Oracle License Architecture: A High-Level Explanation

Let’s play a game of word association. Oracle licensing: ________.

Most likely your answer was “complex” or some synonym thereof.

The utility of Oracle’s various offerings is well known. From their databases and associated options to their hardware and cloud, they’re unquestionably one of the best providers of IT products and services in the world.

However, dealing with the matter of licensing your Oracle environment is something else entirely.

This blog aims to give you a high-level understanding of how complex some of these license architectures can be.

Processors and Cores

Once upon a time, computers only had one processor and a single core. They were slow but steady, however, just like everything in IT, that changed in short order.

In order to become faster, more efficient and overall better, companies found ways to add multiple cores to their processors. It was no longer one core, one action being performed, it became one processor with four or eight cores performing all sorts of tasks simultaneously.

Oracle License Core Factors

Because of the change to multi-core processing, Oracle came up with a new model for licensing. A core-factor model. Each core now needs to be licensed by multiple pre-determined factors set by Oracle.

Here’s how this works in practice. If you have eight cores running on IBM Power, that means you will need eight licenses. This change dramatically impacted the cost of running Oracle for an organization.

Clustering

Clustering with VMware and other virtual machines also has unique Oracle license requirements. In the example below, even if only one node is running Oracle, you are actually required to license every node.

This is because organizations will typically use clustering and multiple nodes for high availability and disaster recovery. However, Oracle cannot necessarily tell which node is running RAC or the backup databases.

In addition to all of this, the same core factors previously discussed come into play yet again. This makes the licensing question doubly complicated, especially when VMWare comes into play.

Be Oracle License Smart

There’s no getting around it, dealing with the architecture of Oracle environments, especially at the enterprise level can be challenging.

We have been handling Oracle licensing for the better part of a decade. The results speak for themselves. Millions of dollars saved for organizations in both public and private enterprises around the world.

Whether it’s advising on a procurement strategy, procuring licenses or software at client-friendly price points, or support renewals; we’re your Oracle license experts.

If you’re looking for help or more information with managing your Oracle licenses, contact us here. We hope to hear from you soon!