Re: Oracle out the door

Forget the salesrep for questions like this. Statements made by your salesrep, even in writing, are completely meaningless.

Instead, refer to the Oracle License and Services Agreement. Except for those (now rare, I think) sites who have custom license agreements, this is the definitive reference on the subject. And it also contains language that makes all statements from your salesrep null and void.

From the most recent OLSA V020408 (United States edition):

*Processor:* *Processor:* shall be defined as all processors where the Oracle programs are installed and/or running. Programs licensed on processor basis may be accessed by your internal users (including agents and contractors) and by your third party users. For the purposes of counting the number of processors which require licensing for a Sun UltraSPARC T1 processor with 4, 6 or 8 cores at 1.0 gigahertz or 8 cores at 1.2 gigahertz for only those servers specified on the Sun Server Table which can be accessed at http://oracle.com/contracts <http://www.oracle.com/contracts> , "n" cores shall be determined by multiplying the total number of cores by a core processor licensing factor of .25. For the purposes of counting the number of processors which require licensing for AMD and Intel multicore chips, "n" cores shall be determined by multiplying the total number of cores by a core processor licensing factor of .50. For the purposes of counting the number of processors which require licensing for all hardware platforms not otherwise specified in this section, a multicore chip with "n" cores shall be determined by multiplying "n" cores by a core processor licensing factor of .75. All cores on all multicore chips for each licensed program for each core processor licensing factor listed above 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*.

I'm not certain about this (I don't read the OLSA frequently -- thank heaven! -- and I certainly do not commit it to memory) but that last bit about multi-chip carriers might actually be relatively new.

It certainly adds a new wrinkle to SE licensing that I had not noticed until just now. Probably a lot of IT professionals, few IT managers, and even fewer lawyers, know the difference between a "chip" and a "carrier". What's more, how many people *know* when they are purchasing a system with quad-core X86 "CPUs" whether the carriers in that system contain a single chip with 4 cores, 2 chips with two cores each, or four single-core chips. It makes little difference when purchasing the hardware (well, okay, it might make more than you think), but it can make a *huge* difference to your license costs and compliance.

In fact, it will also affect the eligibility of your hardware platform to even run Standard Edition software. Under the "multi-chip module" rule, I expect the very few X86-based servers on the market today are actually eligible to run Standard Edition One. Even a server with only a single CPU socket (do such things still exist?) would be ineligible for SE-1 licensing if Intel (or AMD) happens to manufacture a three- or four-chip "multi-chip module" that can fit into that socket.

Ouch! Now, before licensing Standard Edition, you need to identify the exact CPU model number (and maybe even serial number) to determine exactly how many physical "chips" are inside those "multi-core" processors...

On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 6:14 PM, Allen, Brandon <Brandon.Allen_at_oneneck.com> wrote:

> Very interesting, I didn't know that until now and the published docs
> seem to be a little inconsistent -
>
> From page 4 here:
> http://www.oracle.com/corporate/pricing/databaselicensing.pdf:
>
> "When licensing Oracle programs with Standard Edition One or Standard
> Edition in the product name, a processor is counted equivalent to a socket
> "
> ****
> But, from page 15 & 16 here
> http://www.oracle.com/corporate/pricing/sig.pdf:
>
> "Notwithstanding the above, when licensing Oracle Standard Edition One or
> Standard Edition programs on servers with a maximum of 1 processor with 1
> or 2 cores, only 1 processor shall be counted."
>
> So, in the first doc it sounds like it applies regardless of the number of
> sockets, but in the latter it sounds like this applies only with a max of
> one socket, so I guess the best bet is to confirm with your Oracle sales rep
> and get it in writing as usual, but it sounds like you are confirming that
> the first model was applied in your case so that's good news.
>
> Regards,
> Brandon
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org [mailto:
> oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] *On Behalf Of *LS Cheng
>
> <snip>
>
> SE is charged by socket and not CORE so instead of having Dual Core
> Servers he ended up with quad cores.
>
> <snip>
>
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-- 
Cheers,
-- Mark Brinsmead
Senior DBA,
The Pythian Group
http://www.pythian.com/blogs

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