary lasts less than 10 days per year, which includes any testing.
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Don't Mix Metrics
- A common mistake is believing that Named User Plus licenses can be used for the backup site
- Instead ring fence the DR servers contractually and negotiate a reduced cost for this license pool.
- Also make sure that the options and management packs are licensed
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Watch the video
12 mins duration
You DO NEED a valid license for development environments, test environments, and any pre-production environments.
With Oracle you do need a valid license for development environments, test environments, and any pre-production environments. This whole article assumes standard terms and conditions, but you may have negotiated non standard options, so do check.
Test and development must be correctly licensed.
Some developers are aware of the Oracle Technology network where licenses can be downloaded. OTN does offer a restricted license grant but this too is often misunderstood.
Use of OTN licenses does not necessarily mean you are licensed correctly for Development environments. (Note -the environment used by end users for business or other operations is called a production environment.)
Effectively, with Oracle, software is free to download but you have to buy licenses to run it. When you download it you are offered the ability to develop using an OTN license, that is an Oracle Technology Network developer license, and lots of people think that that is actually a free license and it means development isn’t licensed, but it is. That license that you’re granted when you bring down some software is only for the purpose of developing, testing, prototyping, and demonstrating your application, and only so long as your application hasn’t been used for any data processing, business, commercial or production purposes or for anything else.
In other words, it’s a right to prototype, play around, try the software see if you like it, see if it’s going to do what you want for your job and if it is, then at that point when you’re developing real software then you’ve got to buy proper production style licenses, real full use licenses or whatever, to license that work. It isn’t a license to do development. I know of companies who have been using the OTN license to license products that are in production, it’s a common fault. You can find that if you look online, if you just go onto download any software, you’ll see that it asks you to accept the terms of the development license.
Test and development must be correctly licensed.
Some developers are aware of the Oracle Technology network where licenses can be downloaded. OTN does offer a restricted license grant but this too is often misunderstood.
Use of OTN licenses does not necessarily mean you are licensed correctly for Development environments. (Note -the environment used by end users for business or other operations is called a production environment.)
Effectively, with Oracle, software is free to download but you have to buy licenses to run it. When you download it you are offered the ability to develop using an OTN license, that is an Oracle Technology Network developer license, and lots of people think that that is actually a free license and it means development isn’t licensed, but it is. That license that you’re granted when you bring down some software is only for the purpose of developing, testing, prototyping, and demonstrating your application, and only so long as your application hasn’t been used for any data processing, business, commercial or production purposes or for anything else.
In other words, it’s a right to prototype, play around, try the software see if you like it, see if it’s going to do what you want for your job and if it is, then at that point when you’re developing real software then you’ve got to buy proper production style licenses, real full use licenses or whatever, to license that work. It isn’t a license to do development. I know of companies who have been using the OTN license to license products that are in production, it’s a common fault. You can find that if you look online, if you just go onto download any software, you’ll see that it asks you to accept the terms of the development license.
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Beware
- Use of OTN licenses does not necessarily mean you are licensed correctly for Development environments.
- If you have an application in production then the ALL the Test and pre prod environments need a licence
- Named User Plus may be an option or ring fence and negotiate different terms
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OTN License Grant "..limited license to internally use the Programs, .. only for the purpose of developing, testing, prototyping, and demonstrating Your application and only as long as Your application has not been used for any data processing, business, commercial, or production purposes, and not for any other purpose.."
extract from the OTN license
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Often installed by default. DBAs will often assume tuning & diagnostics are licensed - Check!
This one still crops up either because the DBAs have installed the options as this is the default on installations or because the DBAs assume that the options have been purchased. The reality is that most DBAs really do need the testing, tuning and diagnostic packs. They are almost a prerequisite to managing Oracle estates. Most of us would almost regard them as part of the core database. Unfortunately they are still chargeable options so must be purchased.
Some confusion still exists as the Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) Database Control and Grid control are provided free of charge. But they need the chargeable packs to really add value and these need licenses to cover the applications that are being monitored.
See an extract from Chapter 10 of the Oracle® Enterprise Manager Licensing Information (found on the home page of the OEM documentation) specifically states;
“The base installation of Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c includes several features free of charge with the purchase of any Oracle software license or Support contract”.
It is not unusual for small to mid-sized groups to legally install a Cloud Control free of charge on a spare server in their area. As indicated, a basic install, with no frills, is included with any supported license.
A very common pitfall for organisations facing difficulties with their Oracle license management comes from not having the right options granted and management packs installed for their needs. When the Oracle Enterprise Database Edition server is installed, by default all the enterprise options are installed too and it is important to know what you are actually using and whether you need it.
There are two aspects to this, firstly you need to know what databases are installed and what editions they are i.e. standard or enterprise. Secondly, you need to know whether any management packs have been “accepted” or options “granted”, to use Oracle’s terminology. Interpreting this incorrectly can significantly affect licensing costs.
Some confusion still exists as the Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) Database Control and Grid control are provided free of charge. But they need the chargeable packs to really add value and these need licenses to cover the applications that are being monitored.
See an extract from Chapter 10 of the Oracle® Enterprise Manager Licensing Information (found on the home page of the OEM documentation) specifically states;
“The base installation of Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c includes several features free of charge with the purchase of any Oracle software license or Support contract”.
It is not unusual for small to mid-sized groups to legally install a Cloud Control free of charge on a spare server in their area. As indicated, a basic install, with no frills, is included with any supported license.
A very common pitfall for organisations facing difficulties with their Oracle license management comes from not having the right options granted and management packs installed for their needs. When the Oracle Enterprise Database Edition server is installed, by default all the enterprise options are installed too and it is important to know what you are actually using and whether you need it.
There are two aspects to this, firstly you need to know what databases are installed and what editions they are i.e. standard or enterprise. Secondly, you need to know whether any management packs have been “accepted” or options “granted”, to use Oracle’s terminology. Interpreting this incorrectly can significantly affect licensing costs.
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DO NOT assume that the number of Named User Plus licenses relates directly to the total number of the users of the system in use
A number of products have a minimum number of licenses that must be purchased, fairly standard software practice in the industry. However, there is added complexity with Oracle with some metrics such as Named User Plus. The mistake many people make is assuming that the number of Named User Plus licenses relates directly to the total number of the users of the system in use, unfortunately, that is not always the case.
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25 Named Users
Per Licensable Processor is the minimum
For the Oracle Database Enterprise Edition there is a minimum of 25 Named User Plus per licensable processor. So even with NUPS you still need to understand two things; what a licensable processor is and how many do you have. This presents extra work and understanding on your part. From a compliance point of view you must own the larger of either the total number of users or the license minimums.
The key points here are that a user is counted (at source) regardless of whether they actively use the Oracle programs and that non human devices are also counted. If you are using transactional processing monitoring software or using application/web servers then be sure to measure the users at the front end. For example, 1,000 users accessing a web application that connects to a back end database via an application server needs to count 1,000 users, even if the user is an anonymous system user between the application server and database. User minimums still need to be counted as well, so check the relevant user minimums table for the product in question.
For Database Enterprise Edition you need the larger of either – processor count x 25 NUPS or User/devices. A licensed Named User Plus may access the Oracle technology on any instance (Production, Test, Development) or server throughout the organisation as long as the user minimums are met.
Named User Plus licenses are decreasing in usage as Processor license metrics are increasingly easier to manage and make more sense when it is difficult to measure users.
The key points here are that a user is counted (at source) regardless of whether they actively use the Oracle programs and that non human devices are also counted. If you are using transactional processing monitoring software or using application/web servers then be sure to measure the users at the front end. For example, 1,000 users accessing a web application that connects to a back end database via an application server needs to count 1,000 users, even if the user is an anonymous system user between the application server and database. User minimums still need to be counted as well, so check the relevant user minimums table for the product in question.
For Database Enterprise Edition you need the larger of either – processor count x 25 NUPS or User/devices. A licensed Named User Plus may access the Oracle technology on any instance (Production, Test, Development) or server throughout the organisation as long as the user minimums are met.
Named User Plus licenses are decreasing in usage as Processor license metrics are increasingly easier to manage and make more sense when it is difficult to measure users.
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Let's have a Quiz!
- Non-production environment used for staging on Enterprise Edition
- Accessed by x 1 DBA, x 1 Financials Functional Consultant and x 1 Financials Developer.
- Runs on 2 intel servers each with 8 cores
Example 1
Let’s say you have a non-production environment used for staging and patch testing before rollout to the live financials systems, the application runs on Oracle Enterprise Edition. The non-production environment is used by x 1 DBA, x 1 Financials Functional Consultant and x 1 Financials Developer.
Let’s say you have a non-production environment used for staging and patch testing before rollout to the live financials systems, the application runs on Oracle Enterprise Edition. The non-production environment is used by x 1 DBA, x 1 Financials Functional Consultant and x 1 Financials Developer.
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It's not 3 Named Users (NUPS)
The common mistake is to assume that only x 3 Named User Licenses are required. Assuming you have no special contract terms then the license minimums kick in. So firstly we need to know the server(s) that the non production runs on. Let’s say you have two servers each with 8 cores (ask your infrastructure Manager to tell you the total number of cores per server). If you ask for the number of processors you may get the wrong answer, i.e one processor can have 8 cores, so you may use the processor count, which would be incorrect. It is licensable processors which we need and that is dependent on the core count. Think of cores as Olympic rowers sharing the same boat, it’s the number of rowers that impacts speed. We have a total of 16 cores and to determine the total number of licensable processors multiply the core count by the core multiplier.
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The Answer is
(16 cores x 0.5 intel core factor) x 25 minimum users per processor
The core multiplier is dependent on the Chip manufacturer. If your Chip manufacture is Intel then simply multiply the core count by 0.5. So 16 x 0.5 = 8 Licensable Processors.
Now each processor needs a minimum of 25 Named User Plus licenses. So we are looking at 25 x 8 = 200 Named User Plus Licenses. As this is the greater of the number of users/devices then this is the number required to be correctly licensed.
Yes indeed! 200 Named Users required not 3! Don’t get caught out.
Now each processor needs a minimum of 25 Named User Plus licenses. So we are looking at 25 x 8 = 200 Named User Plus Licenses. As this is the greater of the number of users/devices then this is the number required to be correctly licensed.
Yes indeed! 200 Named Users required not 3! Don’t get caught out.
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Summary
- Virtualising without knowing the implications
- DR sceanrios not licensed correctly
- Non prod and Test not licensed
- Enterprise Management Options installed by default and not puchased
- Named User Mimimums misunderstood
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Visit the Madora Academy
To Learn More About Oracle Licensing
Visit the Madora Licensing Academy to learn more about Oracle Licensing:
http://madora.teachable.com/courses/become-an-oracle-licensing-specialist
For more useful articles visit:
http://madora.co.uk/blog/
http://madora.teachable.com/courses/become-an-oracle-licensing-specialist
For more useful articles visit:
http://madora.co.uk/blog/
