| Licensing for Standard Edition [message #404661] |
Fri, 22 May 2009 12:22  |
vmaxwell100
Messages: 2
Registered: May 2009
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Junior Member |
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I would like to use Oracle Standard Edition but am trying to understand the licensing. I searched the web and there seems to be a lot of confusion about the clause about multi-chip modules. We asked our Oracle rep for clarification and are waiting for an answr. Has anyone figured this out?
Thanks.
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| Re: Licensing for Standard Edition [message #404693 is a reply to message #404661] |
Fri, 22 May 2009 17:41  |
davepearson
Messages: 1
Registered: May 2009
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Junior Member |
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The problem with the official processor definition for Standard Edition (SE) is that it is ambiguous.
I work for Quest Software, and we are seeing a lot of interest in SE. In preparation for an upcoming webcast (quick plug - www.quest.com/cutDBcosts), we've been researching the topic of SE licensing to try and get a definitive view on how big a box can you run it on. The only limit is 4 processors, but what is unclear is exactly how to count processors - and customers are concerned about being audited in case they get it wrong.
One useful source of information is the published case studies, as they show how the licensing has been applied in a practical sense. The TPC-C benchmark for 11g Standard Edition One (SE1) is a very interesting case that seems to contradict the license description.
That benchmark was run on a Dell server with one Intel Quad-Core Xeon processor, which is a multi-chip module. Under Oracle's current licensing rules, it would presumably count as two processors (perhaps more if memory, memory controller, logic and other chips are counted). However, Oracle only counts it as one processor in the benchmark doc. Curious.
Oracle endorses the benchmark--for example, they feature it on their website (http://www.oracle.com/solutions/performance_scalability/tpc-c-11g-windows.html), and they issued a press release about it (http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/017938_EN). So it would appear that the processor count is correct.
The full report is available here: http://www.tpc.org/results/FDR/TPCC/Dell_2900_022009_fdr.pdf. The price quote provided by Oracle is on the next-to-last page of the report.
If Oracle counts the Intel Quad-Core Xeon processor as one processor for the benchmark, then the same logic should also apply to customer deployments of SE and SE1.
Ultimately, it comes down to the discussion between you and your Oracle sales rep. I hope this info provides some ammunition if the answer you get is not the one you believe is accurate.
Apologies that the urls above are not directly hyperlinked - I only turned from guest to registered user to respond, and haven't hit my post quota to allow urls. Because this is a subject I have researched, I thought I'd try and help. Like most others, I'm generally just a guest browser on orafaq.
Good luck.
[Updated on: Sat, 23 May 2009 01:02] by Moderator Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: Licensing for Standard Edition [message #404719 is a reply to message #404693] |
Sat, 23 May 2009 01:01 |
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Michel Cadot
Messages: 68718
Registered: March 2007
Location: Saint-Maur, France, https...
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Senior Member
Account Moderator |
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@davepearson,
Just for your information there is no quota to post link, you just have to post full links (i.e. including http://). You can also use the button that looks like the world with a paper clip in the buttons bar when you edit your post.
I update your post to make them active.
Regards
Michel
[Updated on: Sat, 23 May 2009 01:05] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: Licensing for Standard Edition [message #406194 is a reply to message #405155] |
Tue, 02 June 2009 14:42 |
andrew again
Messages: 2577
Registered: March 2000
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Senior Member |
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I've read these licensing docs a few times before but there's always some uncertainty.
From here http://oraclestore.oracle.com/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=11365&media=os_g_english_help_licensing they state:
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Processor: shall be defined as all processors where the Oracle programs are installed and/or running. Programs licensed on a processor basis may be accessed by your internal users (including agents and contractors) and by your third party users. The number of required licenses shall be determined by multiplying the total number of cores of the processor by a core processor licensing factor specified on the Oracle Processor Core Factor Table which can be accessed at http://oracle.com/contracts. All cores on all multicore chips for each licensed program are to be aggregated before multiplying by the appropriate core processor licensing factor and all fractions of a number are to be rounded up to the next whole number. When licensing Oracle programs with Standard Edition One or Standard Edition in the product name, a processor is counted equivalent to an occupied socket; however, in the case of multi-chip modules, each chip in the multi-chip module is counted as one occupied socket.
For example, a multicore chip based server with an Oracle Processor Core Factor of 0.25 installed and/or running the program (other than Standard Edition One programs or Standard Edition programs) on 6 cores would require 2 processor licenses (6 multiplied by a core processor licensing factor of .25 equals 1.50, which is then rounded up to the next whole number, which is 2). As another example, a multicore server for a hardware platform not specified in the Oracle Processor Core Factor Table installed and/or running the program on 10 cores would require 10 processor licenses (10 multiplied by a core processor licensing factor of 1.0 for 'All other multicore chips' equals 10).
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My interpretation is that Oracle One counts used CPU sockets or the number of CPUs (multi-chip modules) in a module, where that module plugs into a CPU socket. It does not count cores.
My understanding is that multi-chip modules refer to more than 1 separate CPU in a module, where that module plugs into a CPU socket. Each of the CPUs in the module gives the same performance as separate CPUs in their own sockets would give, so they count as separate CPUs.
Mutli-core CPUs still plug into a single socket, but each core shares some internal components like the bus, cache mem or whatever on the same chip with the other cores, giving it less performance than separate CPUs - hence the multiplication factor.
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