Oracle on VMware

current Status

Agenda

Core Basics of Oracle (DB)

licensing

Extended Licensing topics

Support Oracle on VMware

Oracle on vSphere up to 5.0

Oracle on vSphere 5.1 5.5

Oracle on vSphere 6.0

Core Basics of Oracle

(DB) licensing
Its all about this single line in the
License agreement
Processor: shall be defined as all processors where
the Oracle Programs are installed and/or running.
(1)

(1) http://houseofbrick.com/managing-oracle-licensing-in-a-sharedstorage-environment/

Agenda

Core Basics of Oracle (DB) licensing

Extended Licensing topics

Support of Oracle on VMware

Oracle on vSphere up to 5.0

Oracle on vSphere 5.1 5.5

Oracle on vSphere 6.0

Extended Licensing
topics
Oracle License Advisory Service, Oracle Auditors or
Oracle Sales could point you on the following topics

Full Cluster Licensing

Failover/Standby Cluster Licensing
Shared Disk Licensing
Option Packs
.

Extended Licensing
topics
To support this topics they will bring the following
official Oracle docs on the table.

Oracle Database Licensing

Partitioning
Licensing Data Recovery Environments
Oracle Technology Hosting
Forms and Reports
Licensing Oracle Software in the Cloud Computing
Environment
Licensing Data Transfer Environments

http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/pricing/specialtytopics/index.html

Extended Licensing
topics
All this documents have the more or less same
footnote
This document is for educational purposes only and
provides guidelines regarding Oracle's policies in effect as of
January 26, 2015. It may not be incorporated into any
contract and does not constitute a contract or a
commitment to any specific terms. Policies and this
document are subject to change without notice. This
document may not be reproduced in any manner without the
express written permission of Oracle Corporation

http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/pricing/partitioning-070609.pdf

Extended Licensing
topics
We are aware that this two documents are included
in OLAs

Oracle Software Technical Support Policies

Global Customer Support Security Practices

http://www.oracle.com/us/support/policies/index.html

Agenda

Core Basics of Oracle (DB) licensing

Extended Licensing topics

Support of Oracle on VMware

Oracle on vSphere up to 5.0

Oracle on vSphere 5.1 5.5

Oracle on vSphere 6.0

Support of Oracle on
VMware
There are three relevant documents available

Oracle - Products Running on VMware Virtualized

Environments [ID 249212.1]
VMware - Understanding Oracle Certification, Support and
Licensing for VMware Environments (2)
VMware - Oracle Support Policy

(1) http: //www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/vmw-understandingoracle-certification-supportlicensing-environments.pdf page 11

(2) http: //www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/vmw-understandingoracle-certification-supportlicensing-environments.pdf
(3) https://www.vmware.com/support/policies/oracle-support

Support of Oracle on
VMware
Products Running on VMware Virtualized
Environments [ID 249212.1]

<Extract>
Oracle has not certified any of its products on VMware
virtualized environments. Oracle Support will assist customers
running Oracle products on VMware in the following manner:
Oracle will only provide support for issues that either are
known to occur on the native OS, or can be demonstrated not
to be as a result of running on VMware.
</Extract>

Agenda

Core Basics of Oracle (DB) licensing

Extended Licensing topics

Support of Oracle on VMware

Oracle on vSphere up to 5.0

Oracle on vSphere 5.1 5.5

Oracle on vSphere 6.0

Oracle on vSphere up to
5.0
Based on the Partitioning Guide the licensing
boundary is the vCenter Cluster object
As soon as a single VM with an Oracle product is
running on a VMware cluster ALL physical cores
have to be licensed.
And if your use in a single VM an additions Option u have to
license this option again on ALL physical cores in the cluster !

Agenda

Core Basics of Oracle (DB) licensing

Extended Licensing topics

Support of Oracle on VMware

Oracle on vSphere up to 5.0

Oracle on vSphere 5.1 5.5

Oracle on vSphere 6.0

Oracle on vSphere 5.1

5.5
With vSphere 5.1 we introduced vMotion
Anywhere (1).
Through this feature you can migrate a running VM
between two clusters without a share datastore.
Oracle noticed this in H1 2015 this new function.
From their point of view its now so easy move a VM from a
licensed to an unlicensed cluster, that the licensing was not
moved from the VMware cluster to the vCenter object !

1) http: //www.vmware.com/files/pdf/support/landing_pages/vSphere_51_Whats_New_-_v4.p

Oracle on vSphere 5.1

5.5
There are several possible options to make it harder
to vMotion a VM to bring the licensing boundary
again back to the vCenter cluster level.

DRS rules
Separated vMotion and/or Guest VLANs
Location tracking
..

All of them or combination of them are

accepted from Oracle

NOT

Oracle on vSphere 5.1

5.5
From Oracle point of view there are only two
possible options for the customers

Signing an Oralce ULA

Install separated vCenters/ESXi per Oracle application
(Oracle DB, WebLogics, )

Agenda

Core Basics of Oracle (DB) licensing

Extended Licensing topics

Support of Oracle on VMware

Oracle on vSphere up to 5.0

Oracle on vSphere 5.1 5.5

Oracle on vSphere 6.0

Oracle on vSphere 6.0

With vSphere 6.0 VMware introduced a new

feature cross vCenter vMotion (1).

Through this feature also the vCenter

as licensing boundary is no longer
applicable for the custom !

1) https://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vsphere/VMW-WP-vSPHR-Whats-New-6-0.pd

Oracle on vSphere 6.0

Some customers already signed an contractual add

on
Declaration of Non-Migration of Virtual Machines
In this contractual add-on the customer commits to get in
place some proper technical designs for vSphere 5.1+ that
the migration to a non Oracle licensed cluster is not
possible.
i.e. specific vMotion VLANs for the Oracle clusters

Oracle on vSphere 6.0

VMware/vSphere 5.1 & 5.5: Isolating the

clusters/servers into a separate vCenter Server Instance
dedicated to running Oracle and segregating at the
storage layer the servers where Oracle can run. Where
approved, this isolation has been enabled through the SAN
storage technology and has not been configured or
controlled by VMware features.

VMware 6.0: Isolating the clusters in a vSphere 6.0

vCenter Server Instance on its own virtual local area
network (VLAN) and isolate the cluster's storage. Both the
VLAN and the storage segregation would need to be
configured outside of VMware's control, on the network
switch and the storage layer respectively. This goes along
with the theme of isolation at both layers to contain the
Oracle licenses.

There also something interesting going on

organized from the Austrian Oracle User Group.

ORACLE vs VMware - AOUG goes

CROWDFUNDING
Based on the current disharmony between between the new
VMware Features and Oracle Licensing we have decided to
fund a scientific review through the university of vienna
regarding the legal situation of the Oracle Licensing on an
VMware environment.

http://www.aoug.at/Event/375